Well when it comes to sitemaps, Google set the standard and everyone is going to follow along. The standard that they released under a creative commons license was the Sitemap 0.84 XML protocol. My blog currently automatically creates a sitemap using this standard whenever I make a post so I will benefit from more search engines using this technology. With things like sitemaps, I find that there is no reason for each search engine to create their own standard and thus this standard from Google is such a great idea. I’ll have to watch my logs to see if Microsoft or Yahoo’s crawlers will pick up on my sitemap, and actually use it.
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Category Archives: General
General items that fit either no category or more than one category.
Youtube and NHL strike Content Deal
Google’s Youtube and the NHL have struck a deal which will see NHL video content distributed through Youtube’s site.  The NHL and Google will share the ensuing ad revenue generated from these videos. The videos themselves are said to include highlights of regular season games (up in under 24 hours after the game), as well as other on and off ice clips. This should be great for sharing highlights of the games with friends or just checking up on your favorite team. This is the first deal that Youtube has created with a professional sports team and I’m happy that the NHL is leading the way.
Student tasered at UCLA library for not having his ID
Don’t you hate it when you forget to bring your ID to Library… and the CSO or UCPD end up zapping you like five times with a stun gun? What is happening in todays universities now a days? I think that with the advancing of technology and the availability of video camera devices, everyone should presume that everything they do is being recorded. With all this evidence to support what actually happend, the real wrong doings should be punished. I am hoping that these “police” officers never work again in law enforcement. Stunning someone for talking back is very uncalled for; I could see it being used if the person was being violent, but in this case I believe the person was just being an idiot. I am sure some sort of inquiry will happen, at least that’s how we would do things in Canada.
Finally $5 bill receives an upgrade
The Bank of Canada released the new $5 bill into circulation yesterday across Canada. The new bill will match the other bills in the series with its holographic strip, as well as numerous other security features. The other bills in the series had received their facelift long ago, and this bill finishes that series of changes. They say that these new bills will reduce counterfeiting, but I don’t see how this is going to help. Since in Canada, we continue to use older bills that haven’t been made in decades, what is to stop the counterfeiters from using their old style bills? I guess for people that see the new style bill they will have an easier time checking to see if it’s legit. At least the new bills are all matching now, and look futuristic with their holographic strip.
Online Advertising Breaks Record
According to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a record amount of money has been spent for online advertising in the third quarter of 2006. This quarter’s $4.2 billion broke the old record set during the last quarter of $4.1 billion. The year over year growth is up by over 30%. The first three quarters of 2006 have almost eclipsed the entire 2005 year!
This is great news for everyone from web developers, to consumers. With more money being spent on online advertising the business is maturing and we are seeing that web sites can become profitable. The increased competitive nature of advertising shows that the internet is a growing and substantial market that needs to be looked at. I believe in the next few years online advertising will exceed traditional advertising found in print and on television.
88,400 PS3s Sold in Japan in 2 Days
Supplies of the PlayStation 3 are all but gone after retailers blew through their inventory in under a week, Japanese gaming magazine Enterbrain reported. 88,400 units were sold over the weekend, nearly all of the 100,000 units initially available. This makes me laugh. Sony has been creating this hype machine and pushing their Blue-ray player but they can’t make more than 100,000 machines for their home market. By not selling out immediately, I see trouble ahead for Sony. I imagine they will in fact sell out immediately in North America as there are a lot more idiots around here, and scalpers. I just hope that so many PS3’s flood the ebay market and those people can’t get rid of their consoles! Teach people for trying to scalp consoles.
Also, Ridge Racer 7 and Mobile Suit Gundam each sold 30,000 copies and Resistance selling 15,000. Hmm by adding that up, I see they sold more consoles than games. Isn’t Sony’s strategy to lose money on the console and make it back on the games?? I have a feeling that a lot of people aren’t infact keeping their consoles and are going to instead try to sell them to make back their money. When I hear Sony fans talk about Sony underpricing their console, I laugh at their implication. Just because they almost sold out, and people are selling them for a lot higher on ebay doesn’t mean its underpriced. Some people are just idiots and will buy consoles right after launch on eBay to be cool.
Battlestar Galactica Gag Reel
The gag reel for BSG, more parts in the side bar. Battlestar is such an awesome show and these videos really show a completely different side to a very serious show. New episodes of the show are on every Friday night on SciFi channel. If you have the ability, I say everyone should check it out.
Gears of War
I bought Gears of War last Thursday, Nov 9th. This is an amazing game, and I’m sure it will be just what the Xbox360 needs right before the PS3 and Wii launches. The game itself doesn’t really have a great story but the gameplay is phenominal. The interaction with taking cover behind objects is very nice. The game has a generally dark feel to it and really tries to give the player a scare. It kind of feels like the Quake series in a way with the dark atmosphere along with what appears to be demons coming out of the ground. The single player game is broken down into 5 Acts and each Act has multiple chapters, with each chapter breaking down into smaller checkpoints. The game has smooth flow and it always feels like you know what you have to do. You are constantly moving and trying to get to the next goal, killing everything on the way.  Coop has been fun in the limited amount of time I have played it. Quickly after the invite you are in a game and rolling along. To be really successful in the coop game it requires some interaction and teamwork.  With pretty much everyone buying the game there shouldn’t be any trouble finding people to play against. As always achievements there are plenty of achievements that really reward hard work and time spent. If I were to rate the game out of 5 I would give it a 5. If I were to rate it with a letter, A+. Everyone go buy this game now, and show off to everyone who buys their PS3.
Hershey Recalls Contaminated Chocolate Bars
The Hershey Company (NYSE : HSY) recalled some of its chocolate and candy bars after quality control tests discovered a possible salmonella contamination. Affected bars include Oh Henry! bars, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, and Glosettes; among others. Their halloween and Christmas products are not affected since they are made at a different time of year (no wonder they taste different). The good news for the public is that the majority of the possibly contaminated product are still in the distribtution chain or in warehouses. If you have a chocolate bar with a date code between 6415 – 6455 you should call Hershey and arrange for a refund (don’t eat it to test it out). The contamination was at the Hershey plant in Smith Falls, Ontario. All production at the plant has been suspended and no news as to when it will resume.
Slashdot Gets Pwned… Taken Down
Slashdot gets taken down after a random Ontario musician posts the 16,777,215th comment. Since the database could only handle 2^24 comments, slashdot then crashed. They were using the wrong variable type to store the index, and it was a rather simple fix. They would have just needed to ALTER a table and then wait a couple hours while it converts every post over to the new variable type. I should make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to my blog, I am not even sure what WordPress uses for their posts and comments but I sure hope I don’t crash if I hit 16,777,215 comments or posts!! Although, for me, that will never happen!