Google’s Gray Areas Get Shadier

Gray areas are where Google seems to prefer these days rather than the messy business of tiptoeing black and white ethical lines. Our first great disillusionment came when Google bent its philosophy just enough – when evil became suddenly a more "fluid" concept – to accept China’s demands to censor search results.

Of course we saw that coming because there was sufficient grayness for Google to frolic in; some search is better than no search. And we also had a feeling that as share prices went up, more often the weight of certain values would go down. It seems the natural process of things.

Not that the company has done anything especially nasty, and quite a bit of good has been done along the way to even out any karmic concerns. And we can hope at least that continues.

But when Google bought DoubleClick, there was something largely overlooked. With DoubleClick also came a company called Performics, a search engine optimization company. The astute ones of course did notice and posed their questions. Google responded to them in turn, saying they had no plans to shake loose the potential conflict of interest.

And no one’s accused them of ill-doing in relation to Performics – just some hypocrisy. Earlier this week, Scott Buresh at Search Engine Guide highlights how Google doesn’t back its own corporate talking points.

Google’s Webmaster Central doesn’t define "relationships" other than to say the company doesn’t have any with SEOs, and advises that if webmasters choose to have such relationships, they should be wary of crooks. If "unsatisfied for any reason" with an SEO, Google advises that webmasters "should insist on a full and unconditional money-back guarantee."

Which is something Performics doesn’t offer, notes Buresh. "Let’s be charitable and assume that in the heat of the acquisition Google has forgotten to update the page of advice that it has created for website owners."

But wait, the gray gets darker. Buresh points us to an earlier article where he claims the biggest Google advertisers have direct access to Google engineers as a "perk":

"It has long been rumored that Google will offer technical assistance in achieving better organic search engine placement to those who spend more for paid search results. I know for certain that these rumors are true in at least two instances. In fact, I actually have the minutes from one of these technical assistance meetings after the company met with Google engineers. While the identity of these two companies is irrelevant, suffice to say that they are companies that you have almost certainly heard of and that they spend millions of dollars on paid search words each year."

To sum up, Google owns an SEO company and its engineers allegedly give SEO advice to the company’s biggest clients. So gray it’s murky, wouldn’t you say?

Google did not return request for comment in time for publication.

Eye-opening at first, but rather than a blow-by-blow response, why not sum it up this way:

• Should you do extra work to label your content or install sitemaps? Hmm, only if you want to be found.
• We’re talking about publishers, not people. Therefore, purveyors of information (and/or products and offers) in a hugely competitive, open environment. Tom’s article, for example, sports ads for conferences as well as Edelman, the world’s largest PR firm. Seems like a tag or two might be a decent tradeoff for the exposure. You don’t expect the engine to actually write the content for you, so what’s a bit of extra metadata between friends? As for “people,” it’s the users that are getting a good deal out of the extra work you might do to label your content

More detailed response:

• Tags or labels are indispensable when it comes to some kinds of content, such as videos or photos
• If something is useful or popular enough, depending on the community, third-party tagging can be helpful. What’s the incentive to do this? Interesting question. What’s my incentive to type this sentence? But yes I think there is a huge bunch of unlabeled stuff that probably will stay unlabeled because there is no incentive to label it. That doesn’t mean search engines aren’t going to try to “organize it and make it universally accessible.”
• The article’s general tone seems to suggest that the search engines are stingy about “sending their robots around.” Far from it! Even relatively unpopular sites are spidered frequently nowadays.
• Search engines have advanced in many ways over the past few years. One of them is their sheer storage capacity. Index size is a huge challenge, which brings us to:
• The claim that corporate search engines are doing a better job of letting publishers take the lazy way out is a bit odd. It’s a much smaller dataset, so stuff is much easier to find. But I’ll grant that it is interesting that some of these technologies are quite good at recognizing industry-specific patterns, and autocategorizing content — no user tagging required. But that’s a whole internal debate in the info retrieval field. I’m sure some companies use human categorization!
• Search is a bit like matchmaking, and the meaning of what “search” is has expanded. Take the emerging field of local search. Now add the premise that “refine is the new search” (I don’t think it really is on its own, but users definitely want to be able to “drill down” to get exactly what they want by telling the search engine). And hey, why not toss in the idea of geolocation & mapping. So I’m a user and I’m looking for a hardware store, let’s say. Let’s say I also want to find a hardware store that sells a certain brand of doorbell. I’d prefer it be within 20 minutes driving distance. And I want to find one that is “open 24 hrs.” (just for argument’s sake). None of that is ever going to be findable without a huge amount of research, unless of course the “publisher” (hardware store owners) is willing to upload their information in a structured format. By uploading that info, buyer and seller connect more easily. By not uploading it, you choose “not to be on the map.” It’s your choice.
• Things like Google Base are arguably research projects to help Google find out what are some common categorization schemas in a given industry – or a whole category, like brick and mortar retail. (If “open 24 hrs.” is a common one, then maybe it’ll come up more often in search and navigation databases as a yes/no item down the road, let’s say.)

