Category Archives: General

I just blogged about digital picture frames last week and lo and behold my bud Dave Zatz pointed out to me someone’s Macgyvered themselves their own Flickr-enabled digital picture frame.  Cool! 

Even cooler, Gizmodo and others (including Sling Media) joined forces to make a little contest. All you have to do is tag some of your photos “slickrframe” between now and next Wednesday, and you can win some cool gear!

I went through some of my photos, tried to pick a few that might entertain the guy.  Here’s my entries…

Digital photography to me represents both the greatest and least tapped potential of all the digital media formats.  People who rip CDs (which, of course started digital, but that’s a pesky detail) into MP3 (or other) formats tend to listen to those files, probably on an iPod.  People who have DV cameras create videos that they are either instantly consuming and sharing, or archiving for the distant future (read: to embarrass friends and family members at the right moments).  But digital photos tend to be as much a nuisance as a blessing.

On a recent weeklong trip to Mexico I took over 300 pictures.  What happens next?  Well, now I have lots of pictures that take up lots of space on my hard drive.  I throw some of them online (I use Flickr personally), but am faced with the growing backup/archive dilemma (since I don’t currently trust any online service enough).  I’ll never delete them, since I don’t want to risk losing a single “memory”, and I’m terrified of a hard drive failure, so I need a backup.  I have a networked hard drive (currently a Maxtor Shared Storage Plus, but I’m about to migrate to an Infrant NV+), but frankly that’s still not enough for me because I live in San Francisco and one quick natural disaster and my backup’s gone too.  This spirals on from here…

So now I have all these pictures, what the heck am I supposed to do with them? I certainly can’t email them all to anybody, there’s just too many.  SO I need to pick a few here and there and share them explicitly.  I can print them or make a nice album (with Shutterfly).  I can make a t-shirt, hat, thong, or mug (with CafePress).  I can buy a relative a Presto-enabled printer, and send prints of my favorite pictures as I take them (full review of Presto coming soon – I think it’s a great concept, and I hope the implementation is as clean as it should be – if you haven’t heard of them, go to presto.com).

These are all good solutions for me sharing with others, but none really address me consuming my own photos on an ongoing basis.  I’ve liked the concept of a digital picture frame for years, but only now is the category actually emerging.  I noticed on Dave Zatz’ blog today a link to a recent report stating over 1.5MM units were sold in 2006.  Personally, I don’t really believe these numbers, it just sounds much too high and there’s a lack of sources from both the retail and manufacturer side.  But I do believe that this is a rapidly growing category that is poised for explosive growth.  For a glimpse into my “ultimate” digital picture frame, check out my post this week on NETGEAR’s blog.

I interact with a lot of different bloggers, ranging from the “A-listers” (yes, you exist, and it’s okay, just stop denying it) to others barely out of the gates with their own blogs.  While it seems quite common to hear complaints about how PR firms should treat bloggers, I think bloggers could use a little advice as well on how to work within the marketing and communications industry.

This list is a second part to another one I wrote, aimed at PR People: 10 Thoughts on Improving Blogger Relations.

Incidentally, while some seem to loathe the term blogosphere, I like it.  Maybe it’s something that’ll fade away down the road, but for now, it’s here, and I use it pretty liberally.  Sorry ’bout that.

