Google Secure Search is really bugging me

Googles secure search is really bugging me, any thoughts on what we can do about it?

I feel like writing some script that blocks everyone who visits my site because of it as we no longer get any seo indications on what/how people got there.

Any thoughts?

Model S

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/06/29/to-elon-musk-and-the-model-s-congratulations/
I no longer have these emails, but as I recall, at issue was my public skepticism that a car such as the Model S could be built, within the technical specifications Mr. Musk laid out, before the end of 2012.....(more)


Makes you wonder what else can be done in 3 years if you remove all the bullshit.

Tropfest - New York

Here are the 8 finalists from Tropfest NY at Bryant Park last week.

"Emptys" won the competition but my favorite was "Elvis" which came in third.
- http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0EE9B5D33AFCA5D9&feature=view_all


Eitherway was fantastic afternoon to hang out having a picnic before hand

QR code fatigue

Articles like this bore me. Obviously misses the mark and is uneducated at best or worse....just SEO bait.

QR Code Fatigue - by Mark Milian

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-28/qr-code-fatigue
QR codes have always had limitations as advertising tools. They can only be used by smartphone owners, who have to download an app and hold their phone steady to capture a clear image. The process doesn’t work well with faraway billboards or in low lighting, and it requires cellular service.


My comments below.
Both Roger and Phillip nailed it. Saying there is something such as QR fatigue would be like saying there is URL fatigue.


Mark how about you call out crappy websites/marketing campaigns for what they are and quit blaming the protocol.

Saying QR codes are fatiguing is about as intelligent as saying http: is boring.

Dean Collins
http://www.Cognation.net/QR

Amanda Palmer and the GTO

Amanda Palmer with her GTO iteration were at Williamsburgh Music Hall last night.

A great mix of old tracks and some tracks off the new GTO album (hearing "The Bed" for the first time made Jodie cry....lol not unusual event, but an example of how when you are open as a performer, you can really touch your audience).

Was a fantastic concert throughout the night but when they did the encore they really blew the roof off (the video is shaking because the section we were standing in was moving around so much), David Byrne (who also did a cameo with the Jherek Bischoff support set) came out and did a rendition of Burning Down The House with a fat horn section, there wasnt a single person not dancing out the doors and up the street afterwards.

She's going to be touring again in the Fall...I'll be back.

i'm so smart i havent gone to a gas station in over a month

when are we going to see someone on a Chevy Volt tv commercial say OMFG have you seen the size of my electric bill!! I'm going 'back' to the gas station.

Cobie Smulders

Cobie Smulders - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1130627 from HIMYM is shooting a film in our street today


They Came Together - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2398249

Assange asks for diplomatic protection against us extradition

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/26-Jun-2012/assange-for-diplomatic-guarantees
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Monday called for diplomatic guarantees he will not be pursued by the United States for publishing secret documents if he goes to Sweden to face criminal allegations. The Australian, 40, said he is prepared to go to Sweden to face questioning over sex assault claims, but fears Stockholm will turn him over to the US where he could face espionage and conspiracy charges over revelations by WikiLeaks.


cracked me up he did another one of his shows this week while holed up in the embassy - http://assange.rt.com/chomsky-ali-episode-ten/ -I guess he's got some time on his hands.

@Facebook.com email addresses

Uhm am I missing something or can you scrape a whole lot of Facebook usernames and by just adding @Facebook.com to the end of it you can now send spam to these people easily?


Cheers,
Dean

edit: lol i cant be the only one that thought of this scraping issue aspect this morning can i?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


From: Dean Collins
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 9:20 AM
To: 'howardgreen'
Subject: howardgreen

Was I right? - http://blog.collins.net.pr/2012/06/facebookcom-email-addresses.html  or can you scrape a whole lot of Facebook usernames and by just adding @Facebook.com to the end of it you can now send spam to these people easily?



Can you shoot me an email if you get this


Cheers,
Dean@Cog.....net


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Howard Green []
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 9:24 AM
To: Dean Collins
Subject: FB mail


Yeah got the message, this fb mail is going to be a huge f'n problem.

HG

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bumfuzzle

I started reading this book Bumfuzzle last night.

Basically everyone raves about this book as the must read, go to book, if you are planning on doing a sailing circumnavigation. I've heard about it for many years in different places, you must read Bumfuzzle etc etc

I bought it thinking its going to be this super technical book about the do's and donts of sailing and prepping and how to etc.

lol the first 6 pages are a crackup and fantastic, basically this guy and his wife get drunk in a bar and unhappy with their life at the moment (even though doing very well) decide to chuck it all in and go sailing.....having never sailed before.

10 days later they had bought a boat and 2 months later sold off everything and pushed off for the sea.

Their attitudes and discoveries are fantastic. I can see why everyone raves about the book but just not for the reasons i was expecting.

I'm only up to New Zealand so far so we'll see what happens but a great read even if you dont know your port from your starboard.

