bobology - learning to thrive in a digital world

Ebooks gone global: Report suggests less resistance, more legal sales and importance of Apple — Tech News and Analysis

2013-10-03T08:27:00.001-07:00

http://gigaom.com/2013/10/02/ebooks-gone-global-report-suggests-less-resistance-more-legal-sales-and-importance-of-apple/?utm_source=General+Users&utm_campaign=3608f522e0-c%3Amed+d%3A10-03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1dd83065c6-3608f522e0-99135245

Bob Cohen
http://www.bobology.com

Zemanta Related Posts coming to Typepad - Zemanta Blog

2012-11-23T08:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.zemanta.com/blog/zemanta-related-posts-on-typepad/?utm_source=Widget+Users&utm_campaign=fa0452c9aa-Zemanta_Weekly_2012_11_23&utm_medium=email

ZEMANTA RELATED POSTS COMING TO TYPEPAD

During the Thanksgiving week, Typepad bloggers will notice a new addition to Zemanta recommendations: Related Posts. To commemorate this great day, use them to give credit to fellow bloggers as a thank you to all who put immense work into writing about topics that interest you.

Earlier this year, we announced a partnership with the Typepad blogging platform. We gave Typepad bloggers a handy feature called Recommended Links. Recommended Links show up to Typepad bloggers beneath the editor window while they write, bringing back links to their own posts as well as links to external authoritative sources.

Recommended Links allows bloggers to add links to their text with a click of a button. They are really easy to use and the benefits of adding links to your posts, Wikipedia, Google maps and other great resources are numerous. Readers get triggers to research topics mentioned in the post, search engines have more respect for posts with such links and authors can focus on writing instead of dealing with manual linking.

Thanksgiving addition – Related Posts

During the Thanksgiving week, Zemanta on Typepad will get a new feature called Related Posts. Related Posts are awesome. They show up below related links and are contextually related to the text you are currently working on. The posts come from your blog, from a vast network of bloggers and from other content sources.

This is how it all looks like:

The benefits of using Related Posts

You can add Related Posts to the bottom of your text with a click of a button to give your post more depth and provide clues to readers on where to get further opinions and information on the subject.

Other benefits of using related posts are again numerous. First and foremost your post gains on credibility but there is another hidden value: bloggers that you link out to will notice you. You will get attention from writers who are interested in the same topics as you. This often leads to more comments, reactions and backlinks but most of all to new important acquaintances.

It is the essence of what we call Link Love:

We hope Related Posts on TypePad will help your blog grow and your network expand.

We love feedback so don't hesitate to comment or visit our support center and ask us anything.

Bob Cohen

Sent from my iPhone

Join Robert Cohen’s “Bobology” Photo Stream?

2012-09-30T09:50:00.001-07:00


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Emotional Triggers in Blog Content

2012-08-21T09:35:00.001-07:00

www.seomoz.org/ugc/when-interesting-and-informative-is-not-enough-emotional-triggers-in-blogging

Bob Cohen

Windows 8 upgrade path

2012-06-28T10:08:00.001-07:00

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/06/28/upgrade-pathways-to-windows-8-leaked-even-xp-users-have-a-route/?awesm=tnw.to_d14c&utm_campaign=social%20media&utm_medium=Spreadus&utm_source=Twitter

Bob Cohen

@mashabletech, 5/30/12 8:16 AM

2012-05-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

Mashable Tech (@mashabletech)
5/30/12 8:16 AM
The Nest Thermostat Is Now for Sale at Apple Stores on.mash.to/M7qhrY

Bob Cohen

bob@bobology.com

www.bobology.com

www.facebook.com/bobology

www.twitter.com/bobology

www.linkedIn.com/bobology

www.youtube.com/Bobologyvideo

How To Sell Products Online | Sell Items Online with Shopify - Try our free 30 day Trial.

