Central Perk

luni, 12 decembrie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:38 PM PST

Adam from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia just sent in this picture of their awesome christmas tree. A Christmas tree made of RAM chips that would make the ultimate geek gift.

Source: geeksaresexy

China vs. America in Education [infographic]

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:27 PM PST

If you're thinking of going abroad for your university education, then consider being one of the 14,000 American students studying in China after seeing the 'America, Meet China' infographic. Created by OnlineUniversityRankings.com, the illustrated chart pits the two countries against each other to measure which offers the best schooling, from early childhood to undergraduate levels.

Source: onlineuniversityrankings

Tool to Analyze Backlinks for International SEO

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 12:41 PM PST

Posted by Tom Anthony

Hi folks. A quick post today to introduce a new tool which may be of interest to those of you working on any international sites or sites that cater to more than one country/demographic. It's a tool that allows you to automatically download a list of backlinks to any URL, broken down not only by TLD/subdomain but also by the language the page is written in.

Earlier this year many of you went to SEOmoz's MozCon conference in Seattle. For those that missed it: one of the presentations there was given by Hannah Smith, one of my Distilled buddies; Hannah spoke about International SEO and how not to suck at it! If you want to read more you can see checkout her slide deck, or read the accompanying blog post she wrote (or even buy the Mozcon videos and watch it!).

As part of her research Hannah and I collaborated on a tool to look at the languages of domains that linked to a given page. What I am presenting today is a spin off of that, which you can use yourselves to investigate which languages are used in pages that link to a given URL. More on the tool below, but first...

Why do I care? Links are yummy in any language!

You are right! Links are yummy in any language! However, it has long been regarded that, especially for non-English sites, links in the same language are an important relevancy indicator (something Hannah dug into in her presentation). Whilst Hannah's research didn't find a strong correlation to collaborate this fact, our instincts do tell us it is important and beyond that: it just makes good sense for brand awareness, referred traffic and future proofing your SEO.

However, there is another use for tools like this one: competitor research. The tool allows you to download and categorise links for not only your own site, but any page you fancy. If you are struggling to get links from a particular language, why not check out your competitor's links and filter for those written in Spanish, French, German or any of a variety of other languages. Now you can target those sources of international links more easily.

How the tool works.

The tool pulls in the top 1000 pages (by PA) linking to the specified URL and allows you to download them. It analyses each domain and identifies the TLD, including most country specific domains, as well as the sub-domain (so you can filter out for links from URLs like de.example.com or fr.examples.com). However, most usefully perhaps, the tool attempts to identify the language of the page.

The language identification works on code taken from Google's Chrome browser (used to drive the "Would you like to translate this page?" feature) and recognises quite reliably several dozen languages. Thanks to Mike McCandless for ripping the code into a separate project, and to Lars Strojny for the PHP bindings. In this case it runs on the title element of a page and so isn't perfect because titles are often short and/or include branding, but I found it to be pretty reliable and the effort of scraping the page certainly isn't worth the effort.

How to use the tool.

All you need is your SEOmoz API details (this is totally free, you just need a free Moz account), and then you can go to the tool:

International SEO Backlink Analysis Tool

Once you open the tool you come to a pretty self-explanatory page:

There are only 3 fields you need to fill in, which are your SEOmoz Access ID and Secret Key and the URL of the page you wish to analyse. (Sidenote for those who care: Do not be concerned about entering your SEOmoz Secret Key; it isn't transmitted over the network but is used to generate an authentication hash for the API. If you want the code I made for this, see here).

Once you click the analyse button, if everything went according to plan then you'll receive a download of a CSV file with your results. Open it up in your preferred spreadsheet and take a look. Here is a snippet of the results for Spiegel.de, the German news site:

Here I sorted first my TLD (2nd column) and then by language (4th/5th columns); the 3rd column shows the subdomain. This example shows that even without an indicator from the TLD or subdomain, the languages can be often identified from the title element.

Wrap Up

This tool is quite specialised, and isn't something you are going to need often. However, I do think it is one of those things that is handy to have around for the moments you do want it. Be it as something for a quick check on new clients, as competitor analysis, or just as your regular reporting. In the future I might extend it to do more, so if you have feedback/suggestions I'd love to hear in the comments.

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Watch Live: President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki

Your Daily Snapshot for
Monday, Dec. 12, 2011

Watch Live: President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki

Today, President Obama meets with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq. Following the bilateral meeting, the President and Prime Minister Maliki will hold a joint press conference at 11:35 a.m. EST.

Watch the press conference at 11:35 a.m. EST on WhiteHouse.gov/Live.

