WikiWine Bottle!

                     

Traveling around San Francisco with my friend Liz, we decided to get a California specialty, Two-buck Chuck (really cheap wine) from Trader Joes. Being a really cheap wine, I thought it would be a “twist-off”. However, when we got back to the hotel room (to read our feeds, and catch on up Social News <cough-geek-cough>) we discovered that this gross-cheap-wine has corks!

I instantly remembered this happening to me before, and giving up. Being that my only option would be to go downstairs from the hotel and maybe ask a seedy bar if they could help out, I thought … “Duh! There must be a way to open this bottle without a corkscrew”.

I instantly did a Google search, and thought about the SERPS. This was an interesting search I was doing, and I would’ve changed the wording around but I wanted this specific phrase. I wanted to go with LifeHack because I have trusted their content in the past, at the #4 position. And strangely there was a Metacafe (not a Youtube) video. But the most helpful link was the WikiHow results. Having never used Wikihow, I was skeptical as usual but this site gave me 6 different ways to open my wine bottle. The page was simple, the content I was looking for and 6 Ads by Google. Just how I like it Might be a community I will be joining in the near future.
Now I am happy drinking my wine!

However, The only thing WikiHow didn’t mention is how much the process of opening the wine bottle without a corkscrew would hurt my friend’s poor finger.

10 Websites that Lived in my Tabs during 2007

2007 was a huge year for Web 2.0 and my Firefox browser! Becoming almost unbearable, there are multiple sites that must be updated and checked on an hourly basis. Thank goodness for RSS readers. With the uproar of Social News, Social Media, and the overwhelming number of blogs to read, I thought it was about time to pay homage to the sites that have been living in my Firefox tabs.

1. Facebook- As I discussed in my latest SEO Chicks post…this was the year of Facebook.                                                                                                                            
2. Stumble Upon- This great tool can generate huge traffic spikes or keep you entertained for hours. Don’t forget to “Stumble” all my posts. There is also a topnotch Facebook application for Stumble Upon users.
3. Digg*- Such controversy that I can’t help but to partake. Digg is often fun but also really annoying. I keep it open in my browser because I have a lot of friends articles to digg. “Gotta Digg”                                    
4. Twitter- I’m really on the fence about Twitter. I get it and its fun and a great attention getter for 5 minutes… I’m not sure if I could ever get used to doing it. I tried doing it from my Blackberry, from IM, from the website, and I just don’t think it’s for me. However, I keep it open to read about my friends who love twittering.
5. Sphinn-Quite honestly one of the most addicting Social News Sites to pop up. It’s like an instant update of the industry. If I missed something while reading my daily feed, I get caught up on Sphinn. And of course its great to be able to give friends and mentors the props that they deserve. It’s like a huge community that is feeding each other!                                                                                                                                  
6. Mixx- Even though this site is still very new, and I don’t see the word “beta” dissapearing anytime soon, it’s fun! It has fresh appeal to me and in my opinion is a lot easier to use than Digg, so it lives in my tabs!
7. Mashable*- A social news blog that updates so frequently, I am forced to read and re-read daily. Because I tend to get fustrated when I see the number (319) in my feed headline, I usually revisit Mashable during the day outside the reader!                                                                                                              
8. Engadget- The insanely popular gadget blog that in my opinion is as important to read as any blog. I’m a gadget fiend, and I love reading about new technology… I just wish I could afford half of the things reviewed on this blog.                                                                                                                                                     
9. SEO Book- The guy who wrote the book, Aaron Wall, has such useful website and blog! I research keywords using his tools all the time as well as use his SEO plug-in for Firefox. I keep his latest research tool open all day long.                                                                                                                                
10. Gmail/Chat- OK, this is a given…but it lives in my tabs and on my Blackberry! I am a big fan of G-mail and G-Chat. A few weeks ago AIM integrated with G-Chat and now this is the most important tab on my browser. Last week, I had an issue with my Gmail account and I couldn’t sign in…. I felt like a part of me was missing.

* These sites are most often read using my Bloglines reader.

Topic of the Day: Norad Santa Tracker integrates with Google Maps

If you are interested to find out exactly where Santa is right now, you can follow him on the Norad Santa Tracker. Right now at 3:11 PM in NYC he is in Ugunda. However, he never stops at my house Aside from the inconvenient fire escape route on the side of my building (which is he way too fat to fit on anyway), the mezuzah on the side of my door usually keeps him away.