2012-05-28T19:46:00.001-07:00

http://www.shopify.com/tour/sell-online

Bob Cohen
bob@bobology.com
www.bobology.com
www.facebook.com/bobology
www.twitter.com/bobology
www.linkedIn.com/bobology
www.youtube.com/Bobologyvideo

Check out this great MSN video: Search with friends

2012-05-10T16:43:00.001-07:00

Check out this great MSN video: Search with friends

Google Affiliate for Blogger

2012-04-18T15:05:00.001-07:00

Google announced a new program for Blogger blogs with a Gadget for "Advertise Products." If the blog has an active AdSense account, writing a blog post that contains copy for an available advertiser will result in the "Advertise Products" Gadget appearing with the option to add it to the blog.

From the Gadget, the available advertisers will appear. Select one, then publish the blog post. For blogs without an active AdSense account, an AdSense account will need to be setup. All of this can be done from the Google's Affiliate Publisher page.

After signing up for the Google Affiliate terms and conditions and setting up your AdSense account, the Advertise Products gadget appears in the right sidebar when editing or writing a post. Clicking on the Gadget opens up a search box and window where advertisers are displayed based on the content of a blog post.

Twitter Ads for Small Business

2012-04-09T19:39:00.001-07:00

American Express gave me a free $100 credit to use for Twitter advertising and I'm trying it out on my Twitter account @bobology. Two ads are possible, one promotes me as a follower and charges for each new follower, and the other promotes a specific tweet and charges for each click on the tweet link.

I selected the metropolitan areas in California where I offer my live classes, to see if promoting classes will result in any additional publicity. This is a test run before I start offering online video and audio classes available for purchase when I get my material in a Web deliverable format.

So far in just a few hours I've collected a few clicks on my tweets, and gained some new followers. I'll have a report on the stats and costs as I go along and provide updates.

Training and Classes this Week

2012-02-19T11:52:00.001-08:00

This week's training classes coming up:

Tuesday: Blogging for Fun & Profit - Saddleback College, Mission Viejo

Wednesday: iPhones, iPads, I'm Lost - Santa Monica College

Thursday: Facebook and Social Networking for Beginners - Pasadena City College

Saturday Morning: Facebook Marketing for Business - Palomar College, San Marcos, San Diego County

Saturday Afternoon: Secrets of Internet Marketing - Palomar College San Marcos, San Diego County

Get additional information on the classes and links to the school registration sites on my Training Calendar.

The Price Tag for "Free" Internet

2012-02-18T09:28:00.001-08:00

Just how much are people willing to do to get something for free? When television appeared it was accepting commercial time, with grocery stores it's club cards for discounts, and with the Internet it's tracking and access to behavior.
Of course the issue with the Internet is ones behavior and the data may or may not be well protected. Privacy hasn't stopped millions of shoppers for signing up to get a club card at their grocery store. People gladly let someone track their shopping by what is spent, how often, what days, and the types of products. Start buying diapers and someone knows you have a new baby (or are baby sitting one).
Just what do our credit card companies do with the data they collect, and how about the bank debit cards that we use for convenience. Where does that data go? I've seen privacy disclosures from banks saying they may share data with partners.
So we've already established that as consumers we'll give up a lot of data about ourselves in exchange for something that's convenient, free, and saves us money.
So where does the Internet come in? Would you be willing to give up the convenience of comparison shopping, finding when your movie was starting, getting maps and directions, and free cloud storage?
Once you establish that you're willing to trade something for these free services and discounts it's just a matter of negotiating what price you're willing to pay. In a capitalist society "free" doesn't really exist since profit drives it so much.
So is our solution to pay for privacy, change behavior and forgo free services, or give up and be part of the global database? So far the choices seem to be to opt for free services and until that changes very little else will.

Google + iPhone App Adds Instant Upload

2012-02-17T08:31:00.001-08:00

Google released an update to their Google+ iPhone app that adds Instant Update. This now allows iPhone users to share photos and video just like the Android users of the mobile app could.

Considering the impact that Google + has on search, it's likely to make a dent in apps like hips tamarin and Pinterest for
people and brands using them for
marketing.

As for everyday users, Google + is being adopted by more tech savvy users, while Facebook is where you find family and friends everyday.

Until a social app appears on Google + to entice users to interact more, Google
still has a chasm ahead.

