SEO Werkt!

This post comes from Anthony Scammell, Associate Director H+K Sports.

Aside from the running, rowing, cycling, BMX-ing and modern pentathlon, Olympic ‘legacy’ has almost become a sport in its own right. It even has a new cheerleader in Lord Coe, who was yesterday appointed the government’s Olympic legacy ambassador.

But, as the flame was put out last night at the Olympic stadium, the legacy that is most apparent to me across the country is confidence. After his second gold medal in Saturday’s 5,000m, Mo Farah looked into the camera and told the nation that ‘anything is possible with hard work and graft’. Quite right Mo.  But what that ‘hard work and graft’ gave Farah was boundless confidence. Confidence he could dare to be a double Olympic champion.  Confidence he could take the front with two laps to go in the 5,000m and absolutely refuse to let anyone pass him.

Too often the British psyche is prone to seeing a pint glass half empty rather than half full; we might not, rather than we might. Confidence can be the difference, and if these Olympics have given the country a huge shot in the arm – in a purely legal way – then that’s got to be a good thing.

BBC Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell wondered aloud whether the 16-days of Olympic competition would be akin to a holiday romance – a short term thrill that would fade quickly when ‘normal life’ returns. I hope not.  Let’s have the confidence to make sure it’s much more than that.

Afterall, there’s more to come. As the official Paralympic broadcaster, Channel 4, is proclaiming on its adverts: ‘Thanks for the Warm Up’.

Half of Team Scammell takes in the wrestling at the Excel Centre.

YouTube is likely to be saved from the Google’s latest search alteration that punishes websites in its search results for having too many DMCA take-down requests. Why? The video-sharing site may not actually have that many DMCA notices, says SearchEngineLand.

Yesterday, Google announced that it is tweaking its search algorithm to take into account the amount of DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) take-down notices a website has received. These notices are used to tell a website that there is copyrighted material that is being infringed somewhere on the site and that the copyright owner would like it taken off. So where does Google come into play? The company, whose highly-ranked search engine results drive tons of traffic to websites every day, will push websites with too many DMCA take-down noticed lower in that rank.

You can see which sites have the most DMCA take-down requests in Google’s Transparency Report.

Google told SearchEngineLand that the new algorithm will take YouTube into account just like any other website saying:

“We’re treating YouTube like any other site in search rankings. That said, we don’t expect this change to demote results for popular user-generated content sites.”

The difference is in the take-down notice system. YouTube has its own request form that is not connected to DMCA requests. If your content was stolen and posted to YouTube, you can go to this link and YouTube Copyright Center, choose whether you are a content owner or a regular YouTube user and file a complaint there. The center also provides copyright educational materials.

Because this exists, the number of DMCA requests associated with YouTube are skewed. Google is more than likely not taking into consideration the number of take-down requests it receives internally, thus YouTube narrowly escapes taking a beating from this new rule.

via SearchEngineLand, hat tip Gizmodo; YouTube image via Rego – d4u.hu/Flickr

Filed under: search

Afgelopen vrijdag maakte 4chan via haar officiële Twitterkanaal met haar typische humor bekend dat het miljardste bericht op de website was gepubliceerd: “4chan passed 1 billion total posts yesterday. Unfortunately we don’t know what it was, but you can use your imagination…” Indrukwekkende cijfers voor een indrukwekkende site. Maar wie of wat is 4chan precies? Lees meer

Researchers at security firms Kaspersky Lab and Crysys Lab released tools today to detect if your computer is infected by the Gauss virus, a piece of malware that focuses on stealing bank account login credentials.

Gauss was discovered yesterday by Kaspersky Lab, and its function is to steal access credentials to Lebanese banks. These include the Bank of Beirut, BlomBank, EBLF, ByblosBank, Credit Libanais, and FransaBank. It also steals information for Citibank and PayPal. On top of that, the malware grabs browser history, cookies, passwords, system configurations, and more. Researchers have not been able to get much information about the builders themselves, as the command and control servers were shut down, leaving the malware in limbo.