If you want a super-cool way of tracking down the big guy you can download the Google Earth Santa Tracker.

Also, read this article by Danny Sullivan on SearchEngineLand.com all about Norad’s Santa Tracker and how to use it now that it’s totally integrated with Google.

And of course NORAD has their own YouTube Channel.

Check out Santa’s landing in Egypt!

How come they don’t do this for Hanukkah Harry?

Gotta Digg

I was doing my usual morning rounds on the Social News Sites and went voting for things (a practice that I am trying to get down to 1-2 hours tops!) and came across something I thought I would support.

Having been in a band, and being a girl… I know how hard it is to be taken seriously in the music business. I also know how hard it is to try and score a recording contract….Really hard.

So I saw this girl, Kina, who entered a contest to win a shot at having her shot at the music industry during the Superbowl. Using tons of social media, the Myspace contest is pretty big and Kina is using her Social Media skills and her Blog to get the votes. Since I loved her angle, I felt the need to support!

Because I need to know everything about everything, I noticed that this Crash The Superbowl contest (which is obviously a way to spike the viewer-ship of the Superbowl amongst a younger age group)…. is sponsored by Yahoo & Doritos but most popular on Youtube… (Google wins again!)

Google vs. Ask

Today I was researching for a potential client and completely by accident I started using Ask.com. This client had no previous American made SEO work, PPC campaigns, poor social media, and a slowly declining reputation. It is visible on Google, Yahoo, and MSN alike.

Then, I checked it out on Ask.com, it looked surprisingly different. When you search this client, the results are outstanding. There are pictures and videos from Flickr & YouTube, Directions, maps, and it offers great related search options. The results almost offered some sort of social media profile for this client. It made them look awesome…. of course that doesn’t matter.

Of course we have all seen this “Can Your Search Engine Do This” Commercial:

In this commercial Ask is bashing the Google SERPS, but I am not sure how I feel about this. I am in no position to ever switch to Ask.com, nor will I ever want to. Am I really that Loyal to Google??? Are YOU this loyal to Google??

Of course I enjoy everything Google has to offer. From their tools, trends, e-mail, chat, and so on. But aside from all that Google shows SOME truth (aside from Paid links, Google owned higher ranking, etc). It shows the faults of SEO which is somewhat not shown at all in Ask.com

Ask was already a verb before it became a search engine, but Google was made a verb in the dictionary when it became the biggest.

It is completely debatable.

Topic of the Day: The Google Wedding

A big congratulations to Larry Page (Google Co-founder) and Lucy Southworth who got married on the British Virgin Islands this weekend.  Being on Virgin’s, Richard Branson’s island, it was a hefty wedding.
Bono, the U2 singer, was a guest and was expected to perform. The Red Hot Chili Peppers also played at the reception. (I only wish the same for my wedding, when it happens)

So with all the awesome festivities… where was Matt Cutts? Blogging his PubCon Recap? No invite?

Here is a Top 10 list of great posts with more about the wedding:

1. Valleywag.com- Larry and Lucy
2. Jeff Matthews is not Making this Up- Google Guy Doing Evil
   
3. InfoWorld Daily- Google’s Virgin Marriage
4. Inside Google
5. The Times Online
   
6. The Official Private Islands Blog- Google Co-Founder Marries
   
7. Google Wedding: Co-Founder Finds a Bride
8. Silicon Valley’s richest bachelor to wed
9. A Very Google Wedding
10. Google wedding details — eco-furniture, overcrowding, and Bono

Matt Cutts on the Hot Seat

This morning @ 9AM there was a Keynote Coffee Chat: Matt Cutts from Google on the Hot Seat, and it was great.

There were a ton of live bloggers typing away after everyone of Cutts words.

There were only around 15 questions asked and many were repetitive or silly.

Question 1: What is a typical day like at Google?

Answer: A lot of fun, new things come up everyday…… (typical answer)

Question 2: What’s the deal with Paid links?

Answer: The Official Google Blog shows a history of this topic. … Organic results are better for users.

There were many other questions, all of which I felt “avoided” the really good stuff. I mean .. of course he is Matt Cutts, and we are at a conference where I saw a man wearing a t-shirt that said “Don’t Tell Matt Cutts”…but come on!

For More on the Keynote Coffee Chat with Matt Cutts, read the Search Engine Round Table Recap.