Archive for August, 2008

New Email Addresses from Yahoo: Ymail and Rocketmail

August 18, 2008

Although Yahoo announced new email address availability under their Ymail and Rocketmail domains in June, Yahoo just now appears to be actively promoting them.

Upon logging into my Yahoo email account, I received this banner ad.

Ymail Rocketmail

Ymail Rocketmail

I can only guess Yahoo is creating these additional email addresses to retain their existing customers by offering them more email address alternatives than Yahoo’s original email addresses provided previously.

I set up a new Ymail account in just a few minutes and can switch between my new email account and my original Yahoo email account easily

Searching For Bigfoot Pictures… Georgia Bigfoot Found?

August 16, 2008

Mathew Whitton, Tom Biscardi, and Rick Dyer claim to have bagged Bigfoot in Georgia.

They have posted a picture of their “dead bigfoot” on their website SearchingForBigfoot.com.

Big Foot Pictures

Big Foot Pictures

It will be interesting to see and then learn whether this trio of Big Foot hunters can produce an actual physical specimen of Bigfoot or not.

At this stage in their media campaign and still without a big foot body, it remains to be seen how they will monetize their notoriety should they fail to produce their dead big foot soon.

If I were less skeptical, I would have pinned this entire tail on the business with the most to gain from increasing Bigfoot’s media exposure.

The only company that comes to mind is Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. However, Jack Link’s brand is based on the Sasquatch, Big Foot’s cousin.

Messin With Sasquatch

Messin With Sasquatch

Regardless of who is really behind this media circus whether its the guys from Georgia or some company like Jack Link’s and their public relations firm, they are more than likely just messin’ with us.

Comedy Central Bob Saget Roast

August 15, 2008

Several years ago after watching Stephen Colbert interview Rev. Al Sharpton, I signed up for a Comedy Central “account” to post on their blog and view video highlights of The Daily Show and later The Colbert Report.

I provided my email address and “opted in” to receive email notifications about Comedy Central’s shows and specials.

Infrequently – possibly once a week – I get an email from Comedy Central about upcoming guests on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. More often than not I ignore their emails because I regularly watch both shows instead of the local news.

Today, however, I got an email from Comedy Central promoting their upcoming roast of Bob Saget hosted by roastmaster John Stamos.

Bob Saget Roast

Bob Saget Roast

I love Comedy Central roasts!

Because I love them and I am always in the market for them, their email grabbed my attention and made a sale so to speak ie., I clicked open their email where I then found an extended video trailer and details about the comedians who will be roasting Bob Saget Sunday night.

Their extended video trailer was entertaining – except for of course – the embedded pre-roll advertising.

Had I not been reached today by Comedy Central’s email marketing campaign, I could have easily forgotten about the Bob Saget roast and in turn missed some good Sunday night laughs.

Instead, it’s highly likely I will remember to watch the Bob Saget roast this weekend.

What is highly unlikely is my remembering which company’s ad I muted while waiting for their pre-roll ad to finishing rolling.

Watch 2008 Olympics Online: NBCOlympics.com

August 14, 2008

Google Trends search volume index tool shows how global interest in watching the 2008 Beijing Olympics has skyrocketed since early July.

2008 Olympics Beijing

2008 Olympics Beijing

Google Trends search volume index also illustrates worldwide regional interest in the 2008 Olympics.

New Zealanders appear to have the greatest internet search interest in the 2008 Olympic Games followed by Australia and Singapore.

2008 Olympics Search Volume Index

2008 Olympics Search Volume Index

You can watch free online videos of the 2008 Olympics Online @ NBCOlympics.com

Wordle.net: Tool for Visualizing Blog Themes

August 13, 2008

A rudimentary content analysis tool for blogs and other sites: Wordle

Too bad Wordle.net isn’t at Wordle.com. I would guess Wordle.com will soon be enjoying an increase in their type in traffic.

I don’t know what to make of Wordle’s take on this site cohn:wordpress.com. All of the lines run vertical. So far I haven’t seen another image rendered all of it lines vertical.

Wordle

Wordle

Every other site produces both vertical and horizontal word patterns like those found in the All Things Digital screen shot below.

All Things Digital

All Things Digital

I wonder if any sites will render all horizontal text patterns?

Share of Searches by Search Engine

August 11, 2008

Via Hitwise: Google’s share of US searches exceeeds 70% for the first time.

“Google’s share of searches increased 10% over the same month last year and 2% over the previous month. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search (including Live.com), and Ask followed with 18.65%, 5.36%, and 3.53% share of searches, respectively.”

Combined with last month’s milestone which saw Google field 7 billion searches within a single month according to ComScore and in the absence of any new disruptive and innovative search appliance, Google looks to continue its arithmetic assault on Yahoo, MSN / Live and Ask’s share of US search traffic.

Search Engine Market Share

Search Engine Market Share