iPioneer: Mark Johnson's Blog

Blog has moved

2006-12-13T23:30:07-08:00

This blog is dead. I've moved everything to a new blog, deliberateambiguity.typepad.com. If you're still reading this, head over there. It's not as pretty as here yet, but I'll make it so eventually.

Cheers!
Mark

Blog Results in Google

2006-10-23T20:05:45-07:00

Now, I know I shouldn't be complaining, but. . . I noticed an uptick in blog traffic this weekend. In looking through the Typepad stats, it appears that my blog plosing about Kelly's Shoes video, complete with lyrics, was rising in Google results. For example, in the search "shoes by kelly lyrics" my blog shows up first. It's actually a great listing because: 1) I show the video and 2) I actually post the lyrics., but Google has no way of knowing this. Why is it the case that I moved up to the top of the results after only a week on a page that has a Page Rank of 0 and no links to it?

Clearly one advantage was that I named my post "Shoes by Kelly" instead of "Kelly - Shoes." I did an experiment last night and changed the title of the post to see if that has any affect. I have a couple of theories:

Google is desperately trying to include blogs in its search results for contemporary things and will err on the side of too many blog results
Google may be using recency of blogs as a strong signal, which means that I will get only a temporary boost in rankings
My posting has a link to a YouTube video, which gives it a boost in the Google rankings
I inadvertently chose an excellent title

Any other ideas about why I might have gotten so high so fast? [note all of my carefully chosen links in this post, with appropriate anchor text]

Happiness: Epistemological Alchemy

2006-10-23T00:58:39-07:00

In general, it's good to keep your metaphysics and epistemology in line; that is, what's going on inside your head should match what's going on in the world. Let's translate the old adage, "Ignorance is bliss," into philosophical terms: if happiness is solely an epistemological issue, then maybe it's best not to seek out certain kinds of knowledge. Is that even possible?

This all stems from an argument I had with a friend today. Imagine a situation like this: I have a bottle of wine in my cellar from '93. I could open it now and it might be fabulous. However, I don't know anything about '93 or the winery, so it might also taste like balsamic vinegar. An idealized conversation:

MNJ: Clearly it's best to leave the bottle corked, as then you won't have to deal with the disappointment of bad wine.
Friend: If you open it now, Eminjay, the worst case is that it's bad and you have to pour the bottle, which is the same outcome of not opening it at all. At least when opened, there is the possibility an enjoyable bottle!
MNJ: The bitter taste might be awful.
Friend: But brief, Eminjay.
MNJ: The mere possibility of the '93 being good is better than the reality of it being bad, even if the wine's not drunk in either case.
Friend: That's obviously wrong.
MNJ: Leave a kiss but in the cup and I'll not drink the wine.

I'll explore three possible frameworks to make "Ignorance is bliss," a viable life philosophy. And I'll fail.

Actually, there is one trivial case: if you really have no idea that things are bad, then you will certainly be happy. Perhaps you're enjoying food at your favorite restaurant, enjoying dinner with a hot date. Should you eat a spinach salad with E. Coli, then you'll remain happy until you (and likely your date) discover this unfortunate fact, when the metaphysical havoc of your GI track takes hold. Black and white. And brown.

Now, let's say that you're a Creationist and you're faced with a mountain of evidence that evolution is true. The evidence points to a metaphysical reality that doesn't suit you well. There are a couple of ways to deal with this problem. The first and weakest idea would be to believe any evidence that supports Creationism and deny any evidence that does not. Instead of being based on ignorance, bliss derived from said method is simply stupid. This may work for some, but one wonders what acrobatics their brains must dance in order to keep reality so separate from fantasy. Especially for issues more difficult to avoid than evolution (e.g. "My wife still loves me"), denial is not viable.

Another tactic might be to ignore as much of that evidence as possible: turn off the TV when you hear something contradictory, read good Creationist magazines, go to a Creationist school, and surround yourself with people who have similar view. This seems completely unsatisfactory. In denying yourself access to certain kinds of knowledge, you are acknowledging that it might be the case that evolution is true. That implicit assumption of possibility ruins happiness for you: though maintain ignorance of direct evidence, you do have some knowledge about evolution, namely that you know that some evidence exists, even if you aren't privy to the details. You don't know how strong (in this case) or how weak (which could be the case in many other situations) the evidence actually is. By refusing to hear evidence, you implicitly give the evidence value, no matter what the actual outcome is. This can't be called happiness, since you will live in constant fear of happening upon some unsettling fact.

