Internet Technology — 1 comment
06
Feb 11

Coincidence or Acute Audience Targeting in Ads

Bargin and Luxury in an Ad pair

Targeting the Rich and Thrifty

Why did these two ads appear side by side as and when they did? Could they possibly have known I recently visited both slickdeals (thrift) and sites containing Mercedes (wealth) content?

Straight out the gate, this was likely coincidence. Disclosure: I work deep in the underbelly of internet advertising, and specifically on the audience segmentation and targeting technology that powers modern day website ad serving. The sheer amount of information exchange and processing required to match this up in-real-time in a cohesive and sale-able way is not (yet) happening.

Google is certainly close. And the more I think about it, the more I think this wasn’t coincidence at all. All the disparate information necessary to make the map is in their arsenal. They could have made this match.

A few factoids feeding the not-coincidence conclusion:

  • I primarily use Chrome
  • I am signed in to a Google account
  • I use Google search often
  • most every blog and site has Google Analytics
  • Ads were served by Google (adsense)

What do you think? Have we entered the era where even remnant banner ads speak specifically to our interests and tenancies?

Anecdotes / Computers — No comments
28
Jan 11

Getting The Most out of Tools & Toys

I’ve always enjoyed wading through the underrated benefits-pool of owning just-sub mainstream products. My most recent two are an Android phone and a DLink file server (NAS). I left both “stock” for at least a month after purchase, satisfied with the performance provided out of box.

The devices, stock visuals:
* Samsung Epic 4G

* DLink DNS 323

Then the itch – spurred on by (profuse) reading of tweaks and hacks each device affords, that each can do more than what they do now – becomes unbearable. To scratch would appease but not without risk; each device will likely be void of warranty. Worse still is potentially “bricking” a device making it altogether unusable. Even with these consequences, temptation thrives and eventually overtakes.

Perhaps the greatest bit about these devices is that they are based on open source software. Getting to a Linux terminal shell (CLI) on either, is a relatively trivial task. Furthermore, due to the ease of stepping into such an accessible environment, the developer/enthusiast communities blossom.

Without having to write (or even look at) a line of code, both devices can be extended well beyond the consumer level they are marketed at. To tweak brings about such satisfaction, as deriving more function from form. The cost of which is a devotion of umpteen amounts of free time to push consumer hardware to its limits in exchange for paltry donations, “fame” and gratitude.

Even still, the software produced by these die-hards is dangerous. All the safeguards, QA, provided by these enterprise class companies with their tremendous R&D budgets, are effectively dissolved. When we step into rootshell, we leave the safe user level space established by the powers that be. But do we find glory or agony? Depending on the maturity of the community, generally the former.

And in my case? Most certainly the former. I had a few scares but all in all, both my NAS and phone are blazing far above stock. You’ve just got to be willing to put the time in and read read read. Don’t jump without reading everything there is to know about the “rooting” process. By the end, if you aren’t sure you fully understand what you are about to do, don’t.

The payoff, in screenshots from my phone:

ssh from my epic to the dns 323


Anecdotes / Computers — 1 comment
23
Dec 10

Thrifty technology buyer’s bane

8GB RAM in my trusty thinkpad X200 laptop has been a desire / occasional-need for quite some time. As a point of perspective, since the 8GB DDR3 “kit” (2 chips by 4GB each) cost well over $300. When I finally bit the bullet, patience on a potential deal expired, the kit had been hovering around $110 shipped for a few weeks.

Today, no more than seven days after purchase and a day after installing, a comparable kit can be procured for ~$66. Color me irritated.

On the upside, the brand I bought is the same price and arguably of superior quality to the slickdeal PNY brand.

Home / News — No comments
02
Dec 10

Sad or fantastic? Congress targets TV ads

To keep advertisers at large from dominating the airwaves within the US homes of TV watchers, it has come to this:

“…the CALM (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) Act will give the FCC a mandate to regulate and enforce volume limits on commercials, ensuring that their maximum loudness does not exceed the average maximum loudness of the program they’re accompanying.”

This one has got to have been easy to pass. Whatever it takes to attempt to kick the lame-duck congress wrap.

Not to say I’m totally displeased, some of these advertisers are outright audibly obscene. Then again, most of us who own a TV made in the last (two?) decade(s) know a secret that makes this Act of Congress utterly moot.

Can you guess what it is? I just gave you a hint! If not, you probably don’t use it and I probably don’t watch TV at your house. Hey, maybe this little act will change that. Lucky you!?

Uncategorized — No comments
10
Oct 10

10/10/10

feels as though it should be significant. what was life like 10/10/1010?

here’s to another great day being alive.

Anecdotes / Computers / Internet Technology — 1 comment
07
Oct 10

Unintentional Art via frozen Windows

Those clever engineers at Microsoft… what better way to deal with the frustration of having a locked up application than through art? I remember creating angry-art pieces back when frozen Windows applications, such as IE6 were common place. Good times.

Thanks to mr doob for re-creating the experience in a controlled environment.