Anthem agent presentation

2012-01-18T11:47:00.001-08:00

To get the audience to use their phones for taking pictures I asked them to take some of me and email them to me. Here's one of them so the exercise worked.

For The 5th Year In A Row, Apple Wins CES. Before It Starts. Without Showing Up.

2012-01-05T19:46:00.001-08:00

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2yM13OGtBik/

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Bob Cohen

Office: 562-598-8091

Mobile: 562-547-9060

bob@bobology.com

Sent from my iPhone

New Models for Web Publishing

2012-01-04T18:15:00.001-08:00

New Models for Web Publishing

By David Strom / January 4, 2012 7:00 AM / View Comments

As we begin a new year, I thought I would take a moment to review where Web publishing has come and where it seems to be going. We certainly stand at a crossroads, as we move from the "golden age of blogging" into whatever we are going to call things this year or this moment. I tend to think of this as the post-blogging era.

That isn't to say that blogs are over: we at RWW certainly don't think so. But the very nature of the blog is changing. The days are coming to an end when, as Scott Fulton has said most recently: "You can have freedom from bias or you can have freedom from oversight. You cannot have both." Jon Mitchell wrote earlier in December about new ways of writing, publishing and advertising online.

And there are other smart folks out there who have figured some of this stuff out already. As a recent example, look at what Jeremiah Owyang wrote on his blog last week that all future blogs will share all of these traits:

There will be an opportunity for new stars to emerge,
It also will be harder for personal brands to rise,
New models to emerge and long form content won't be the only way, and
A new mix of media will emerge.

The culture of celebrity

Let's look at what he means. First, the old days of blogging were about celebrating individuals' points of view, and oftentimes one POV per blog. Today's blogs, such as the one you are reading now, move beyond a single POV and have lots of contributors, and sometimes these opinions are at loggerheads (we did this most recently with two perspectives on whether you need the 3G radios in your tablet: No you don't, said Paul Singh, and Yes you do, said Dan Rowinski. I think there is plenty of room for variations on this theme and we should expect more op/ed kinds of features this year.

But building a blog around a celebrity is so over. As an example, look at what happened over at Engadget.com when Patel and Topolsky and others left the site last March. Here is a graph of their page views from the last two years, showing that their traffic took a dip but it wasn't fatal.

Alternatives to long-form content

As we get more impatient, the notion of the appropriate length on a blog post is changing and it is getting shorter: It used to be that a 600-word post was considered about right, now that is way long. (And this article is off the charts!) Videos too: three minutes is about all we can seem to pay attention to.

Over the past few years, blogs have discovered that infographics can attract lots of clicks. But typically those are created by PR firms or other outsiders. A few blogs have begun experimenting with their own in-house graphics and data visualization teams. That is certainly the way of the future. Why should someone else's pretty pictures get all the link love?

These infographics don't have to be just eye candy but can be more substantive. Especially where a reader can interact more with the Web page. The daily newspapers have been experimenting with this for some time. As one often-cited example, it took the Washington Post two weeks to build a database of soldiers killed in our current wars into what is now a public, searchable database called Faces of the Fallen.

Adrian Holovaty, who helped to take that information and put it online, defines the three functions of a journalist as gathering information, distilling that information and presenting it. That is still the same; just the external parameters have changed. It is important to keep that in mind.

Feeds and reach are changing

Take as one example the venerable RSS feed, which predates blogging. Today's feeds are being reworked as a way to syndicate content in interesting ways. Witness what CNN:Tech is doing by presenting at the bottom of its page feeds from six different tech blogs. The New York Times (which used to feature a feed from RWW, among others) has something similar. But yet these forms of syndication haven't had much traction among readers.

Certainly, one of the main beneficiaries of syndication has been Mashable, which now republishes its stories to ABC News, CNN, Forbes, Metro, USA Today and Yahoo News. Expect more of this kind of reach in the future, especially as more niche experts replace the personal brands.

But even so, these examples are pretty much old school. How about what VerveWireless.com is doing for old-line newspapers? They create mobile tablet apps that repurpose the paper's RSS content, but also make it easier for the daily newspaper sales teams to insert their own local ads. Flipboard and Google Currents, among others, are also changing how content is presented and read online.