In short, the claim that “people should just find me” is a bit like building an all-graphics site and hoping people will find you when they search for “guitar pick.” Or sitting on your back porch strumming “Galveston” and praying you’ll be invited onto American Idol.

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Brian has written out a FAQ, which explains how the tracker uses a moving average, making it a more accurate and realistic look at how your weight is changing over the last two weeks, as well as giving some good tips on losing weight realistically. The Gadget, Fitz’s 20% project, includes a modified Flash graph from the Google Analytics team, and the FAQ is based on advice from Google staff doctor Razavi.

Why is this named “The Google 15″?

A play on the dreaded “Freshman 15″ that many college students gain, this homepage module is named in honor of the fifteen pounds that new Google employees supposedly gain in their first year at Google from gorging on the omnipresent free food.

Of course, legend and fact don’t always agree, and The Google 15 is really a false urban legend, but it makes an intriguing name for a homepage module.

Really? Maybe someone needs to do a study to find the real truth. Me and my wife are now using the tracker, and we’ll see who can better avoid the “Marriage 15″.

Who am I kidding?! I already gained more than 15 pounds since the wedding!
(via TraderMike > Found on Findory)

UPDATE: Also, here’s a way to change the style of your Google Personalized Homepage to something more blue and blissful.
(via Digg)

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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.

Visit the InsideGoogle blog.

Nearly half (43 percent) of those polled by comScore Pharmaceutical Solutions reported a high level of satisfaction with online weight loss resources. The three most popular destinations in July were AOL Diet and Fitness (4 million visitors), eDiets.com (3.2 million visitors), and WeightWatchers.com (3.1 million).

Though 95 percent of weight loss researchers reported using both online and offline resources, the study found a clear distinction between the types of information sought. Online researchers are seeking information overload – the minute details of weight loss plans.

Sixty-two percent of weight loss researchers look for information on specific programs and diets online, compared to just 51 percent seeking this information offline. comScore suspects TV and print advertisements drive the 39 percent of researchers turning on their computers to find information on weight loss drugs. Only 24 percent hoof it down to the GNC or doctor’s office.

Likewise for specific treatment options, 27 percent go online for this information, while 19 percent seek for it offline.

The “Internet’s sweet spots for weight loss researchers,” says comScore, are the weight management tools, such as interactive body fat calculators and calorie counters. The number of researchers going online for these offerings (46 percent) more than doubles those seeking for it elsewhere (22 percent).

The study found that 44 percent of weight loss researchers use online information to help them stay compliant with their respective programs, and 30 percent found it useful for medication compliance.

Nearly 40 percent reported that online resources influenced them to seek more information about weight loss medication, and over a third were influenced by online information to speak to a doctor about a weight loss program.

Also, good news for weight loss drug peddlers, nearly 40 percent of researchers indicated they are extremely or very likely to speak to their doctors about weight loss options as a result of weight loss information they read online.

Twenty-five percent said they were likely to specifically ask their doctor to prescribe a weight loss drug they had researched online, and 21 percent indicated they would ask their doctor to switch weight loss medication. About a third said they’d use a free coupon they obtained online.

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The amount of information about what search engine optimization is, is as varied as the motivations of the companies that employ it. To help companies understand the various aspects of SEO, I often make comparisons to things just about everyone can relate to. So here are a few reasons why effective SEO is like successful weight loss.

