Rhode Island doesn’t get a lot of press. It’s right up there with Delaware and South Dakota on the where-the-hell-is-that list. But in a move destined to get them some much-needed attention, the government of Rhode Island decided to take on Amazon, and other web retailers, over the issue of sales tax. Namely, the issue that online retailers never actually collect any tax, or, even worse, ever deliver any of said sales tax into the state coffers. So Rhode Island, and a number of other states, decided to fight back. They introduced legislation that, if passed, will make it law that online retailers will have to collect sales tax if that retailer operates any affiliates (i.e. small businesses that make some of their money by referring customers to Amazon, etc.) within the state.

According to an article posted today on AOL news, Amazon immediately fired back….by closing down all affiliate operations in any of the battleground states. What that means is a whole bunch of small businesses in the affected states suddenly losing a big source of their revenue. And, ironically, that could mean a loss of some tax base for those state governments, as those small businesses shut down or move to a friendlier state.

So far, the governments of New York, Hawaii and North Carolina have joined Rhode Island in introducing similar legislation. And other online retailers, like Overstock, have followed Amazon’s lead by suspending all connections with any affiliates, or at least threatening to, in those four states. From the look of it, this is only the first attack and counter-attack in what is likely to be another protracted battle over the contentious issue of online retailers and sales tax. But, even if nothing has been solved so far, at least it gets people talking about Rhode Island.

I’m happy to say that, despite reports to the contrary, Jeff Goldblum, George Clooney and Rick Astley are still all alive and kicking. George Clooney is still walking around all smarmy and stubbly. Jeff Goldblum did not perish at the bottom of a cliff in Mordor. And Rick Astley was not actually found dead in a hotel room (you should all know by now that he’s never gonna let you down, he’s never gonna make you cry).

Not dead!

But you can certainly be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given all the crazy rumours zipping around Twitter last week, in the midst of all the actual crazy news that was similarly zipping around. It seems that Twitter has now replaced all other favorite means of falsely communicating celebrity deaths. And why not? It certainly allows for a much faster rate of spread for news, whether that news is real or phony. Back in the day, like say 2006, reports of Tom Hanks falling from a cliff to his death in New Zealand had to spread the old-fashioned way, from single person to single person via email.

Of course, whether or not you actually enjoy receiving tweets about celebrity deaths, you should probably avoid clicking on any links included in them. These kind of messages are gold for phishers and scammers, who try to capitalize on dramatic news to get more clicks. And, besides that, you’d have to worry about any link in any message that has anything to do with Rick Astley, for obvious reasons.

Ever wonder what would happen if old people got their hands on this modern technology that you and I experience ubiquitously in our youthful and exciting lives? One company dared to wonder and have recently released the aptly named “Jitterbug” cell phone. You and I aren’t supposed to know what Jitterbug means. The phone has such features as jumbo sized keypads and bright screen displays, extra sharp and clear sound that reduces background noise, and a familiar dial tone to “confirm service”. Technology for the elderly, or for the service of those operating geriatric facilities of course represents a huge potential market. As the baby boomers retire, they take their extra time and disposable cash with them- as the theory goes. And so naturally someone would develope this product. I also heard that someone is developing rocket powered GPS diapers and a Timothy Leary brand, Internet-ready, no slip Wetware tub.

The impressive thing about the Jitterbug- aside from the fact that it’s basically a cell phone from 15 years ago repackaged- is that it comes with a host of personalized services. 24 hour assistance, a live nurse quick dial, and  roadside assistance. All this available through all the old familiar stores, or to purchase through Jitterbug’s online store. The unimpressive thing is that hundreds of thousands have been recalled because they don’t connect to 911 due to software bugs.

No doubt one of the paradoxes of technology is that as we age we get simpler and slower, but the technology gets more complex and faster. So congrats to Jitterbug for having the courage to venture into this theoretically large but challenging market. I wonder if we’ll have twitter or other social networking apps designed for the elderly soon too? Oh wait, it’s called writing a letter.

It may be hard to peer through the monstrous hype recently surrounding Twitter, but please, hold you skepticism - Twitter can actually be useful!  Besides following such esteemed Twitter feeds such as this blog’s, there are other useful purposes for that little blue bird app, as detailed in this recent Switched article:

1. Make to-do lists via Remember the Milk
2. Get lightening speed news updates - this one has yet to be proven as reliable
3. Set reminders and alarms
4. Track packages via TrackThis - very useful, but kinda already exists
5. Call out your questions and Twitter shall provide the answer, taking full advantage of Twitter’s huge community of enthusiasts on any and all random topics

The most powerful aspect about Twitter are all the myriad of applications and widgets that aren’t part of Twitter at all, so stop writing tweets about your latest musings on breakfast cereal and unleash the true Twitter power by exploring all these options!  Just remember to be careful to not wander into the realm of obsession, or else you could suffer the same fate as this girl.

