Alternate.org

The Mormon Church has just released the bank records of thousands of people freed just after the Civil War. I find this to be really interesting because it opens the window for millions of Americans to look back at their geneology, which may have been shrouded in a haze. The entire database is available really inexpensively as well, which makes this all the more valuable. This really peaked my interest because about a month ago my parents sent me a huge book tracing my own family tree. Although no one was famous, its still really interesting.

I’m just curious why the Mormon Church undertook this enormous effort, they seem to have no real relation to the issue at hand. I think it is a really noble thing to do though.

How come internet advertising is based on click-thrus? Seriously. I don’t understand it. For 100 years, advertising has been totally (well, kind of) passive: the ad sits in the magazine, hoping you will look at it, and after seeing similar ads a number of times, you will consider purchasing the product contained therein. Right? So how come online advertising is so obsessed with click-thru rates? I don’t have to throw a rock at a billboard every time I see it, so the advertisers know I saw that ad. So why do I have to click a banner in order for that ad to be considered effective?



If I’m driving down the highway (again) and I see an ad for the Container Store, the advertisers don’t expect to me to all of a sudden immediately take the next exit and head toward the nearest Container Store, do they? So why do they expect that if I’m reading news or checking out designsites or shopping for music online, I’ll be willing to immediately stop what I’m doing, click the flashing banner at the top of the page, and totally redirect my activities, just because I saw a banner? That’s ridiculous. One rule of advertising is that the best you can hope for is that the consumer will think of you strongly enough when they next need/want a product that fits the description of yours, not that they’ll go out and buy in droves the second they first see your ad. That simply isn’t going to happen, offline or on, bigger ads or smaller ones:




Web sites have been looking for ways to become more attractive to advertisers, who have been disappointed with response rates to Internet banner ads.



The bulked-up Web ads will take up much more space on a Web page than current banner ads, which typically run across a narrow section at the top of a page—234-by-60 pixels for a half banner or 468-by-40 pixels for a full banner.



The larger units include a square pop up that is 250-by-250 pixels and a so-called “skyscraper unit’’ that measures 120-by-600 pixels. Larger ads will also allow marketers to make their online message more creative and more interactive.



Link via SVN.

From WireNews




For example, you’re sitting in a taxi traveling up 6th Avenue when the cab passes by a Starbucks. Suddenly, your cell phone rings. Starbucks is offering you a 50-cent discount on a Mochaccino if you come in right away. But in a recent cab ride through the Big Apple, Catlett said he noticed there is a Starbucks every two or three blocks.



Right. So I’d get to PAY by the minute for ads to be CALLED INTO MY PHONE? Wonder-fucking-ful. And what if you LIVE right next to a Starbucks? What then? Why can’t marketers and advertisers just, for once, leave something alone? I mean cell phones are pretty intimate.. far too personal for it to be acceptable to be called like this. I was reading tech news from Yahoo! wirelessly in a cafe at lunch today, and I actually could pay attention to the story. You know why? There’s not banner ads yet in the wireless internet. If I get any coupons called to me, I’m going to flip out..

From WiredNews:




Edwards asked Minear whether it would violate antitrust laws if Microsoft used its connections “to destroy a grocery chain.” Minear said there would be no violation because Microsoft “doesn’t have a monopoly in the grocery market.”



Edwards then likened Netscape to the grocery store, saying the company did not consider itself a challenge to Microsoft.





Ah.. yes. The brilliant ‘grocery store’ defense. I thought they’d pull that out.

RIAA: New evidence shows Napster hurt CD sales

“Shipments of CD singles sank by 39 percent last year, according to data released by the Recording Industry Association of America.”

Duh.

“’To be honest, it wasn’t a great music year,’ said Andreas Schmidt,”

Amen.

I’m amazed. The X-Files wasn’t so bad tonight. In fact it was quite good. I haven’t watched it like all season, and I knew what was going on… Although we don’t get to know until April whether Mulder is dead or not. We have to suffer through ‘The Lone Gunmen’ until then. :/

This doesn’t sound like a republican to me…

I noticed this story at MacNN.com about the new version of Virtual PC shipping soon after the launch of MacOS X. This is wonderful news… think about it… now I can run;


UNIX apps (apache, samba, emacs, etc)

LINUX apps (ports of X window environments KDE and GNOME are sure to follow)

Classic MacOS Apps (PhotoShop, GoLive, etc)

Carbon Apps (iTunes, all new apps, etc)

Cocoa/NeXT/OpenStep Apps (OmniWeb, Mail, WebObjects, Project Builder, etc.)

Win32 Apps through Virtual PC


and theoretically you could run BeOS Apps as well through Virtual PC.


….drool…. and all of this on a Ti PowerBook G4 on Airport sitting in the park across the street from home working remotely… ahhh.. it will happen soon.

I have nowhere else to vent this so here goes…


All you Mac heads bitching and whining about a 17” iMac go buy a fucking $1299 cube and a $150 17” VGA Monitor and voila… there ya go… and its even under the $1499 you would pay for an iMac SE (which obviously would be the price point of a 17” iMac if it ever existed).

Remember the whole “monitorless imac” rumors??? I mean, what the fuck did those people think an unexpandable monitorless iMac was supposed to look like… a round bubbly thing …??? NO, its the CUBE DAMNIT

Grrr… now, go buy it!

It seems that MapQuest has been redesigned… it’s nicer than before, that’s for fucking sure… although the font size is still a tad too small for Mac IE.

Hey. Did you know there was Macworld Tokyo like yesterday? And did you know that there’s some rather interesting new iMacs out? They’re faster and feature CDR capabilities. I might have to get one… if my PowerBook G4 ever arrives, that is.

Radiohead is the best band ever. I’ve said that before, and I’ll say it again. They’re touring North America this summer following a release of yet another (!) album. I simply cannot wait. I really really hope they come to Denver, and if not, I’m flying out to Santa Cruz to see them in San Francisco. I hope 808 has the couch ready. (link via SVN)

Looks like Radiohead won’t be showing up to the Grammys this year. They call it a ‘spectacle’. I have to agree. It seems that there is a ton of music that goes unrecognized in the Grammy-nomination circle that is so much better than what actually gets nominated. The whole thing is like one big advertisement for songs and albums everyone already knows about, even if they’d rather not.



Bass player Colin Greenwood added: “It should be done in private, like masturbation, really, shouldn’t it? It really shouldn’t be done in public. They’re the only two industries that jerk off in public.”

God, I love New York. I wish I had the balls to move there.

So in a move of shameless self promotion, I’m mentioning here that Deeperhue is officially under redesign. So far, it’s just a splash page, but check it out if you’re interested in what the new look is. Not terribly ground-breaking or anything, but nice, I feel.