The time may come when a computer will be able to out-compute a human, but not yet. According to a recent study, adding up all the computation power in every laptop, server, mainframe, cell phone, and digital processors of all kinds, everywhere on the planet will give you approximately the ability to handle approximately 6.4 x 10^18 operations a second. About the same as a human brain.

All the worlds storage – paper, film, hard-drives, etc. would give you same amount of storage as human DNA. In other words, somewhere around 2011 the planet has enough computing power to account for 1 extra person. The vast amount of “thinking” is still done by organic chemistry. Read the article I read on ARS Technica.

I’m also keen on taking a look at the Speed Tracer…Looks like a winner to me.

If you have tried either of these, I’d love to hear about it.

Study this email. I don’t recommend you copy his style (which is reminiscent of overindulgent catalog king J. Peterman on “Seinfeld”) but rather think about how honest-to-goodness thankfulness, and transparency can be incorporated into your business, regardless of its size.

Hello there Ben Shoemate

Just wanted to let you know that I sent your bag out just a little bit ago. Your tracking number is listed below along with a link to the shipping company so you can track your leather piece every couple of hours.  To care for your leather piece and read about the photo contest please see the Questions page on the website. I have all sorts of tips to keep your leather in top shape.

Oh, and by the way, I didn’t want to tell you this before you joined, but 10% of the gross amount that you gave to Saddleback went directly to one of those aid organizations on the Dave’s Links page.  If you spent $500 + $20 for shipping then $52 went out to love people.  Basically, you just contributed to drilling a well for an entire village or partially sponsored a 5 year old street kid in Rwanda to get into a loving orphanage and go to one of the best schools in the country. This is the main reason Saddleback Leather exists. Just wanted to let you know… between friends. Thanks for helping.

The way I see it, out of the thousands and thousands of companies in the world, on the Internet or down on the corner selling leather goods, you chose mine and I really do feel honored.  You are very much appreciated.. Welcome to the family.

Thank you and have a great week.

Warm regards,

Dave Munson
Presidente
Saddleback Leather Co

Your order number is SBL-*********.

The tracking numbers are:
******************************
You can track your package by visiting the links below:
http://wwwapps.ups.com/WebTracking/processInputRequest?TypeOfInquiryNumber=T&InquiryNumber1=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following items have been shipped to you:
line items
———————————————————————–
Small Wallet Light Tobacco Brown (WA-SM-LTB)
quantity: 1
total price: $28.00
———————————————————————–
subtotal:                        $28.00
sales tax:                        $2.28
standard shipping: *             $12.98
*shipping total includes handling and insurance fees
=======================================================================
grand total:                     $43.26
———————————————————————–

This order will be billed to:

Ben Shoemate
************
———————————————————————–

Orders for merchandise ship UPS and will receive a confirmation email and tracking number when your UPS order has shipped.
Orders for gift cards only ship via USPS mail with Delivery Confirmation and usually arrive in 3 to 5 business days.
—

This is an automatically generated email

Even down to letting you know this email was generated automatically – the message is honest and personal. Well done Dave.

It does this with millions of tiny balls, black on one side, white on the other. These rotate independently. The screen is more readable, like a newspaper, uses real light to show the screen, and use a lot less battery.

I think the ultimate devise would be to put a page of epaper on the lid of a thin laptop – like the Macbookair. I mocked it up in Photoshop below. Close the lid – read a book. Open it, use the laptop. Perfect.

If you have not heard of Twitter, heard of but never tried it, tried it but didn’t “get it”, or seen the value but weren’t sure how to extract it, then this article is written for you.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a website and service that let’s people “text” each other short messages. Unlike almost every other social network on the internet, Twitter is focused completely on this one feature. Each “Tweet” has a limit of 140 characters and looks like this on the website:

Let’s look at this tweet. First, Al Gore has an objective with this Tweet, he has taken a position and he wants as many people as possible to be aware of it. He is promoting his point of view. He used 136 characters in that tweet which probably meant he spent some time carefully choosing his words to make sure it fit.

