HitTail, the long tail of natural search

For some time now I have been using the HitTail keyword long tail search service. HitTail works on the principle that it is the long tail of infrequent natural search hits that can be built upon to build traffic. This video by the developer explains how it works. I have found it to be a most useful tool in helping to understand just what my readers were looking for.

Do you like nostalgia? The Superimposers are a Beatles/Beach Boys duo featured today on Chalky's Terrible Love Songs. "The Superimposers are Dan Warden and Miles Copeland, a London based duo (not American as I originally thought). If you haven't heard The Superimposers before, I'd describe them as The Beach Boys meets The Beatles meets Air meets something in 1950's America-there are a lot of other hints and flavours in their songs but I can't quite put my finger on them yet... worth a listen." says Chalky.

To be or not to be...symmetrical or asymmetrical

Symmetry or asymmetry? When I saw these two books together I was intrigued by the juxtaposition of titles. The one book says that we exist because of asymmetry while the other says that the beauty of symmetry shapes the world. You pays your money and takes your choice. Could it be that Newton found the symmetry and quantum mechanics the asymmetry? I have just started reading both books, by Frank Close and Nobel Laureate Christopher T. Hill, so I'm not yet ready to give an opinion but I'm somehow fascinated by the possibility that they are both right. Here we go down the rabbit hole with Alice. It's like that in music too. Harmony and disharmony together in a dance. I'm listening to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" as I'm writing this. Is it not the interplay of opposites that makes the whole dance possible? Thesis, antithesis and synthesis and...
Don't think I'm gonna sort this out tonight so I'll just listen to Diana Krall and Tony Bennett. They have the world on a string.

A last word from William Blake perhaps:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

A Leonard Cohen miracle worth waiting for

This year the maestro will be on tour. Thanks to Terrible Love Songs for this great news. Apparently he is heading for Europe in the summer. Leonard Cohen Forum The first Cohen album I bought was Songs From A Room and that was A Long Time Ago. Leonard Cohen is my favourite musical poet. For me his music is timeless and unique. Now that Oscar Peterson is gone he must surely take the crown as Canada's national treasure?

Talking Teddy Afro with Ethiopian friends

This evening I had supper with some friends from Ethiopia. The food was simple Italian and we drank of course good Ethiopian coffee and the mood was convivial. We spoke of the politics and culture of the country, but mostly we spoke of food and music. The track below and in the sidebar was the one my friends spoke of most. I am a big fan of Ethiopian music though the language barrier means I don't know much about it. Thanks to my friends, though, I'm picking up some tips that I can share with my readers. Sometimes we need to get into another cultural orbit to experience new ideas and to appreciate things from a different perspective. Today I also made another nice discovery thanks to a comment left on Chocolate Covered Vegan by Lizzy of Trying Veganism. I found her interesting Street Art in Kreuzberg on Picasa, which got me thinking that maybe I should put together a nice album on Google's photo sharing platform. At present my pictures there are just a cluttered mess. Sometimes I think that, just as in life, we leave behind a trail of unfinished bits and pieces on the internet. Like all those unread books that one day we will get around to reading we have a blog here, a social network there, gathering virtual dust. Every day I postpone the inevitable upcoming internet spring clean. Does anyone else have a trail they left behind on the web that they feel is in need of a cleanup? I know I won't make a start today. The weather is too bad and I want to listen to some nice music.

Mr Scruff and why the internet is lovely

Finding something new is always exciting and for me finding exciting new music is always cool so I am grateful to Terrible Love Songs for helping me find Get A Move On as well as a lot of other cool stuff. I woke up the Amsterdam public library when I clicked on her blog and music blasted out of the MacBook but nobody noticed here on the fifth floor where most of the students sit. This is an amazing building and much more than a traditional library with lots of desktop internet terminals, and ongoing art exhibitions and events for both children and adults. In fact there are so many lovely distractions that I hardly get to read a book! It's no longer as quiet as in the picture, which was taken just after the opening.


