This idea came through from a recent Search Marketing Expo: what happens when the computers take over and can start creating content?

This idea (which I’m sure somehow will redress the Turing Test), involves getting to a stage where computers can generate text-based content. This definitely fits in closely with SEO – most of the text generated is governed by a considerable rule-set (think keyword density, LSI and synonym placement).

However this idea is already upon us from other directions:

• Computers have started writing business news for Thomson Media. Apparently Reuters does the same. Read more
• The academic/avant-garde have picked up on the idea. Check out Grand Text Auto

So, is this a new paradigm in outsourcing? Let’s face it, even computers are cheaper than cheap Far East labour.

I thought I had already talked about this somewhere on this site but could find no trace. Apologies if this is old news.

These are the sites I generally scour in search of new music (primarily electronic, some indie):

Beatport: New house/techno releases

Bleep: More leftfield electronica – especially as this site is run by Warp records

MP3 Sugar/Legal Sounds: Run by future Russian music moghals

Lest you forget, the netlabels on Archive.org are ripe with fresh talent more interested in getting out there than making a quick buck. My personal fave of the moment has to be Unfoundsound.

A little bit cheeky, this one. But if you often come across tracks you like on Myspace that you can’t download, try out this feature:

http://myspacemp3.org/

Thanks to Beatmixed for the heads-up on this gizmo.

Ah, the joys of internet diversions. I was supposed to be checking whether YouTube is a viable option as a platform for business videos and I came across this presentation by Barry Libert, the SEO of Shared Insights on how to build business communities online.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/1gapdV8RIo0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Core points:

Messy is good. Be prepared to relinquish control and let the community develop on its own. Don’t get all big-brother and try and control the information flow. Communities are clubs that have a common interest – you.

Think of the programming – not the technology. Give people a reason to come back.

Communities are not formed overnight. Be prepared to be in it for the long-haul. Just like a successful gardener, you need patience and diligence for the community to flourish.

Datamation feature an interesting article on potential money making schemes on the back of Open Source development. Surely this has to be one of the more contentious issues when it comes to doing business online.

One of the suggestions that caught my eye was the idea of selling how-to videos. Being someone that is keen to implement open source solutions primarily because my own programming skills aren’t that hot, it really helps if I have as much info on implementation available as possible. The ActivCollab screencast is a great case-in-point.

Just as successful software companies have marketing and customer support sections to keep the ‘great unwashed’ (ie. the 90% of the user base that doesn’t really understand what they are doing) from frustrating the developer community, surely this is a service that can in the long run help open source uptake.

One interesting point in the article that has little to do with making money is the issue of whether one successful open source idea leads to numerous other clones:

"…this has been proven time and time again to not be an issue with any open source project, as the success of such an endeavor comes from the buzz of its originality. Digg.com clones, anyone?"

Perhaps this is what keeps the open source community so fresh – it’s not easy to rip off someone else’s idea. The better approach is to build on it

There’s a great article in the current edition of the Human Factors International newsletter that deals with usability issues around online advertising.

The central premise is that the pull of online ads is influenced by:

• Visual impact
• Emotional appeal
• Current need

The issue is, as the user moves through their task path, the importance of each of these factors changes. To pull someone out of the middle of the task path requires ‘emotional appeal’. Therefore it’s worth thinking about what ads are placed where:

"Creating visually engaging and clever ads can grab attention. But, taking the next step, understanding what site visitors are focusing on, and how focused they need to be, and then placing the ads at key junctures can both influence the impact of online ads and reduce the negative response to the ads themselves."

I’m not quite sure if it is directly relevant, but this could be one reason why Google’s text ads perform so much better on Google than on the third party content network. A Google search must generally be fairly early on in the task path.

How does Google attempt to deliver fresh content that it knows is relevant?

What happens to queries that return odd results?

These questions and others are answered by Google engineers in an article that recently appeared in the NYT. Unusual for a mainstream news outlet to give such a detailed insight into the world of search – just goes to show the prominence search is attaining in our everyday life.

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