Running Elgg :: Friends blog

http://beaversource.oregonstate.edu:80/projects/admin/ticket/2814

Gantt view permission denied

http://www.u-g-h.com/2008/11/17/get-your-support-from-fast-t

I found a website for a company called Fast-Teks who focus on computer repair, training, recovery and support. It’s an interesting model that is built around having technicians all around the country who had the tools and ability to support individuals and small businesses. They offer a range of services including:

• Troubleshooting


• Virus, Worm, Spyware Removal


• DSL and Cable Modem Setup


• Wireless Networking


• Data Back-Up & Recovery


• QuickBooks Experts


• Software Training


• Web Development


• Virtual Support

It’s worth keeping in mind if you need help with your IT and are looking for local support.

It’s also a model that would translate well to the UK market I think. I wonder if they offer their franchise opportunities on a global basis.

http://www.u-g-h.com/2008/11/16/what-do-you-think-of-the-hon

Well, it’s been interesting to see how the blog has been evolving over the last few months. The big changes started happening when I got some comments from a couple of people that my blog was suffering from tehamtic inconsistency issues. This was compounded when I asked Google what it would categorise my site as, and the result came back as “Misc”

From that point forth, I decided to start up a number of different blogs each focused on a particular niche. It means that each blog only gets a few posts a week, but that’s probably a good thing, as content stays on the front page for longer (lower churn). Here are some of my blogs in case you’re looking for something to read:

• MBA Geek: I try to keep my pure business posts here. Based on my current employment in the Isle of Man I’m doing more “enabling” work than actual technology, so there’s been some interesting things to post about.


• A bit of this and a bit of that: My personal blog, which contains a real variety of stuff, mostly personal and my family, my diet, holidays and lots more


• The Joke Shop: Pretty much all my jokes go here. It’s pretty busy I must say


• WordPress Guru: My Wordpress exploits go mostly here, though I do put some more mainstream ones on this one. Might turn this into a WordPress consultancy one day .. who knows!


• AskOwen: If someone asks me a technical question, say about automated OS recovery, then I use it for a way to store the question and it’s answer.

I have another couple of blogs but those are the main ones. But the net effect is that taking those topics out has allowed this blog to mature into something that’s a bit more me. Ok, it’s still very varied and rich, but hopefully it’s a bit more consistent. What do you think? Do you enjoy reading it?

http://www.u-g-h.com/2008/11/16/looking-for-something-to-rea

Someone sent me a link to a great service called Twitt(url)y that lets you find out what’s fun and interesting. It’s a great service that looks at what URLs people are talking about and rates them based on how many people are talking about it. So, for example if someone launches a viral campaign about a diet pill called Orovo. If enough people start talking about the link and about the campaign then the link will start getting ranked higher and higher in Twitturly until it gets to the top of the front page.

It’s an interesting concept, that of using “the masses” to help decide what is interesting and what isn’t. It very much depends on the group of people doing the voting. Twitter still has a high percentage of technical users, so a subject like live video casting solutions is more likely to get traction than, say what happened last night on EastEnders. Still, as the Twitter population spreads to other segments we’ll see more mainstream subjects enter the list and the list get more comprehensive.

http://beaversource.oregonstate.edu:80/projects/admin/ticket/2808

Marketplace - post ideas for new projects

http://beaversource.oregonstate.edu:80/projects/admin/ticket/2807

Extra links in the 2nd nav is displaying inconsitently in trac

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/453685882/its-jam-t

Today we hosted the Google Code Jam finals, inviting 100 of the world's top programmers to flex their brains in a grand coding showdown. This is our fifth annual Global Code Jam competition, and thanks to a new platform created by a 20%-time team that includes previous Code Jam winners, more than 11,000 contestants tackled complex algorithmic challenges, programming in the language of their choice. After a series of online rounds in July and August, the top 500 semi-finalists competed in regional semifinals at 15 offices across Europe, Asia and the Americas to determine the final 100.

We're pleased to announce that after three hours of furious typing, debugging and problem-solving at the onsite finals in Mountain View. this afternoon, Tiancheng Lou of China took home the $10,000 Grand Prize. Zeyuan Zhu from China won second place, Bruce Merry from the UK came in third, and cash prizes went to the other finalists. Overall, the 100 finalists represented 23 different countries.

Congratulations to all the Code Jammers. We hope to see you at the next Jam. It's never too early to start practicing!

Posted by Jeanne Williams, Google Code Jam Program Manager

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/451925847/google-si

Customers today demand speed. Waiting around is so, well, yesterday -- as so many of the things we used to have to wait for are now at our fingertips online. We can read up to the minute news, get directions, and find the answers to our most pressing questions simply by entering them into a search box.

For a business running their own website, this means that visitors who turn to search expect to have access to the newest products, pages and announcements a site has to offer.

That's why today we're excited to bring you On-Demand Indexing for Google Site Search. On-Demand Indexing is like a turbocharger for Google Site Search, ensuring that your newest pages appear in search results on your website fast. Whether you're promoting a new line of products, sharing breaking news or reports, or updating your site in time for the holiday season, On-Demand Indexing puts businesses in control with an "Index Now" button, giving them the flexibility to quickly update search results whenever they have new content to update or add.