1. No pain, no gain. Losing weight takes work. You have to make changes in order to make a significant improvement. If your web site doesn’t rank well, you will have to make changes and those changes will cost time effort and money. In most cases there is not a simple, “painless” solution. Same goes for weight loss. For a great SEO program, expect to make an investment.

2. Changes must be long term. The current fads for weight loss often involve quick solutions like pills, concoctions and other “magic” programs, but they don’t work long term. The most successful weight loss programs include lifestyle changes, not some kind of quick trick. The same principle applies to search engine optimization. SEO is a long term strategy. Quick tricks and algorithm loopholes might get you results in the short term, but you’ll be right back where you started (or worse) as soon as the search engines discover them. How many people have you heard of that have lost a lot of weight only to put it back on? In both cases, the solution is a long term commitment in order to be successful. If you need short term search marketing results, use Pay Per Click. If you’re not in it for the long haul with search engine optimization, then don’t bother starting.

3. No spam. Spam in a can is going to make you fat. (My opinion – sorry Hormel ) Spam in your SEO is going to get you in trouble with the search engines and alienate your users. Just say no to spam.

4. Value meal SEO. Different people respond differently to attempts to lose weight. Genetics, metabolism and overall health all affect how your body will respond with a weight loss program. Value meals, aka fast food, are certainly of no help for weight loss. “Value meal SEO”, or pre-packaged SEO solutions are not much help either. Web sites are often as different as people. What would be an appropriate SEO program for a 5,000 page ecommerce site selling dog and cat toys may not be the solution for a 100 page, static B to B web site for a systems integration IT consulting firm. There is a unique aspect to almost every SEO program and therefore require unique solutions.

5. Fundamentals are key. With weight loss it’s food and exercise in the right proportions. With SEO it’s content and links. Those things have always been true and will always be true in the forseeable future. While the fundamentals have pretty much stayed the same over the years with search engine optimization, it’s the execution that has varied a bit. Start and stick with the fundamentals, but pay attention to small changes needed in execution to accommodate for changes in search engine ranking methodology.

Now I suppose the people that know me will expect there to be a skinny (or at least skinnier) Lee at the next conference. All I know is, if I applied a fraction of the energy I put into our SEO biz into weight loss, I would regain my junior high moniker, “skinny” soon enough.

Lee Odden is President and Founder of
TopRank Online Marketing, specializing in organic SEO, blog
marketing and online public relations. He’s been cited as a search
marketing expert by publications including U.S. News & World Report and
The Economist and has implemented successful search marketing programs
with top BtoB companies of all sizes. Odden shares his marketing
expertise at Online Marketing Blog offering
daily news, interviews and best practices.

BGP isnt just one of the biggest topics on the BSCI exam, its one of the largest. BGP has a great many details that must be mastered for BSCI success, and those of you with one eye on the CCIE must learn the fundamentals of BGP now in order to build on those fundamentals at a later time.

Path attributes are a unique feature of BGP. With interior gateway protocols such as OSPF and EIGRP, administrative distance is used as a tiebreaker when two routes to the same destination had different next-hop IP addresses but the same prefix length. BGP uses path attributes to make this choice.

The first attribute considered by BGP is weight. Weight is a Cisco-proprietary BGP attribute, so if youre working in a multivendor environment you should work with another attribute to influence path selection.

The weight attribute is significant only to the router on which it is changed. If you set a higher weight for a particular route in order to give it preference (a higher weight is preferred over a lower one), that weight is not advertised to other routers.

BGP uses categories such as “transitive”, “non-transitive”, “mandatory”, and “optional” to classify attributes. Since weight is a locally significant Cisco-proprietary attribute, it does not all into any of these categories.

The weight can be changed on a single route via a route-map, or it can be set for a different weight for all routes received from a given neighbor. To change the weight for all incoming routes, use the “weight” option with the neighbor command after forming the BGP peer relationships.