Micropayments

I was just asked about Micropayments and Beanz etc - this blog post covers it as well as anything i'v read before so here you go http://everwas.com/2006/04/micropayments.html

UltraViolet SUX

Just listening to the Rovi UltraViolet rights management rollout as part of a client project at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/join/178044250/106423719

Wow we are all being lied to. When you pay $2 and up (eg West Wing $39-SD/$49-HD for Season 5) to add a title to your UV library its only guaranteed to be available for 1 year and 3 views.

After that....it can legally go away at any time and you have to repurchase it.

F-that. Buy on dvd/bluray and then rip to your own server to be served at any time for as long as you like from your own hardware.

What a joke.


Cheers,
Dean

First ever NFC magazine advertisement

.....500,000 subscriber copies of Wired, which is a lot of NFC tags. Even in volume if they cost 25 cents each that’s $125,000 dollars more than using a QR Code....
more details at - http://2d-code.co.uk/nfc-ad-wired-magazine/



its nice that they were first.....but at 25c per insert can this really be considered a good roi over a QR code?


lol wonder what percentage of readers even had nfc handsets OR worse what percentage bothered to scan.....come on Lexus open the kimono did it cost you $125k for 100-300 scans?
 
 
Cheers,
Dean

Reflections on today's Kickstarter

Someone commented on newtech about Seth Godins Kickstarter

Did anyone else see this and think it's, I don't know, ANNOYING, for someone as huge/established/rich/etc as Godin to do a Kickstarter? The campaign says that if he raises $40K his publisher will do a whole bunch of promotion and other stuff for him . . . which just makes it even more obnoxious to me.


Maybe I just woke up in a bad mood . . .

Ivete



My thoughts are nah it’s a great idea, its an example of how “value add” selling can be a highly valuable revenue stream outside of the normal “profit lines”.


The fact that Amanda Palmer etc can sell small gig private performance tickets at a price point to make it worthwhile etc shows that music/book/ (dare I say newspapers) are no longer dead and dying, just being reformatted.


Cheers,
Dean

NY Tech Meetup Women's Demo Night #1

Have you watched the "NY Tech Meetup Change the Ratio Women's Demo Night #1"-> http://vimeo.com/44104031  <- #XXinTech

- http://twitter.com/XXinTech/status/215080877909221378

What demo’s did you like the best?

Netflix kneecaps their API

Well that sucks

All they’ve said regarding motivation for that change is that they are changing their API so that it “is aligned with our broader objectives”. It appears Netflix considers what films you’ve watched and what you thought of them as their data, not yours.

- http://goodfil.ms/blog/posts/2012/06/18/netflix-quietly-smothers-3rd-party-app-ecosystem/

The first implication of these additions: if you decide you just want to create a “Netflix” app, and add significant value on top of the Netflix service, you cannot charge your users for that value. You can do something positive for Netflix, but not for yourself. There is no incentive for you to build something useful for Netflix customers, and if you’ve already built your app, you have three months left.

Hitachi "Get Perpendicular"

Randomly came across this flash video from 2009 recently while looking for somethign else on my server.



One of the best marketing campaigns i've ever seen trying to explain a technical hard drive concept in a fun way. You got to get perpendicular ....yo

The Man Who Owns The News

Just finished reading

 
The Man Who Owns the News

Wow what an incredible read. Much like the person himself lots of interwoven facts and stories and how he got to here, from there.

Some of the things i had no idea about was Mayor Koch, some of the earlier stuff around Fox and movies/The Simpsons, the WSJ acquisition and why it was such a big deal in his life to a "print guy like him" the Roger Ailes relationship and the running of Fox News etc.

Well worth picking up a 2nd hand copy from Amazon as well worth the read or alternatively if anyone wants to swing past BH you can have my copy as happy to pass it along to anyone who has an interest in this.

Whether you like or hate Rupert Murdoch, at least he has lead an interesting life and you cant hold it against him for working hard at what he's achieved.


Cheers,
Dean

applications for .app tld

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines!

- http://newgtlds.icann.org/en/program-status/application-results/strings-1200utc-13jun12-en


holy crap this is going to be a mess.

NASA opens up Launch Control Center for public tours

The NASA control center, responsible for a huge chunk of space-faring history, will open its doors to tour groups for the first time in over 30 years, celebrating the Kennedy Space Center's 50th anniversary. Starting this Friday, a "limited number" of tours will take bright-eyed enthusiasts into the Launch Control Center, where all 152 launches were counted down
- http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/12/nasa-launch-control-center-public-tours/


@engadget well they may as well use it for something considering they no longer launch rockets from there... :(

Judge Richard Posner

No point in holding a trial because it was apparent that neither side could show they had been harmed by the other’s patent infringement


- http://gigaom.com/mobile/famous-judge-spikes-apple-google-case-calls-patent-system-dysfunctional

The USPTO has a lot to answer for in how it has harmed IP progress in the USA.

Unfortunately as USA politics is perpetually corrupted by money the current status quo will never change here until someone or something bigger than the USA drives out the buyers and sellers in the temple of money.

Will be interesting to see how this court case affects patent applications moving forward.

