Ask.com, much like that stray kitty you feed although you know you shouldn’t, now stays with you after using it.

Try this: get on to Ask.com and search for anything. Now click on one of the organic results. The Ask.com searchbar stays at the top of the page, and the URL is hosted by ask. What this means is if your grandma is still using Ask because she likes that Jeeves character and she bookmarks or copies a link, it will have that Ask.com bar there permanently.
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I got an LG BD300 for my birthday, and so far, I absolutely love this device. By the far the most used feature is Netflix streaming.

Fortunately form me, my router is right next to my TV, so connecting the machine was very simple: just run an ethernet cord out from my Apple Airport into the BD300. Volia, I’m connected.

The quality is quite good, and network problems are rare. I can’t get the highest quality, but it is still very good.
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Hitwise has put out a very interesting study that I noticed on Search Engine Land today: search queries are getting longer. More words in the search box equals more long tail terms that are important to pay attention to.

1 to 2 word phrases have declined over the last year in the total number of searches, while longer searches have steadily increased. In fact, 8-word searches increased 22% over the last year with the cutoff point being at 3 word searches, which remained unchanged.
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During any major event, I like to get Twitscoop going on my computer so I can see what people are collectively thinking about something. Twitscoop measures different words used in Tweets against how often they are normally used, and produces a tag cloud that amplifies the words that are being used more than others.

Obama’s speech had many different words of different size in the tag cloud.

But not Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal.

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I wrote the other day about accusations leveled at user-generated review site Yelp, claiming they were using shady tactics to get merchants to advertise with them by promising to remove bad reviews, among other things.

Yelp shot back with a response pointing out that many of their clients have not benefited from advertising with them, showing screenshots of a client that has not had bad reviews taken down by Yelp.
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YouTube is starting to place more ads from bigger companies in their top videos, marking important steps in the direction of monetizing their user generated content.

Big brands like Verizon, Adidas, and Chevrolet have started buying in-video ads. These ads, which outperform traditional run-of-network ads, are the next step for YouTube to really begin utilizing its vast sea of content.
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I like Yelp, though I’ve been forgetting to use it lately. I used it to find a great Italian restaurant in Hollywood, where I had some of the best food I’ve had in years and saw a couple of celebrities. It pointed me to some of the best Thai food in the San Fernando Valley, and a greasy Chinese joint that I order from twice a month. I think it’s a quality site.

However, a detailed and well investigated story by Kathleen Richards of the East Bay Express reveals that Yelp be involved in some pretty dubious tactics in its attempts to squeeze money out of restaurateurs and merchants. Among the allegations:
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The backlash against Facebook’s changes to their terms of service are complete now, with Mark Zuckerberg backtracking on their proposal to keep, use, and mine users’ information, even when they choose to deactivate their profile and leave Facebook.

Coming on the heels of an internal valuation much lower than the previously floated $15 billion, this move reveals that Facebook is having problems discovering ways to make money. If mining you data and retaining licensing rights to your info is the best way Facebook has found of making money, then it’s very troublesome not only for them, but other social networks.
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Google’s SearchWiki, which is already meeting with mixed reviews, gives users the chance to infuse a little bit of social media into their search experience. Think Digg for search results. Users can approve or disapprove of certain results and even comment on the pages. While this has previously been available for organic search results, it is now testing the same system on AdWords ads.

Many fear that this is an invitation for fraud. Noting Google’s dubious reputation when it comes to click fraud, what is to prevent advertisers and marketers from knocking down all of their competitors in order to gain an unnatural advantage?
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There aren’t a lot of Nokia users left in the United States, which is kind of a shame–partly their fault and partly the fault of philistines.

Nokia makes unparalleled hardware. I have an E71 and it’s sleek, has all the functionality of BlackBerry, and ever feature one could want on a QWERTY phone. It’s professional grade, and I love it.

But taking a look at iPhone’s app store, I realize my E71 is not nearly as cool as the iPhone. Sure, the battery lasts for two days, even if I’m running multiple programs and hooked up to 3.5G, I get email pushed instantly to my inbox without additional rates, and the GPS has saved my bacon numerous times. But I want to be able to shake it and find a restaurant!
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