When he pressed “send” some of the 26,000+ people that “follow” him saw it on their twitter page, got it on their phone, or on some other device. Some of them then ReTweeted (RT) the message or replied to it. This in return exposed the message to their audiences. As the message was repeated the number of people exposed was multiplied. Even if they did not repeat it, but just replied to it their followers saw the response and may have clicked to see the original post.

Twitter is also a social network, but for ideas…not people.

Each user has a very simple profile, consisting of a single photo, a one sentence description, a single link, and their location. But people follow each other because of what they say, not who they are.

Of coarse you can follow your friends or influencers but unlike other social networks, you don’t need their permission to listen to what they tweet (there is an option to keep your tweets private but most people don’t). If your like me, you quickly realize that you don’t really care about following your friends on Twitter, you already know what they think and have other ways of communicating with them. You use twitter to find the things you don’t know anything about and to do that you need a diverse network. 

Who is on Twitter?

Besides Barack Obama, Britney Spears, Karl Rove, Shaquille O’Neil, Lance Armstrong, everyone in Silicon Valley, almost every journalist, journalism professor, public relations professional, and executive of a internet company is on twitter. As well as lots of authors, comedians, TV personalities, thousands of web consultants (like myself @benshoemate), “gurus” , self promoters, bloggers, and million and millions of young people.

Will they actually reply to you?

Yes, if you say something worth replying to and not just “OMG I’m your biggest fan”. It’s like at a party, if you say something intelligent, they react. In fact, if I were trying to get on the Today show, or Oprah, I think I’d start on Twitter by reaching out to their people or even the stars themselves.

Why are these people on Twitter?

Same reason you need to be. Here they are:

• 140 char limit gives you an excuse for brevity. That which would be rude in an email or face to face is required by Twitter. I think busy people find this  liberating. I *wish* email had a character limit. I would love to put a filter on an email server that you could turn on that would only allow people 100 words per email. Because then they would have to think about what they are sending. They would have to get to the point. And no attachments. That would be a good experiment, no attachment friday’s. Use the wiki instead… #productidea
• 140 char limit makes twitter scanable. When you are following 50 conversations at once this is very important.
• Some smart interesting people are on twitter, if I lived in ancient Greece, I would be following Aristotle around, hanging on his every word (as long as it didn’t interfere with my job) because pearls of wisdom fall from his mouth every time he speaks. If I could, I would follow every interesting person on the planet (I made a list at the bottom to get you started)
• Influential people are on twitter
• Your customers are on twitter and you have an unprecedented opportunity to listen to them and learn about them (more about this later)
• and the number one reason – People are talking about you, your company, your industry, your products and services, your future, and your brand on Twitter.

Listen to your customers

Twitter is a way to listen to what other people are saying about you, your company, your products and services, your industry,  your brand.

What are the people saying about your company right now? Most big companies spend lots of money conducting focus groups, surveys, and interviews to understand what people think about their products and services. This is great and necessary. But their is also something to be said for listening to the word on the street. The unsolicited feedback  that arises spontaneously. In a world where these opinions are broadcast to 100s or 1000s or people and sometimes more, bad news travels faster than ever and good news is still just as slow.

Getting Started – Search and listen first

The best way to get started with Twitter is with search. Go to http://search.twitter.com/ 

Here are some samples:

Search term: UPS

This is unsolicited feedback. No matter how big or small your company is, you can’t afford to not listen to your customers.

Search term: I love UPS

I had to be careful selecting these tweets – some may get some UPS drivers in trouble…

Search term: I wish UPS

If you are looking for product ideas, listen to your customers.

Search term: UPS help me

Of coarse UPS is a big company with over 300,000 people working for them so there are already people providing help.  The great thing about this is when they do, they are overheard doing it by others. This increases UPS’s reputation as a company that cares.  But is anyone doing it for your company?

Be overheard at your best

When you help a customer through phone or email you help exactly 1 person. When you do it on the web you create a piece of knowledge that can help many. When you do it on Twitter, you also build a reputation of being helpful in realtime, one on one personal way that is overheard by others. This makes your brand instantly more personal, more responsive, and builds loyalty. Companies spend the 20th century creating unresponsive industrial giants that customers tolerated but openly despised. They jumped to the first viable competition that didn’t treat them like a number. The 21st century will be about using technology to return to our person to person roots.

