The Fascinating Masterpieces

Inspired by my friend Charlie's Most Dramatic Movie Posters on the GraphicDesignBlog, I decided to put down my own list of movies... but with a little difference. My movie list is concerned with the strangely out of this world movies.

Strange, enchanting and inspiring... this is what these movies are. Thrilled, exhilarated and baffled... is what these movies make us feel when they take us on an intense yet spellbound journey into the unknown realms. Movie makers do surprise us sometimes with masterpieces that are not just gripping but also fascinating... no matter how many times you watch them.

Seeing is truly Believing!

Do you Voodoo? - The Political Toy Fad

The latest fad in the toy world seems to be the interesting voodoo dolls of the various political figures (as if toilet papers, nut crackers and bauble heads weren't enough!). Whether you see these dolls as a must-have accessory, take them as collectibles, send them as gifts, burn them as effigies or consider them just another way of cursing the enemy from afar – these dolls seem to be creating quite a hype the world over ;)

The dolls come with a proper voodoo kit (pins and all) and range from political figures like Obama to Hillary Clinton to George Bush and now even to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Standing anywhere between 8 to 12 inches, these are available online under 20$.

Of course these dolls seem to have been on the scene for a year or two now but the hype is being fanned more so (unintentionally) by the French President, who is apparently considering legal action against the producers of the ‘Nicolas Sarkozy’ doll and asking the product to be pulled out of market immediately.

Another Google Upgrade - The Big Bundle of Joy!

Major updates are coming up on Google Analytics in the coming weeks. An official announcement was made at the Google Analytics Blog recently, announcing the upcoming updates of the user interface. The "Big bundle of joy" for Google Analytics users is the long list of updates featuring some of the most long-requested and welcomed characteristics.

And here's making the long list short...

Custom Reporting: Create your own reports and graphs by setting your own variables.
Advance Segmentation: Allowing you to create a segment for the traffic by breaking it down in various areas and in several ways... from a specific location to websites to people who visit regularly.
Motion Charts: Advance visual feature with graphical representation that you can watch change over time.
Integration with AdSense: Now you will be able to integrate not just AdWords but AdSense too and find out which pages are generating more revenue, the content that doing well on your site along with geographically broken down reports.
API Beta: This has been released to help the developers in extending the usefulness of Google Analytics.

The new features are being considered timely by many, keeping in view the economic rundown and Google is hoping to "go with what works... and invest... to increase their conversions". Still some users remain skeptical of the updates, considering them to be one of Google's "tricks" damping the spirit of Halloween this year. Let's see who gets the run for what! ;)

Google Monopoly

Google has its own monopoly when it comes to search results and its so-called search standards. Every few months we hear of new rules and amendments being made to Google’s algorithm. The SEOs will possibly lose their jobs if it wasn’t for Google... or so I am told (Ya right! As if I am going to believe that).

More than just providing us with authentic search results Google appears to be determinedly focused on being different and so it is.

Honestly speaking, when it comes to Google you can never be too sure!

Some people seem to want to report paid links and so Google thought that they’d do something about that. Every few weeks they update their algorithm and feel like trying some new ideas that leads them to change the existing algorithm. I don’t mean to imply that paid links shouldn’t be reported. By all means they should. If someone is using wrong means and ways to get the better of the resources and getting by in someone else’s place, that person and company should most definitely be reported and stopped. But shouldn’t the whole scheme and system be perfected before Google starts making everyone’s life a living hell by only testing their still-in-process systems?

What they initiate themselves is what they usually end up creating a system against. What of the webmasters who have only recently brought links to sell off? Ok, so maybe the ones who had all the wrong reasons to buy those links would be feeling very stupid right now but honestly give me a break! How are you to provide valuable services to your customers when your paid links are under siege?

Social Networking - All that Glitters...!

Social networking seems to be the 'in-thing' these days with almost all the sites... but is it really that good? I wonder sometimes. How helpful is it? And why would someone want to waste a load of time for it online? Ya well, it’s true that the so-called "social networking phenomenon" has been all that and is, at the moment, a great platform for marketers. It's definitely one of the new ways to advertise your brand online. But it rather seems more like a fad. Things like these seem to come and go. How accurate is this really?

So it started as a cool thing, like most of such stuff does, and it's gradually being turned into the 'not-so-cool' by all that extra jazz being thrown its way. More and more companies and brands are opening up their own blogs to advertise for themselves... that’s justified? Ok, so its sending all that growth towards you, but did you know that it's also creeping up some people!

Over the past couple of months social networking sites seem to have received their fair share of 'spam', especially for those who have been using networks like 'Facebook'. They sure seem to be complaining about unwanted friend requests and malicious activities, not to mention the unsolicited advertisements.

So are we still going somewhere with all this 'Social Networking'?

It won't be long before spam becomes all too frequent in this area as well, and then what? Wouldn't the companies who are all "for" social networkings seek other safe havens then? Of course they will. Sure networks seem to be taking notice of this right now but the question remains... how long till people start dropping out of this? Honestly, if spam becomes more frequent, people will decide to leave these networks for good. Just look at the amount of friend requests you get on Facebook and MySpace alone. It’s like a hobby for some people, seriously! And it gets worse... Some people leave social networking thinking that the spam problem is over, but the truth is that the spam seems to follow you even long after you have left. And it doesn't seem likely that this 'social networking' hype will last that long as the 'in' thing, or will it?