With the introduction of blended results in universal search in 2007, the result pages of Google have become less utilitarian and more like Yahoo or MSN (sorry… Bing). Today a user can expect to see news results, blog posts, video results, and images for any given query.  What this means for Search Engine Optimization is a result page in Google carries more than just blue links and a short description of your site, but also your image & video content.  So, it is important to know how to optimize for these results as well.

Today, we’ll be discussing image optimization.  Image optimization is often overlooked in most SEO strategies, which is unfortunate, as not only is image search an additional traffic stream, it is also another method in helping define the semantic understanding of a page.  If you have a page about different breeds of dogs, for example, you might want to include photos of each different breed.  If those images are optimized properly, it adds keyword weight to the page, and gives a visual representation of the supporting subject matter.  Here are some tips to optimize your images.

File Name Conventions

When naming an image file, the worst thing you can do is to keep the default name:

ie.  IMG00436.jpg

A better solution would be to rename the file to something more descriptive of the subject matter of the image.

ie.  two-dogs-running.jpg

Use dashes or underscores to separate the words (not: twodogsrunning.jpg), and keep the file names relatively short and concise.  Keyword stuffing a file name is very spammy (the-dog-q-tip-running-down-the-streets-of-vancouver.jpg = bad).

<img alt>

The image alternate text markup should always be implemented when displaying an image.  It helps define and describe what the image is for users who do not support images (via screen readers) and it also becomes the anchor text when an image is linked to a different page.  Again, be concise and descriptive with your alt tags, don’t be too spammy.

<img src=”two-dogs-running” alt=”photo of two dogs running” />

Captions and Supporting Content

Adding captions to an image is also useful, as it gives context to image when wrapped by surrounding text.  Newspapers have used this model for years, and its good practice.  Its also useful to ensure that the image is surrounded by content discussing the content of the image.  So, if your text is about poodle dogs, be sure your image is appropriately tagged and in or around your text.

So, it seems this is the beginning of the end for us humans. Sure, we had a good run. But, according to recent news, it’s almost time to step aside and let the robots run things for awhile. The news may not seem too dramatic at first, but it certainly paves the way for a future of humans being grown like cattle as feed for our robot overlords. And what is this dire news? That some traitors to our species have invented carnivorous robots, that get their power from consuming living tissue.

A better, hungrier mousetrap

Okay, that all sounds dramatic, but the actual inventions are pretty cool. One is a lampshade, that catches and consumes flies. It digests them, and uses the generated power to run LED lights. Not too menacing, though, right? Well, then how about the coffee table that catches mice, then drops them through a trapdoor into a microbial fuel cell that dissolves them to generate yet more power? Yep, a robotic coffee table that runs itself on power generated by digesting small mammals. I don’t think it takes too much imagination to see where that could be headed.

These death-dealing robots were created by UK-based designers James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau. So I guess we have them to thank when Skynet finally goes rogue and starts harvesting us for robo-food.

It’s not every day that you hear a major telecommunications corp buckled under customer pressure to reverse a charge or a bill, or is it? Ask Adam Savage of the TV show Myth Busters. You know, the one where they smash stuff and put things in their mouths and race things. I’ve never watched a full episode I must admit (I like my myths just the way they are) but he’ll likely attest to the continuing and growing dominance of social media as a force for consumer advocacy.

Savage received an $11,000 bill for a few hours of web surfing time while in Canada on business. No pics downloaded, no PHd thesis e-mailed, no uncut extended LOTR trilogy streaming . Just a few hours of basic e-mail correspondence and surfing over 5 days. So rather than call AT&T and ask for a polite and detailed explanation as to why they were trying to wring him like a wet dishrag for his hard earned cash, he turned to twitter. Within a few hours his 50,000 followers had created an internet stir that was surpassed only by Michael Jackson’s untimely death. Under the pressure of this negative publicity AT&T reversed his outrageous charges.

This incident represents that valuable consumer advocacy force of social media applications that has been hailed as paramount in its very existence by some, but to many users seems more an afterthought if not a non issue. And it’s not just service providers, even social media companies themselves are feeling the heat. The customer is boss.