Another, very versatile, idea would be to assume that Creationism is true, evidence be damned. Then, rework your framework so that facts that support evolution actually support your revised theory of Creationism. This methodology has the advantage of being very flexible: even new evidence can be adapted into the new theory. However, even this will fail at some point. Once there is a preponderance of evidence, the only way to work Creationism into reality would be to change your framework so drastically that other parts of your happiness completely break. For example, if you're a scientist, you might be stuck with the choice of denying the scientific method in general, which would likely cost your job, or denying the scientific method for Creationism only, which brings you to the same denial in our first case.

I've explored three ways to deal with the existence of evidence: deny it, ignore it, or change your framework so that it becomes truth. Bottom line: I don't know and I'm totally unhappy.

Why I'm not moving back to Buffalo

2006-10-13T16:50:10-07:00

A blizzard before Halloween in which 3 people died? That's complete BS. I had my fill of frigid weather, the wind chill factor, sliding cars, blizzards in June, and freezing rain to last me a life time. Viva California!

SodW: Kelly - Shoes (with Lyrics!)

2006-10-09T22:10:11-07:00

Kelly shouldn't be introduced. Her video is the best way to get to know her. Oh. Oh. Oh, and by the way b@#%$, I do have a hula hoop, but I've never attached flames to it. Stupid boy. Let's party!

Shoes by Kelly

[Opening sequence from video

Dad: Happy Birthday, twins.
Brother: A computer! And a car! Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Dad: Kelly, open your present.
Kelly: What the Hell!?!
Mom: What did you expect? Con-dams?
Brother: Nice present, Kelly.
Kelly: Shut up, dick!
Brother: Shank!
Kelly: I'm gonna bitchslap you, shitbag!
Brother: I'm an athlete.
Mother: Now stop fighting, you two are twins. For goodness sakes, don't they have the same thoughts?
Kelly: Shoes
Brother: Playstation
Father: Fiscal Responsibility
Mother: Tom Skaritt
Father: Kelly, where are you going?
Kelly: Out!
Mother: Whore!
Father: Kelly, what are you gonna do with your life?
Kelly: I'm going to get what I want.
Father: Christ!]

Shoes. Shoes. Shoes. Oh my god, shoes!
Let's get some shoes. Let's get some shoes. Let's get some shoes.
Shoes. Shoes. Oh my god, shoes! Shoes!
These shoes rule. These shoes suck. These shoes rule. These shoes suck!
Shoes. Shoes. Shoes. Oh my god, Shoes!
These shoes rule. These shoes suck. These shoes suck. These shoes suck!
I think you have too many shoes. (Shut up!)
I think you have too many shoes. (Shut up!)
I think you have too many shoes. (Shut up!)
I think you have too many shoes. (Shut up!)
Stupid boy. Stupid boy. Let's get some shoes. Let's party.
These shoes are $300. These shoes are $300. These shoes are $300 fucking dollars. Let's get 'em!
Um, this style runs small. I don't think you're gonna fit. I mean, your feet are kinda big.
Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, and by the bitch:
Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!
Those shoes are mine bitch. Gimme those fucking shoes bitch. Those shoes are mine bitch. Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.

American Male Celebrates Themselves via E-mail

2006-08-30T12:24:16-07:00

Theme: Targeted advertising works, but self-congratulating e-mails are spam.

Background: I've been getting my haircut from Carol at the American Male salon in Mountain View since they opened several years ago. She delivers a great haircut and I like all of the pampering. Instead of just a haircut, I get an experience: a paraffin dip, a mini facial, a scalp massage, and lots of head washing. Yum!

Targeted Advertising: I'm on the American Male mailing list, because they sometimes send me great offers. When they sent a coupon for $20 off a facial, I made an appointment for my first facial. Because my face enjoyed it so much, I scheduled another (full-price) facial a couple months later. I became a success story of the e-mail campaign, which had a goal of hooking salon-goers to the fabulousness of facials.

Self-Congratulating Spam: Today, I got an e-mail from American Male titled "CNBC Segment on American Male." In it, I was informed that American Male will be featured on CNBC and "this is exciting news for everyone." I'm not excited in the least. I'm not going to watch the segment or send this e-mail to friends and family, as they suggest. Whereas I'm glad that American Male's business is going well, this e-mail offers me nothing, tells me nothing useful, and serves only to annoy me.

