» 2009 » June

It looks like eBay may be taking steps in the right direction for search. No, these are NOT baby steps, it looks like a GIANT leap forward in direction could be underway.

According to  Andy Beal on Seeking Alpha it seems Microsoft has lost Hugh Williams to eBay! Hugh was the Microsoft Bing product development manager and he quit to take a job at eBay.

From LinkedIn:

I managed the development of all user-facing web search relevance features, including the left-rail explore pane (with its "table of contents"), navigational query treatments, query-biased summaries, "deeplinks", related searches, and whole page results relevance. Additionally, I managed the Powerset team in San Francisco.

I also managed the end-to-end development of Internet Explorer 8’s suggested sites feature, image search, video search, news search, xrank, and almost all instant answers (such as the encarta, news, images, and so on).

Hugh played a large part in the development of the new Bing search engine for Microsoft and he was very instrumental in the development of Internet Explorer 8. It seems that Mr. Williams has and EXTREMELY impressive resume as well…

Work

• I was a Partner at Microsoft and a Development Manager in the Bing search engine team from 2005 to 2009
• I was the Associate Professor in Information Retrieval at RMIT University from 1994 to 2004
• I wrote software for my own company from 1990 to 1997
• Download a short resume (in PDF format) or see my profile at LinkedIn

Research

• My areas of expertise are Search Engines, Information Retrieval, and Computational Biology
• I’ve published 3 books, 2 book chapters, 20 journal papers, 44 conference papers, and several other works. I have roughly 25 patents pending
• Here is a list of my publications. A partial list is also available at the DBLP
• At RMIT University, I advised twelve PhD graduates

It’s Monday, which means another installation of the @ColderICE most re-tweet’d posts from over the weekend, 06.26-28.2009. Remember, following @ColderICE on Twitter means you can get up-to-date news stories, ecommerce tips and quotes. Check back tomorrow for a new blog post!

1) "Vintage 2.0 – Glossy Retro Takes Over Web Design" http://ow.ly/g1PO You know the old saying that whatever is old is eventually new again? Well that seems to be the case as far as web design goes – but only in the style-sense! Vintage web design takes a new look as the websites go vintage. Check out these examples and get inspired.

2) "Nearly completed high-rise collapses in Shanghai" http://ow.ly/g0d1 It seems that Chinese architecture is moving a little too fast for itself lately, as the most recent design flaw has caused another building disaster. An almost completed Shanghai skyscraper seems like it just got tired and wanted to lie down and take a little nap – if you don’t believe, take a look at the accompanied pictures.

3) "19 Twitter Desktop Apps Compared" http://ow.ly/fZKG Twitter can be a mystery to some, as it’s a social media tool, and bound to continuously change. Take a look at this guide on useful tools that can do everything from moniter your re-tweeting stats to keeping tabs on your followers. Most of the applications suggested are very easy to use.

4) "WarrantyElephant Organizes and Tracks Your Warranties" http://ow.ly/fZL Sometimes it seems like the warranties just aren’t worth the hassle that comes with them. WarrantyElephant solves this problem, offering an organizing solution that even allows you to track your warranties so you know when the deadlines are, and when to expect your refund. Very cool, as elephants never forget."

5) "25 Stylish Examples of Headers in Web Design" http://ow.ly/fZiq Lookign to update your website or blog image? Check out this article on some examples on some very stylish headers. Easy way to start, and allows you to tweak the look without giving a major overhaul to your site. Enough examples to keep you coming back for more.

Check back later on this week for more blog posts, and remember to continue to follow @ColderICE on Twitter (if you’re not already doing so…what are you waiting for?).

"How To Save The Newspapers, Vol. XII: Outlaw Linking" http://ow.ly/g1PU

"Bake Delicious and Economical Homemade Sourdough Bread" http://ow.ly/g1Q1

Five Best Free System Restore Tools" http://ow.ly/g1Q7

"Creating an iPhone Application – Tutorial 1 – Experiment Garden" http://ow.ly/fZKO

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"20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know" http://ow.ly/fZiM

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"Build a Greener Charging Station" http://ow.ly/fZj5

"35 Examples Of Stunning Macro Photography" http://ow.ly/fXBU

"The Army sniffer dog who swallowed a Taliban bomb… and SURVIVED" http://ow.ly/fXPq

"Make a Camper’s Boiling Pot with Beer Cans" http://ow.ly/fXPi

"Being Slightly Overweight Could Lead to Longer Life" http://ow.ly/fXCf

We live in the age of Big Brother! No silly, not the TV show. I am talking about the Orwellian talk coming to life. When I was just a young lad there was a commercial ad run by Apple Computers (yes, they USED to make PC’s LOL). They bought a spot on the Superbowl in 1984 Apple Macintosh PC.