1. Respect the efforts.  This is probably the most important point I’d like to make: like it or not, we are right now in the midst of a huge amount of flux in the marketing and journalism worlds.  The rules are changing, and changing fast.  Sure we can all want every PR firm on the planet to instantly adapt to the blogosphere and they should all “just get it” but that’s simply unrealistic, and more to the point, it’s unfair.  If someone from a PR firm approaches you and is clearly making an effort to reach out to you as an individual blogger, give them a little respect for that.  Want to make a change or improve their relations, well, give them feedback.  You’d be surprised how far it might go.
2. Keep your ego in check. I read a lot of bloggers who want to be treated “extra special” all the time because of who they are or how big their readership is.  As much as I urge my clients to learn about and reach out to the blogosphere, I also give caution on understanding exactly how big the readership is.  Only the top-tier bloggers have audiences that truly warrant extra-special treatment.  Don’t act like some bigshot just because you have a few thousand readers a day, it just makes you look like you’ll take extra work to manage.  And from the other side of the business, when a PR firm has to pick and choose who they want to spend their time and resources managing, it’s going to be the “best bang for the buck” people, not the “pains in the rears” who can’t justify the efforts. 
3. PR people are human too.  PR teams typically work long hours.  When big planned news hits, they may have worked around the clock to get it out on message and on time.  When big unplanned news hits, their lives are in chaos.  Trade shows? Fuhgedaboutit.  It’s not an excuse for rude or bad behavior on their part (which is unexcusable in my book), but remember that the person you are dealing with might be juggling literally dozens of conversations on an issue and might just mix up a detail here or there, or might forget to return your email within an hour.  Save the ‘tude for when you are on a real deadline – it’ll get you a lot further. The more mindful you are of what’s going on in their world, the better a job you’ll do at becoming a trusted resource in their eyes. 
4. Learn the rules, and play by them. If a firm’s policy is to give review units for only 30 days, then expect the products back, it is up to you to mark your calendar.  They aren’t babysitters.  Ask for permission before posting emails, don’t assume you can just do whatever you want.  Blogging is not a license to do whatever you want in life – you can certainly request special/different treatment, but you must accept that you aren’t going to get absolutely everything you ask for!  While on the subject, it certainly wouldn’t hurt for you to start reading the occasional press release – it’s not the perfect form of communications, but you’ll sound a lot smarter if you avoid asking questions answered clearly within the release!
5. Respect embargos.  I can’t stress this one well enough, so I’ll keep it short and simple:  you can either become known as a trustable outlet, or not.  Whichever one makes more sense to you, go for it, and don’t be surprised at the ramifications (either way).
6. Be mindful of long-term relationships.  PR people are used to building relationships with journalists they work with.  They understand who covers which kinds of stories.  They know who is more likely to be accomodating of quirky products.  They also tend to have long memories and share with each other.  Obviously you can treat these relationships however you want, but the more you invest into it, the better you’ll get treated in the long term.
7. Position your blog well.  Are you trying to be a “first scoop” site?  You want to have in-depth reviews?  Cover all the news of a particular niche?  Whatever you like to do with your blog is your prerogative, now make sure you position those goals clearly to the PR firms that approach you.  If you rarely/never write reviews, don’t be afraid to tell a firm you’d rather get the scoop than the product.  Easy hint here: make sure your about page talks through this!
8. Create stories and pitch them.  Once you’ve created some relationships with PR teams, it’s okay to reach out to them.  For example, maybe you want to compare two MP3 players – tell your PR contacts what you are planning to write about, when it’s going live, and what aspects of the products you want to compare.  This is actually a great method of furthering your relationships with PR firms, as it makes you a lot more interesting in their eyes (being “another gadget site that shows the latest in gadget news” is a lot less interesting these days).
9. Be mindful of being negative.  This doesn’t apply to everyone, but if you are new or an “up-and-coming” blogger, be very thoughtful before you go on some rampage.  If you tear apart some product or service, don’t expect them to reach out to you in the future.  It’s not to say you can’t be honest or critical, but be aware of what you are writing, and make sure it’s something you can stand behind in the long term.  Nobody wants you to say you loved a product you really didn’t like, but you can most certainly use your discretion before writing a post on “it’s the single worst gadget ever made, they should order a recall, dismantly every one by hand, then throw them into an acid pit to ensure nobody ever rebuilds the device the same way ever again”. You may want to consider notifying your PR contact that you had a bad experience or generally didn’t like a product before you go live, and constructive feedback is typically welcomed.
10. Set expectations.  If you’ve begged and pleaded with a company to get a review unit, then take 180 days to write a review, you probably aren’t going to reap those rewards.  When a company offers to send me something to test out, I try (yes, try, because I’m not perfect either!) to let them know when I think a review will go live.  The better a job you do at managing expectations, the better they’ll think of you for future news items.