Be selective of who you follow

It is tempting to follow everyone, but look for people you enjoy talking to and don’t be afraid to thin the herd if you get people who post a lot of non-sense.

Some tools you need

Twitscoop.com – See what is buzzing. When something happens in the world, it shows up in twitter first. As it is tweeted, retweeted, and discussed, that term used a lot. Below is a live feed from TwitScope. The larger a term is, the more it appears in recent tweets. The website itself is better because it shows those actual tweets when you hover over it. 

Tweetchat.com – On Monday nights at 7-10pm CST if your watching Twitscoop you’ll see word #journchat get really big. This is a  weekly conversation between journalists, bloggers and PR folks (http://journchat.info/about/) Twitter users use #topic to tag conversations that are all related. They do this for 2 reasons. First, they know lots of people have open searches for that word #topic. Second, other services like tweetchat create chat rooms out of these. I strongly suggest you try tweetchat during the Monday, 7-10pm CST time. Other #topics – #gaza, #haiku, and if there is any conference, concert or other large public event like #inaug09 then there will be a # for it. This is a great way to see the real power of twitter.

Tweetdeck.com – A tool that lets you keep several searches open at once as well as twitscoop. If your only going to spend a small amount of time in Twitter each day, install Tweetdeck, open some searches, and join in the conversation. @tweetdeck

Why do this? Because otherwise, getting to the point where you can start developing themes or plugins is a pain.

I consider myself a well rounded developer. I don’t play favorites. That means, from one day to the next I may find my self in php, coldfusion, or java. I build prototypes using ext.js framework and also have local versions of Joomla, Conflunce, MediaWiki, and even Websphere portal with WCM, and SAP Portal (I keep those beasts locked away in a WMWare enviroments). But VMware is overkill for something as light Lose Weight Exercise as WordPress.
Here are the steps for setting up a local WordPress dev enviroment with Server2Go.

1. Download Server2Go – there are several versions. To pick the right one, check the requirements of the software you want to run. Since I want to run wordpress – I look at it and downloaded this one - (only ~23MB – nice).
   
2. Extract it somewhere (you can move it later) and and launch the server2go.exe. this starts the server. Any time you want to work in in, just launch it. If you want to change the way it works (like launch firefox instead of IE, edit pms_config.ini file.
   
3. Server2Go will launch IE for you and show the default screen. Now we have to create a wordpress database. So click phpMyAdmin under tools on the right.
   
4. In the Create Database feild type “wordpress” (no quotes) and press “Create”.
   
5. Download the WordPress package and unzip it into the htdocs folder in your server2go folder.
   
6. In your browser type: http://127.0.0.1:4001/wordpress/
7. Follow the instructions onscreen – click the create wp-config.php button, then “let’s go”
   
8. Type “wordpress” (no qoutes) into the Database name feild and submit.
   
9. Then you see this and that’s it! WordPress should now be installed.
10. Once your in wordpress, you can download themes from the internet and unzip them to the themes folder. Once you do, you can see them on the Design page in the wp_admin.
11. I like to find a theme that is close to what I want and modify it. Once you find one you like, create a site in dreamweaver and edit the theme from there. You can save changes to the php files and css and see them in immediatly on the site by refreshing.

“Ha!” sayeth the tempter, “Take away his adsense account and he will curse and defame you!” And so Google did, accusing him of click fraud although he had done none. And in his confusion and despair he looked upon the face of Google and appealleth saying – “Why have you forsaken me?” But Google made no reply…

Long bshoemate suffered. And in darkness and despair, he looked at Yahoo, but that strange portal offered no comfort. He looked to MSN but found no solace there. He traveled to the mighty Amazon, but path was not straight, the language unclear, and lost he became.

But then, an email. “Could it be! Cahloo Cahla” he cotorted in his joy and he read the email subject aloud from his open window to the streets below: “[#249567499] Google AdSense Account Reinstated!” Sweet, sweet justice he thought.

