Be back in a week. Travelling through Pennsylvania in the meantime. Unfortunately when I get back, I’ve got two websites to launch, two courses to start, one course to continue, a pile of work that has risen, lots of computer problems to fix, a second sweet potato pie recipe to try (version deux), another trip to plan, and autumn colour expeditions to organize! Looks like it’ll be a busy fall! Goodbye summer! Here we come craziness!
Monthly Archive for August, 2007
Earlier today I ran across a some news from both ZDNet and TechCrunch about Facebook pushing the perceived boundaries of targeted advertisement further by matching advertisers with the end user via the data collected from the user’s profile as well as from their “social graph”. TechCrunch suggests that there could be the possibility for Facebook to predict what a user would want in the future through such data exploits. A the same time, there is speculation that Facebook would continue it’s relatively costly advertisement model which is based on the number of impressions, as opposed to pay-per-click. Here are my initial thoughts on these matters:
- If indeed Facebook is planning to continue with such a model, I don’t believe it will work as well as people think. Paying per one thousand impressions (CPM) is an antiquated model in my opinion and does not effectively justify any sort of ROI. While the big box corporations will jump at Facebook, small and medium sized businesses will continue to spend their money on Google, Microsoft or Yahoo pay-per-click ads. Sure it’s not as advanced and may not be considered to be as “relevant” to the user as the user-targetting system that Facebook utilizes, but the effectiveness from my perspective just does not justify the cost. So far I cannot say I have clicked on any Facebook ads.
- I personally don’t like data mining and utilizing the acquired user behaviourial patterns and profile’s personal data to have advertisement matched according to me. It seems a little too much in my opinion, and slightly overbearing. In fact, if Facebook decides to thoroughly utilize my profile’s data, I think they should provide all users with a big and bold privacy notice letting them know that their personal data is being used for advertisement relevancy.
- While majority of people are loving Facebook, I am very hesitant to endorse the web 2.0 company and am actually some what suspicious of its objectives. Call me paranoid, but I much prefer when I can decide for myself what businesses can see about me (on my website). I also enjoy the fact that they can’t determine what I want based on my actions. Businesses should figure that out based on customer feedback, not by collecting data that is considered valuable “marketing” information. That’s what truly successful businesses do to show that they are human beings, they communicate with their customers.
I may be a big fan of internet marketing, but I believe it is very important to keep the human aspect alive, to maintain client/customer relations and to respect an individual’s right to absolute privacy, regardless of where the boundaries are being pushed today by the most recent generation of social media savvy people.
I’m a fan of shirts. T-shirts actually because I hate the heat. Autumn is my favourite season, then comes winter, spring is icky because it’s wet and warm, and I just despise summer because I just don’t like the hot temperatures.
Everyone at work knows fully well how much I despise the heat and that I rarely ever feel the cold. So much so that one of my co-workers passed this along for the fun of things. Apparently in Japan, a company by the name of Kuchou-fuku (literally translated to air conditioned clothes) have created shirts with fans. Check out the article and the photograph … would you wear these clothes?
I think I may wait for the sleeker version.
On the topic of shirts, summer and maybe even … vacation, I got to wondering why is it that we as a whole society don’t shift our vacations and business quarters so that we can all enjoy the autumn season more. It is the most beautiful season (and also the shortest) with all the autumn colours and the cool crisp air, and we all go back to work or school at that time when we should be enjoying the season the most. Phooey. Screw spring time, aside from the tulips, all we get are mosquitoes and black flies.
Being the shutterbug / photography enthusiast that I am, I couldn’t help but share in the excitement in hearing from engadget that Amazon has posted the details to the Canon EOS 40D digital SLR, which is also the successor to my current camera, the Canon EOS 30D.
So far, the impressive details for me are the new DIGIC III processor, the Enhanced Live View (which essentially turns the digital SLR into another digicam in some sense). I didn’t really go through all the details, but it would ideal if they included sensor cleaning functions like Canon had done with the EOS 400D Digital Rebel XTi.
You may check out the details over at engadget here. I don’t know if this is all official, but it is interesting speculation.
Update: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) has just posted a preview of the Canon EOS 40D here.
I am a casual gamer. I used to be a huge fan of all games, but I find as I get older, I have less time to play the games I’d like to get into. Which is somewhat sad because I’d love to join in on the fun of massively multiplayer online games, but they just simply take up too much time. Thankfully, games like Guild Wars allow gamers like myself to play on and off (net connection permitting). Aside from Guild Wars, I have been ecstatic ever since more and more complex games have been developed via Adobe/Macromedia’s Flash technology. It is just fun to have a quick game here and there when you have a spare boring moment or just want a quick shot at a high score.
Majority of Flash games tend to have a relatively short life-span simply because of the size and complexity of the game in comparison to traditionally coded games.
I recently ran across one that reminded me of an old toy that I used to adore as a kid, one of those driving simulation toys with a steering wheel. Unfortunately I can’t find an image or remember what it was called, so if anyone happens to know … feel free to share!
JohnnyTwoShoes has created a couple of great games online with the Flash technology. One of them being Thermostorm which is an awesome side-scrolling shoot’em up-type game, which is actually quite elaborate and it reminds me of the old classic side-scrollers on my antiquated PC back in the early 90s mixed in with some newer elements of gaming such as buying upgrades or new weapons, as well as bullet time (aka. slow motion).
ahhhhhhhh!
The other one called HighSpeedChase reminded me of the driving simulation toy from the 1980s. It’s really short game and the whole point is to weave around traffic and take down three target cars while keeping your speed as high as possible, as much life (car health) as possible, and in the shortest distance. Those factors determine your high score!
Of course … this isn’t really similar to the driving simulation toy of the 1980s, it doesn’t really serve to encourage safe driving does it?
oops … caused a slight collision
Because … they are YA novels, not grown-up adult-type novels. Not too long ago HarperCollins Canada announced that they would be repackaging certain young adult novels for adults. Why???
I think it is silly to be redesigning a cover so that adults don’t feel awkward while reading a book they like. Sure you might say that I am ignoring a market that’s out there but honestly if someone likes YA novels, then I don’t see why that person wouldn’t like the original YA novel cover. After all, it is a young adult novel.
Raincoast Books did the same thing for Harry Potter. Now I am not a fan of Harry Potter but if anyone is to read the series, the least they should do is openly admit that they are enjoying the young adult novel and not try and hide behind an “adult version” of the book.
You have to admit, the original cover is soooo much better than the adult version. Any adult who is trying to hide their inner child is missing out big time.
The Marketing Spin: While on the subway, I often look around and see what books people are reading. It’s not really that I am interested in what they are reading but more so out of pure observation. If I saw someone reading a novel and it had an adult version of the book cover on it, I would never realize it was a young adult novel and thus a missed marketing opportunity. By focusing on marketing to adults, publishers don’t realize that it works like a double-edged sword. People like myself who thoroughly enjoy young adult novels will not view the book we see as such and rather just regard it as another boring adult novel. We enjoy young adult novels because they are just that, novels for young adults.
I’ll be back in 10 days or so. In the meantime, keep exploring the web, nature and the world!
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