Thanks Jacob, I really wanted this is life insurance ad in my RSS reader when I subscribed to your Alertbox RSS feed powered by 'News is Free' (but at a cost): "Up to $250,000 in life insurance with inexpensive rates. Highly advanced life insurance system...

Time to try out the Technorati tags I think. Technorati:[Tags] Update 30 Jan 05: Like Tim Bray , I think there is something potentially really interesting about the tags concept (see David Sifry's overview). But I'm a bit confused. I get the concept,...

On Monday I start my new role at Microsoft, this means I'll be relocating from London to Seattle, taking my family with me at the end of Feb. As you might imagine, I'm really excited: New role, new city, new country! I've been to Seattle a few times before...

I caught up with James Cherkoff last week, and we quickly got to discussing a meme I'd heard a couple of times before: 'open source marketing'. I asked what he meant by the term. This is his best answer so far : "When was the last time you saw an advert...

He's right, but Shafer doesn't get it . (OK, where's my $1?) "The premature triumphalism of some bloggers indicates that they haven't paid attention to how Webified journalists have become. They also ignore media history. New media technologies almost...

Beta News reports that a second Mozilla developer, Darin Fisher has joined Google. "Darin, a former IBM and Netscape employee, is a "module owner" for the Mozilla project and is in charge of cookies and permissions, as well as Mozilla's networking library...

Global Ideas Bank , an 'online democratic think-tank' proposes this Sunday, Jan 30th, as an Internet-Free Day. "...recent events should remind us what is truly important: friends, family, health and freedom. So stay off the e-mail, unplug the PC, escape...

John Udell : "Today's screencast is a 90-second short film that demonstrates Simon Burns' astonishing finding that desktop search has been right under our noses for years -- built into Windows but then crippled by weird design choices. In the screencast...

This is mad, sad, and very good... Windows Noises Via Robin Good .

Microsoft's Kevin Briody is experimenting with various online media channels to target the acedemic developer audience. It is the kind of experiment every online marketer should be trying out, especially if their target market is technical in nature....

Via Inside Google : "It's up! Check out the about page . It explains that it indexes closed captioning, as expected, allowing you to search what is being said, not just the titles." Example Google Video results: Microsoft Blogs Spam Search Engine Watch...

via Techdirt : "The Times Online in the UK has announced, definitively, that the only possible reason why Google might be searching for such a person is because Google "is set to launch a free telephone service that links users via a broadband internet...

What happens when 'blogging is no longer cool'?" Dana asks this question in the context of consumer marketing and the effect of moving fashions... "The whole 'blog thing' couldn't be much more in your face that it is. It's in business, politics, on the...

I've updated my blog using Josh Ledgard's custom css and tips . Thanks Josh!

Redmonk, a small IT analyst firm, wants to change the analyst industry by open sourcing it. James Governor at Redmonk explains: "After setting up RedMonk one of the first questions I was asked came from one of the coolest people I have met in this business...

via the Register , somebody is selling nothing at ebay . I asked if I could see a picture, no response yet. Current bid: £9.5 million. Update (22 Jan): Boris kindly made this nice pic of nothing . Unfortunately, the auction has been pulled by ebay , so...

94 Million Chinese Can't Be Wong, Internet Wok: "The number of Internet users in China climbed to 94 million by the end of 2004, according to a survey just released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), with broadband users jumping...

Some buzz out there today about MSN Live Beta Search... Search Engine Watch is convinced and blogged it , their forums are buzzing ... Threadwatch is going bananas, this guy has theory , John thinks it's official , and Jon isn't sure ...but these guys...

Ivan Pope , now that's a name I've not heard for a while... (Ivan is one of the 'old skool' onliners (I realise there where 'old, old skoolers' hacking arpanet 20 years ago, so 'old skool' as in 'commecial internet at least), who was one of the first...

News that Google, MSN and Yahoo unite to battle comment spam is most welcome .

After spending over 5 months researching the subject of RSS marketing, Rok Hrastnik has finally released his new e-book, 'Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS' . Why RSS Matters in the Marketing World The reason this guide matters and will...

Tomorrow will mark a milestone in the world of RSS marketing: Rok Hrastnik of marketingstudies.net will release his 550 page e-book (apparently there will be a shorter version :-), 'Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS' . I'm really looking...

As RSS continues to become part of the fabric of internet, the issue of RSS metrics and measurement will matter more and more to marketers. A ClickZ article, 'Measuring Blog Marketing' tees up the problem nicely: "Considering all the talk about reaching...

Gizmodo has posted the fourth part of the interview with Bill Gates , probing further on the 'communist' comment he made in a Cnet interview a day before. The interview also goes into some depth around Microsoft's role in the DRM space.

Nick Bradbury picks up on the RSS UI problem David Winer has pointed out : "Dave Winer proposes a solution to the problems caused by the lack of a standardized method for feed subscription. While I would love to see these problems resolved, with all due...