News — No comments
05
Sep 10

How to vote on California’s “global-warming law”

No on Proposition 23

“The ballot measure would suspend the global warming law until the state’s unemployment rate dropped below 5.5%, a level achieved only three times in the last three decades. Until now, the measure has been largely financed by two Texas-based companies, Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp…”

“The fight over a November ballot initiative to suspend California’s global warming law has escalated sharply with the Koch brothers, oil billionaires and “tea party” backers… the [million-dollar] contribution to the campaign for Proposition 23 came Thursday from … the Kochs’ company … has estimated annual revenues of $100 billion … controls about 4,000 miles of oil pipelines.”

Undoubtedly, in effort to prevent progress to energy-independence and profit margins from slipping. Heaven forbid they innovate.

Yes on AB 32

“California’s global warming law, known as AB 32, is designed to cut the state’s emission of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the end of this decade. A significant chunk of the reductions would come through regulations aimed at fostering alternative fuels and generating electricity from solar, wind and other alternative energy sources.”

[source la times]

Heroes — No comments
22
Jul 10

Bill Murray is…

Comic genius, selectively reclusive, wildly successful Hollywood/media ignorer, Bill Murray’s unique approach to life is admirably light-hearted. A rare glimpse at what makes him tick, on a personal level, is available in this interview with GQ. Here’s a couple of my favorite bits:

Bill:

“…how you get the comic pitch. Well, obviously a lot of it is rhythm. And as often as not, it’s the surprising rhythm. In life and in movies, you can usually guess what someone is going to say—you can actually hear it—before they say it. But if you undercut that just a little, it can make you fall off your chair. It’s small and simple like that. You’re always trying to get your distractions out of the way and be as calm as you can be [breathes in and out slowly], and emotion will just drive the machine. It will go through the machine without being interrupted, and it comes out in a rhythm that’s naturally funny. And that funny rhythm is either humorous or touching. It can be either one. But it’s always a surprise. I really don’t know what’s going to come out of my mouth.”

GQ:

“Is the third Ghostbusters movie happening? What’s the story with that?”

Bill:

“It’s all a bunch of crock. It’s a crock. There was a story—and I gotta be careful here, I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. When I hurt someone’s feelings, I really want to hurt them.
…
I got into it one night with a bunch of younger people [at SXSW] who were like, Oh, I love Peter Venkman! I grew up with Peter Venkman! We got to talking, and the more we talked about it, the more I thought, Oh Christ, I should just do this thing.”

GQ:

“Everyone says Danny [Aykroyd] is the nicest guy on the planet.”

Bill:

“Danny is…Canadian. [laughs] No, he’s the only one I see much of. He’s great. And I owe him…”

Who you gonna call?

Design / Uncategorized — No comments
09
Jul 10

“…unintended consequence with desirable results.”

Came across this fun lil’ tid-bit of info. via Via magazine. It seems dangerous to have the gas tank in certain areas of the car like the right front fender in the Porsche 911 or under the driver’s seat (or any seat for that matter) like in the Honda Fit. The Honda Fit’s design is new so I’m not sure what they’re thinking. The Porsche, I understand has become traditional placement, but come on, I hope the safety stats support the Fit’s design.

A couple of notorious car models are the 1960 something Ford Mustang with it’s “exploding” gas tank in the rear of the car and the Ford Pinto with the similar if not the same tank design. Side note: I was unaware of the Pinto being one of Ford’s vehicles. However, I love the idea of BMW’s counter balance of the driver’s weight as long as it remains safe.

Front, mid, & back they seem to  all have a sense of err in safety. I’m not a car gal or a mechanical engineer so please take my opinions with a grain of salt. But, I do know that the concept of  “unintended consequence with desirable results” is rather intriguing. I’m going to chew on that notion for a while.

Anyway, differences are good, they keep us entertained, even small ones such as this.  Some of us are more easily amused than others, however, regardless of genuine interest I’m guessing this is answering a few peoples’ question of gas tank placement.

News — 1 comment
24
Jun 10

Petaluma’s Big Box related lawsuits sedated

Congratulations Petaluma, your next soulless big-box shopping center strip mall is once again on track to dominating one of the most valuable pieces of land the city has to offer. While that may sound particularly negative and uninspired, it should. There is no way in hell the potential for the geographical center of Petaluma is going to be met by this shopping center in any form. This land could have synergized the East and West sides of town. Could have increased tourism by boosting individuality. And could have encouraged urban innovation in future projects.

But at least we’re getting something more modern. The original and previously envisioned designs were even less inspiring. Some essentially called it a 1970s architectural abomination requiring travel by car exclusively which, among others, alienates key concepts from the city’s General Plan.

This is precisely the platform the Petaluma community coalition (PCC) folks are standing on with the lawsuit and appeal filed against the city for Regency’s East Washington Place. It created a sort’ve trifecta of inaction with the City, PCC and Regency occupying corners and preventing ground-breaking of the project.

The latest is a deal involving all three that meets some each’s criteria requested; I imagine it as a precarious compromise at best. First off, Regency will drop their “unjustly delays” lawsuit and pay for the city’s legal fees required to defend itself against the suit. PCC has also agreed to drop their lawsuit contingent upon a few design changes.
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