It was THE most talked about commerce that year and launched the phenomenon that is Apple today. This commerce was actually a spoof of the George Orwell novel called 1984. 

Please!!! Rate my video with 5-Star DSR’s

Big Brother is a fictional character in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the enigmatic dictator of Oceania, a totalitarian state taken to its utmost logical consequence – where the ruling elite (‘the Party’) wield total power for its own sake over the inhabitants.

In the society that Orwell describes, everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens. The people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase "Big Brother is watching you", which is the core "truth" of the propaganda system in this state. Big Brother’s physical characteristics are intended to resemble Joseph Stalin although in the film his moustache more closely resembles Adolf Hitler’s.

Last night’s BET Award show was broadcast on the heals of the death of The King of Pop, Michael Jackson. I watched the show live for the FIRST TIME in over 3 years. TiVo has taken over my life and now I watch shows on my time and without the commercial interruptions. I think that is a trend, in busy households, that is climbing. But of course, the untimely death of Michael Jackson shot the BET Awards into the public spotlight,  they were reformatting the show and performances to honor him.

The nights activities were capped with a surprise appearance by Ms. Janet Jackson who spoke on behalf of the entire family. She was visibly shaken but true to form, she got through the speech. So lets move on to the business side of this story…

During the entire show, I was tweeting my comment on Twitter from my cell phone. And every once in a while I would go to my PC and look at what others were saying about the show and joining in the conversation by watching the Twitter trending topics, which shows the TOP 10 most popular topic being "Tweeted" on Twitter.

Something happened on the Twitter trending topics that I have NEVER witnessed before, and I am an avid Twitter user. For the the first time EVER 9 of the 10 most popular tweets were all about 1 topic. That is correct, 9 of the 10 hottest topics on Twitter were about the BET Awards show!

What does that mean? How significant is that? I am not completely sure honesty. However in comparison, the season finale of American Idol, which is the number 1 show in America and averaged an audience of 29 million viewers, only took 5 of the 10 trending topics. I am a big fan of Idol and I was again watching it and tweeting during that show too.

What is happening is a fundamental Michael Jackson effect that made MORE Americans, and specifically more African Americans, watch the BET Awards live last night. Of interest is that it looks like the general consensus that Black America is "behind the times in technology" is really a myth. While we as a demographic are NOT in possession of things like laptops and PC’s at the same rate as other demographics in this country, we are ARGUABLY ahead of the curve with MOBILE technology!

Of significance, with Twitter as a platform, is that this technology was created around the mobile platform. Twitter’s limitation of 140 characters per tweet is derived from the fact that Twitter was formulated around SMS text messaging which is a mobile communication medium. So for what some may call a "limitation" of the Twitter platform, I would argue that it is the REASON why Twitter is rising quickly in popularity.

What is quite evident to me is that, mobile is the #1 platform for ecommerce markets going forward. Ringtones SAVED the music industry from sudden death and extended their life for a while longer. Mobile technology turned a little PC company (Apple Computers) into the multi media mogul it has become with its iPhone, and NOW Twitter is growing at a rate of 1200% year over year…So you do the MATH folks?

I am watching because my product lines do favor an urban audience and seeing this trend from the BET Awards is quite clearly URBAN, duh. So now I can see where a good place to tap into my buyers could be…so I get it! Watching what is trending and who is participating is how you find your market and what is fundamentally on their minds.

If you do NOT have some sort of strategy for LISTENING to your customers in 2009-2010….You are at this point IMHO are a complete IDIOT

One of my FAVORITE business books of all time is "Think and Grow Rich" by the late Napoleon Hill. I would be HAPPY to send you a FREE copy of this 260 page book if you have never read it. Just go to this LINK and I will personally email you an electronic copy!

However, before you even begin to read it, just make sure you watch this video! I love the concept of positive thinking and NLP and all that stuff. But I also believe that there is a GREATER saying that goes…"Faith without works is dead"…What this VIDEO and get your FREE COPY of the book too.

PLEASE!!!   Rate this video with 5-Star DSR’s

Yesterday, the eBay UK has made a general announcement on how it will handle ALL ticket purchased for Michael Jackson shows in the UK. Upon confirmation of the death of THE KING OF POP, eBay was very quick to pull down all ticket listings on the platform.

On June 27th the following announcement was posted on the UK eBay General Announcement boards…

The sad news of Michael Jackson’s death has left fans of the King of Pop bereft. eBay is committed to ensuring that no buyer is left out of pocket as a result of the unique nature of the event, and will ensure all buyers on the site can receive a full refund for their ticket purchase.