Photo of the Day

President Barack Obama performs the coin toss before the annual Army vs. Navy football game at FedEx Field, Landover, Md. December 10, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Seth's Blog : The most important page on the web is the page you build yourself

The most important page on the web is the page you build yourself

The internet is an engine of connection. It has been from the start (email, chat, forums, blogs, social media...)

One reason that so many of the most popular sites online are those that permit people to express and expose their ideas is that those are the pages we care most about. We go back to see how people responded, how the traffic is, what we can do to improve the page.

Lifestyle media isn't a fad. It's what human beings have been doing forever, with a brief, recent interruption for a hundred years of professional media along the way. That interruption is fading away, and lifestyle media is resurging. People publish. Instead of denigrating user-generated content (what an obscure way to describe human stories), marketers need to understand that this is what we care about.

We shouldn't be surprised when someone chooses to publish their photos, their words, their art or their opinions. We should be surprised when they don't.

• Email to a friend •

duminică, 11 decembrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Nigel Farage: Escape Euro Prison!
It's So Secret, Even the Fed Does Not Know Who It's Lending To
Cameron Pledges to "Fight from Within"; Two-Thirds of Voters Agree with Refusal to Sign Treaty, Nearly 50% Want to Leave EU; Better to Let Them "Do Their Own Thing" says Cameron

Nigel Farage: Escape Euro Prison!

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 06:22 PM PST

When it comes to humor from politicians (in a good sense), Nigel Farage is right at the top of the list.

His opening line had me laughing out loud.

Link if YouTube video does not play: Escape Euro Prison!

Partial Transcript

RT: Britain has no to tighter controls leaving Euro countries to sort themselves out and the UK is being pushed further aside.

Farage: Well let's hope so ... Cameron said can we have some small concessions. Sarkozy told him to take a running jump. On the face of it I should be cheering David Cameron and say isn't it marvelous, the British prime minister has finally stood up and said something. ... But we are still members of the union, wae are still bound by all its legislation, and yet what's perfectly clear is henceforth we will have no influence whatsoever. And actually what I am getting from journalists all over Europe is Britain is now despised. So I think what will happen now, bank in the United Kingdom is we are about to launch into a very big national debate about whether we should be members of this union at all.

RT: If these countries are going to push on, can the 17 Euro nations solve this by themselves?

Farage: Listen. The word "solve" implies there is some easy solution. There isn't. The Euro is a misconstruction. Countries like Greece and Portugal should never have joined it in the first place.

RT: Are you saying this could lead to a split in the union?

Farage: I think what we saw, in the early hours of this morning was the biggest split in the European Union in fifty years. The UK has been a member of this thing since 1973 and we are a big economy, we're an important country, and whether David Cameron knows it or not, what he did last night was the first step towards the exit door.

RT: How easy would it be for those countries to convince their populations about facing tighter controls? What would the people think about all of this?

Farage: Believe you me. If we were to put this Euro package to the electorate of Greece, of Portugal, of Ireland, of Italy, of Spain, they would all say no. .... These electorates find themselves trapped inside an economic prison that is called the Euro. Their democracy has been stripped from them. My fear is the kind of civil disobedience and civil disorder that you have already sen on the streets of Greece will multiply. ... If you are stuck in a bad marriage, the best thing to do is end the marriage and start again. I see no hope at all for the Greek economy, stuck inside this economic prison that is called the Euro.

====================

Farage is 100% correct. If the UK is being push aside (and it is), Cameron should embrace being shoved aside and let Merkozy fend for themselves.

Thus, Cameron needs to put UK membership in the EU up for public vote, smashing the ball straight down Sarkozy's throat.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

It's So Secret, Even the Fed Does Not Know Who It's Lending To

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 04:13 PM PST

Some might think the Fed would care where dollar swaps to Europe go. However, if the Fed cares, it doesn't know.

Bloomberg reports No One Telling Who Took $586 Billion in Swaps With Fed Condoning Anonymity.

For all the transparency forced on the Federal Reserve by Congress and the courts, one of the central bank's emergency-lending programs remains so secretive that names of borrowers may be hidden from the Fed itself.

As part of a currency-swap plan active from 2007 to 2010 and revived to fight the European debt crisis, the Fed lends dollars to other central banks, which auction them to local commercial banks. Lending peaked at $586 billion in December 2008. While the transactions with other central banks are all disclosed, the Fed doesn't track where the dollars ultimately end up, and European officials don't share borrowers' identities outside the continent.

