Have you been noticing a decline in the quality of Google search results lately? I myself have noticed an increase in the number of spam results (and I use Google a LOT), although our own rankings remain more or less where they have been for a long time. And the masses are starting to grumble. The gist of the grumble … Read More

ClickZ is reporting on a new eye-tracking study which has discovered that website visitors avoid viewing banner ads. Naming it “banner blindness”, the study claims that people simply ignore bright flashing ads and other irrelevant content. I think anyone who's attempted a banner ad campaign in recent years would have been more than happy to tell them that, without the … Read More

Regular readers of this blog will know that Maxthon is my browser of choice, mainly because I love how easy it makes tabbed browsing. What I didn't know was that it's also hugely popular in China, but for an entirely different reason. CNET News reports: “[Maxthon] has attracted millions of users in China for functionality that can funnel traffic through … Read More

Regular readers of this blog will have heard me praise ClickTracks before. It's head and shoulders above any other log analysis tool, and believe me I've worked with a few over the years! Their free version, ClickTracks Appetizer, isn't a trial version, but is instead a stripped down version of their main product. However, on June 8th, ClickTracks will turn … Read More

From Inside AdWords: “As an Inside AdWords blog reader, you’re likely looking for tips and updates about AdWords, but have you ever wished that this information was more tailored to your account? If so, you may want to consider signing up for a few of our AdWords Notifications located in the Account Preferences section of the My Account tab.” My … Read More

We all love a good Top 10 or Bottom 20 list, and PC World have put together a great one. This list – The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time – is a regular techy hall of shame, and should provide you with some serious emphatic nodding as you find yourself agreeing with it all. Great entertainment. In the … Read More

There has been much talk about this particular relationship, but now they’ve gone ahead and made it official. In the future, Dell PCs will have Google software installed when they leave the factory. The software will include a Google toolbar and a co-branded homepage. Hmmm. Of course, this is not great news for Microsoft. But is it really necessary for … Read More

News.com features a fairly long and in-depth interview with Jim Allchin, Co-president of the Platforms and Services Division at Microsoft. The subject, of course, is Vista. When asked how comfortable he is that the current target for Vista's release will be met, he replied: “I'm feeling OK”. Hmmm. Hardly the most reassuring answer, is it? Anyway, if you're a Vista … Read More

Tiltomo is a new (at least to me) search engine that lets you search images based on colour, texture and themes. So far it's in beta, using two sample databases from flickr, but it seems to work well and is quite enjoyable to use. A few different searches, as suggested by Search Engine Watch: Yellow and Blue I Love Orange … Read More

A Belgian company has sued Google over its toolbar suggestions. The Suggest feature is included in the latest version of the Google browser toolbar, but Google claims to have no control over what it suggests. This is a shame – when you search for this particular company's software, ServersCheck, the suggestions from Google include “serverscheck crack” and “serverscheck keygen”. Maarten … Read More