R2(config)#router bgp 100

R2(config-router)#neighbor 100.1.1.1 remote-as 10

R2(config-router)#neighbor 100.1.1.1 weight 200

Learning all of the BGP attributes, as well as when to use them, can seem an overwhelming task when you first start studying for your BSCI and CCNP exams. Break this task down into small parts, learn one attribute at a time, and soon youll have the BGP attributes mastered.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of FREE CCNA and CCNP tutorials and daily exam questions, as well as The Ultimate CCNA and CCNP Study Packages.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” or “How To Pass The CCNP”, and for free daily exam question, visit the website and download your copies!

The Kosmix search seeks to tap into the expanding demand for health-related information by web users. As an alpha release, Kosmix wants to use this period to play with the search algorithm and garner feedback from users.

Not much is known about those behind the company, but the Onotech blog had this to say about Kosmix:

Kosmix searches through a variety of medical related sites, from medical journals to blogs to research institutions. The site claims it can return authoritative results from hard-to-find sources.

A search returns results in the expected manner, and delivers some grouping information in the left sidebar. Queries can be filtered from the left sidebar by information type, treatment type, or patient type. Running a query for ‘weight loss’ gives Babies & Kids and Women’s Health as patient types, but oddly omits men as a specific group; it looks like the patient type filters general results down to those specific to women or children as required by the user.

In my brief testing on a couple of other topics, Information Types fall into four groups: Basic, Expert, Organizations, and Blogs. Treatment Types have three groups, Clinical Trials, Alternative Medicine, and Diet & Nutrition.

Search results for Kosmix are not doctor-reviewed. A big selling point of rival Healthline is that it does include numerous doctor-reviewed information results for various conditions and topics. A Healthline search for topics with that info deliver a doctor-reviewed result as the first link in the search results.

Right now, the sources used by Healthline, the anatomical images provided by A.D.A.M., and the various features Healthline has developed over its lifetime give it an edge over Kosmix searches. But Kosmix is only in alpha, and definitely has room for improvement.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.

One of my SEO clients, Green Mountain at Fox Run has now taken the business blogging plunge.

Their new healthy weight loss blog is called, appropriately enough A Weight Lifted and it’s already gaining some attention around the blogosphere. Their traffic is steadily increasing, and sending visitors over to the main women’s weight loss spa website.

A Weight Lifted was developed on a TypePad blogging platform, and is a multiple contributor group blog. That multi-person approach to blogging is working well for them.

The three main authors are posting regularly, and they are contributing posts to a number of the internet Carnivals. As a result, the blog is gaining a wider reading audience. The blog has also been submitted to the various blog directories, and to some mainstream internet directories as well.

We have also made certain that the blog is available via the various RSS feed aggregators. Ease of feed subscription was a must, and RSS was addressed early in the blog development process.

The purpose of the blog, from a business blogging perspective, was to develop a conversation and informal relationship with the readership. Building a trusting relationship, through open and frank discussion of weight and helth issues, was a very important consideration for the writers. They have maintained a firm committment to their principles and that is expected to continue.

The SEO consideration of the blog was a very distant secondary consideration behind the more important relationship building aspect of the blog. Conversation and interaction was the primary blogging goal.

Green Mountain at Fox Runalready has strong search engine rankings, and rapidly exploding visitor traffic as a result. The blog was not required for that purpose.

Instead, the blog puts real people in the business.

No longer just a website, or a brochure, Green Mountain at Fox Run is now a women’s weight loss spa staffed by friendly, knowledgeable, and professional people.

The blog is the key to personalization.

Drop by A Weight Lifted today, and let the writers know your thoughts on their blog.

Reader Comments…

Wayne Hurlbert provides insigtful information about marketing, promotions, search engine optimization and public relations for websites and business blogs on the popular Blog Business World.

Check out Blog Business World for yourself.

Grab your popcorn and cotton candy and sit back and enjoy Carnival of the Capitalists: The Greatest Business Show in the Blogosphere.

That was a little long for a tag line. I’ll have to work on improving that one.

One of the truly exciting aspects of hosting Carnival of the Capitalists is the wide assortment of bloggers who enter.

Many of the entrants to this hosting of Carnival of the Capitalists are here for the very first time.

This is my second hosting of the Carnival of the Capitalists and I hope you enjoy the show.