Others are working on newer efforts, such as Matt Galligan, the force behind SimpleGeo with what he calls news, re-imagined at Circa. No word on when that will be out. LinkedIn has its social news feed, something developed by one of RWW principals. And then there is DocumentCloud.org that is used by a large number of blogs and traditional media to show the sources behind their reporting. You click on the button at the top of each article, and then yellow highlighted text appears that has hyperlinks to the original source materials. Think of it as when you had to show your work in high school math class. It is an intriguing idea.

And the ultimate feed is our Facebook and other social media tools, which bring the ultimate in personal customization to these "news" items. The paradox is as your network grows, you can quickly get overwhelmed with this feed.

Pay attention to mobile access.

Our mobile traffic has increased tremendously in the past year, and I suspect we are typical of other sites. But this presents challenges for content creators: is it better to sell ad units around the content, even ads that have sub-par browsing experiences on mobile devices? Or code up your own iPad app (or use Verve's or something equivalent)? Certainly, the level of engagement with the custom mobile app is greater, but it amazes me that sites with just static pages still aren't optimized for mobile browsers yet.

The rise of custom publishing

Finally, the last trend seems to be replacing traditional Web publishing with some form of hybrid or custom publishing. RWW published a number of white papers that were at the request of one of our advertising sponsors, but produced with an independent editorial voice and vision. Other sites are doing the same, because these sponsorships can be big money. The trick is keeping the voice independent and maintaining a strict separation of church and state, or even avoiding any appearance of collusion. That continues to be a challenge, especially as some sites open up their own venture funds and incubators for start up vendors.

As you can see, blogging is far from dead but becoming richer and more varied. We'll see if 2012 brings about other changes to Web publishing.

ReadWriteWeb encourages comments, but please remember: Keep it nice, keep it clean, and avoid promotional comments. We do pre-moderate some comments with links. For more information, please read our full comment policy.

New Models for Web Publishing

As we begin a new year, I thought I would take a moment to review where Web publishing has come and where it seems to be going. We certainly stand at a crossroads, as we move from the \"golden age of blogging\" into whatever we are going to call things this year or this moment. I tend to think of this as the post-blogging era.\n\nThat isn't to say that blogs are over: we at RWW certainly don't think so. But the very nature of the blog is changing. The days are coming to an end when, as Scott Fulton has said most recently: \"You can have freedom from bias or you can have freedom from oversight. You cannot have both.\" Jon Mitchell wrote earlier in December about new ways of writing, publishing and advertising online.\n

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

Original Page: http://m.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2012/01/new-models-for-web-publishing.php

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Bob Cohen

Office: 562-598-8091

Mobile: 562-547-9060

bob@bobology.com

Sent from my iPhone

Mashables Facebook Timeline Customization

2012-01-04T17:55:00.001-08:00

Facebook Timeline Customization: 5 Tools for Killer Cover Photos

01/04/12 by Amy-Mae Elliott

Facebook Timeline Customization: 5 Tools for Killer Cover Photos

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1. Pic Scatter - Friends

Pic Scatter lets you create a montage of images in your cover photo space.

You can generate the content from your Facebook friends or pick a particular album to use.

2. Pic Scatter - Likes

You can also create a similar montage from your Facebook "Likes."

As far as functionality goes, once you've generated the collection, you can "shuffle" the images and move them around until you are happy with the placement.

A $1.50 "Premium" option will get rid of the Pic Scatter credit.

3. Profile Picture Maker's Timeline Cover Banner

This great tool is a fab option for designing your own banner.

You can upload and edit your own background image, upload additional photos, add text and even "draw" on the image.

4. Profile Picture Maker's Timeline Cover Banner

Alternatively you can select from one of the site's stock images and customize how you see fit.

There's no watermark on the final product, which you simply save and upload to Facebook from your computer.

5. FaceItPages' Timeline Cover Tool

More suited to professionals who use Facebook as a networking tool, FaceItPages' free design service requires a simple sign-up to get started.

Once you're in, you can pick from a variety of backgrounds, upload a logo or smaller secondary image and add in text links to other social networking sites.