As a comment here, don’t forget that many of us (not all, I know) may have full-time jobs, and blogging is just something we “felt like doing” one day.  Maybe it’ll become a career for you, maybe you’ll give it up next week.  Expecting the entire PR/marketing industry to make a complete overhaul to their world in the span of a year or two to accomodate us isn’t exactly fair.  Change is afoot, and happening all around us right now, but don’t forget that it takes time.  My personal belief is I’d rather try to change the system from within than sit on the side and yell and scream about how stupid everyone else is…

To me, part of what’s so exciting about blogging is the reflection of the individual.  While I’ve clearly outlined some recommendations above on how to better interact with PR staff, I hope you understand this is about maximizing your potential as a blogger.  I’ve worked in marketing departments before and have personally engaged in blogger outreach and I can say this: it ain’t easy stuff. 

It’s not exactly a new topic (see similar suggestions from Ryan Block, Lee Odden, Guy Kawasaki, Mike Arrington, Brian Solis, Tom Foremski, or Ken Yarmosh), but it’s one that I seem to get asked about a lot, so I figured I’d do my own diggbaiting Top Ten List on the topic. 

Also, this is one of two articles on the topic, the other is for the bloggers: 10 Thoughts on Working With PR Firms.

1. Read the blog.  You don’t have to subscribe and read all the time, but take 2 minutes to scan even the last week’s worth of posts before approaching a blogger.  Whether we admit it or not, most some amount of blogging is ego-driven, so showing us that you read the content we write can make a huge difference in the response you’ll get.
2. Have a goal.  Not every blogger is the same in the content they’ll write.  For example, I enjoy hands-on work with products but rarely just cover a product announcement, whereas other blogs prefer the opposite.  So if you want a review, make sure the blogger you are approaching actually writes reviews!
3. Approach bloggers by name.  I rarely, if ever, respond to “Dear Editor” or unaddressed emails.  “Dear Jeremy” tends to get my attention over 90% of the time.  If you have the time to add me to your mailing list, you should have the time to add my name to it.
4. Augment the press release.  The PR people who get my attention are the ones who add a few sentences or a paragraph to the body of the email in advance of the copy-and-pasted PR text.  The best ones take the time to tell me why they are sending me the release, especially if it’s in context to something I’ve covered before.  Many bloggers don’t like the conventional press release, so if you want to target them, you need to stay conscientious of this.
5. Be ready for follow-up.  You have to be ready for us to respond to you and ask questions.  More importantly, you must have review units ready for bloggers.  I can’t stress this one enough – if you send me a release about a new product and don’t respond to my email asking for a review unit, I never cover it.  Even worse is when a firm sends me a product announcement, I respond with interest, and the rep asks me to tell them more about my blog! My recommendation here is if you aren’t going to let bloggers have review units/samples/freebies, then you probably shouldn’t bother them with your announcement.  Insert your own “cake and eat it too” metaphor.
6. Categorize the blog.  Not all tech bloggers are the same.  Got a cool new digital camera?  You probably should approach Thomas Hawk before Dave Zatz or Mike Arrington.  Got a new Web service?  Hit up Mike, not the others.  New DVR or other home convergence device?  Dave is your guy.  Sure there are a lot of “tech generalists” out there too, but even they have their home turfs.  I, for example, do cover some Web services, but tend to focus more on consumer electronics and gadgetry.
7. Build relationships.  PR firms tend to emphasize their strong relationships with key journalists such as Gary Krakow, David Pogue, Ed Baig, etc.  These are relationships built over time and are key to the longevity of the firms and the individuals working there.  You should put the same energy into your blogger relationships, or else not bother at all. Another important point here – if you’ve established an embargo on a topic, and you lift it early, it’s your responsibility to notify the bloggers too!
8. Do your homework.  Most blogs have an ‘about’ page, in which you’ll discover the blogger’s full-time job (assuming it isn’t blogging), region of the country/world where they live, topics they prefer to cover, how they’d like to be contacted (bonus tip: IM or email is almost always the answer, not the phone), etc.  Read this and understand it.  Furthermore, doing a little background research will quickly tell you whether or not the blogger is good at keeping secrets/embargos (some do, some don’t – learn the difference).
9. Understand their influence and influencers.  Something I tell all of my clients is to get to know the domino effects of bloggers and their circles.  I’ll use my blog as an example again: on a relative scale my readership is low in quantity, but extremely high in qualiy.  Nothing in PR is guaranteed, but it’s probably a lot cheaper, faster, and easier to get me to read something than the “top” bloggers out there (regardless of whether or not there is an A-list), and it’ll probably catch their attention faster to see me write about it than for you to inundate them with story requests.  The really good news is there’s lots of other influential, mid-tier bloggers like me out there to approach!
10. Manage your stories.  If you want to send me something, great, but let me know in advance what your expectations are.  Do you want the unit back? If so, when?  Also, am I going to need anything to get the product working?  If so, what, and did you send me that too?  When I was at Sling Media, we made sure that we know about someone’s home network and TV setup before we sent them a unit!  For example, anyone who follows my blog knows I do not personally own an iPod, and probably should ask me how I’ll review an iPod accessory before they send me one!  Furthermore, stay in touch with us after you’ve sent something – is it working for us?  Do we like it? Also, as Ben from EngadgetHD reminds me, it’s fairly likely we aren’t working on “some” deadline, bloggers are typically in “I need this now” mode, so keep that in the back of your head!

