SMX East – What you missed.
We’re well into October and SMX EAST 2009 is in the books. If you missed it (or you spent too much time hungover from the “charity” parties to go to any of the sessions) here’s a link to what you missed. (thanks to the trusty live blogging coverage by the outspoken wonder-blogger Lisa Barone)
Youtube hits 1 Billion views per day
Celebrating the 3rd anniversary of Google acquiring Youtube, the user generated video site is now reporting over 1 BILLION views per day. To mark the milestone, Youtube.com has even created a new logo to brag about its remarkable numbers.
In addition, Chad Hurley, Youtube’s co-founder and CEO would like to thank YOU, the user:
“Today, I’m proud to say that we have been serving well over a billion views a day on YouTube. This is great moment in our short history and we owe it all to you.”
Google adds “Quick View” to PDF’s in Search Results
As a way to bypass downloading and opening PDF files in Adobe Reader (or compatible PDF reader) Google has added a “quick view” feature to it’s search results. The new feature opens the file in your browser and acts just like a normal PDF reader with features such as zoom, paging, print and search. Not all PDF files can be open this way, however, those that can’t, still have the “open as html” button previously used by Google.
Google gets (more) serious about Cell Phones
Google and Verizon announced on Tuesday that they are partnering to create and distribute Android cell phones. The partnership, one and a half years in the making, is a huge breakthrough for Google as Verizon is one of the largest carriers and distributors of cell phones in North America. An unconfirmed report also claims that one of the first phones to be hitting Verizon’s stores is the HTC Hero (hitting shelves, reportedly, in November).
Facebook>Myspace>Twitter (Infographic)
The Chicago Tribune released an interesting chart on Wednesday showing unique visitors by month for the three big social networks: Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. The graph shows the tremendous growth of Facebook, the significant decline of Myspace in the past year, and the advent of Twitter (which still has some catching up to do). The graphic also points out the revenue sources of the big three, most notably, Twitter’s “Premium Corporate Accounts” due some time this year.
Yahoo!’s Patent for Human Edited Search Algorithm approved
Yahoo! applied for a patent which combines automated and human edited search results about 7 years ago. Tuesday, that patent was approved. In the patent, Yahoo! describes how it claims that combining an automated algorithm with human editors, the results will be more accurate:
Ranking by human editors reviewing search results provides more relevant ranking than automated processes and even search users, because human editors possess better intelligence than the best software and more clearly understand distinctions in pages, and human editors focus on areas of their expertise. For example, a human editor would more easily spot a page that is irrelevant but contains terms designed to get a high ranking from an automated process.
What this means for Yahoo! search, however, is likely very little, since the results will be powered by Microsoft for the next 10 years or so.
The Lighter side of Social Media:
- An interesting new site called ijustmadelove.com uses Google Maps to show where people have “made love”. Here’s a more in-depth description of the site.
- Similarly, here’s an info-graphic that show’s the various “uses” of Google Earth. How unfortunate, yet regrettably (probably) true.
- Here’s another Google suggest screen-shot, I could have gone without seeing…people are sick…especially guys.
- One more reason to not friend your parents on Facebook…ouch.
- Finally, since it’s October and Halloween is right around the corner, instead of cute, here’s 20 SCARY tatoos for your enjoyment (scary for a variety of reasons).
See you next week!
