When searching, I am always interested to see who is paying for the sponsored ads for my query. A while back I searched for some information on the Cory Lidle plane crash and was completely surprised to see iVillage and the New York Times paying for my attention: My initial assumption was that most peopleContinue reading “Newspapers and search advertising”
Author Archives: Cameron Marlow
Watts music closes
It is a sad day for DJs and electronic music producers. The website of Watts Music, America’s largest distributor of dance vinyl, has announced it is officially closed for business. Most people have never heard of Watts, even if they are a DJ, but they have been directly responsible for moving tons and tons ofContinue reading “Watts music closes”
Explanatory algorithms
There is a trend in recommender systems that I think is extremely interesting: systems are starting to explain themselves. The first place I noticed this was at Amazon in their personal recommendations section, at the bottom of a given suggestion: In this case, Amazon recommended Moon Palace because I had rated another book by PaulContinue reading “Explanatory algorithms”
Flickr spam email
I received a strange email this morning, addressed to my blogdex email address which has nothing to do with Flickr, but exceptionally high SpamRank: From: Dee (Barry@nishikoi.com) To: blogdex@media.mit.edu Subject: question about your photo I’ve accidently found your photo at a flickr and i’m very interested in it. Can you tell me what place iContinue reading “Flickr spam email”
The peak-end rule
In reading The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, I came across one of those pieces of research that just keeps coming up in conversation, so I’ll post it here. The theory is known as “peak-end rule,” as expressed by psychologist Daniel Kahneman, describes the way that people remember events by the peak and theContinue reading “The peak-end rule”
Google news, meet spam
I’ve been a long-time user of Google news and news alerts. For certain topics, it’s the only way for me to stay informed, and the quality of their index has generally kept these updates to high-quality, on-topic news that matched some keywords. Over the past six months I have noticed a diminishing returns on theContinue reading “Google news, meet spam”
Amazon launches answers site
Today I received an invite to join a new community at Amazon called Askville: You’re Invited! As a valued Amazon customer, you’ve been specially picked to get an early look at a new website called Askville where you can ask any question on any topic and get real answers from real people. It’s new, andContinue reading “Amazon launches answers site”
Firefox 2 inline spell checker
I usually avoid the initial release candidates of open source software, but Firefox just released their beta 2 candidate about a month ago. I finally got around to installing it this week and I have to say it’s not that mind-blowing. They’ve added cleaner RSS support, more intelligent tabs, and a number of features thatContinue reading “Firefox 2 inline spell checker”
Digging into Satisfaction
Quite a while back I reade a book called Satisfaction: the science of finding true fulfillment. The book is about the scientific escapades of its author, Gregory Berns, as he seeks the answer to a number of questions about happiness. The book varies from extremely technical descriptions of Berns’ research in neuroeconomics to extremely accessibleContinue reading “Digging into Satisfaction”
Zen and the diffusion of links
Yesterday I had a moment I can only classify as Zen. Amidst the flurry of hundreds of RSS chunks, emails and IMs spreading between thousands of people, some signal seemed to appear out of the noise. Unfortunately, I am not omnicient, and cannot put the puzzle together completely. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. 1. SometimeContinue reading “Zen and the diffusion of links”
overstated 