Got your refreshments in hand?

Let’s join the midway!

Marketing

Toby Bloomberg of Diva Marketing suggests storytelling as a powerful form of marketing. Nothing deepens and enriches a relationship with others like telling them a good story.

Marketer Michele Miller of WonderBranding: Marketing To Women recommends that when approaching the topic of marketing to women, stop thinking feminine. Instead, she says, focus on the logical.

Is it possible greed is a great quality for salespeople? Or is the word so tainted, it’s an unacceptable quality for all people and professions? Those are the provocative questions posed by Jim Logan of JSLogan as he channels Gordon Gecko of the movie Wall Street.
Laurence Haughton of BusinessBlogcasting graphically illustrates the purpose of marketing in a world where marketers are encouraged to be liars.

Empowering employees is key to creating remarkable customer experiences is the message from Joseph DePalma of Joseph’s Marketing Blog.

James Cherkoff at Modern Marketing says The 4Ps is an idea that most marketeers have come across during their education. That makes it a good vehicle to discuss change as it is so widely understood. For those who don’t know it refers to Price, Place Product and Promotion, the mixture of areas that traditional marketing has concerned itself with. James asks: So what do the 4Ps mean in a digital era?

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing recommends bringing small groups of your clients together to meet, network and generally discuss how brilliant you are. After an opening like that, you simply have to read on.
Heather Burke at Pro Wrestling Impact asks what to do when something goes wrong at your event is something you should always plan for. She says the reason you should plan is because you need to have some idea of what you want to do to compensate your fans if something goes wrong. Her advice on planning ahead is applicable to any special event marketing.
At The Guerilla Marketer Michael McLaughlin says it’s common for clients to experience sticker shock when they see the price tag of a consulting project. With a little work, you can soften the blow.

Gina Vescio at A Weight Lifted describes how the diet and weight loss industry is marketed and how many well known historical persons would be left out of the so-called marketing ideal body type.

Blogging, Reading, and Writing

Vikk Simmons of Down The Writer’s Path discusses writing and the creative process. Evoking the legendary science fiction writer Ray Bradbury as an example, Vikk tells us how to free up our creative minds.

Over at The Blog Studio, Peter Flaschner sends us Part Two of a series examining how certain businesses could benefit from blogging. In this case, Peter suggests that realtors become bloggers. The post includes specific tips and examples.
Yvonne DiVita at Lip-Sticking says “Smart Blogger, Andy Wibbels” makes us look good by being both informative and funny in this interview on blogging and more. Read some dood business advice, in a fun environment, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

Ed Deevy of The Deevy Report describes what he’s learned about blogging from six months of online publishing. Deevy writes from the perspective of an individual who is a “lay person” when it comes to Internet technology. He clearly sees the blogging platform as a powerful easy-to-use communications tool…and he’s on a mission to convince his clients and colleagues that they should get on-board with the Blogging Revolution.
At Seeking Alpha, David Jackson discusses the attractiveness and drawbacks for finance bloggers of adding ads to their sites.

Evelyn Rodriguez of Crossroads Dispatches receives a new book, A Clear Eye for Branding, that reminds her that “Keep it Simple, Stupid” is sage advice in business and life and sets off the trigger for this post.

Here at Blog Business World as my own entry, I offer a post entitled “Case studies: A blogging idea” where I suggest writing real life case studies as a regular blog posting feature.

Tinu Abayomi-Paul of Free Traffic Tips invites us to tell our business story. As a multi-part post series, start with the first entry and enjoy the story of “Your Business and the Story of a Tree: Part One”.

Finance, Markets, and Investment

FMF of Free Money Finance has a post featuring people commenting on the outrageous sums that they’ve spent on their pets. Poor Fido and Fluffy.

Over at TechTrader, Anonymous discusses buyouts of IUSA. Wanna get in on the share trading action?