6. FaceItPages' Timeline Cover Tool

Or you can upload your own image to use as a background.

9. Cover Canvas - Photos

Cover Canvas gives you three cool custom cover photo options.

The first is to generate a photo montage from your profile photos — there is a wealth of templates to choose from.

The site makes it very easy to browse the different designs, while switching photos around is as easy as clicking the "remix" button.

10. Cover Canvas - Name

The next option is to create a text-based illustration made up of your name.

As before, there are a ton of templates and it's easy to explore the different designs.

11. Cover Canvas - Name and Photos

Finally, you can go for a name-and-photos combo design.

With over 30 templates to play around with, you should find a look that suits you.

7. CoverJunction

In addition to offering a free service where you can pick images to use for your cover photo, CoverJunction allows you to upload your own photo files to add to the creative pool.

8. CoverJunction

Even further, CoverJunction offers a couple of fun, clean-looking custom covers.

First is a banner that showcases your most "Liked" photo. Try it — the results might surprise you.

The other option is to showcase your two "top" Facebook friends.

BONUS APP: J4 Timeline Covers Facebook App

This Facebook app is a fun, on-site service for making personalized photo-themed covers.

While you can choose from the stock images available, the DIY "collage maker" templates are quite fun.

You can generate a random selection of images from one or more of your Facebook albums.

BONUS APP: J4 Timeline Covers Facebook App

Keep hitting the "remake" button to shuffle the images until you're happy and then you can use your cool creation as your shiny, new cover photo.

Now, go and get creative! Link us in the comments below to your Timeline profile design.

Now that Facebook Timeline has rolled out to everyone, we’re seeing some great services that let you customize the new “Cover Photo” banner space at the top of your profile.

While similar services we looked at last year enabled you to select a great stock photo for your banner, these new sites offer more advanced personalization.

Take a look at the services we’ve showcased in our gallery above — they are tons of fun! And if you’re short on design ideas, browse our slideshow of inspiring recent examples in the gallery below.

Facebook Timeline Inspiration

10 Fresh Facebook Timeline Designs to Inspire You [PICS]

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1. Antonio Fadda

Brilliantly imaginative, Fadda turns his profile into a security checkpoint.

2. Joe Paglino

Paglino amped up the creativity with this audio design.

3. Pao Abella

Playful and colorful, Abella's Timeline encourages Mary Poppins-style fun.

4. Christine Hals

Hals demolishes the old Facebook design to make way for her new Timeline.

5. Francis Bea

Bea's stellar effort made us smile.

6. David Weir

We love this concept from Weir. What a fun way to show what you're all about.

7. Rob Sax

Sax adds himself to a rather famous title sequence.

8. Marshal Bhatia

Bhatia pays tribute to Steve Jobs on his Apple-themed Timeline.

9. Sune Adler Miltersen

One of Miltersen's many ideas, this aquatic joke works well.

10. Ivan Marino

We take our hats (not heads) off to E3's Ivan Marino.

BONUS: Braden Bickle

Bickle has gone the extra mile with a 3D design. Apparently it really works with the right glasses.

Tags: Facebook, facebook timeline, features, gallery, How-To, photography, Social Media
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Show Comments

3 Responses to “Facebook Timeline Customization: 5 Tools for Killer Cover Photos”

Ray_Toolbear says:

January 4, 2012 at 8:36 pm

You should consider trying myfacebookcover(dot)com for the facebook covers. It is actually a great tool to use. It offers a wide variety of covers designed by an artist.

Great Recommendation!
Chris Savice Jr says:

January 4, 2012 at 8:42 pm

this is so cool!!!!
Jamesson Marshall says:

January 4, 2012 at 8:46 pm

Probably helps to be photogenic for starters. Lol. Jus’ sayin’.

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L.A.Times: Social media sites are crucial in arson probe

2012-01-03T08:40:00.001-08:00

From the Los Angeles Times:

Social media sites are crucial in arson probe

When an arsonist began preying on Hollywood last week, social media sites like Twitter quickly emerged as a clearinghouse for information.