So where are the fabled ads of yore? Has he not yet put the code back on his site? Surely he must have only commented it out. “Nah, I’m in no hurry” he said, and wiser and a wearier man he rose the morrow morn.

I’m a big fan of Google (always have been) but I’m staring to worry that maybe I’ve given them a little to much trust and power. I have been a beta tester on almost all of their programs. I’ve played with everything in the Google lab, and been an advocate of all their services. But today I was sent a message telling me that my adsense account was disabled. I understand they have to protect the integrity of the system, but after looking into it, I can not figure out what they think I have done wrong. This is what they wrote:

Hello Ben Shoemate,

While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we’ve decided to disable your account.

Just how significant a risk am I? I decided to find out.

The email has a link to the “Appeal” form – which when you read it, sounds almost like a guilty plea with questions like: “Provide any relevant information that you believe would explain the invalid click activity we detected“.

Invalid click activity? – ok now I’m really curious, lets go look at the logs – I can’t get into Adsense because, you know, Account Disabled. But I have my logs emailed to me daily, yesterdays log was in my email:

hmmm….no clicks, no earnings…am I not earning enough? So I added up my full 3 months of activity while I have been in the program, (I have never received any checks from Google so it is less than $100) and low and behold the grand total is $18.20.

Technically, as part of the Google Adsense Terms and Conditions I am not allowed to disclose

… click-through rates or other statistics relating to Site performance in the Program provided to You by Google…

But they already cut me off and frankly I don’t care if they turn it back on are not, I just want to know what happened. I mean – if there are “invalid clicks” wouldn’t those show up in my account?

They also ask for my log files, I thought that was a little creepy but complied….you don’t argue with the judge.

Looking a little deeper into the terms and conditions – google has this nice sentence – (try to read it all with one breath, that’s how you know it’s legalese instead of english):

Prohibited Uses. You shall not, and shall not authorize or encourage any third party to: (i) directly or indirectly generate queries, Referral Events, or impressions of or clicks on any Ad, Link, Search Result, or Referral Button through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent or other invalid means, including but not limited to through repeated manual clicks, the use of robots or other automated query tools and/or computer generated search requests, and/or the unauthorized use of other search engine optimization services and/or software;

good so far

(ii) edit, modify, filter or change the order of the information contained in any Ad, Link, Ad Unit, Search Result, or Referral Button, or remove, obscure or minimize any Ad, Link, Ad Unit, Search Result, or Referral Button in any way;

never done any of that but I did make my own search button…

but that is not listed as a no-no…hmm….lets keep reading.

(iii) frame, minimize, remove or otherwise inhibit the full and complete display of any Web page accessed by an end user after clicking on any part of an Ad (“Advertiser Page”), any Search Results Page, or any Referral Page;

I agree, I hate that stuff too and would never do that…

(iv) redirect an end user away from any Advertiser Page, Search Results Page, or Referral Page; provide a version of the Advertiser Page, Search Results Page, or Referral Page that is different from the page an end user would access by going directly to the Advertiser Page, Search Results Page, or Referral Page; intersperse any content between the Ad and the Advertiser Page, between the page containing the Search Box and the Search Results Page, or between the Referral Button and the Referral Page; or otherwise provide anything other than a direct link from an Ad to an Advertiser Page, from the page containing the Search Box to the Search Results Page, or from the Referral Button to the Referral Page;

…never done any of that….