If you’ve managed to read all the way through here, you’ve probably noticed a recurring theme around being involved with the blogger you are targetting.  We don’t have news bureaus scanning the wire.  We (typically) don’t have assistants to help us manage our time.  We probably have other jobs that are time-consuming.  More than anything else, my central theme is this: if you want to target a blogger, you must treat them with respect.  I’m not talking about butt-kissing here, I’m talking simple respect. 

I skipped February in its entirety, but almost half of March managed to slip by before I was able to pull off another Geek Dinner.  With 20 RSVPS about 15 people in attendance, we again headed out to Buca di Beppo – a nice choice that is convenient for both South Bay and SF residents.

This month’s participants (following around the table from L-R):

• Seth Kenvin – EIR at Venrock Associates
• Doug Hagan – Netgear Marketing Guy, and more importantly, now a father of two!
• Larry Chiang – Professional Multitasker
• Mehrshad Mansouri – Person of ill-refute
• Alan Peterson – Podcaster-for-hire (seriously, this man has an amazing voice)
• Melanie Westlake – Has more phones than you do (probably because she works for Yahoo! Mobile)
• Heidi Pollock – Mobile Web Guru (recently unemployed, so recruiters take note!)
• Cindy Wang – from her friend Melanie: “she makes cute mobile web apps.  also, she is awesome”
• Andrew Kippen – Carries “The Hammer” (when he’s not introducing French tech companies to Silicon Valley for the French Trade Commission)
• Harry McCracken – Knows more about PCs than, well, most everyone else (also Editor-in-Chief for PC World)
• Jeremy Toeman – About to engage in new career as “professional twitter user”
• Daniel Riveong – Just *wishes* he can carry The Hammer, instead is merely a Social Media Expert
• Jason Vagner – Recently employed! Huzzah!
• Dave Mathews – Backward Thinker
• Noah Kagan – Trying to find the appropriate floor to sleep on (also recently organized the Community Next event)

Great group with great conversations all around.  One topic we floated through started as “how many gadgets is too many to carry” and ended up being something more like “so what gadget do you really want to carry?”  This originated as follows – if you can think back 10 years ago (try, seriously), the most gadgets we carried around regularly was a cell phone (and that’s only if you were way ahead of the curve).  By 2000 it probably included a PDA as well.  By 2002, throw either an MP3 player or digital camera (or both) into the bag.  It seems pretty clear that people aren’t truly pushing back on carrying more than 2 digital gizmos around these days.  The thing I wonder about is when is enough enough? 

I also gave (another) anti-Twitter-hype rant, which then managed to include an anti-Second Life-hype rant, all at the expense of poor Heidi, who had the backbone to defend her postion and the character to not get all pissed at me for debating to the nth degree.  But since I won’t use the T-word more than once per post, that was it, and it’s time to move along!  Also (pictured to the right), Heidi and Larry bonded over having the same phones as 17-year-old girls.

