Today at work I was using the Overture keyword selector tool to find search numbers on some search terms one of our clients wants to start a PPC campaign on. Just FYI, this tool allows you to find out how many people searched for a specific search term during the previous month on Overture(Yahoo!). The tool also lists search numbers for all sorts of variations of the term you put in. For example, if you put in computer, it will list numbers for notebook computer, desktop computer and a bunch of other computer related search phrases.

As a break from this, I put my first name, Sean, into the tool just to see what variations of Sean were being searched. I was a little surprised by the results. The second most searched variation of Sean, behind Sean Paul (which is a little sad in itself), is someone named Sean Cody, with 72226 searches in the month of May. I had no idea who Sean Cody was, so I did a Wikipedia search on him. Turns out, this guy is a pornographer. So I did a little math and considering Yahoo! has around 25% or so of the search market, this means that the 72226 number probably only represents 1/4 of the searches for this guy in May. In other words, people searched for him 288904 times in May alone on all search engines or around 3.5 million searches a year.

Being that heavy pornography viewing is pretty strongly linked to serial killers, child abuse, and all sort of other deviant behavior, I found the sheer numbers of searches for someone who is, to me at least, a rather unknown pornographer pretty depressing and a rather sad representation of the state of our culture.

Categories: Life in General
1 Comment »

I had an epiphany this morning while reaading a ZDNet article this morning about the Powerpoint notes that were “acccidentally” left in a published presentation at Google’s Analyst Day a few weeks ago. The notes focus on plans Google has for the future - how they are going to expand/improve their existing services, add new services, and expand into existing areas in which they don’t currently…. dabble.

The thing that stuck out most to me is that none of the plans were that groundbreaking or new. In the small amount of time I’ve spent thinking about where Google is planning to go, I’ve thought of many of the things listed as future plans. I’m not trying to toot my own horn though, quite the opposite in fact.

The epiphany I had, though I’ve heard it a number of times, is that ideas/insight/foreknowledge, whatever you want to call it, are something everyone has(well almost everyone), either by our mind’s amazing analytical abilities, given by Divine Providence, or by some combination of both. What we do with those ideas is a whole different world. The transition from idea or insight into action and success in any aspect of life is what distinguishes us. Me having some of the same insights into the search industry as Google is like a windless sail, a good idea, but useless on its own.

Google is a great example of this. They were one of the latest entries to the internet search world, and in fact, they entered it at a point when the general consensus was that search wasn’t a valid business model. Their difference was that they, like many others before them, knew that search could be a valid model even if the current market didn’t suggest so. What differentiated them was their actions; they took the inherently great idea of being able to effecitvely search the internet and MADE the idea work as a business model. Even when others said it wouldn’t. They created technology that actually searched the interent amazingly well, created a relevence based advertising model that was unheard of, then went out and made believers out of everyone. Even those who said search was dead. I realize I’m simplifying the situation and probably not giving enough respect to Google’s accomplishments, but the idea stands - having ideas doesn’t make us great, making those ideas reality does.

Our own personal efforts in every area of our life are what will distiguish us, having ideas or insight doesn’t do anything for us other than make us realize our wasted potential if we don’t act on them.

P.S. Google’s story also illustrates the idea that if you build something of value that people want to use, believe it or not, they’ll use it. And hopefully make you piles and piles upon piles of cash by using it, just kidding. But seriously though… hopefully.

Categories: Software, Life in General
No Comments »

I stumbled across a microfinance organization called Kiva today through Firepoll’s fireblog. being that one of my major long-term goals is to be involved in microfinance, I was immediately touched by their approach to microfinance. Most (all that I know of) NGO’s have a lot of adminsitrative overhead and once you donate to them, you have no way of knowing where your money goes. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the way it is. NGO’s do an amazing amount of good in the world.

Most of the money donated goes to micro-loans or small loans given to persons to start small businesses. This has been shown over and over again to be one of the most effective ways to promote development on a local level. Except as a small-time donor, you don’t ever get to personally see the effects of your donations. What Kiva does is allow you to donate to a specific person (they have a list of qualified loan applicants on their site) and then follow-up on the progress made by the recipient. Also the loan is repayed to you, not to Kiva. You can then re-loan it to another person or take the money back. A very interesting twist on an established practice. I am looking to gather enough money from work, friends etc… to sponsor the entire loan amount of someone. If anyone wants to be involved in this, let me know. I’d like to get together about $500, which is the average amount of a loan.

From kiva’s Web site.