Gauss is related to a number of high-profile viruses including Stuxnet, which became famous after attacking nuclear plants in Iran in 2010, and its sister malware, Duqu. It is also related to the recently infamous Flame, which has been referred to as a major advancement in cyberespionage.

Gauss and Flame are closer together in relation. Kaspersky says the two share nearly identical features and were built off of the same code base. The firm says Stuxnet’s creators probably worked closely with those of Gauss and may have even shared source code.

Find the Kaspersky detector here and the Crysys detector here.

via The New York Times; Image via Shutterstock

Filed under: security

I need to lighten things up a bit with all this Oracle brouhaha.

Oracle acquired Xsigo recently. I wrote about the acquisition and how Oracle will lose as IT gets virtualized. Oracle’s Bob Evans came back with his own special brand of attack. Yesterday I responded with my post: Open? Yeah, Sure. Sorry Oracle, You’re Still Full Of It.

Good times!

Last night, Michael Krigsman said in the comments to my post something I take to heart. Here’s what he said:

These kind of backs and forths are a bit silly, but of course there are multiple perspectives here. Still, I like the human drama because that’s what makes enterprise software interesting and accessible to a broader audience. For many people, this stuff is highly arcane, so the human dimension is beneficial even if the substance is a bit… well, like catcalling.

Despite the differences in position, I urge the parties to remain friendly and not resort to personal attacks and innuendo of any kind.

Right on, Mike!

But oh my word, we need some more of this excitement in the enterprise world. And so for that, I thank Bob for busting things out a bit. He said I made baseless claims about the Oracle cloud. I called him the king’s blogger. But Oracle is not the only one doing things that I question. Yes, they’re the worst of the crowd but not the only ones who do things that have me thinking WTF?

The big enterprise guys need more accountability. It is my job to call things out. So, with that in mind, here we go –  The Friday WTF Awards:

1. SAP – can you please make HANA something the makers of the world can use? You’re a contender to be one of the enterprise giants that leap frogs over the rest. Let’s see some something beautiful that any maker can create with all that data.
2. OpenStack — let’s be real. You’re an industry coalition. You have lots of developers and they make lots of contributions. They need a bigger voice. Transparency is an issue. We need more light into the workings of the organization.
3. Stop the madness, IBM. Your PureSystems technology is not a platform as a service. Focus on the real issues your tech solves. Cloudwashing doesn’t look good.
4. Citrix — where is Cloudstack? Hello? Anyone home?
5. Amazon Web Services — when will you start talking with the community about your APIs? You could release them under Creative Commons. That would allow for standardization. You blessed Eucalyptus because it is only enterprise focussed but not CloudStack. How come? Is it because they also support service providers who could be AWS competitors?
6. VMware — lots of rhetoric about the Amazon cloud. No more FUD, please.
7. EMC — building out a data center with your big storage machines is not cloud. Call it hybrid, label it private – all that is fine. But in the end — you’re selling your customers new storage systems. They’re not elastic. They’re not multi-tenant. It’s just shiny new hardware for the data center.
8. Microsoft  and the curious case of Office 365. Why not open more APIs?
9. CA — their FUD about the cloud is deafening.
10. Infosys – Charges of visa abuse? What’s up with that?
11. In the spirit of Spinal Tap, this list goes to 11. Cloud Analysts: we need more analysis, not marketing. Let’s see it.

Have a good weekend, folks.

(Image courtesy of WTF with Marc Maron)

Hey Microsoft, this whole new-name-for-Metro thing? It’s getting a little ridiculous. Just give us the new name already.

Last week, Microsoft ditched the “Metro” interface name for Windows Phone, Windows 8, and other products after nearly two years of use. The company lamely said Metro was just a “code name,” but it’s most likely due to a trademark dispute.

Since then, speculation has run high over what Microsoft will call the user interface. Yesterday, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley reported that Microsoft workers are being told the name is now just “Windows 8 user interface.” It’s a terrible name, and it ignores the fact that the “Metro” design is found across other Microsoft products, including Windows Phone, Xbox, Office 2013, and the new Outlook.com.

