However, MySql’s original author, Michael “Monty” Widenius says that release by Sun was premature.  On his blog, he recommends treating the new features of MySQL 5.1 as BETA and to make sure that you test them thoroughly before placing into production.

He says there are 20 verified critical bugs in 5.1 that remain unaddressed and possibly as many as 35.  There are also more than 300 less critical bugs that are on the “to-do” list, but have no fix timetable.

He also documents several bugs, which could lead to database instability:

• There is a bug that could cause an error when one is upgrading from 5.0 to 5.1 and a table in the database contains triggers – documented here

Check out his blog and you will see a TON more documented bugs.

So why would Sun release something as GA when it should have gone through some additional testing, perhaps?  Monty says:

The reason MySQL 5.1 was declared RC was not because we thought it was close to being GA, but because the MySQL manager in charge *wanted to get more people testing MySQL 5.1*.

Monty’s post is very candid and normally those types of discussions would be held behind closed doors, but such is the way of Open Source.  It is very… open.

So use MySQL 5.1, but be informed before you decide to upgrade and you should definately test it completely before you put it into production.

Related posts:

1. Yahoo Responds to Microsoft – Again Since Microsoft's attempt earlier this month to bully Yahoo into...
2. Blog Section Introduction Our new web design blog will have a few features...
3. Wikia Search Alpha Launched Jimmy Wales announced the Alpha release of Wikia Search, which...

So, if you are a noob (PS. You are a noob if you do not know what a noob is) and you want to wet your feet with a little HTML coding, check it out.  Plus, it is free to use .

Related posts:

1. Things We Like – Faststone Screen Capture The inaugural selection for our Things We Like section is...
2. Free Web Development Software Everyone loves FREE. So, here is a list of some...

A new feature that I particularly keyed in on is Creative Suite’s ability to recognize human speech contained in a video.  That is awesome!  This means that if you create a video, you can compile the spoken words in that video into searchable metadata.  How long before the Search Engines are able to crawl videos and pull out speech for use in indexing?  Cool stuff.

Another new tool is the Rotate View tool which will allow the user to view images at any angle with no distortion.  More cool stuff.

Related posts:

1. About Us This is the blog for the web design branch of...
2. Microsoft Pays You to Search In an attempt to lure people to its Search Engine,...
3. Improve Google Results If you have ever complained because of seeing poor quality...

• Click fraud rates went down last quarter (16.0 percent) compared to the previous quarter (16.2 percent).

Other than that, that is about all the good news for PPC advertisers and click fraud.  Here is the bad news:

• Most click fraud happens on Search Engine content networks (Google Adsense and Yahoo! Publisher Network, for example).  On those networks, the fraud rate was 27.1 percent last quarter.
• 27.6 percent of click fraud traffic came from botnets, which is up more than 2 percent from last quarter (25.2 percent).  Another reason for users to protect their computers from hackers.
• Russia (4.9 percent), France (4.8 percent) and the U.K. (3.5 percent) are the coutries most responsible for click fraud traffic outside the U.S.

The sad thing about this is that, according to Tom Cuthbert, president of Click Forensics, a primary reason for the slight decline in click fraud from last quarter is because of the efforts of the ADVERTISERS, not necessarily the Ad networks.  According to Click Forensics, the advertisers have spent more time checking their clicks and filtering out the fraudulent ones before their campaigns were affected.  The Ad Networks have made better strides in doing that automatically, but it is still not enough.  In the end, it is still up to the people who pay to double-check their accounts, which is unfortunate that it has to be left up to them.

With the PPC click fraud rate being 16 percent industry wide, that loosely translates into $16.00 out of every $100 you spend is lining the pockets of some person who is not the least bit interested in your product or service.  If your monthly budget is $100, you are paying a lot per year for fraudulent clicks.  Pretty steep to me.

If you only advertise on Google and Yahoo, that number could climb to $27 out of $100, loosly figured.

This indicates that one should not just jump into Internet Advertising without examining all the angles.  It can certainly provide great benefits, but also presents risks that one should measure first.

It should also be noted about Click Forensics that their data are gathered from their own network called the Click Fraud Network.  That network is made up of more than 4,500 online advertisers and agencies, but it does not include everyone.  So, if you are weighing the pros and cons of PPC advertising, you should review data from multiple sources including the actual Ad Network you are considering joining.

Related posts:

1. Yahoo Improves Search Market Share in December With all that shopping going on in December, it should...
2. Newest Domain Squatters: Network Solutions If you search for a domain name on Network Solution's...
3. More Thoughts on Google Penalties Like many other blog owners, we offer space to advertisers....