I did manage to find a book to read, James Gleick's biography of Isaac Newton, without whom I would not be writing this now. Newton seems fitting reading, surrounded as we are with all of the technology whose very foundations lay in his ideas and contribution to science. Thanks to his laws we must keep on moving. The internet is indeed lovely! Would the world be a better or worse place if Newton had never lived? Joli weekend, mes amis!

Pirates fight copyright's brave new world

Chalky (of Terrible Love Songs)and I were just commenting on synchronicity and once again I found myself looking back at another of my oldest Penguins, Huxley's Brave New World. Thanks to Josef's United Diversity I came across this Google video on the brave new world of copyright and patent law. (Below)
The subject is the connection between copyright, patent law and civil liberties. I know from the Navdanya seed saving project in India and the Monsanto terminator seed fiasco just how scary patents can be (in that particular case patenting the very seeds of life itself!) but this was the first time I was made aware of just how central copyright laws are to our basic freedoms. The Pirate Party is based in Sweden but is also part of a worldwide movement that wishes to reform copyright laws so that we all have the right to our privacy and to end the commercial exploitation of intellectual property rights to the detriment of the freedom of information.
"The fight against copyright aggression tends to focus on economic aspects of the shift to a networked economy. Rick explains how this conflict is much more important than that: the fight against the copyright regime is about the right to fundamental civil liberties - down to the postal secret, whistleblower protection, freedom of the press, and the very right to an identity. Rick Falkvinge is the founder and leader of the Swedish Pirate Party, as well as the founder of the international politicized pirate movement. His leadership and vision took the Pirate Party from nothing into the top ten parties in the last Swedish general election, without a dime in the campaign chest. His personal candidacy came in at rank #15 out of over 5,000 candidates for the 349 parliamentary seats." writes Josef on United Diversity. Watch this video if you value your liberty!

La Nausée

This book was one of the very first paperbacks I ever bought. The Sartre classic seems these days to belong to another age. This is the 1965 Penguin Modern Classic with the Dali cover that was still being used in 1972 and I remember this seven year period of my life as being the time when the world changed forever. I was living in London at the time and had a French girlfriend who was also very much into Sartre and Chanel, a combination that was irresistible. As I said in another post on Cookie Mouse
"No book was ever more seminal in my development and as I return to it again over forty years later I realise what a profound effect Jean Paul Sartre had on both my thinking and my unconscious mind. Like an individual archetype he stands colossal in my memory and in my mind's eye. The English Penguin edition was my most prized possession and when I later learned French it became the paperback I used to pose with on the rive gauche. Avec Gaulloises, naturellement! It so impressed the first love of my life, Josette, that she asked me to a party in London and I got my first bottle of Chanel Pour homme for Christmas, 1968."
It amuses me to think that "la nausée" is the second most popular search keyword for my blog. Is Sartre still so popular or are a lot of French speakers not feeling very well at the moment?

Small is Beautiful...

E.F. Schumacher...Small is Beautiful..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

Yet a another new title for this blog. The last one was the same as a web design company and could end up leading to confusion. Wanting to stay somewhere near Cookie mouse I googled Cookie book and the search result was promising. Only the other day I was thinking it is time to read a few books and when I saw a new comment on my Satre Penguin photo it made up my mind for me. So I'll be off to the bookstores more often in the near future to look for a good read. We all spend a lot of time online these days so it is perhaps a good idea to balance that out with something different. Books are old school IT and a very different way of thinking about and interacting with the world of ideas. So Cookie Book it is.

DP Logo with slogans

DP Logo with slogans, originally uploaded by Chris Saad.

dataportabilty.org

Scoble Facebook account disabled

Uberhacker Scoble has been chucked off Facebook. I picked this up on Mashable and nearly wet myself laughing. After all the old rascal is asking a fair question as to to who owns your social graph, you or FB? They offer us a free service and we offer them loads of free content and free information in return, but they don't seem to like it when someone tries to move their stuff elsewhere. All this happens just when I decided to add my sparkling new year mugshot (to your left) to my FB profile as I thought it looked shady enough for Zuikerberg's pot of gold. Ah well, nice one Scoble, and keep up the good work. Some of these issues are being adressed by dataportability.org a site well worth checking out. Somehow FB seems so last year these days, but the lemmings keep on signing up. I'd rather stick with blogging and work for myself, thanks. But first I need some coffee, fairtrade and organic as ever.