Today’s rumor, per The Verge, is Microsoft employees have switched to calling the interface the “Modern UI Style.” The “Modern UI Style” name does have some traction because a Thursday blog post from Microsoft even calls it that. “Modern UI” would be better than “Windows 8 UI,” but we’d prefer something more distinctive.

I asked Microsoft if the company would indeed be changing to “Modern UI,” but a spokesperson said the company “had nothing to share.” Surprise surprise.

Why is a design name is causing such a stir? Because Microsoft and CEO Steve Ballmer (pictured) have been touting it for so long. Most of its products are taking on elements of this clean and refreshing look, and it’s a big bet for a normally conservative business. But now that bet has no name.

Microsoft, it’s time to step up.

Steve Ballmer photo: Aanjhan Ranganathan/Flickr

Filed under: VentureBeat

With the London 2012 Olympics coming to an end, many of us will begin to talk about legacy and how we can improve our sporting success even further.

Yesterday, Kerri Walsh, Tyson Gray and Paula Radcliffe came together with mums to help grow the next generation of Olympians with P&G. P&G, a Worldwide Olympic Partner announced yesterday their plans to raise $25m to help say ‘Thank You Mum’ by helping establish and sustain youth sport programs around the world, as part of its 10-year partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

“At the start of our ‘Thank You Mum’ program, we asked mums everywhere, what would be a great way for us to help you and they said – “Help support youth sports because sport helps mums too. It helps mums raise healthy, happy kids. This is why we are committing to support not just the mums of Olympians – but every mum who does whatever it takes to make her child’s life the best it can be,” said Marc Pritchard, P&G Global Brand Building Officer.

He added, “ More than $6 million is going to support sports development, school equipment, youth funds & scholarships and places in summer sports camps across the world. Today’s announcement means extending our plans until the end of our ten-year IOC partnership working with NOCs from around the world to increase the opportunity for more children to experience sporting & Olympic values.”

IOC President Jacques Rogge said, “I am delighted to see the success of P&G’s world-wide youth sport program and welcome this commitment to extend through to the 2020 Olympic Games. By partnering with the global Olympic Movement, P&G has committed to touching and improving lives through sport – particularly the lives of young people. Investment in youth sport is essential to the future of the Olympic Movement.”

GB Olympian Paula Radcliffe helped P&G announce their global commitment in Innsbruck and is also a Pampers spokesperson. “I genuinely believe it’s important for all children to have sport in their life as it has so many benefits; not just health benefits, but self-confidence, self-esteem, working as a team, better results at school. As a mother, I know this starts in childhood. Play has a massive role in a baby’s development just as sport can help nurture happy, well balanced kids, and I am delighted to help P&G and Pampers in their commitment to support mums and families world-wide,” she said.

Marc Pritchard concluded, “By investing in youth sport, we can honor our commitment to mums and to the IOC by supporting families and helping grow tomorrow’s Olympians.”

P&G’s commitment to raise $25m will help support many future Olympians but what else do you think we should be doing to support the future of GB’s Olympians?

Android: The Google Translate app for Android got a huge update yesterday: now if you take a photo of a sign, menu, or any other text in another language using your Android device, you can tell the app to try and translate it based on a selection of the text that you specify. The app will try and interpret the characters from your image and will automatically translate the text into your preferred language for you. More »

Google announced changes to the Knowledge Graph yesterday.

The big change is that Google’s Knowledge Graph is now available worldwide for all English language versions of Google. So now if you are in the UK…

Google announced changes to the Knowledge Graph yesterday.

The big change is that Google’s Knowledge Graph is now available worldwide for all English language versions of Google. So now if you are in the UK, you will and should get the knowledge graph results.

The second big change is that Google added a carousel to the knowledge graph results. The carousel expands up at the top of the page, and then flips through various results. Here is a picture:

In addition, the knowledge graph results show up in the search box as you type now:

Here is a video showing these features off:

I personally do not see these results yet, so I haven’t personally played with it.

Forum discussion at Google+ and WebmasterWorld.