Conclusion: I've noticed this as disturbing trend recently. The fact that you're one of Time's 50 Coolest sites (got an e-mail from Kayak about this) or the top Audi dealer in the Bay Area mean nothing to me if you're not introducing a significant new feature or offering me a deal on my next Audi. Marketers should be careful about sending out spam, as users will either stop opening e-mails or opt out entirely. Don't be fooled into thinking that something that's good news for you is good news for your customers. If you're looking for an excuse to e-mail me, offer me something targeted that might inspire me to use your product.

Kayak the Best Travel Search Engine?

2006-05-25T15:25:24-07:00

This week has been pretty exciting for travel search. First Kayak got injected with another $11.5M to fund their marketing campaign and international expansion, then AP released an article entitled "Review: Kayak Best Travel Search Engine," and then Kayak released a feature that's been missing on travel search sites for a long time: flexible date search. I'll talk about the article first and then review Kayak's flexible date search feature.

I think there's certainly an argument that Kayak is at the top of the pack, in terms of travel search engines, but I'm not sure what criteria the author used in determining that. Picking 11 O/D pairs is not exactly an objective way to determine who has the best fares and I didn't see an objective chart of features. A proper analysis would have many different dimensions with a lot of different searches. Consider this: I just did a search on all three engines from SJC->TPA. Kayak's cheapest fare was $356 on Frontier/United at Cheaptickets, but it was SFO->MCO->SFO. SideSteps's cheapest fare was $355 on Delta/Continental at Orbitz, but it was OAK->MCO->OAK. For those of you who don't know, driving from TPA to MCO is a long, long drive, because I4 is a bitch of a road, so I'd hardly consider MCO an alternate airport. Mobissimo didn't search alternate airports and got a cheapest price of $433 on American with the proper SJC->TPA itinerary. Thus, a proper analysis would have taken into account direct itineraries vs. cheapest itineraries. One might even separate the cheapest "reasonable" itinerary, e.g. one that departs and leaves from the same airport that's within an hour from the original airport. Also, one should consider groups of flights, like US->US flights, US->International Flights, and International->International flights. I'll bet that Mobissimo kicks butt internationally, for example.

Anyway, the point of that diatribe is that you don't know who has the cheapest flight from just a couple of searches. You need to fiddle around with the parameters to get a more objective view. Therefore, one should take the AP article with a grain of salt. One of these days, I'll get around to doing the analysis myself. If anyone wants to pay me for my time, I'll generate a really nice report =)

Onto Kayak's flexible date search. Kudos to Kayak for releasing a feature that's been sorely missing in the travel search world! I usually use Orbitz to find the cheapest date to fly, then head off to the travel search engines to find even better rates. I tried a search for a trip to Buffalo (note, you need to be logged in for this to work) and found an extremely cheap fare on Delta. Wow! Only $200 bucks! Granted, the interface isn't nearly as good as Orbitz's Calendar Matrix display. It's impossible for me to see what the cheapest fare is for a given departure/return date pair. Also, Kayak clearly isn't returning all fares that it could be searching. The Buffalo search returned 835 results, even though it was showing 2 departure dates and 7 return dates; a Buffalo search for specific dates returned 576 results, for comparison. This makes sense from a business perspective, because Kayak couldn't run 14 different full searches for each pair without destroying their look-to-book ratio. Nonetheless, I think it's great that Kayak has implemented this, because it's a very useful tool for finding ultra-cheap fares.

I hope the entire summer is a series of volleys among the travel search engines. This could be fun!

Technorati Tags: kayak sidestep mobissimo flexibledatesearch travelsearchengines

Kayak Raises $11.5M from Accel

2006-05-23T12:31:40-07:00

Kayak raises its funding to a total of $30M, with another $11.5M of cash from Accel. Kayak's press release notes that they'll be using their war chest for their upcoming marketing blitz and expansion into Europe. I'm interested to see how their advertising campaign turns out. Traditionally, the Travel Search Engines have relied on search engine marketing, PR, and word-of-mouth to drive traffic. Whether a couple of million dollars from Kayak can make a dent in the marketing power of Orbitz, Hotwire, Expedia, and Travelocity (I've seen/heard advertising from all of the above in the past month) remains to be seen. My hope is that the money that Kayak pours into the consumer's mind will legitimatize the entire travel search category. As a wise man once said, "A rising tide lifts all boats." More interesting in the deal is the suggestion of Kayak's European expansion. Mobissimo has been leading the pack in terms of sheer number of airlines searched; and SideStep has an extremely slick UK interface. My guess is that Kayak will need to simultaneously expand internationally and grow their domestic market to justify whatever absurd valuation they were able to wrest out of Accel (anyone want to take a guess?).