2008 will be a very good year!

On the streets of Amsterdam the Champagne flows as 2008 comes in with a bang as usual. Manon turned up for our end of year dinner which was fantastic. It was very Italian. Peppers stuffed with goat's cheese and olives stuffed with peppers as antipasti followed by Bruschetta and onion soup and spaghetti pesto genovese (to celebrate Manon's new Italian base). Cosy as we were with our bubbly, pasta and espresso we had to check out the big Dutch New Year bang. And bang it did loud and clear. Our poor dog was terrified by all the loud noises. When I tried to take him out yesterday afternoon a banger went off just outside the door and so poor Freako ran terrified back upstairs and hid in the corner till it was all over. We went to the Nieuwmarkt, which was terribly crowded as always, and it all went boom, boom, boom! At midnight we celebrated with of all things cans of Heineken as we had run out of bubbly earlier on. One Welshman, one Italian and one Dutch girl in a crowd of happy and crazy revelers said cheers and welcomed in the new year. Some of the fireworks were so loud that you could feel the force of the explosion. Someone gave me a bottle of Luxembourg Cremant which was very tasty. The year started lucky and happy so I think that 2008 will be a very good year. I thought of taking my camera with me downtown but then decided not to under the crazy circumstances. After all, if a picture is a thousand words then a thousand words could make a picture. People with mobile phones were all taking loads of pictures anyway. I'd be curious to see what some of them turned out like in the dark and jolly chaos. Someone asked me if I had made a new year resolution. To be happy I replied and afterwards I thought of our dinner table chat the evening before. We talked about how young Dutch kids no longer know what to believe in a world overloaded with information and how to keep the nasty big picture at a distance and create your own world. I was as usual ranting on about the big picture and upon reflection found myself agreeing with the Dutch point of view. Holland is a peaceful country and we are lucky here to still enjoy tolerance and freedom. As one particularly loud bang went off and its shockwave hit me for a brief moment I counted myself lucky that it was just a firework. My resolution? To look for and tell the truth within my area of competence and to create that positive small world that my Dutch friend described. Have a wonderful 2008, people, and let the heart be with you!

David Airey, logo designer, hacked...

I came across this story on Digg and as it is Christmas I would like to offer David some googlejuice to make up for his loss. So if you are looking for a logo designer and want to spit in the eye of the nasty hacker Peyam then check out David Airey logo design and read this nasty story. It might also be a good idea to check your Gmail filters and POP forwarding on a regular basis just to make sure that Peyam hasn't hacked into your account. Good luck, David!

Cookie mouse profile...

Cookie mouse profile..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

...Male, City: Amsterdam, Country: Netherlands, Hobbies: running around wheels, eating cheese and nuts Occupation: famous photo model.

Blog: The Cookie Mouse
Friends: emdot

Navdanya Organic Movement...

Navdanya Organic Movement..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

...Navdanya is an organic farming project in India where they try to save seeds and biodiversity and support small organic farmers.
"With the establishment of seed banks in different parts of the country Navdanya aims to protect native seeds because it has become a system of resistance against monocultures and monopoly rights. The shift from uniformity to diversity respects the rights of all species and is sustainable. For us protecting native seeds is more that conservation of raw material for the biotechnology industry. The diverse seeds not pushed to extinction carry with them seeds of other ways of thinking about nature, and other ways of producing our needs." says Navdanya.
After the Bali climate change fiasco which was only just saved in the nick of time after the delegate from Papua New Guinea told the Americans:
"If you're not willing to lead, get out of the way." after the American delegate had heckled India from the back of the room, it is perhaps time for the West to stop being so selfish and listen to what the rest of the world is saying and doing. After all we all live on the same earth.