(v) display any Ad(s), Link(s), or Referral Button(s) on any error page, on any registration or “thank you” page (e.g., a page that thanks a user after he/she has registered with the applicable Web site), on any chat page, in any email, or on any Web page or any Web site that contains any pornographic, hate-related, violent, or illegal content;

Is my star wars post too violent? I do have unnatural feelings of malice and hate toward the writers of the dialog in the prequels. Did google’s omniscient spider turn me in? Maybe it was the reference to Herman Goering (Hitler’s right hand man). If so, this is starting to sound very unfair and un-google-like. But they specifically mentioned “invalid clicks” on the appeal form (the email said only “significant risk” but I bet they have a different appeal form for all the haters out there. Let’s keep going…

(vi) directly or indirectly access, launch, and/or activate Ads, Links, Search Results, or Referral Buttons through or from, or otherwise incorporate the Ads, Links, Search Results, or Referral Buttons in, any software application, Web site, or other means other than Your Site(s), and then only to the extent expressly permitted by this Agreement (e.g., while Search Results may be indirectly accessed from Your Site(s), they may only be displayed on the appropriate Google-hosted Web page); (vii) “crawl”, “spider”, index or in any non-transitory manner store or cache information obtained from any Ads, Links, Search Results, or Referral Events, or any part, copy, or derivative thereto;

no, I haven’t done any of this either …

(viii) act in any way that violates any Program Policies posted on the Google Web Site, as may be revised from time to time, or any other agreement between You and Google (including without limitation the Google AdWords program terms), or engage in any action or practice that reflects poorly on Google or otherwise disparages or devalues Google’s reputation or goodwill. You acknowledge that any attempted participation or violation of any of the foregoing is a material breach of this Agreement and that we may pursue any and all applicable legal and equitable remedies against You, including an immediate suspension of Your account or termination of this Agreement, and the pursuit of all available civil or criminal remedies.

Well, I haven’t done any disparaging of google…yet, let’s see how they handle my appeal first.

As far as I know, I have been a perfect Google adsense user and an outstanding and upright citizen of the web. I never clicked my own ads, I never encourage others to click them and I never edited their javascript code. Unless some WordPress plug in is interfering with it that I didn’t notice (and I hate to admit it but I have not examined exactly what these plugins actually do – I kind of take some of them on faith and hope someone else in the community finds the flaw), or maybe someone on my network (thus with my IP) clicked ads (my wife? neighbor on my wi-fi?), but if so, when? I haven’t had any clicks. And as OJ’s lawyer once said – If the clicks don’t fit, you must acquit…or…something like that. Anyway, I do not understand what happened.

So now what? Now I give them 48 hours to review my appeal, and then I try out Amazon’s ad service. I like the idea of advertising books on my site better anyway. Those ads where mostly garbage (oops – hope that wasn’t too disparaging).

]]> http://www.benshoemate.com/2008/01/29/google-adsense-account-disabled/feed/ 90 http://www.benshoemate.com/2008/01/09/where-were-you-during-the-internet-gold-rush/ http://www.benshoemate.com/2008/01/09/where-were-you-during-the-internet-gold-rush/#comments Wed, 09 Jan 2008 23:10:19 +0000 Ben Shoemate http://www.benshoemate.com/2008/01/09/where-were-you-during-the-internet-gold-rush/ I have a birthday that falls within days of the new year. This means I get hit with 2 wake-up calls at once. Another year to look back and reflect on then WHAM! I’m another year older.

Working in the web industry, I am constantly aware of the wealth being generated and the constant, ever increasing change going on. We are truly living in a golden age of wealth and information. I am also aware that I’ve spent my time making other people richer. I missed the first internet bubble, I coasted right through the second web 2.0 rush. And now, in my ear I can hear the distant questions from my future grandchildren who, having read about these golden days in their history book will ask:

“Grandpa, what were you doing when all this was happening? Why didn’t you invent the iPhone?” they’ll ask.
“Well,” I’ll reply, “I guess I was too busy working on other things.”
“Like what?” They’ll ask. They always ask. They are just kids after all. You can not expect them to notice the subtle tension in their grand father’s voice or the the regret in his eyes warning them that some subjects are best not talked about.
“Oh, I don’t remember…some kind of purchasing system for some corporation that threw it away 2 years later.”
“But grandpa, why didn’t you go work at Google!” they say cheerfully flipping back to the colorful page about the search giant. “It says here that even the cleaning staff got stock options and became rich. One of them was even the first man on Mars!”

“Shut up you kids!” I’ll say, “No more books!”

Then when they start to cry I’ll say “Now…who wants ice cream?”