We had another round of “pass around the gadgets” in which I showed off:

• The latest Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive (full review coming soon – but quick verdict is – very convenient, easy to use, and stylish).  Group consensus: YAY.
• An AC-DC power converter from TeleAdapt (a division of APC) that works on airplanes AND cars and provides a standard (US) outlet to charge most devices.  Beats carrying “tips” around.  Group consensus: YAY.
• The Netgear DECT Skype phone which allows one handset to work with both POTS and Skype services.  Group consensus: YAY.
• Back for a second time, and thanks to Mehrshad now with one extra feature, my favorite Quik-Pod!  Group consensus: YAY.

Also, Dave Mathews showed us a Divx-enabled watch he brought back from Asia.  Not bad, although 15fps video still isn’t all that watchable… Hahahah.  Oh, sorry.  Yes, I know.  Yes, terrible.  Ok, ok, I won’t do it again.

By the way, for those wondering about the original topic on how many gadgets and ideal gadgets?  A common theme emerged: can someone, anyone, just make a basic cell phone that…

1. has decent reception across the US
2. has good battery life
3. doesn’t take photos, play games, show maps, stream TV, or anything else
4. doesn’t look like it came free in a Cracker Jack box
5. isn’t a Razr

I’d buy one.  I’m actually in the market for a new phone right now, and I realized how little I do want/need from the phone.  I’ll take anything that meets the above description.  Anyone got a suggestion?

Last up, as I mentioned yesterday, I’m trying to rid a lot of cables from my apartment.  I brought a box full of them to the Geek Dinner to see if anyone wanted any.  There were a few takers here and there, but truth be told, it was as much a purging exercise as anything else.   But when Harry told me I made his day by supplying him with a new set of RCA cables, I was thrilled!

As always, email or comment if you’d like to get on the list for the next one…

Before I get to the heart of the post, my “manual Twitter update” is: I’m sitting on my couch.  More fun lifeblogging later, mkay?

I have no idea what my inspiration here was, but I decided it’d be interesting (kinda) to find the most common first names (in the US) and see the results when Googled.  I know that Google is supposed to be the end-all be-all definitive answer to all things, but as you’ll see fairly quickly, the list doesn’t really reflect “the real world” nearly as much as you might expect.