The lack of openness may leave the U.S. government and public in the dark on the beneficiaries and potential risks from one of the Fed's largest crisis-loan programs. The European Central Bank's three-month dollar lending through the swap lines surged last week to $50.7 billion from $400 million after the Nov. 30 announcement that the Fed, in concert with the ECB and four other central banks, lowered the interest rate by a half percentage point.

"Increased transparency is warranted here," given the size of the Fed's aid and current pressures on European banks, said Representative Randy Neugebauer, a Texas Republican who heads the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

Whether the U.S. should make disclosure of the recipients a condition of the swap lines is "probably a discussion we need to have," possibly in a hearing that includes Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Neugebauer said.

Michelle Smith, a Fed spokeswoman, said there is "no formal reporting channel" for the identities of borrowers from other central banks, which are the Fed's only counterparties on the swap lines and assume any credit risk.

"U.S. taxpayers have never lost a penny" on the program, she said.

Might I point out that US taxpayers never lost a cent on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac either, until of course they lost $200 billion and counting.

Fundamental Problem

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who led President Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, said the "fundamental problem" is that capital markets need information to work properly, yet the Fed is saying, "we believe in capital-market discipline without information."

"It would be very useful to see" those names, said Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York. With the dollar auctions of foreign central banks shielded from disclosure, "what we have now is a very partial picture."

If banks are in such dire straits that they would be at risk if everyone knew they were using the discount window, then they are also in such dire straits the Fed ought not be lending to them in the first place.

Actually, the problem is more fundamental. There should not be a Fed at all. Banks might then think twice about being so freaking leveraged.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Cameron Pledges to "Fight from Within"; Two-Thirds of Voters Agree with Refusal to Sign Treaty, Nearly 50% Want to Leave EU; Better to Let Them "Do Their Own Thing" says Cameron

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 07:47 AM PST

The political rift between the UK Prime Minister David Cameron (Conservative) and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) widened into a public feud over Cameron's refusal to sign the Merkozy accord.

The Deputy Prime Minister says U.K. Coalition Breakup Over EU Would Cause Economic 'Disaster'

U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said a breakup of the coalition government would spell "economic disaster" for Britain while saying he was "bitterly disappointed" by last week's European Union summit.

Prime Minister David Cameron's refusal to back a 27-nation pact to tighten budget rules may leave the U.K. "isolated and marginalized within the European Union," Clegg told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s "Marr" program today. Still, he said "it would be even more damaging for us as a country if the coalition government was now to fall apart. It would create economic disaster."

By refusing the join the planned fiscal accord, Cameron strengthened that wing of his Conservative party who want Britain to leave the EU. He also caused the biggest rift with his coalition partners since both parties campaigned on opposite sides of a May referendum on overhauling Britain's voting system.

A poll by Survation for the Mail on Sunday today showed that almost two-thirds of voters said Cameron was right to back out of the EU accord, while 48 percent said Britain should leave the EU altogether. A poll by ComRes, carried out just before the summit for the Independent on Sunday, showed 52 percent of Britons say the euro crisis is an ideal opportunity for the U.K. to leave the EU.

Clegg said that Cameron had been placed in a "difficult position" at the Dec. 8 to Dec. 9 EU meeting because he faced "intransigence" from France and Germany. Nevertheless, he added that the government should now "fight, fight and fight again" for Britain's interests within the EU.

Not Good Enough

Cameron told reporters following the all-night talks that "what was on offer just wasn't good enough for Britain. It's better to allow those countries to do their own thing on their own."

Paddy Ashdown, a former Liberal Democrat leader, today criticized the move, saying Cameron's decision "doesn't make it easier" to get the U.K. through the economic crisis. "Cameron has acted as the leader of the Conservative Party and not the prime minister of Great Britain," he told Sky News.

Simple Math

Let me point out some simple math to Paddy Ashdown: Two-thirds of voters approve of Cameron's decision not to sell the UK down the river. Thus Cameron not only acted as Conservative leader, but rather for all of the UK.

Moreover, I might point out, Cameron should go one step further and call for a referendum to leave the EU. Let the voters decide.

Better to Let Them "Do Their Own Thing"

Here is a fitting tribute to Cameron's statement "what was on offer just wasn't good enough for Britain. It's better to allow those countries to do their own thing on their own."

Link if video does not play: "It's Your Thing" by The Isley Brothers

Fight, Fight, Fight Again Within the EU

Rah, Rah, Sis Coom Bah, Cameron wants to "Fight from Within!" Yeah that's the spirit. Episode number Five from the British Sitcom Yes Minister explains why.

