Google Search Moving Web 2.0

Michael Arrington previews what purports to be a prototype of a new Google search experience, incorporating user commenting and voting such as we see on Digg and other social media sites: The video above shows a user interface being bucket tested by Google to select (probably randomly determined) users. Earlier today we showed a screen shot of the interface and a ...

Blogrolls, RIP

Duncan Riley laments the demise of the blogroll. Once upon a time in the land of the blogs, the blogroll reigned suprmeme. Everyone had a blogroll, and it was a great way to discover new and interesting blogs. But somewhere along the way blogrolls fell out of favor, and you don’t seem them much at all today. [...] Unlike other areas of blogging, ...

Blog Linking Less Important?

Louis Gray believes the importance of blog linkage is declining, noting that, "I've seen traffic from other blogs to be driving an ever-declining percentage of visits to my site, swamped by social media tools, aggregation sites, and of course, Google search." He offers three likely explanations: 1. People are relying on aggregators to find them new sources of information, including ...

Google Shuts Down Anti-Obama Blogs

Some Obama supporters are apparently taking advantage of Google's terms of service to silence anti-Obama blogs, Simon Owens of Bloggasm reports. The company automatically shuts down sites upon receipt of TOS violation claims until they're able to do a human audit, a rather slow process with given little priority on the free BlogSpot service. After some digging it became apparent ...

McCains Pay Back Taxes on Aunt’s Condo

The latest mini-scandal in Campaign 2008 is that the McCains have apparently not done a good job keeping track of their finances.   HuffPo has gotten 1420 Diggs at this writing with a story headlined "McCains Defaulted On Home Taxes For Last Four Years, Newsweek Reports." It promises "a highly embarrassing report."  Newsweek has delivered with "Mrs. McCain, San Diego County ...

Presidents and Computer Literacy

Jane Hamsher wants to know, "If You Can’t Use a Computer, How Can You Be President?" I chuckled when I saw the story at memeorandum since, after all, it's unlikely that any president before Bill Clinton could "use" a computer in any meaningful sense. (Maybe Jimmy Carter, who was a nuclear engineer in a past life, could, too, but proficiency ...

Shelby Steele: Yes He Can

The gang at Media Matters is excited that they have caught Shelby Steele admitting that the subtitle of his book, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win (Free Press, December 2007) is wrong to Sean Hannity. HANNITY: All right, so he can't win? STEELE: He can win. I regret that subtitle. HANNITY: OK. STEELE: It was ...

OTB Caption Jam^TM

Weekend Caption Jam Linkfest. . . Rodney is off to Alcatraz. Wizbang is in a hole and digging faster. Wyatt Earp has a balled head. Public Pondering is serving steamed rice. Cowboy Blob is bulking up. Willisms shoulda worn white gloves. Right ...

Indiana and North Carolina Postmortem

Barack Obama moved to within 200 delegates of securing the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday, scoring a 56-42 blowout in North Carolina while narrowly losing, 49-51, in Indiana. Barring revelations that would make the Wright affair look insignificant in comparison, the race is all over but the shouting. Obama Wins the Night AP's Calvin Woodward: On the rebound, Barack Obama left Hillary Rodham ...

Bill Clinton’s $450,000 Charity Speech

Fundraising has been very, very good to Bill Clinton. When London socialite Renu Mehta sought to urge Britain's super-rich into giving more to charity, she threw a fundraising dinner headlined by former President Bill Clinton, who has used his global star power to encourage large-scale philanthropy that stresses accountability. Mehta declared the first gathering of her Fortune Forum, held Sept. ...