The Boys

1. JAMES: The band, James.
1. Ignoring Google Music, the result is “James Project” – an open-source mail server
2. The first “person” in the list is James I of England
2. JOHN: Gospel of John.  John Kerry is the first name in the list
3. ROBERT: Need you ask?  It’s Mr. Scoble (ahead of De Niro, Redford, etc)!
4. MICHAEL: Michaels Arts & Crafts Store (that’s some good SEO).  Michael Jackson is first, with Arrington second, then Moore third.  My friend Michael Gartenberg appears on the 6th page, but MJ himself didn’t appear in the first 10 pages!  Says something about where sports, bloggers, technology & Google go together, eh?
5. WILLIAM:  Wait for it… Actually, I can’t bear to say it.  Go ahead, see for yourself.  No comment.
6. DAVID: Interestingly it references the former King, with a David Pescovitz nudging in just ahead of Ziggy Stardust.  No, I won’t explain that, or any other pop culture references from this point forward.
7. RICHARD: Another king, Richard I of England, but he’s followed by another top blogger, Richard MacManus, who is only a few spots ahead of Richard Simmons.
8. CHARLES: Charles Schwab has SEO’d themselves above King Charles.  Apparently Princes do not fare as well, as Prince Charles can’t beat out “The Fishbowl: Charles Miller’s Weblog“
9. JOSEPH: Another Biblical reference (Hebrew before Saint), and it’s not until the bottom of the first page until I found professor Jospeh Stiglitz.
10. THOMAS: Didn’t know about this one before, the THOMAS online Library of Commerce.  Good ol’ Thomas Hawk is the first name on the list (and another blogger – I think I smell a trend!).
11. CHRISTOPHER: The first link is about Chrisopher Columbus’ ships, and the first name is non-blogger Chris Walken.  If I switch the term to just ‘CHRIS’ then Pirillo’s blog is on top.
12. DANIEL: First up is a prophet, and new James Bond Daniel Craig is the first written name, but Darren Scocco’s blog is extremely well SEO’d since his name isn’t even in the title!
13. PAUL: Religion beats blogger in this case, as the prophet is first, McCartney second, and Paul Stamatiou’s blog wins the bronze.
14. MARK: Mark Pilgrim’s linkblog is up on top, which surprised me as I figured the BlogMaverick would be higher up there (he’s also stuck behind a prophet, which clearly doesn’t bode well).
15. DONALD: Even before I clicked the button, I was pretty sure I’d find The Donald as the first result.
16. GEORGE: Quite the popular name in Googling, with the fun Where’s George site ranked above our first president (who is thankfully ranked above our current one).  Scroll down a little and you’ll see Clooney beats out Lucas on IMDB – I guess that’s not ranked by income, eh?
17. KENNETH: Got Shoes?  More interesting is the second result, a spa in Columbus, Ohio.
18. STEVEN: Again, a blogger (Steven Berlin Johnson) beats out directors Spielberg and Soderbergh.  I guess I figured Jobs for #1, but he’s barely on the first page.
19. EDWARD: Naperville’s (Illinois) own somehow managed to eke out the top position above a quite famous King, and Edward Hopper is the first ‘name’ on the page.
20. BRIAN: ABC has SEO’d some TV show into the first slot, ahead of extremely popular blogger Brian Clark.
21. RONALD: My favorite result so far, as it juxtaposes Ronald McDonald and Ronald Reagan a few times over.  That’s just plain fun!
22. ANTHONY: The men’s products company is first (I use two of their scrubs, love em – ain’t that just so metrosexual of me?), and we have no bloggers whatsoever in the first 10 (I smell opportunity).  Tony Robbins and Marc Anthony both place ahead of the first full Anthony, Sir Hopkins.
23. KEVIN: CNN correspondant Kevin Sites has wedged himself in at #1.  Have no fear, K-Fed is only a few links below.
24. JASON: The second project on our list, the JASON project, is first up.  Entrepreneur-turned corporate America-turned VC-turned fatblogger Jason Calacanis is in the top 5, just below the Greek myth entry at Wikipedia.
25. MATTHEW:  I kept repeating in my head “Don’t be Perry, Don’t be Perry!” as I hit the search button.  Biblical reference comes in first, with actor Matthew McConaughey a few steps behind.

…

76. JEREMY: Damn that Zawodny!!!  I’m up in the first 5 pages, but it seems as if people named Jeremy just like to get their blogging on…

