Rally car champion Colin McRae has been killed in a helicopter accident on Sunday 14th September 2007. This is a dark day for the rally driving community and motorsport enthusiasts a like around the world. Colin McRae, his son and two friends were returning from a flight in the helicopter registered and being piloted by McRae, when it crashed only a short distance from the McRae property.
Time Is Of The Essense
We’ve been working on our current software project for about a year and it has been one hell of a ride. With less than a week to go before we flick the switch, we’re going through our final stages of preparation – lots of t’s to cross and i’s to dot but it sure is exciting.
Google Webmasters Facelift
The development team behind Google Webmasters have been at it again, releasing a new interface and additional features to the much loved utility.
Some points of interest about this particular update:
- The landing page for Google Webmasters has been updated with a nicer layout and some groovy little icon action; all of the familiar links and utilities are still present on the page.
- The user interface within the Webmasters Console has been refreshed, with stacked left navigation similar to what Google Analytics provides. At this stage, the overall bling throughout Google Webmasters doesn’t compare to Google Analytics; however it is great to see that they are making improvements to the interface regardless.
- Subscriber statistics have been added in, so it is now possible to see how many people subscribe to the various XML feeds that your site provides. While it is quite useful to see a raw number, it would be nice to see more information about that data such as how it is trending over time, how often people are checking it and so forth. I had expected that Google would have already started exposing services provided by the recently acquired Feedburner, which would provide that level of granularity and more – maybe this is the start of that movement?
I don’t recall if the user interface had this before or not, however each section in the stacked navigation now features an overview page. Frustratingly, the overview page doesn’t actually ‘overview’ anything but provide a link into each section within it (which are already in the menu itself); so in effect you get a link and a tiny blurb per sub-section.
Nothing earth shattering in this particular release, however the constant improvement of the Google utilities is on of the things that makes them so good. I can’t wait for the next update, where I’m sure we’ll see a vastly improved user interface with better data visibility across the board.
Californication With David Duchovny
If you haven’t seen the new TV series featuring David Duchovny named Californication, you need to do yourself a favour and watch it. David Duchovny plays Hank Moody, a previously successful but currently troubled novelist who struggles with his life after separating from his long time partner. Channel Ten are airing it on a Monday night at 9:30 and it is spectacular; if you liked Sex & The City – you’ll love Californication.
Nothing Like Spam To Lower Your Opinion Of A Site
Last year, Seth Godin launched a new service named Squidoo, which aimed to bring the power of recommendation to search. Squidoo has been gaining reasonable momentum since it launched and as a result, it has now become the next haven for spammers.
I appreciate that it might be difficult to manage the problem, however if a site like Squidoo can’t get it under control then it completely erodes the usefulness of the site in my opinion. The Squidoo spam problem has been happening for quite some time and the owners are aware of it, however it seems that they have yet to find a way to curb it.
It’s a shame really, as I hate spam so much that it has now tainted my opinion of Squidoo as a useful service. Fortunately, I find the site pretty much useless, so at least I don’t have to put up with it while browsing their site.