On this basis, eBay and PayPal is extending its Buyer Protection to all Michael Jackson concert ticket purchases bought on eBay. The company will also help sellers by refunding eBay’s sales commission when they refund buyers for Michael Jackson ticket sales.

Final details of how buyers and sellers can work with eBay and PayPal will be announced early next week.

Regards,

The eBay Team

This is the GOOD side of eBay and Paypal locked inside of the transaction. This is where you can actually see the power of a strong payments policy on eBay and other ecommerce platforms.

When things  are going smooth, it is easy to complain about the electronic (really the Paypal only ) payment policy. BUT when something like this happens…something that effects 10’s of 1000’s of ticket buyers? WOW, that is powerful protection! I doubt people that would have paid via Money Orders or Western Union would have EVER seen a dime back without legal representation.

BRAVO to eBay and Paypal!!!

John (ColderICE)
Professed eBay and a  Michael Jackson fan

So what do you guys think about this? Please feel free to make a comment on this story…

It’s Friday, which means another round of the @ColderICE most popular re-tweets. Check back Monday for the re-caps from this weekend, and you can always follow @ColderICE to voice your opinion on what you see here.

1) "30 Twitter Tools For Managing Followers" http://ow.ly/fHms People can’t get enough of Twitter, and with all the tools that abound, it’s easy to get confused. Some of the most useful tools that you can use are ones that can help you manage followers. Check out this article on the tools and tricks that are on the market and which ones suit your needs.

2) "50 Inspiring Examples of Minimalism in Web Design" http://ow.ly/fv4i It’s always helpful to check out the current trends on web design, especially if you are a web designer. Seems there is trend toward the minimalist concept, and those designs can be very aesthetically pleasing. Take a look at these beautiful examples, and get inspired for your own design today.

3) "Use a Cable Key Ring for Easy Key Management" http://ow.ly/fLz Always losing your keys for infrequently used things like the boat house, shed or office? Here is a good DIY how-to on how to solve your problems. Wondering what a cable ring is in the first place? Well, that’s in here, too, and you might be able to find other useful ideas for it.

4) "20 Visualizations to Understand Crime" http://ow.ly/fEXj Ever crime carries it’s own stack of paperwork. Ever wonder how the police can sort through the piles of public information, and use it to make forensic guesses? This is a great blog on how cops use the information, and create guides of their own. Really interesting guides, charts and data tools.

5) "Harrison man uses screwdriver to dislodge bullet, shoots self in shoulder" http://ow.ly/fBeD Raise your hand if you think it’s a good idea to dislodge a gun of a bullet with a screwdriver? No hands? Didn’t think so. Read about how this guy made it into the idiot’s hall of fame. Don’t try this at home…but I probably didn’t have to tell you that.

Check back on Monday for the weekend’s best and most re-tweet’d @ColderICE tweets, and you can always follow @ColderICE to get up-to-date, real-time tweets about how-tos, ecommerce guides, news stories and more.

"Module Tabs in Web Design: Best Practices and Solutions" http://ow.ly/fLyw

"Placer County may allow teens to hunt deer in residential areas to help thin herd" http://ow.ly/fHlR

"Folder Menu Is a Powerful Folder Switching Tool" http://ow.ly/fHkT

"Alice Takes Household Shopping Off Your To-Do List" http://ow.ly/fGHj

"10 Ways to Instantly Increase Your jQuery Performance" http://ow.ly/fGH3

"10 Really Interesting jQuery Plugins" http://ow.ly/fEXH

"What’s Replaced Your Alarm Clock?" http://ow.ly/fEY9

"SmarterFox Speeds Up Common Searching Tasks" http://ow.ly/fEYC

“404 Best Practices" http://ow.ly/fBdO

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"Zoning Out Is A "Crucial" Mental State, Studies Say" http://ow.ly/fBek

"30 High Quality Metallic Texture, Pattern, Brushes and Photoshop Tutorials" http://ow.ly/fBaO

"SEO Best Practices: SEOmoz’s New Policies Based on Updated Correlation Data" http://ow.ly/fy73

"Collecta Searches News and Images in Real Time" http://ow.ly/fy7n

"10 useful Twitter presentations" http://ow.ly/fy6y

"Use Web Outages to Establish Internet-Free Zones" http://ow.ly/fy7h

"13 Useful Techniques for Enhancing Web Design Photography" http://ow.ly/fv54

"Road cleaned by neo-Nazis may be named for rabbi" http://ow.ly/fvb8

"BookSeer Tells You Which Book to Read Next" #icenewshttp://ow.ly/fv5j

"How to Make a Remote Shutter Release from a Doorbell" http://ow.ly/fv6N

Mike!!! What? Come ON? The King of Pop? Dude, this one is killing me. But I can not let it go by without me posting on it. I don’t want to do a video, I want to type this one.