The Girls

1. MARY: Yup, it’s the Biblical one first (she dominates most of the page actually).  Then the first real name we get to is Mary J Blige.
2. PATRICIA: A resort chain in Myrtle Beach is the first listing here, then we get famous (?) children’s book author Patricia Polacco’s Web site next.
3. LINDA: And there we have it, our first result wherein our first listing is adult content.  Congratulations, Linda Tran, you are our winner.  Incidentally, three other Lindas on the first page are also adult-oriented.  So if there are any Lindas reading this who are not working in the porn industry, maybe you can start a blog soon?
4. BARBARA: It looks like Google considers Barbara Nitke’s “Sexuality Project” the most prominent Barbara, with Ms. Streisand (my mom’s lookalike you know) in second place.
5. ELIZABETH: Let’s see, we have Movie Reference, Queen, Queen, Queen, Queen, Queen, and Movie Reference.
6. JENNIFER:  J. Lo may not be as popular in the gossip rags anymore, but she’s still all the rage on Google. 
7. MARIA: I was genuinely surprised to see WWE “superstar” Maria first and tennis player Sharapova second.  That’s two sports people (well, 1.5?) on top here.
8. SUSAN: Some astrologist is on top, so I’ll do my share to try to help get blogger Susan Mernit ranked higher.  If you don’t read it already, I humbly suggest you subscribe to Susan’s great blog right away!
9. MARGARET:  CHO.  IS. FIRST.
10. DOROTHY:  They’ve got her.  And her little dog too.
11. LISA:  I think this was the first time two different acronyms had the top two spots.  Lisa Simpson is the first ‘name’ on the page, and a Lisa McPherson is the first ‘real name’ later on.
12. NANCY:  I feel like we’re getting a little, I don’ t know, desperate at this point.  The “comic” strip is the first entry, followed by Nancy Sinatra and Nancy Reagan.
13. KAREN:  This little project has just taught me something new.  Did you know there was a tribe of people called the Karen people (I’ll bet ya didn’t)?  I didn’t.  I feel a little bad too, as there are apparently 14 million of them!  We’ve also found another blogger (it’s been a while!), Karen Schneider, the Free Range Librarian.
14. BETTY: Hm… Pop band I’ve never heard of, color for Hair Down There, some cookbooks, ugliness, … ah, there we go… “Stale Betty: Voted Most Likely to Wear Granny Panties“
15. HELEN: Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet is probably a minor misnomer, since it seems that Helen of Troy is the sweetheart entry here.
16. SANDRA: Sandra Bullock is our first named entry, but can’t beat the geeks’ SiSoftware.  I wonder if she’s that high in some part due to the movie The Net?
17. DONNA: Congratulations to Donna Nammer, the first female blogger to pwn her first name on Google.  I wonder if she knows Scoble?
18. CAROL: And back we go to corporate stuff.  In fact, the name Carol seems so open on Google that Carole King makes the first page (although that could be due to typos as well). 
19. RUTH: Mmm, steak house.  Actually, no full-name Ruths made the first page of results at all, unless you count Babe Ruth that is.
20. SHARON: Utterly dominated by Ariel Sharon, Sharon Stone, and a bunch of small US towns named Sharon.
21. MICHELLE: Journalist Michelle Malkin is on top.  Have no fear boys, there’s nudity only one link away.
22. LAURA: Interestingly, more right-wing women are at the top here, with Laura Ingraham and Laura Bush just behind the movie of the same name.
23. SARAH: Back to the Bible we go, but the Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan is in second place.
24. KIMBERLY: Get your tissues, all your tissues!  The only actual name on the page is a Kimberley who blogs at Develsaa.com.
25. DEBORAH: A hospital in New Jersey (what exit?) ranks first, then back to the Bible, then Ms. Electric Youth herself, Debbie Deborah Gibson!

There you have it, the Top 50 Google results for the Top 50 First Names.  What did we learn (remembering that Google ranks primarily based on links)?

• Bloggers beat actors.
• Musicians beat actors.
• Prophets beat bloggers.
• Kings of England beat everyone other than Scoble.
• Women often link to men.
• Women sometimes link to women.
• Men often link to men.
• Men sometimes link to women.
• Men often link to pornography.
• William Hung’s 15 minutes have last way too long.

A new site called Spotplex launched recently and it has a different way to find highly rated sites different than the way Digg does. Instead of having users rate your site like Digg does, your site is rated by how many views a certain page or post receives. The more views the higher rated your page or post receives. This is done by the webmaster putting a small java script in the page and whenever it is viewed it gets counted by Spotplex.

The results on their site look similar to Digg, showing very popular content, latest content, or by tags or publisher.
The first thing that comes to mind is how they are going to handle the possibility for abuse or mislabeling. Hopefully they have thought this through carefully and have devised some ways to handle it. They also do not have a place to comment on the post, like Digg does To comment you would have to go to the original site and page. This is great for the original site because it forces people to go back to the originating site to make comments. Not too great for the user, most like to comment directly at the post, like Digg does.

They are taking only 1,000 blogs right now, and is still in Beta. I can definetly see a problem with the loading speed of the site. They will need to fix this right away if people are going to stick around and they are going to grow. They also have several different ways sites can create widgets or embed code into their own page to show specific posts based upon a selected criteria. They also have added RSS feeds to the site. But, again the feed is very slow to load.