Currently, the Beta version is only released for use by a targeted group:

• Yahoo! Store
• Yahoo! Developers (Y!OS)
• Yahoo! Head Advertisers (Microsites)

If you do not fall into at least one of those categories, “No soup for you”.  You will have to be patient and wait your turn.

You can, however, visit the Yahoo! Web Analytics website and signup to receive updates and get a sneak peek at some screenshots of the dashboard.

Dennis Mortenson explains on his blog:

…this is not a free-for-all-come-and-get-it launch, but a carefully planned controlled access launch, which will keep all of our functionality in place and even enhance it. There is no dumbing down of the tool in any of the engagements above – and we will be working hard to add to the list of customers who can get access. So expect the above list to grow rapidly over the course of 2008.

Michael Stebbins also reported on this on his web analytics blog, which is a must read.

Until everything is released to the masses, we will just have to wait and keep using Google Analytics and ClickTracks.

Related posts:

1. Yahoo Updates Search Algorithms Yesterday, Yahoo announced that they are in process of rolling...
2. Yahoo Responds to Microsoft – Again Since Microsoft's attempt earlier this month to bully Yahoo into...
3. Wikia Search Update Wikia Search was launched in Alpha earlier this year and...

Microsoft also announced that it was going to be increasing its $600 million/yr European research and development budget.  They are also anticipating employing several hundred including software developers.

The center in Paris is expected to be open in March 2009 and they are getting some pretty nice tax breaks too.  Microsoft will get 30 euros back for every 100 euros it invests.

Speaking in Paris, Balmer said:

We are the challenger, not the leader, in search, but we believe strongly that search is in its infancy and there is so much room for innovation. For companies like Microsoft search is the key for unlocking huge new opportunities in advertising.

In the US, Microsoft barely has 8% of the search market share, compared to Google’s 62%.  But in Europe, Microsoft’s share is even less at 2 percent.

Related posts:

1. New Microsoft Pay to Search Program Microsoft started an initiative back in May called Live Search...
2. Microsoft Pays You to Search In an attempt to lure people to its Search Engine,...
3. November Search Engine Market Share There were no significant changes in Search Engine market share...

It was a novel approach to attempt to increase search engine market share.  Currently, Google has a commanding lead at about 63%.  Yahoo! is second with just under 20% and Microsoft is third at just over 8 percent.

The latest “pay to search” program from Microsoft is called SearchPerks and it works pretty simply:

1. Visit the site using Internet Explorer 6 or higher and sign up for SearchPerks.
2. Download and install the tracking program to a Windows PC.
3. Use Microsoft Live Search and earn “search tickets” every time you search – up to 25 per day.
4. Redeem those tickets for prizes.

The first time you signup, you are credited with 500 tickets and the first prize point is 5 music downloads for 525 tickets.  You can even get things like airline miles.

It could be worth a check because it is sort of like Microsoft giving you $5 to use Live Search.  If you download music, typically each song costs about $1 (5 songs = 5 bucks).  So, signup for SearchPerks, use Microsoft Live Search for a few days and redeem your 525 tickets for 5 music downloads .

Related posts:

1. Microsoft Pays You to Search In an attempt to lure people to its Search Engine,...
2. Microsoft Opening European Search Centers Steve Balmer of Microsoft announced Thursday that they were opening...
3. Wikia Search Update Wikia Search was launched in Alpha earlier this year and...

According to the Associated Press, Embarq conducted the test in the Gardner, Kansas, USA area on a group of 26,000 subscribers.  Did the company give those subscribers the opportunity to opt-out of this program?  Evidently yes.  Their online privacy policy contained a general notification of the program.  But no customers were directly informed.  Embarq said that 15 people did opt out, but unless you read the online privacy policy, you had no idea that you were being monitored and targeted.

It is this method of announcement that has caused a stir.  Visit the Embarq home page and see how long it takes you to find the privacy policy link.  Maybe that is why only 15 people opted out and why Embarq faced congressional questioning  to explain its notification process.

Embarq is the DSL provider of choice in our area, the North Carolina coast, so its subscribers would do well to monitor this story and to review the online privacy policy to make sure they are ok with everything.

Related posts:

1. Google: Do as I Say, Not as I Do When Google comes down on everyone else for not using...
2. Wikia Search Update Wikia Search was launched in Alpha earlier this year and...
3. Web Design Break-up In an attempt at getting a jump on 2008, we...

Then in June ‘08, the alpha was re-launched.  They knew the results were bad and needed to improve before they could become a real player in the search engine market and they expected the results to begin to show improvement within a few weeks.