In February Facebook retracted a new user information policy from pressure it received from tens of thousands of users, unimpressed by the proposed changes.

As we continue to explore and experience the groundswell can we expect companies to adopt better, less burglar-centric practices? Has the balance of power truly begun to shift between these two sides? One thing is for sure, the revolution will be tweeted. Seller beware…

As if landlines weren’t basically antiquated enough, Google has produced a service that even beats having a cell phone, or even VOIP: it’s called Google Voice.  This cool new phone management service from Google allows users to manage multiple phone connections and it is as portable as your online email account!  Using a personal number unique to you, Google eliminates the need to be tied down to a physical location with a landline, a cell phone, or an IP address with VOIP.  All you need is a web browser and you’re good to go with the many services to be offered, such as voice transcripts, call recording, personalized voice greetings, as well as all the traditional phone services we’ve become accustomed to (voicemail, SMS, call screening, etc).

Google first got its hands on this technology by purchasing voice services company GrandCentral in 2007, and it has now fully infused the service with the typical bare-bones Google interface.  Currently Google Voice is only open to a select few, but expect to see this one rolling out everywhere in the near future.

Since 2006 Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University has taught more students the Greek language than any other university in North America. The only thing is those students aren’t even in North America. The popularity of online distance education, through such platforms as WebCT and driven through associations like CVU (Canadian Virtual University) has created a burgeoning new revenue stream for universities and colleges. It’s also created an attractive new option for those who want quality education but are challenged by geography or scheduling conflicts. In 2006 for example, an SFU’s Greek class had 25 students physically in a classroom and a further 160 studying from Beijing. The economics are obvious. The overhead saved by web hosting as opposed to physically hosting students is a no-brainer. There exists a debate however, that the focus being placed on distance education appears too profit based, and that the education received is not as high quality as would be in a physical setting. I guess it depends on whether you learn better in an auditorium with 500 people coughing and whispering overtop your prof than you do at home.This profit vs public concern has existed in our universities and colleges long before the internet revolutionized the way we teach and learn though.

Regardless of motive, along with scholarly articles found through Google and JSTOR, SEO strategies have increasingly become an important part of how Universities attract students, build web presence, reputation, and yes- generate revenue. Some organizations have even started to rank Universities based on their web presence. But this doesn’t just create new revenue streams for schools. New technology and software platforms are truly revolutionizing education around the globe. So does this mean I can attend my next graduation ceremony from home too?

As news spread of Michael Jackson’s death millions of news hungry people turned to websites to confirm the verifiability of that story. And the Jeff Goldblum story too…but let’s not get into that. Several prominent sites crashed under the weight of so much sudden traffic, leaving many in agonizing confusion. Increasingly, governments at all levels are now looking to use distributed databases linked in through secure servers not only to educate the public but to sync essential services through an organized and accessible user friendly interface. Data.gov is emblematic of this new government love affair with the internet. So what happens when Michael Jackson syndrome hits in the form of a major disaster, a tsunami on the west coast, an asteroid, earthquake, alien invasion…how much faith can we place in our information infrastructure to deal with sudden massive spikes in activity, especially when crucial life or death information is needed? With 7.2 billion dollars in the recent American bailout package specified for broadband infrastructure improvement one would hope to rest assured. The only problem is that your distant rural cousins Cletus and Jedediah, somewhere deep in the Smokey Mountains are really the focus of this money as some critics complain. The crashes we saw recently weren’t coming from there, they were coming from us urban folks- tweeting like crazy and dying to known what Perez Hilton was saying. Give us more broadband space!

An example. As the economic recession hit its stride, state government servers failed as countless unemployed were directed to government sites to apply online for assistance or read through FAQs.

If National, regional and municipal governments of the world continue to develop policies that incorporate the internet, whether for creation of information portals, use of social media in involving public in policy directions, as Obama is keen to do, or as a one stop shop for everything from unemployment to disaster management, they’d better create departments of web server maintenance. ‘Cause when the s–t goes down, the site better not. In Canada, our cabinet could now include a Minister of Internet Server Security. Or maybe yet, as I listen to my liberal economics angel on the other shoulder, we could leave it up to the market as they say. There are SEO and web hosting companies for this kind of thing right? In any event it’s time for governments to get serious about site management and server management if they intend to maximize the usability of the virtual bureaucracy now being programmed into existence. Data.gov is a laudable idea, but if unemployment and Michael Jackson are crashing websites around the country, it makes me question the faith I can put in .gov sites to cope with the imminent alien invasion that we the educated population know is coming.