Toni Staka of The Prudent Investor – seeing too many bubbles asks is there a rift developing on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors? It seems so. Toni suggests that Governor Donald Kohn has started the finger-pointing, by distancing himself from other FRB members. ‘Don’t blame me, I told you so,’ he will be able to say in the future, once economic developments have turned sour. “It is not the time for complacency”, he warned bankers, who should put in extra hours to finetune their risk management systems.
You may often ask how much money do you need to save to pay for college for you or your kids? Ironman at Political Calculations has a tool to find out what you’ll need, to cover the costs, of what many people consider to be the most important investment they’ll ever make.

John Mudd of Tampa Bay’s Inside Real Estate Journal discusses the explosion of condo sales in the Tampa, Forida area.

Peter at Fund Universe offers a few tips that can help you build the wealth you will need to
assure your future financial security. In fact, Peter provides “8 Rules That Will Make You Wealthy”.
Joshua Sharf at View From a Height discusses a popular means of evaluating fund managers’ style. It is something called “Returns Based Style Analysis”. Joshua believes that a much better system can be developed.
Joe Kristan from Roth & Company Tax Update cites reports that say that the US Justice Department may indict KPMG. Joe discusses why that would be unwise.
When moving out of a rented apartment your security deposit is typically returned in full. However, as Ezra Marbach of Sound Money Tips says, landlords have been known to argue for deducting money from your deposit in order to cover supposed issues that you are leaving behind. The post offers some pointers on getting your rented apartment’s security deposit back in full when you move out.
Big Picture Guy at Big Picture, Small Office talks about how the Board rejects loyalty rebates on the basis that customers are commodities that can be bought and sold…like feeder cattle and corn. What is the price of “Pork Belly Futures” today?

Business Management and Methods

Gretchen Ross of The Green Lantern comments on the rumoured proposal from Wal-Mart that their employees be on call and available for work around the clock.

Gautam Ghosh of Gautam Ghosh on Management suggests that eventually every KM project is an attempt to change the corporate culture of the organization and the behavior of people in the organizational systems. He says this change can never be sustainable unless human and organizational processes change to support this change. Gautam believes that is the insight that traditional OD consulting brings to KM.

When you are in business, says Rosa Say of Talking Story says learning to be a reader gives you a definite edge. She says this post is about organizing yourself to take advantage of opportune pockets of time. Rosa suggests don’t let “I have no time to read” be your excuse.

Practical advice arrives from Susan Getgood of Marketing Roadmaps on how to make sure your sales and marketing teams are really communicating with each other, not just talking (and complaining) at each other.
Aleah at Ricksticks believes that successful organizations must honour individual spirit. Note the Lord of the Rings reference in the post too.

Elana Centor at FunnyBusiness examines corporate culture from the lighter side of the street. Elana ponders a new Universal Symbol –MY BUTT IS ON THE LINE. I can see her design possibilities on Post-It notes already.

Skip Angel of Random Thoughts from a CTO asks the following questions about leadership and principles: As a leader, do you want people to understand you better? Do you want them to know what you value and what you don’t?

At pc4media, Peter Caputa discusses how Fundable.org is a website that lets users create fund drives. Peter says the fund drives can be for any purpose: to fund a software project, to raise funds for a non profit, to raise funds for a group purchase. The goal, continues Peter, for how many participants and how much each has to give is set by the person creating the action. If the goal isn’t met, all the money is refunded. Peter concludes that it is a no risk way to support a mini or a major cause.

Christopher Bailey from The Alchemy of Soulful Work asks is there a good time to conduct a learning dialogue? Christopher concludes: Sure there is. The timing of a manager’s criticism is as important as its constructiveness.

Mad Anthony of Mad Anthony is “Going Postal”. Well not really. Actually, he is taking a look at the things the post office does right and wrong – and why.

“How big are your batteries?” asks Lisa Haneberg of Management Craft. Lisa sends a thoughful post about how people are equipped with different natural energy levels.

Communications, Technology, and Podcasting

Neville Hobson of Nevon provides a detailed step by step primer on putting the power of podcasts into production for your blog or online business and public relations program.
The joys and triumphs, and trials and tribulations and everything e-mail are fodder for cehwiedel of Kicking Over My Traces. Also provided are some ideas for eliminating spam. Now I know you want to read that!

Improving your voice mail message is the message from Phil Gerbyshak at Make It Great. Practical tips and techniques are included. No more “name your own adventure”!