So, what do we think now that about 2 months have passed since Alpha relaunch?  Well, wow, it is bad.

Here is what a search for “buy computer online” will show:

1. An article about Best Buy from Wikipedia.  Ok, fair enough if you want to give props to Wikipedia first above all else, even though that does not help me buy a computer online.  Maybe a link to Dell or HP or something like that would be more helpful.
2. A link to ebay’s main search page where I have to retype my search query “buy computer online”.  Well, at least it is possible to actually buy a computer from the site you directed me to.  But could you not at least direct me to the Electronics category or even, *cough* the Computers category?
3. A link to about.com where I can download computer games.  But wait, I have not even bought my computer yet – I am trying to make a purchase first and then I can download and install games.  Proverbial “cart before the horse” I think.
4. A link to Apple’s home page where I can at least see a computer, eventually, after I first wade through the gaudy iPhone pitch and then stumble on the little button at the top that says, “Mac” – assuming I know what a Mac is and am not a complete computer novice.
5. A link to a site that will tell me how to make money online (refer to comments on #3 listing).
6. A link to oreilly.com where I can download PDF files and a bunch of other stuff that is no help because I still do not have a computer yet.
7. A link to the Scottsdale Public Library, which is possibly where I am physically located because I still do not have my own computer and am using one of theirs.
8. I give up…

What’s is more, at the top of my search page is a small graphic that prompts me to see results from Google and Yahoo.  Wait, I thought that was one of the points behind WikiaSearch – to take market share away from Google and Yahoo.

Anyway, I would not hold your breath on a Beta launch of Wikia Search anytime soon.  They are way behind nearly every other search engine in the Internet and the main way the intend on improving is by having you and I edit their search results telling them when we find something irrelevant.  I think the concept is good, but I don’t have time to do that.  A search engine is not a destination; it is a waypoint.  I want to type in my query and move on.

Related posts:

1. Wikia Search Alpha Launched Jimmy Wales announced the Alpha release of Wikia Search, which...
2. New Microsoft Pay to Search Program Microsoft started an initiative back in May called Live Search...
3. Yahoo Updates Search Algorithms Yesterday, Yahoo announced that they are in process of rolling...

As one might expect, an announcement of a new search engine has created a pretty good buzz around the Internet, but many searchers using Cuil are less than impressed.  You can easily find comments about it taking minutes to return results and about it returning zero results for popular terms.  Many of the feedback that I have seen has been quite negative, which one might expect in today’s “instant gratification” Internet where you have only seconds to make an impression.

However,  I tend to be ever-so-slightly enthused with Cuil for two basic reasons:

• The are at least trying to come up with a new way of presenting results and are supposedly indexing more of the web than Google (although I have not heard Google making any claims as to how many pages it indexes).
• Their GUI is somewhat refreshing.  I like the colors and I like the “Explore by Category” box that breaks down information related to your search into categories.  I think the entire interface is well done.

Having said that, I certainly think that the returned results leave something to be desired.  Many of the searches that I did returned completely unrelated results on the first page, which would indicate an issue with the ranking algorithms.  I am sure they will sort that out, but I can’t help but wonder how much testing they did before launch.  For example, a search for “cuil search engine” on Cuil will not even list cuil.com in the search results.  Hmm.

Another issue is the slow response time for some searches.  It would appear that their servers are not currently up to the challenge of being a real threat to Google, or even Yahoo! or MSN.

Those last two points make me wonder how much testing they did and how exhaustive it really was.  One would think that success in those two areas would be the very foundation of a modern search engine and, therefore, would be top priority.  But maybe it was just a case of first day jitters.

All-in-all, I think it is unfortunate that there has been so much negative publicity surrounding Cuil.  They have some bugs to work out and that is to be expected.   I think that their algorithm will get smarter and their servers’ response times will improve.  In fact, a few of the searches that I tried early yesterday, which returned woefully unrelated results, were vastly improved when I tried them last night.  That is a step in the right direction and I would expect that things will get better.

Google competitor?  Not at the moment.  Threat to Google?  Not at the moment.  Should Yahoo! and MSN pay attention?  Not right now, but don’t get too comfortable.

TechCrunch and Search Engine Land have some extensive reviews of Cuil.

Related posts:

1. November Search Engine Market Share There were no significant changes in Search Engine market share...
2. Yahoo Improves Search Market Share in December With all that shopping going on in December, it should...
3. Yahoo Responds to Microsoft – Again Since Microsoft's attempt earlier this month to bully Yahoo into...