The full story can be viewed at: http://www.latimes.com/la-me-social-media-arson-20120103,0,2118803.story?track=latiphoneapp

Get the Los Angeles Times iPhone app from iTunes: http://www.itunes.com/apps/latimes

Bob Cohen

Office: 562-598-8091

Mobile: 562-547-9060

bob@bobology.com

Sent from my iPhone

ITunes DJ

2011-12-16T18:46:00.001-08:00

I set up my holiday music library in iTunes so guests can request songs using iTunes DJ and the Remote app on their iPhone.

Tested it out and it worked great. Saw the requests appear in the playlist like magic. Any iPhone or Apple device that can run their Remote app joins the same network that the iTunes library computer is on. The iTunes library gets set to DJ and in the DJ settings allow guests to request songs gets checked.

When a guest comes over, they connect to the WiFi network, then launch the Remote app on their device. Apple automatically connects their device to your iTunes library, and they can tap Request a Song on the app to put it next in order on the playlist.

The iTunes library can be set to limit guest selections to specific playlists, which in this case was my holiday music playlist.

If they don't have their own device, let them use your iPad to request songs. This is a Great way to let your guests enjoy your music library and create a conversation at any get together.

Google Currents now a available for iOS and Android

2011-12-08T13:03:00.001-08:00

With publishing tools and integration with Google + Currents stands to become the news reader everyone will have to beat. http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/12/google-currents-is-hot-off-press.htm...

Bob Cohen
Office: 562-598-8091
Mobile: 562-547-9060
bob@bobology.com
Sent from my iPhone

Your Business May Get Mentioned and You Not Know It

2011-11-26T08:46:00.001-08:00

I was at a restaurant (Yucatan) last night and checked in with Foursquare. The OC Weekly listed the restaurant in a 2011 top list and I showed the owner. Increasing transparency and access to information has made it more important than ever for businesses to monitor their reputation. If you know of tools and ways for businesses, particularly small ones, to manage their reputation, please let me
know so I can refer people to them.

Article: Cyber weaknesses should deter US from waging war

2011-11-07T20:35:00.001-08:00

Cyber weaknesses should deter US from waging war

http://news.yahoo.com/cyber-weaknesses-deter-us-waging-war-212947418.html

(Sent from Livestand, an immersive magazine experience from Yahoo! Learn more at Livestand.com and download the free iPad app from the App Store)

Bob Cohen

Learning to Thrive in a Digital World

http://www.bobology.com

Sent from my iPad

Halloween Searches from the Official Google Blog

2011-10-29T12:27:00.001-07:00

Bob Cohen

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: The Official Google Blog <FeedTrack@gmail.com>
Date: October 29, 2011 9:17:10 AM PDT
To: "bob@bobology.com" <bob@bobology.com>
Subject: Official Google Blog

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/)" style="color: #888; font-size: 22px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Official Google Blog

A prima ballerina vs. some very angry birds: this year’s Halloween search trends

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 12:50 PM PDT

The pumpkins are carved, the spiderwebs are hanging,
Kids and their pets are door-to-door banging,
Witches on their brooms and owls on their perches,
Let’s take a look at some Halloween searches.
Halloween searches are some of our favorite trends to look at all year. Using Insights for Search and some internal data, we took a peek at which costumes and candies are on top in the United States.
This year seems to be about the battle of the birds. Searches for [angry birds costume], based on the game phenomenon that has so many of us addicted, have been steadily rising in 2011, and we’re seeing 10 times more search volume this year than last. But as of mid-October, the Angry Birds were overtaken in search by [black swan costume]. The Darren Aronofsky ballet drama seems poised to be the most popular costume idea by All Hallows Eve, with related searches for everything from [black tutu] to [black corset]. Some are even looking to be the alter ego [white swan].

Meanwhile, search data doesn’t seem to show that anyone is too anxious to be the object of the Angry Birds’ rage—at least not independently from their sworn enemies. Although [angry birds costume] is one of the top 10 fastest-rising searches related to [pig costume] over the last 90 days, another three are focused on a much sweeter piglet, the cartoon favorite Olivia.

