daniel.larsen.net.nz

Shoppers need full product detail

Daniel Larsen — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST

According to a recent survey of USA online shoppers, over 90% of respondents stated that it was ‘important’ or ‘very important’ for retailers to provide *complete* product information.
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/blog/ecommerce/shopping-product-detail-0607.htm

Clearer guidelines from Google for Search Engine Optimisation

Daniel Larsen — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EST

Google have recently updated their Webmaster Guidelines, in particular the quality guidelines for web pages that better explains how duplicated content and javascript redirects are interpreted by Google.

In a nutshell

Google will not punish "non-malicious" duplicated content such as multiple versions of content for print or mobile devices
If you have multiple pages with duplicate content, Google will choose one and return that in search results
Use robots.txt to prevent Google from indexing duplicate content such as print version
Use 301 redirects to redirect Google and other robots when restructuring content
Use top level domains for country-specific content, ie, www.mysite.de for Germany focussed content
If you syndicate content, ensure there is a back link to the original content
Deceptive practices will be punished

The New York Times recently sent a reporter to a search engine quality meeting at Google and have revealed that Google make around half a dozen tweaks to their algorythms every week to improve Google's ability to evaluate content and searches and match results. Read the fascinating article at www.nytimes.com.

Daniel's Webpage Massive

Daniel Larsen — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST

An archive of very personal travel yarns from around the world, 2001 to 2003.

Daniel's Webpage Massive (Archive) 2001
Daniel's Webpage Massive (Archive) 2002
Daniel's Webpage Massive (Archive) 2003

DRM in Windows Vista raises concern for Business PCs

Daniel Larsen — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST

A new generation of Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection systems in Microsoft's new "Windows Vista" operating system will introduce a raft of protectionist features that are good news for Hollywood studios, but may spell trouble for Business PC users and adminstrators. Features to protect the piracy of new "High Definition" (HD) content include polling by hardware drivers of the hardware system every 30ms to ensure un-licensed content is not being played or displayed, a "tilt" bit that can be set by the operating system to reset multimedia hardware upon suspicion of tampering, and undocumented features in multimedia hardware that can be tested to see if hardware is genuine.

Crypto analysts argue that not only is this technology fundamentally flawed, it will also introduce a large amount of overhead to already busy processors, and increase the cost of graphics hardware that must incorporate DRM features into their circuits, regardless of wether HD content is viewed by the user or not. Crtics say business machine owners who do not view HD content must bear these extra costs regardless.

Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system is still in Beta testing and is due for release in February 2007. It is still not clear exactly what impact the DRM measure will have, but administators and users will be crossing their fingers that it is business as usual when using Microsoft desktop operating systems that currently hold 95% of the market.

UK Police To Fingerprint at the roadside

Daniel Larsen — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST

Mobile units will search latent print database for matches from unsolved crime scenes

We are being watched

Daniel Larsen — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST

Everyday conversation used to be ephemeral. Whether face-to-face or by phone, we could be reasonably sure that what we said disappeared as soon as we said it.

People worry more about Anthrax than influenza

Daniel Larsen — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST

Opium Baron in Afghanistan

Daniel Larsen — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST

Unbelievable footage from Afghanistan by Channel 4 News

Te Ara

Daniel Larsen — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST

The New Zealand Encyclopedia is magnificently presented and resourced

Maximise Your Search Engine Rankings with Yellow Pages

Daniel Larsen — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 00:00:00 EST

The New Zealand Yellow Pages have a great web "headline" service that allows you to attach a short description and keywords to your listing on www.yellowpages.co.nz. You can change the headlines and keywords online at www.myyellowpages.co.nz.

Because www.yellowpages.co.nz has such a good Google Page Rank, their pages will usually rank highly in search results. If their page happens to link to your website, then clearly you will benefit from the extra traffic.

At around NZ$38 per month + GST, a Yellow Pages headline represent pretty good value.

I have written more about this topic for the Klixo website:
A strategy for better search engine rankings for New Zealand small business websites

Disclaimer: Daniel Larsen is not affiliated with Yellow Pages in any way. Daniel Larsen does not receive any direct or indirect benefit from Yellow Pages for recommending their products.

Klixo is the MAc Daddy

Wairere Iti — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST

First there was Intel now there is Klixo...thats right Mac users can now use the raw power of Klixo's story editor to add content to their site. Unlike Intel though klixo won't leave you with that william gatesey aftertaste in your mouth....ahhh thats fresh.

Jillian Houghton - In Sight

Daniel Larsen — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:00:00 EST

In Sight is an exhibition of paintings and light sculptures by Jillian Houghton at The Bean. The exhibition opening was on Saturday the 18th of March, 2006.

Choose Your Power Company Carefully

Daniel Larsen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST

The web is empowering consumers with more financial, environmental, and social responsibility information about the companies we do business with every day.

Power Switch

Did you know that you have a choice of which power company you use, no matter where you live? Use the Power Switch wizard provided by the Consumers' Institute of New Zealand to compare your current power bill with other power companies in the market:
http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch/

Clean Energy Guide

Having a choice allows you to consider the environment as well. Greenpeace have developed a Clean Energy Guide so that you can compare the "environmental bottom line" of each power company that serves your area:
http://www.greenpeace.org.nz/ceg/

Political bullying worse than school bullying Principal says

Daniel Larsen — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST

Bay principal say politicians should sort out their own playground before targeting school text bullying.

Political bullying is worst says principal

Trade Me Sale Has Got Analysts Scratching

Daniel Larsen — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 00:00:00 EST

The Trade Me sale is good news no matter which way you look at it, even though I am of the opinion that FairFax may have got the skinny end of that deal, but never the less: Trade Me has gone full circle in demonstrating that it is possible to (in Sam Morgan's words) "monitise" a high traffic website in New Zealand.

Trade Me did not have a huge market or even an original idea. It is how they converted their traffic into profit and even more traffic that made them successful, and I am sure they will be the first of many New Zealand businesses to demonstrate large profits from traffic.

And if these products are from export dollars - all the better for the economy.

Hurdles Ahead for Fairfax's gamble (NZ Herald)