Episode Five: The Writing on the Wall

Sir Humphrey: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last five hundred years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?

Hacker: That's all ancient history, surely?

Sir Humphrey: Yes, and current policy. We had to break the whole thing [the EEC] up, so we had to get inside. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we can make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing: set the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians, the Italians against the Dutch. The Foreign Office is terribly pleased; it's just like old times.

Hacker: But surely we're all committed to the European ideal?
Sir Humphrey: [chuckles] Really, Minister.

Hacker: If not, why are we pushing for an increase in the membership?
Sir Humphrey: Well, for the same reason. It's just like the United Nations, in fact; the more members it has, the more arguments it can stir up, the more futile and impotent it becomes.

Hacker: What appalling cynicism.
Sir Humphrey: Yes... We call it diplomacy, Minister.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

[Fast Blog Finder] When DoFollow blogs can hurt you...

The majority of bloggers are kind of radical when it comes to blog commenting -- they're focusing on DoFollow blogs and let others tap into NoFollow direct link traffic.

Smart users recognize the power of "never leaving money on the table" that's why I suggest you give the DoFollow blogs priority while take advantage of NoFollow blogs too. You never know where the best traffic is coming from, so why not get the most out of everything you do?

Just remember this rule when you comment on DoFollow blogs -- don't be greedy!

So, click the link below to know how you can hurt yourself when commenting on DoFollow blogs:

http://www.fastblogfinder.com/can-dofollow-blogs-hurt-you/

Have you ever found some crappy blogs showing from search to search? In Fast Blog Finder Gold edition you can add those domains to the blacklist in order not to see them in the results anymore [funny way to "manipulate" Google results!]

Julia Gulevich
G-Lock Software
julia@glocksoft.com

P.S In my next email I'll reveal you one little secret how you can double your link building efforts. Hope you're still on the list.

Company info:

G-Lock Software, Level 5, 369 Queen Street, Auckland, NZ.

You can modify/cancel your subscription via the link below:
http://glockdb.com/u?xemail=ZTBuc3RhcjEuYmxvZ0BnbWFpbC5jb20

Seth's Blog : The trap of social media noise

The trap of social media noise

If we put a number on it, people will try to make the number go up.

Now that everyone is a marketer, many people are looking for a louder megaphone, a chance to talk about their work, their career, their product... and social media looks like the ideal soapbox, a free opportunity to shout to the masses.

But first, we're told to make that number go up. Increase the number of fans, friends and followers, so your shouts will be heard. The problem of course is that more noise is not better noise.

In Corey's words, the conventional, broken wisdom is:

Follow a ton of people to get people to follow back
Focus on the # of followers, not the interests of followers or your relationship with them.
Pump links through the social platform (take your pick, or do them all!)
Offer nothing of value, and no context. This is a megaphone, not a telephone.
Think you're winning, because you're playing video games (highest follower count wins!)

This looks like winning (the numbers are going up!), but it's actually a double-edged form of losing. First, you're polluting a powerful space, turning signals into noise and bringing down the level of discourse for everyone. And second, you're wasting your time when you could be building a tribe instead, could be earning permission, could be creating a channel where your voice is actually welcomed.

Leadership (even idea leadership) scares many people, because it requires you to own your words, to do work that matters. The alternative is to be a junk dealer.

The game theory pushes us into one of two directions: either be better at pump and dump than anyone else, get your numbers into the millions, outmass those that choose to use mass and always dance at the edge of spam (in which the number of those you offend or turn off forever keep increasing), or

Relentlessly focus. Prune your message and your list and build a reputation that's worth owning and an audience that cares.

Only one of these strategies builds an asset of value.

• Email to a friend •

luni, 12 decembrie 2011

Damn Cool Pics

Damn Cool Pics

Tool to Analyze Backlinks for International SEO

Tool to Analyze Backlinks for International SEO

Why do I care? Links are yummy in any language!

How the tool works.

How to use the tool.

International SEO Backlink Analysis Tool

Wrap Up

Watch Live: President Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki

Seth's Blog : The most important page on the web is the page you build yourself

The most important page on the web is the page you build yourself

More Recent Articles

duminică, 11 decembrie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

[Fast Blog Finder] When DoFollow blogs can hurt you...

Seth's Blog : The trap of social media noise

The trap of social media noise

More Recent Articles

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

luni, 12 decembrie 2011

Why do I care? Links are yummy in any language!

How the tool works.

How to use the tool.

Wrap Up

More Recent Articles

duminică, 11 decembrie 2011

More Recent Articles

Pagini

Persoane interesate

Arhivă blog

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