When interviewing entrepreneurs about their standard of living, one simple question she would ask was, “Can you afford to take sugar with your tea?” — a significant indicator of an East African’s standard of living. Tougher questions would follow: Can you afford to eat even two meals a day? Do your children attend school? Has anyone in your family been affected by malaria or AIDS?

What she learned in those interviews astounded her. In almost every case, those who had businesses were doing dramatically better than those who couldn’t get a grant or a loan to start or expand a business. Furthermore, the amount of money it took to start or improve a business was often as little as $100.

Half the world’s population lives on less than $2 a day. Most of these people live in developing countries and are self-employed. Raising the income of self-employed poor and vulnerable non-poor (those hovering just above the poverty line but lacking savings or insurance, and dangerously susceptible to sudden changes in their financial environment) strategically fights poverty.

Microfinance - the provision of financial services to those excluded from the formal financial system - and, in particular, microcredit/microloan programs effectively boost the income-producing capabilities of small businesses run by the self-employed poor and vulnerable non-poor. Microcredit borrowers regularly increase their business’ sales and profits by 25% to 40%, and repay their loans at impressively high rates - around 95%.

Categories: Life in General
1 Comment »

Most everything I write about or think about is just a synthesis of inspiration from other sources/people/ideas. I have very few (if any) truly original ideas. I have been trying to think of a good way recently to give credit where credit is due without cluttering up my writing with all sorts of contextual information. To do this, I’ve decided to start putting a short list of inspirations after posts.

The types of things I will most likely just put links to articles, ideas, people, and places that served as inspiration. For offline inspiration, I’ll probably just figure out some way to do a shout-out to those involved in the inspiration. Kind of like a ghetto bibliography. This way I can track my sources of inspiration for my own purposes as well as give readers access to information they may find helpful, while giving a simple thank you to everything/one that inspires me.

Categories: Software, Life in General, writing
No Comments »

I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell, both his books (The Tipping Point and Blink) have set me on my heals and his articles in the New Yorker are almost always masterful. I just finished reading an interview between him and Bill Simmons and once again I am taken back by the number of profound truths he is able to express so simply. From the interview, which was done by email and further exemplifies Gladwell’s writing.

The (short) answer is that it’s really risky to work hard, because then if you fail you can no longer say that you failed because you didn’t work hard. It’s a form of self-protection….

Most of the psychological research on this is focused on why some kids don’t study for tests — which is a much more serious version of the same problem. If you get drunk the night before an exam instead of studying and you fail, then the problem is that you got drunk. If you do study and you fail, the problem is that you’re stupid — and stupid, for a student, is a death sentence. The point is that it is far more psychologically dangerous and difficult to prepare for a task than not to prepare. People think that Tiger is tougher than Mickelson because he works harder. Wrong: Tiger is tougher than Mickelson and because of that he works harder.

Everyone knows this subconsciously, but how many of us could get this out with the same strength and conciseness. One of my hopes is to write like Gladwell, in a way that is so blatantly profound, simple and to the point that readers can’t help but have A-ha moments.

Categories: Life in General, writing
No Comments »

No video of the projected images yet. I’ll try and get some if I have time after my meeting before my flight. I re-read what I wrote last night and realized that I didn’t describe the tear-aways in the way I wanted to. Tear-aways are very common, but the application of using them in a subway is new to me. It is the perfect place to put them. The advertiser has a captive audience and provides a way for them to take action when , depending on what is being advertised, the person’s pain is greatest.

For example, if people are riding home from work and are sick of their job, the advertisements for colleges are catching potential students when their pain is the strongest. The specific application of tear-aways in a subway along with the types of companies advertised is what I found so intriguing.

Categories: Life in General
No Comments »

I am in Cambridge right now for a meeting with a client tomorrow. I was riding the subway today and saw two fantastic twists on some established advertising methods. The first one is the picture below. On the bottom right corner of the poster is a tear-away for the company being advertised. I looked around the car and about 75 percent of the advertisements had these tear-aways on them. Very cool way to enable people to take action on an advertisement’s message.

The second twist I noticed was that there are screens or projectors or something like that built into the walls of tunnels and project an image onto the train windows. As the train goes by, the image is transferred from one projector to another, creating a standing image on the window of the train car. Very cool.

Both of these are great examples of advertising that really capitalizes on a captive audience. Of the subway systems I have used in the past little while (San Francisco, San Jose, Chicago, Boston, New York, and Washington DC) Boston is the only one I saw using these two methods.

By the way, I remember all four companies I saw that advertised on trains using these two methods, Minute Maid Orange Juice, Suffolk University, UMass, and Zip Cars.

Categories: Life in General
2 Comments »