Cerys or Kylie?...

One woman garage band..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

Is the medium the message? Nobody wanted the Citizen Kane Oscar at Sotheby's in New York and it often seems that nobody wants to buy good music if CD sales are anything to go by. The medium is changing the message as the iPod replaces the Walkman. Soon the iPhone will replace the iPod. The big change I've noticed in my media habits this year is that I no longer read a book from cover to cover. I skip pages and always seem to be in a hurry to get to the end. Is that because of the internet and the need we now have to digest vast quantities of information every day? I listen to less music, but I like the new Kylie CD my son got for his birthday as it helps me switch off and want to dance. In the past few months I have watched loads of television which I have not done for years. The medium has changed The message of endless reality shows, tacky ads and breaking news all seems stale and dated and the Zeitgeist seems to have lost die Zeit.

LinkedIn for business...

...This has to be my favourite quote of the day:
"LinkedIn is quite clear on one thing: they don’t want Facebook-style donut-throwing time wasters;" says Mashable . As LinkedIn is developing a business API they don't want to be squatted by vampires. Here at Fortune Cookie we are very optimistic at the moment in spite of all the early Christmas sales and the financial doom and gloom. The internet is going mobile and in a period of transition those who are serious and professional should survive and thrive. The shine has gone off Facebook for many reasons and we welcome LinkedIn's attempt to target a more businesslike audience. This app should also be cool for job hunting and finding people to work with on your projects.

My first iMac...

My iMac's new home at Rebeka's house..., originally uploaded by Leighton Cooke.

...and some coffee from paradise. This little baby is still working fine and is now used by the children. I still like to connect the keyboard to my MacBook and sit on the balcony in the evening.

iPhone brings Apple and Google closer together...

...as the Google Interface is optimized for the iPhone. Google says, "the iPhone's Safari browser not only delivers an excellent mobile Internet experience; it enabled our product and engineering teams to create an optimal Google experience on a mobile device." So Gmail, Google Reader and other services will be available on a single interface. Instead of Android being a competitor to the iPhone the two companies seem to be moving together to exploit the opportunities available in the mobile internet. This makes sense as Android's Linux and the iPhone's UNIX based OS are similar enough to enable developers to create apps for both platforms without too many difficulties. Then a 3G iPhone would really make sense. In the long run Apple will have to open up more in the mobile market where the rules are different. The two companies have much to offer each other.

Block Facebook Beacon...

...by enabling this Firefox plug-in. As more news comes out about how Facebook Beacon follows you around and collects data from other websites you visit perhaps it's time to think twice about clicking the "Remember me" button and to disable cookies on a regular basis. This is one Cookie that's getting tired and bored of Facebook. Hang on I just need to throw this sheep and bite that vampire. I'll be right back. Leighton is drinking green tea and eating chocolate (at this time of night too!) and the tea is organic. The chocolate is left over from my son's birthday and I've been listening to some classical music, and...ah! Get a life!
Update December 6: Mark Zuckerberg has now apologized for the way in which Beacon was launched and there is now a complete opt out option according to Macworld:
"Still, Zuckerberg's blog posting doesn't directly address the findings of a CA security researcher that have fueled the privacy controversy over Beacon in recent days.
Stefan Berteau found that Beacon tracks users even if they are logged off from the social-networking site and have declined having their activities broadcast to friends.
In this case, users aren't informed that data on their activities at these sites is flowing back to Facebook or given the option to block that information from being transmitted, according to Berteau, senior research engineer at CA's Threat Research Group."

Vodafone loses iPhone case in Germany...

...as a Hamburg court yesterday turned over its own ruling on T-Mobile's exclusive deal with Apple. The new ruling seems to mean the end of unlocked iPhone sales in Germany, leaving France the only country where an unlocked iPhone is legally available. So far 20% of all iPhone sales in France have been of unlocked phones, say Orange.