Right on the Money

Hey, remember way back when I said Google was evil? Well, that's proving itself to be true again. This time the great innovator is cutting deals with Verizon, essentially giving the finger to any hopeful entrepreneur with the next great idea. You know, like Google.

I'm not alone in thinking that Google is being kind of a dick. They're buying into the corporate viewpoint of making money. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but this feels like a knife in the back coming from a company that has its roots in smalltime internet. Tiering the internet is a horrible idea. Seeing Google partner with Verizon against net neutrality (another company for which I have no warm and fuzzy feelings) is even worse.

When Google comes for your first-born, don't say I didn't warn you.

Cool

So if you type "ny giants" in to Google image search, my blog comes up as the second result. Sweet. That would explain the 716 visits I've gotten in the past week. It's absolutely insane...and I love Google Analytics for informing me. I now have had visits from 42 states and the District of Columbia, several countries in Europe, and every continent but Antarctica and Africa. And I still average less than a response per post. Ah well...it's going to snow tonight, to top off the foot or so that's still on the ground from last week. It's slightly less frigid than the past couple days, at least, up to the 20s.

Broomball continued last night, with another loss but also our first victory, to put our record at 1-2. With two games left, there's a distinct possibility that we could make it into the playoffs. Of course, if we do, that just means more bruises. It's a hell of a lot of fun, though. The only real pain is being captain and trying to orchestrate substitutions in the middle of play. That and playing teams of seniors who actually know what they're doing.

Google is trying to control the world!

Forget the search engine.

Forget the advertising customized to what you've been looking at.

Forget the email.

Forget the chat service.

Forget the fact that "to Google" is now an accepted verb.

Forget Google Desktop, Google Earth, Picasa, Google Analytics, etcetera.

Forget the search for clean energy.

Now, remember the first two, but combine them. Make it so that every time you Google (there's that verb) something, you get an ensemble of advertisements that are not only matched with what you're looking at, but that also come directly from Google. When you click on one of those advertisements, Google is making money. Billions upon billions of dollars go into online advertisement every year, and the amount is increasing daily. Google is now poised to control more than 40 percent of that amount, with the now approved purchase of the advertising giant DoubleClick. Basically, Google now makes money not only from the ads designed to fit your search history, but also from the ads that are simply integrated into the pages your search turns up. The EU has already taken issue with the 4-1 approval of the merger by the FTC, saying consumers' privacy is threatened.

Again, I love Google. And I'm going to keep using it. But someday soon, they will buy a small nation, arm it, and take over the world. I'm just saying...you heard it here first.

To further prove my point.

No background, just this link.

In the brief time I have...

Today's post is going to be quick; I have a bio lab in ten minutes. Might not get around to posting for the next few days; exams are creeping up, and I have two in the next week. Just a quick reminder: I hate calculus. However, I do have time to heartily recommend Seeqpod to anyone who has not already discovered this wonderful musical equivalent of Google. It's completely free, completely legal, and the only drawback is that you need an internet connection to play your tunes. Best of all, as far as I can tell, Google hasn't bought it yet. Don't get me wrong, I love Google, but there are these little things called monopolies that Google is getting close to. I have the same love-hate relationship with Microsoft...a little more hate than love, though. That's all for now!

Google Analytics...cool...

So now I know that my blog does indeed get viewed occasionally. This is evidenced not only by the posting of calen, but also by google analytics. With thanks to phschemguy for the tip, I used my Gmail account to open up an account with Google Analytics. A tweak to the blog HTML, and my tracker was up and running. And today I'm fascinated by page views not only from numerous places in Ohio, and several from here in Maine, but also by a visit from Portugal and one from Stockholm, Sweden. I think I'm going to enjoy monitoring my site traffic.

On a separate note, snow is in the forecast for Friday late morning. Fingers are crossed and pajamas are inside out, which gets strange looks in the dorm.