From a consumer perspective, it seems to me that Kayak has been stagnating 2006, compared to their watershed 2005. Kayak's been releasing a lot of features for Buzz, but I don't see Buzz taking hold as a product. Even with a Virgin Atlantic contest to entice people to create trip ideas, the number of trips is mediocre (only about ~5000 trips) and the content is usually sparse. Additions to the Hotel search are nice, but the interface is still very geeky-looking and not as pretty as most online travel agents. On the other hand, Mobissimo launched a very interesting activities search that allows users to search for places based on what they want to do. And SideStep released an awesome activities search that allows users to search for activities--like parasail rides and Las Vegas shows--at their travel destinations.

From my limited view into the business perspective, Kayak has made a couple of smart moves. Even though I distrust distribution deals, Kayak is the leader of the pack in terms of number and volume. More importantly, Kayak has been operating its own self-serve ad network for almost a year now. That asset could be very imporant, though it's hard to tell from the outside.

Overall, I think that any investment in travel search is probably good, since it's an active disruptive technology that's gaining legitimacy And, Kayak is a very strong player, which has grown from nothing to become a major player in less than 2 years. I'm sure there will be more on which to comment this summer!

Gazerk is launched!

2006-05-17T12:09:50-07:00

Gazerk officially launched today. w00t! As noted in the press release, Kosmix provides the technology infrastructure for Gazerk and I am very excited to be the product manager for Kosmix's Video Game search. Check out your favorite game. The results are organized into general search results (the "games" category), screenshots, cheats, reviews, forums, and blogs. Now instead of schlepping through pages of results in Google or reforming your query, you can get a quick view of all the different the angles available on the Web for your query. Actually, I recently had a personal success with Gazerk. After listening to Martin Yeung, I wanted a midi of the SMB2 ending song. I tried the query "super mario bros 2 ending song" on Google and Yahoo, but wasn't able to find what I wanted. Gazerk found the file right away!

Gazerk was launched in Beta, so we're still working out some of the kinks in the system, but nonetheless, the feedback I've gotten so far has been very positive. In the coming weeks, expect updates to the interface, a couple more categories, the integration of news, and of course, better and better search results. Got suggestions? Drop me an e-mail at mark AT kosmix dot com.

Technorati tags: videogamesearch gazerk kosmix

Meetro, MySpace, and BBQs

2006-05-15T10:58:06-07:00

On Saturday, I popped down to the MeetroHQ via CalTrain, for a fun BBQ. There were hotdogs (of the real variety), hamburgers, and lots of beer. Lots of beer. I spent the CalTrain ride home sound asleep. In any case, the BBQ was loads of fun. I met a number of interesting and attractive people, gorged myself on the bbq food, and witnessed random stripping. Meetro is definitely a bunch of cool cats who know how to throw a good party. I'll be back at the next one, especially since I missed riding in the rickshaw.

In any case, the party got me thinking about Web 2.0 social networking. Since it hit the mainstream, I've completely avoided the revolution. Sure, I was chatting and meeting people on Prodigy and AOL in my early teens, I used personal ads when most people thought it was "weird" to meet people online, and I still know all my IRC commands. My only analysis is that I was always dating someone when the geek->mainstream switch was happening, so I completely missed the boat. I've been complaining for the past year that I'm "too old" and I don't fit into the 18-25 demographic anymore, but if car dealers can use MySpace, then surely I can. So today, I've started a myspace profile. Add me if you're on.

If you haven't checked out Meetro, I highly suggest downloading it. It's sorta like MySpace+AIM. Since Meetro knows your location, you can find people who live near you and chat with them. Back in the old days, IM was all about chatting with (the few) people all over the world that actually used it. Now that everyone has it, I don't really want to chat with some random person in France, whom I'll probably never meet. I'm eminjay on Meetro, if you want to hit me up!

Technorati tags: meetro myspace socialnetworking