Michael Jackson was so LARGE in my life, that it is not funny. When I was a young boy growing up in the projects of New York City there was no doubt who you wanted to hear on the radio. When a Jackson 5 song would come on, all the kids would dance. Funny thing is, I was the one in my crew that had it nailed down. At the tender age of about 5, I guess my awareness of Michael Jackson was sparked.

Who was this kid, this Black kid, with the BIG fro? OMG, I want to be like him. I want to sing like him, dance like him, have the girls screaming like him and well…be on TV like him.

This is like 1969-70 or so. There were NOT very many Black kids on TV back in those days. Michael, Tito, Jermaine, Jackie and Marlon, that was the ORIGINAL line up. I remember right around that following year, the Jackson 5 scored their own Saturday morning cartoon. One of those cheesy drawn Scooby-do wannabe series that popped up. Remember they had Archie and his band, Josie and the Pussy Cats, but when the Jackson 5 came on, we all watched.

Every week there was some dump plot and Micheal would run around talking to animals. LMAO, the dude was odd even back then, now that I think about it. But the talent was completely un-deniable.

So the race was on in the projects, who could get their afro the BIGGEST? Who could get it perfectly round with that Michael bounce? You probably have no idea what that means, but us kids in my projects knew. We wanted our fro to bounce like Mike’s did when he would dance on stage. LMAO

Sure, ultimately Michael Jackson had to grow up, he left the Jackson 5 and I left the projects. He went on to record the HOTTEST dance tune ever IMHO back on his first real solo album. It was in the summer of 1979. My parents were getting divorced and I simply needed to escape and this song was that escape. Not only was Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough the burner  track to lead off the Off the Wall album, it was the beginning of a new career for Mike as a solo artist.

I remember all my boys tripping on the beginning of that song. We was like, what the hell is Michael talking about? And why does he sound like a girl, LMAO. But then then he screamed and the beat hit! OMG, this was destined to go #1. Then to top it off, it had this new thing…it came with its own VIDEO! WTF was that?

Not much going on in video back then, but it was not something we had not seen before, so to us it was really HOT. Not only that, we all suddenly forgot about those other 4 guys named Mr. Jackson (his brothers).  I no longer was pissed that Michael left the group. I think I played that track over and over until I knew every freaking word in one sitting.

Well after that the rest is history and for many they felt the Thriller album was Mike’s best work, but NOT for me, it will ALWAYS be the Off The Wall that means the most. I liked many of the things Mike did over the following years, but nothing topped that summer of 1979.

So today we were all going over which video we like the BEST from Micheal and it did not hesitate. While Don’t Stop… is my favorite tune, by far my favorite video came in 1992 when Michael pulled out ALL the stops and all the stars to record my favorite video Remember The Time.

WAIT! Here is the thing. Michael was going to be on the Soul Train Awards to perform my favorite jam from that album. But reports came out that he had twisted his ankle during rehearsal. The entire population had been waiting to see Michael’s performance that evening and we were all rather bummed. But like 1 hour before air time, it came on the radio that Mike was going to perform anyway, but he would NOT be able to dance due to the incident.

THE RESULT? Probably the BEST Michael Jackson performance FREAKIN EVER! Just watch him. WATCH HIM! It is killing him that he has to sit in the chair. But the dude is married to the craft and he was a pro. Tell me this man was not the KING OF POP?!?

Wow, thank God for YouTube…I never thought I would see that performance again and I FOUND IT, wow.

RIP – Michael Jackson 1958 – 2009

I made the first hash tag video but it did not come out very good. Here is a better attempt. What is a Hash Tag? Well we actually answered that one in the other hash tag video where I explain that.

But TODAY we have created our own UN-OFFICIAL Twitter hash tag to help the folks at eBay do and even better job. Lets begin to use the #HelpEBay hash for comments to eBay to help the cause

This is take #2, the first one had bad audio, but you should still watch the take #1 video too if you can. It will really show you how I came up with the idea.

I am making a point today to be sure and remind our readers that John from ColderICE (yeah, ME) will be on-air live taking your questions this afternoon at 1:14 pm. You can send your questions in right now by submitting an email anytime, calling the show line at (724) 444-7444 using call ID# 31930 or joining the shows chat room during show time.

As a matter of fact, the shows chat room is probably one of the BEST resources for small ecommerce merchants on the web. We have some of the liveliest discussions on the web during the show. DO NOT MISS an episode!