March 23, 2006
how’s your dick
Hugh MacLeod
Hi, I'm Hugh.
My life is committed to drawing little illustrations that spread messages, inspire people, help businesses kick butt & support causes.
Gapingvoid is based upon the science of how these cartoons work.
If we can help you or your business, please email us here.
Prints |
Opening | Current |
|---|---|---|
NY NY |
$275 |
Archive for March, 2006
designer labels
Thomas is in Men’s Health [US Edition]… April issue, Page 72. As Dave Parmet, our PR guy explains:
Thomas Mahon is quoted on how to spot a cheap suit in the current issue of Men
March 20, 2006
this is utterly appalling:
Kinderstart sues Google over lower page ranking.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Reuters) — A parental advice Internet site has sued Google Inc., charging it unfairly deprived the company of customers by downgrading its search-result ranking without reason or warning.
The civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, on Friday by KinderStart.com seeks financial damages along with information on how Google ranks Internet sites when users conduct a Web-based search.
KinderStart charges that Google without warning in March 2005 penalized the site in its search rankings, sparking a “cataclysmic” 70 percent fall in its audience– and a resulting 80 percent decline in revenue.
So people have a constitutional right to Googlejuice? So Googlejuice = Free Speech? That to me seems an insult to the notion of Liberty.
Can somebody more consitution-savvy than me help me out with this? I’m confused.
[From Talkshop:] “That said, I also think it’s fair to say that if an 80% revenue decline can be attributed solely to your Google rank, you’ve pretty much lost control of your business.”
triple whammy: tom in the times [and the guardian], hugh in the guardian
Today we had a double whammy in the national press. First, Thomas was quoted in The Times (of London):
“the list”
This is huge:
All Things Web 2.0 — “THE LIST”
AUDIO 2.0
*
Bebop — Compare music calendar against your iTunes catalogue. http://www.bebopular.com/
*
Clickcaster — Record, license, publish & promote your radio show. http://www.clickcaster.com/
*
Difm — Radio community. http://www.di.fm/
*
Dottunes — Share your iTunes. http://www.dottunes.net/
*
Enablr — Transcribe podcasts, Text2Snailmail, … http://www.enablr.com/
*
Fluctu8 — Create & share your sourcelists. http://fluctu8.com/
Goes on for PAGES.
100 dinners etc etc
We still have a few slots open for the Stormhoek 100 Geek Dinners. If you fancy signing up, click on the picture above and it’ll take you where you need to go etc.
rupert murdoch pipes in
From The Media Guardian:
Internet means end for media barons, says Murdoch.
montparnasse
Yes, France, you are correct. The 21st Century was indeed invented by the Anglo Saxons for no other reason than to mess with you.
children of the silo
Perhaps the strangest thing I’ve run into is what I’ve come to think of as the silo student. Kids keep handing me resumes that look like they were written 20 years ago. They mention the student newspaper, the yearbook and the college literary magazine. But they don’t mention Web sites, blogs, email newsletters, podcasts, html skills, citizen journalism projects, video, etc. And when I ask the students about their online experience, I get these weird responses. Lots of them tell me “I only want to work for a newspaper.” Lots of them say things like “I’m going to be a writer, not anything else.” Some seem genuinely perplexed and ask me if I think “most newspapers have Web sites?” or if “reporters need to do things on the Web?“
When I asked teachers what they thought about this, I found that they were as upset as I was by their students’ disconnect from the realities of media today.
I have been arguing that people in newsrooms must tear up their business cards, getting rid of their job descriptions as print or broadcast or new media. All media are new today. Conley makes it apparent that the same thing must happen in schools; we have to tear up the tracks.
if i ever start calling myself “chief brand ambassador”…
…somebody please shoot me.
Glenfiddich, my least favorite single malt Scotch on the planet, has started a blog (I’m more of a West Coast Highlands & Islands single malt guy, not hip to the Speysides at all. Nothing personal.).
Eh. Like the Guinness blog, nothing to write home about, but at least they’re having a go.
podcast etc.
Heather Green interviewed Fred Wilson recently. The end result was this rather good podcast.
Fred explains with great clarity how having just a simple blog has changed his business (Venture Capital) for the better.
new rss symbol
Just added a new RSS badge to my sidebar.
If you like it, feel free to use it yourself etc.
[UPDATE:] Sig has added it to his sidebar. Rock on.
“the intention economy”
Is “The Attention Economy” just another way for advertisers to skewer eyeballs? And why build an economy around Attention, when Intention is where the money comes from?
i.e. Attention’s point of view “is anchored with sellers, not buyers.” A very good read from The Master, as always.
gapingshirts all over the world
Sebastian Keil has a gapingvoid t-shirt. He takes it around the world with him, and publishes the photos on Flickr. Utterly spectacular. Thanks, Sebastian!
[New t-shirt design here. Only available for a week etc.]
more 100 dinnery goodness
It looks like the Stormhoek 100 Geek dinners is going along nicely. Looks like we’re still on target. Thanks to everybody for supporting this.
Two main thoughts:
1. This still holds true: that the more Jason and I get into making this happen, the more we like the “small is beautiful” angle. Like it says on the orignal post:
A large, multinational alcohol brand covering an internet idustry party is nothing new. But a small, South African winery covering a small, intimate, random event in say, Phoenix, Arizona is much more interesting. Because it’s on a more human scale.
AND YOU WANT TO REACH PEOPLE ON A HUMAN SCALE. That’s what Madison Avenue keeps forgetting. That’s what Madison Avenue can’t get their head around, because their business model has no credible answer for it.
2. We’ve added a Frappr map to the equation. If you’ve signed up to throw a geek dinner, please add your name to it, thanks.
3. OK, so it’s going well and all, but yeah, there will always be room for improvement. What sayest thou? Any ideas? Please, let’s hear ‘em. Thanks Again.
e-mail from rand
Just got an e-mail from Rand. Make of it what you will.
Hey Hugh…
You call that a wee spike…I call that a BIG JUMP.
I’m basically hopeless at deciphering stats but I think our traffic has doubled…
Heaps of hits from feed readers. And also more referrals from people linked or writing about things we wrote about.
We haven’t noticed a change in sales yet but what we have noticed is a big change in energy. Lots of questions from potential customers, lots of people snooping around. We’re digging it. And appreciate
it immensely.
Thanks much.
Rand
As always, this is blogvertising experiment for “A really cool online shop in Venice, CA. run by my old friend, Rand Denny.” I’m not being paid for this. Yet.
i.e Untangled Life. The link just above is to their blog. The link here is to their main homepage.
“are you ready to become one of the most popular bloggers on the planet?”
Weird question. With an even weirder answer.
“saturday shirts”
Got a new t-shirt design up. The blurb reads like this:
Each gapingvoid ‘Saturday Shirt’ is from a limited edition (never to exceed 200 t-shirts). It will be offered on a Saturday and is available for pre-order for one week only. Place your pre-order by midnight (GMT) on following Friday. Once the deadline has past, that’s it, they’re gone. I won’t be reprinting the design.
The idea is to not only keep them limited edition [like we said, we’ll never exceed 200 shirts of one design], but to limit the time they’re available. A new design will come out on a Saturday, and people will have a week to pre-order one. After a week, the shirt design is taken off the market.
This pre-order allows us to know exactly how many shirts we have to print, saving us the headache of unsold stock. It also allows us to come up with more new designs, more often.
We were going to launch tomorrow, but then we thought, what the heck.
I hope you like the new design. Thanks.
[PS:] The traditional Flickr & Technorati tag for this enterprise is “gapingshirts”.