Birds aside, this year’s fastest rising costumes in the U.S. overall are inspired by a variety of sources from pop culture over the past year, including TV shows—[pan am], [wilfred]—movies—[smurfette], [tron], [captain america]—pop music—[nicki minaj]—and more [monster high].
In fact, we may have a battle of the pop goddesses on our hands as well as a battle of the birds. During 2009 and 2010, homegrown Lady Gagas were trick-or-treating throughout the country, but while Lady Gaga still rules the music charts, she’s a far less popular costume choice this year than in 2010:

And although overall in 2011 [lady gaga costume] leads [nicki minaj costume] in search volume, right now they’re neck and neck:

We’d be lying if we weren’t hoping that at least a few Minaj fans out there choose to pay tribute to her by dressing up as uberfans eight-year-old Sophia Grace and her cousin, the two little girls who blew away YouTube viewers with their performance of “Super Bass.”
Speaking of YouTube, Halloween doesn’t fall on a Friday this year, but that’s not stopping people from dressing up as Rebecca Black:

Even if you don’t want dress up as a YouTube star, YouTube can still help you create your Halloween costume. Head on over to the YouTube Blog for video tutorials and other inspiration.
Lest you think Halloween is just for humans, take a look at the huge amount of searches for [dog costume]. In terms of get-ups actually intended for canines, ewoks and dinosaurs are the fastest-rising related searches. But two of the top five rising searches in 2011 related to [dog costume] are a little quirkier: at least a few people out there may dress up as the eponymous character from FX’s “Wilfred” show, about a dog, and a man who sees the dog as a man dressed in a dog suit. Kinda meta.

Turning from costumes to the other traditions of this holiday, searches for [haunted house] and [pumpkin patch] are both spiking right now, but there seems to be greater interest in spooky thrills than in finding that perfect pumpkin to carve. Maybe spiderwebs and peeled-grape eyeballs are a less scary proposition than running into the [great pumpkin] (from the classic movie which, incidentally, celebrates its 45th birthday this Halloween).

Everyone has a sweet tooth this time of year, but [candy corn] is remains the undisputed king of people’s cravings. In the last 30 days, search volume is nearly twice as high for [candy corn] than for other candy choices:

Per capita, Alabama is searching the most for [candy corn] this year. Here are the states that searched the most for a few other Halloween sugar staples (and some newcomer treats):

Candy apples - Rhode Island

Gummy worms - Wisconsin

Kosher candy - New York

Sugar free candy - Kentucky

Gluten free candy - Oregon

Candy bars - Utah

Organic candy - Colorado

When trick or treating, there’s always that one house that insists on making Halloween healthy—but luckily for us, those are few and far between. Over the last 30 days, there is almost two and a half times more search volume for [candy] than for [apples]. The classic game of bobbing for apples, however, it still going strong, spiking dependably every October.
Whether you’re dressing up as an elegant avian ballerina or a brightly-colored roly-poly bird in a slingshot, we hope you have a spootakular Halloween!
Posted by Rachel Durfee, Google Blog Team
(Cross-posted on the Inside Search Blog)

Official Google Blog: A fresh start for Google presentations

2011-10-18T10:46:00.000-07:00
Official Google Blog: A fresh start for Google presentations

Why Steve Jobs is a classic American hero

2011-10-07T07:46:00.001-07:00

In addition to the innovations and company he built, Steve Jobs passing affected Americans because he had a classic American story.
The new frontier for America is technology and Steve was a pioneer. Ignoring the established ideas, he chose his own path, was onery like a classic cowboy in a western, and got beaten down, only to come back stronger than ever with new discoveries.
Without the ability to pick up and move West any longer in the US, the frontier is technology. The ability to create new enterprises, challenge old ideas, come back from defeat, and get recognition is an American Hero story and why Steve Jobs is an example for other pioneers.
In a time when we are questioning America's place in the world, Steve Jobs is an inspiration to all pioneers.

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Halloween Searches from the Official Google Blog

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/)" style="color: #888; font-size: 22px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Official Google Blog

Official Google Blog: A fresh start for Google presentations

Why Steve Jobs is a classic American hero