Google Site Search builds on the Google Custom Search Engine by adding business integration features, the option to turn off ads, a more customized look and feel, as well as email and phone support. Check out this video to learn more:



Anyone with a website can take advantage of On-Demand Indexing today by signing up for Google Site Search. For more information about On-Demand Indexing, and how Google Site Search can help your online business or website, check out the Google Enterprise Blog or visit www.google.com/sitesearch.

Posted by Nitin Mangtani, Lead Product Manager, Enterprise Search, and Tom Duerig, Software Engineer

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/451395497/how-we-he

This post is the latest in an ongoing series about how we harness the data we collect to improve our products and services for our users. - Ed.

Google search isn't just about looking up football scores from last weekend or finding a great hotel for your next vacation. It can also be used for the public good. Yesterday, we announced Google Flu Trends, which uses aggregated search data in an effort to confront the challenge of influenza outbreaks.

By taking Google Trends — where you can see snapshots of what's on the public's collective mind — and applying the tool to a public health problem, our engineers found that there was a correlation between flu-related queries and the actual flu. They created a model for near real-time estimates about outbreaks, in the hopes that both health care professionals and the general public would use this tool to better prepare for flu season.

Since we launched yesterday, the response from the medical community has been positive. "The earlier the warning, the earlier prevention and control measures can be put in place," said Dr. Lyn Finelli of the influenza division at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to The New York Times. "[T]his could prevent cases of influenza." You can check out the tool for yourself.

We couldn't have built this flu detection system without analyzing historical patterns. Because flu season is different every year, just a few months of data wouldn't have done the trick. For example, the 2003-2004 flu season was unusually severe in many regions. The data from that season was especially robust and allowed us to discover a more accurate, reliable set of flu-related terms. To learn more about how we built the system, see this page on how Flu Trends works.

Because we're committed to protecting your privacy, we made sure that the searches that we analyze for Google Flu Trends are not drawn from personally-identifiable search histories but rather from an aggregated set of hundreds of billions of searches.

In order to provide a rough geographic breakdown of potential flu outbreaks, we use IP address information from our server logs to make a best guess about where queries originate. To protect your privacy, we anonymize those IP addresses at nine months. And we don't provide this aggregated, anonymized data to third parties. For more information about the privacy protections for Flu Trends check out our FAQs and privacy policy.

This is just the first launch in what we hope will be several public service applications of Google Trends in the future. And as we continue to think of ways to use aggregated and anonymized search data in helpful ways, we're also committed to safeguarding our users' privacy.

Posted by Pablo Chavez, Senior Policy Counsel

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/451130502/promote-y

With 13 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute and millions of viewers watching hundreds of millions of videos every day, the popularity of YouTube can be a mixed blessing for users. While it's easier to get your 15 minutes of fame (or more, depending on who you are), it can be difficult for people to find your video in the first place, even if it's exactly what they're looking for.

But what if you could promote your video on YouTube and make it easier for people to find it?

Today, we are excited to announce a way to do just that. YouTube Sponsored Videos is our new advertising program that enables all video creators -- from the everyday user to a Fortune 500 advertiser -- to reach people who are interested in their content, products, or services, with relevant videos. Anyone can use Sponsored Videos to make sure their videos find a larger audience, whether you're a start-up band trying to break out with a new single, a film studio seeking to promote an exciting movie trailer, or even a first-time uploader trying to quickly build a following on the site.

So how does Sponsored Videos work? Easy-to-use automated tools allow content owners to decide where they'd like their videos to appear, place bids in an automated online auction, and set daily spending budgets. Then, when people search for videos, YouTube will display relevant videos alongside the search results. These videos are clearly labeled as "sponsored videos" and are priced on a cost-per-click basis. (You can learn more about these tools in the video below.)



We are constantly working to develop the right advertising format for the right content and experience on YouTube. That's why our primary focus with Sponsored Videos is to build a platform consistent with the site's search and discovery experience. Just as AdWords provides people with relevant, non-obtrusive advertising, we hope that Sponsored Videos will provide useful, engaging content, accessible to advertisers of all kinds.

We think this is a great first step for offering users, partners, and advertisers search marketing solutions on YouTube. Like Google, our philosophy at YouTube is continuous innovation, so we will work to improve Sponsored Videos by listening to your feedback and observing the auction as it takes time to fully develop. We hope that by leveraging much of the technology and insight of the AdWords team, we can make this transition as easy as possible.

We do not believe there is one advertising solution for YouTube, but lots of valuable ways for advertisers to engage with our audience. The scale of YouTube Sponsored Videos -- with the branding power of InVideo ads, the engagement of our contests, the analytics of YouTube Insight, etc. -- should create exciting opportunities for users, partners, and advertisers.

YouTube Sponsored Videos is currently only available in the United States, but we're working to bring it to other countries soon. If you're interested in running your own Sponsored Videos campaign, please visit ads.youtube.com.

Posted by Matthew Liu, Product Manager, YouTube