At her Selling To Small Businesses blog, Anita Campbell says despite all the free tools available for online collaboration, there is still a market to sell such tools for a fee to small businesses. Anita says once small businesses get a taste for online collaboration — especially in this day and age of small businesses working virtually from multiple locations — they will find that they need these tools. Anita beleives the availability of the free stuff will actually increase the demand for paid products that are easier to install, configure and customize to the small business’s needs. She concludes that today the use of “free” tools is what actually creates a market demand for the upgraded, fee version of the products.

The User Experience approach, in the opinion of Barry Welford of The Other Bloke’s Blog is most useful for websites and coffee-grinders. Barry believes it would work wonders for the remodernized Montreal International Airport.
Russell Buckley of The Mobile Technology Weblog says the community showed its displeasure as eBay continued to host Live 8 ticket auctions. Russell states that eBay were forced to quickly back down as the community responded to Bob Geldof’s calls to “mess up the system”.
Economics

Charkie Quidnunc of Rip and Read Blogger Podcast give us a listen to a podcast called “Democratic Anti-Economics” where he sends a clip of the appearance by Alan Greenspan, before a Congressional committee, discussing the concept of class warfare with Maurice Hinchey.

Brian Gongol of Gongal.com addresses the causes and effects of debt relief for poor countries, and some of the consequences resulting from different solutions.

Martin Lindeskog of EGO says that Ebay has been in business for 10 years. He provides thoughts on the future of online auctions between individuals, and questions on B2B e-auctions.

Join David of satire as he takes you on campus with Steve Jobs of Apple fame. It’s definitely an interesting and surprising ride.

Mastiff of Critical Mastiff says if we are serious about cutting back on subsidies, we need to start with the biggest beneficiaries: ourselves, or more specifically government-subsidized homeowners.

Les Jones at Les Jones.com believes sales tax is a huge issue for online operations. As an example, Les says “Borders.com Must Charge California Sales Tax”.

Gullyborg at Resistance is futile! points out that it’s big economic news, but it’s not getting reported in the mainstream media: despite Bush’s so-called “reckless tax cuts,” the US government has just set a new record for tax revenues.

At The Big Picture, Barry L. Ritholtz asks “How Much Does Sarbanes-Oxley Cost?”. Barry believes the cost is much different than publicly presented and thinks that some intellectual dishonesty afoot.

Half Sigma at Half Sigma addresses the question of whether competition causes higher prices. Yes, says Half Sigma, this is the opposite of what everyone “knows” to be true.

Steve Conover from The Skeptical Optimist offers a fiscal responsibility plan to keep the American debt burden under control, for the next fifty years. The result might be a surprise.

At Interested-Participant, Mike Pechar is concerned about “Legislation to Regulate Indoor Air”. Mike states it’s not clear what the long-term implications of the legislation would be, but it is clear that the state would dump a plethora of expensive design and habitability regulations on industry and the public while empowering some sort of sniffer police to enforce the provisions of the law.

Over at Mover Mike, Mike Landfair is enjoying that the Treasury International Capital (TIC) report is out and US Federal Reserve Chairperson Alan Greenspan relies on the government for his information. Mike is laughing about that turn of events. Give him a chance to recover a bit. Okay?

International Business, Trade, and Economics

While Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends was on vacation this week, Martin Lindeskog of EGO made an interesting guest post commenting on the difference in the entrepreneurial climate in Sweden and in the United States. Martin would love to get comments from others on some of the differences.

The trade agreement called CAFTA is examined by Will Frankin of WILLisms.com. Will calls CAFTA “The most important American free trade agreement in a decade”, making the post a must read.

Over at The Sharpener, Stuart presents a short piece on how GBP 2.8 bn (that’s a lotta dollars…) government subsidy to the BBC is killing regional media in Scotland: first radio,TV and advertising. According to Stuart, now Scotland’s newspapers are struggling to maintain an online presence in the face of state monopoly.
Trent McBride at Catallarchy challenges the conventional wisdom that agricultural subsidies in the First World promote suffering in the Third World. The discussion in the comments section is also interesting, with numerous trackbacks along with guest appearances from well known bloggers Jonathan Dingel, Megan McArdle, and David Tufte.

