Link building is one of the fundamental elements of SEO. While there are various ways to increase your inbound link count – in the trenches of buying, selling, and trading – the most powerful and efficient way is through link bait, the finer points of which are as teachable as “how to pick up girls.”

Thomas Quinn, a Samsung Semiconductor executive, has pleaded guilty to federal charges of fixing prices for dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Quinn conspired with competitors in a scandal that affected every major computer maker.

Dave Taylor has been steadfast in his belief that CEOs should not blog. Period. End of discussion. He said so last year during Global PR Blog Week, and reiterated his belief in a post to his Intuitive Systems blog.

On Thursday, September 21st I had the pleasure of interviewing Google Analytics’ Senior Manager Brett Crosby. So here’s how the conversation went:

Poking around Google Trends, I entered a few terms and found something interesting.. what is it about the term “maps” and Canadians?

Microsoft and Nokia reached an agreement that will place Live Search into Nokia’s Mobile Search platform, which will make Live Search available to users of Nokia’s high-end N Series multimedia phone and S60-compatible devices.

A Flash Development Center opened on the Yahoo Developer Network with a variety of resources for ActionScript 2 and 3 application builders.

“The line between the virtual and physical worlds is becoming thinner every day. As more complex interactions take place in virtual spaces, better communication is essential.”

Microsoft may set up an online version of its low-end Works productivity suite to compete with offerings from Google and a number of startup companies.

Business Week has an extensive look at click fraud – yep, can’t go a month, without someone doing an expose on click fraud.

Another POI database is on the market in the GeoDataSource Cities Database product. The company has several flavors that run as much as $1,000+. A free product is available to those who register.

Earlier this month Brian Clark of Copyblogger launched a new service called tubetorial. The site offers video and screencast “how to’s” on several topics including:

CNET has full details of the unfolding story of Josh Wolf, a video blogger who is prepard to go to prison instead of turning over some video footage he shot of a protest that turned violent.

Soon after an ad deal with Microsoft, Facebook is rumored again to be in talks with Yahoo! about a possible $1 billion acquisition – that is, if Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg feels like getting out of bed this time.

Rajen Sheth was on fire Wednesdayas were some of the Google Data centers he showed us in his presentation.

If a senior-level executive at a company cuts a deal with you, would you assume that senior-level executive has the authority to make that deal? Jake Steinfeld, of Body by Jake fame, did take that leap of faith, but now finds himself suing AOL for fraud and forgery.

When something odd happens in a program that the developer certainly did not include in the code, a bug may have nestled in, and needs to be tracked down and fixed.

Steve Rubel points to a cute explanation of RSS feeds.

The Google Account implementation is now live at Writely.com.

The search advertising company has added several features from the wish lists of Google Spreadsheets users to the service.

Requiring that Google remove all Belgian news sources from its index and stop publishing content snippets and thumbnails is one thing, but making them wear the judgment like a scarlet badge is quite another – and Google’s not taking it lying down.

Microsoft and AdMission have announced a development that may greatly benefit advertisers who use Windows Live Expo’s free classifieds. This “customized version of AdMission Spotlight” will allow users to “opt in and purchase an upgraded listing.” In effect, regular people will get to advertise through banner ads.

A blazing Dell laptop forced workers at Yahoo to leave their workplace while firefighters responded to the scene.

When Sprint sent an LG Fusic phone to a blogger in hopes he would write about it and Sprint’s new Power Vision Network, they may have understood the slight possibility he would write a negative review. But they probably didn’t expect 3,100 words (seven pages) about how much he hated both.