Prometheus

What a shit job with this installment in the Aliens film family.


i mean seriously it should have been called..."lets fly 5 billion miles and fuck"

Any self respecting scientist watching this movie must have been hurling obscenities at the screen with their lack of scientific protocols.

yes lets go out and drag this thing back into the ship with no concerns about contamination protocols, and yes lets have sex right now because lets face it i've been asleep for 2 years and 4 months and if i'm going to pay Charlize Theron to be in my film i want to see her naked on set.

....here lets build this super cool looking automated surgery cocoon BUT we are going to lift out the fetus with what looks like a grappling hook from a carnival booth.

I could excuse this for a small budget film but these guys had money to burn and shows the total lack of storytelling capabilities but reliance on fancy computer generated special effects.



As for the ripping off the head of the Android and having it talking ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME???? that was cool in 1979 for obvious reasons, doing it in 2012 shows that Ridley Scott is a has been and deserves to never work again.
 
Prometheus was as shoddy a money grabbing sequel attempt as I've ever seen, the real shame is with a few minor tweaks it could have been amazing.
When Prometheus 2 is released (oh yeh how obvious was that little setup at the end) i'm going to keep my $20 and watch the 1979 original knowing i had the better night compared to the other suckers.


Cheers,
Dean

The Dandy Warhols

Dandy Warhols concert last night......They still can't sing, they still dont care.....they had a blast and I loved every minute of it.

This is one of those "very New York" things being able to see them live, very cool to be living here for things like this.

Moral responsibility

watch these to see where your tax dollars are going

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvRTALJp8DM

and this one at 1.16 to see one of the scariest things i've seen in a long time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-dkonAXOlQ&feature=autoplay&list=UU6gTNEiFyqlUwzoaH9L-ivg&playnext=1

You have to wonder as a scientist why you would participate in the development of this technology.

Inspiring

Inspiring....i need to get away more.

Xbox Music ...uhm ok...

Microsoft have just announced Xbox Music today.

- http://www.ingame.msnbc.msn.com/technology/ingame/microsoft-unveils-xbox-music-812356
- http://www.xbox.com/en-US/music

Uhm yeh ok.... is now a good time to remind people about when Microsoft ran their last Music service and turned off the servers leaving customers high and dry.

DRM sucks redux: Microsoft to nuke MSN Music DRM keys
- http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2008/04/drm-sucks-redux-microsoft-to-nuke-msn-music-drm-keys/

Its a simple practice people to buy cd's and then rip to your server. Means no one can take away your rights to listen to what you already paid for regardless of whether you are using an iPhone/MS Windows 8/Zune or DiamondRio

Dont get sucked in people.


Cheers,
Dean

KB2718704

lol whoops. This is going to end badly.


"We have discovered through our analysis that some components of the malware have been signed by certificates that allow software to appear as if it was produced by Microsoft. We identified that an older cryptography algorithm could be exploited and then be used to sign code as if it originated from Microsoft."

So as StuxNet was created by the USA/Israel anyone want to take any guesses on where FLAME originated?

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab, who discovered the worm, reported that it can steal data, listen in on audio conversations, and take shots of screen activity
Lol yeh this makes me want to run out and put an Xbox Kinect in my living room tomorrow....

Is M.A.D. a given for both the left and right in the USA political system or is there a third option?

Reading this post by Shelly Palmer you have to wonder if the time is right for a third political arm? http://www.shellypalmer.com/2012/06/weapons-of-mass-disruption-the-super-cyber-wars-have-begun/


The real question is will America continue to support a government who supports these kind of activities.

Based on what i read on Slashdot its unlikely that people wont be rising up in open revolt (or spit in your food a la FightClub style) - http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/06/02/0240205/legitimized-cyberwar-opens-pandoras-box-of-dirty-tricks

Is there finally room in American politics for a “pirate party/green/hippy free love granola crunching” political movement that succeeding in life is important but not at someone elses detriment movement.

Is it time to kick in the door and say we’ve had enough.

Hey Tech Press...get it clear....Facebook doesnt care what their stock price is this minute/day/week/qtr (probably even year)

When are the tech press going to realise Facebook dont care.


They got $38 a share for their IPO and are laughing pretty with their $16billion dollars in cash.

The fact that the street wants to play footsies with Facebook stock doesnt matter to the management team as the stock control is tightly held and locked in.

If day traders want to drive the price up and down for the next few years no one cares except insider employees looking to take a little off the table and buy a house etc.
Until Facebook needs
1/ Sell more shares
2/ Raise more money
3/ Sell a big block of insider shares from Zuck etc

none of this matters and i wish tech reporters would get back to talking about tech news rather than the menstrual whims of the stock market.

Using the fan as the noise cancelling device

Take a look at the graphic on this page - http://hexus.net/tech/news/cooling/40185-forget-just-quiet-noctua-developing-noise-cancelling-fan/

Using the fan as the noise cancelling device is a very interesting idea (as long as it works), i bet they'll make more from the patents than selling the fans. Wonder where else this idea can be used.