Brian David Crane from BrianDavidCrane.com discusses some techniques for doing business in Latin America. Along with the tips for opening business, Brian points out a few pitfalls to avoid.

According to Aamon Lamba of Audit Trails Of Self the $23-billion Reliance Industries, representing 4% of India’s economy, will be split between the brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani. Aamon provides details of the transaction.
Education, Careers, and Employment

In “A Student’s Guide To Landing a Great Job” blogger and student Devin Reams of BusinessBits offers real world, nitty gritty ideas for landing the job of your dreams…or at least for avoiding the job of your nightmares.

Deputy HeadMistress at The Common Room sends us Part One of an Economic Education. Deputy HeadMistrss says ecause the employees did not understand some basic economics (and had no consideration for others) an employee nearly loses her job. (In part II, she lost her job).

School Choice is the topic for Warren Meyer of Coyote Blog. Warren presents his views on the joys of capitalism and choice, particularly as applied to schools.

You own a firm and you want to promote the career of the young rising star. Michael Higgins at Chocolate and Gold Coins asks how do you avoid allowing her career to fall victim to office politics?

John Dmohowski at Drakeview tells us that a number of companies and institutions conduct periodic surveys of small and medium businesses. Interland and Florida International University have recently published theirs. John says the hosting services firm reports SMB owners are focused and optimistic about their businesses. FIU reports fewer people are seeing start-ups as viable career options. John concludes this is not surprising given the diversity and dynamics of the SMB universe.

Over at Ripples we find David St. Lawrence suggesting that there are times when your work situation just does not work out well. Even the best of employers can create a losing situation while trying to add a new position to the organization. David offers ideas for improving and changing an unpleasant employment situation.

Politics and Politicians

Matthew at TriggerFinger writes that blogger The Bitter Bitch questions whether requiring businesses to allow firearms owners, who are also employees, to lock guns in their cars without risk of being fired is a good thing. The question for Matthew is, of course, prompted by recent legislation in Oklahoma allowing that very thing. He says she’s got a point, one which I approached slightly in my commentary on the case of Feliciano v 7-11. Matthew thinks there’s a good point of differentiation, though.

David Gerstman from Soccer Dad: Maryland’s CEO writes that
The Washington Post doesn’t like it that Governor Bob Ehrlich makes his case on talk radio instead of in its printed pages. David says the reason is that the governor has a case to make that the paper just won’t consider.

David at satire follows Virginia Governor Mark Warner (D), a Presidential hopeful, during an interview with Salon.com who said that he wants, “to change the framing of the political debate, from right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal, to future and past. But…Mark Warner, who was a honest professional poker player, before becoming a shrewd professional politician, explained his winning strategy in terms easily understood by the rural Americans and the popular World Poker Tour tele-viewers. Keep reading for the rest.

Thanks to Jay and Rob for letting me host the Carnival.

Next week, look for Carnival of the Capitalists at First Call.

And finally, a big thank you to all of the contributors and to everyone who dropped by and peaked under the big tent.

I couldn’t have done it without you.

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Reader Comments…

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“A balanced, low-fat diet plus weekly meetings give this large commercial weight-loss program the highest long-term adherence rate of any diet in our analysis,” said Consumer Reports.

The criteria that Consumer Reports’ analysis was based on, includes weight loss, nutrition, weight loss ease, and how many people dropped out after six months. As Foodconsumer.org says,

Weight Watchers distinguishes itself from other diet plans by requiring the subscribers to attend meetings. Consumer Reports attributed the Weight Watchers success to this meeting process.

Slim Fast was viewed as the best way to help lose weight quickly, and it was ranked second.

Two Atkins programs which seem to be extremely popular these days, received the lowest rankings in the study. According to Consumer Reports, they “worked very well in the short term… but its nutritional deficiencies — too much fat, too little fiber, too few fruits — depressed its overall rating and might have a negative effect on some dieters’ health.”

Other diets that Consumer Reports studied include Jenny Craig, eDiets, South Beach Diet, and Volumetrics. The magazine didn’t rank these for lack of long-term data.

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.