This Is Popular?

Huh? Google is calling my blog "popular" and is suddenly pushing AdSense like it never has before. They must be using a definition of popular that I have not seen before.

Considering this is a personal blog that has just one post per day, has only seven followers, and has zero RSS subscribers, I don't see it would even register on the AdSense radar.

Maybe Google is getting desperate for new customers. Is it early signs of market saturation?

It's A Feature, Jim

If you use the Chromium browser, you may have noticed an "Other Bookmarks" folder on the right side of the bookmarks toolbar. Have you ever tried to delete it? Guess what? You can't.

Neither can you move it, rename it, hide it, or otherwise make it vanish from your sight. If you think this is stupid, don't worry, you are not alone. It has been reported (here and here) but Google considers it a "feature" and refuses to change the behaviour. Lovely.

Herd Instinct

Google's new policy of requiring real names in profiles clearly shows what direction Google is headed. While it is still possible to use a fake name (it's not like Google is demanding to see your ID. Yet.), the new policy is a problem for people who have legitimate reasons to use an obviously invalid name.

So, will this new policy slow down the migration to Google+? Of course not. The success of Facebook has already proven that people are willing to give up their privacy to be where everyone else is hanging out. Call it herd instinct.

For those that do not follow the herd, I provide a list of all distributed social network systems currently under development. For future reference.

Google Roulette

So... Google deleted about 150000 user accounts today. Welcome to the cloud suckers. That's a lot of accounts to fat finger in one go but 150000 is estimated to be only about 0.08% of Google's users, so it's not that many in percentage terms. Unless, of course, you were one of the unlucky few. Google roulette, anyone?

Data Collector

A blog stats page appeared on Blogger a few days ago. It shows this blog is in a completely nondescript little back alley of the Web, which of course I already knew. If I were more paranoid, I'd think Google is trying to rub my nose in it. On the other hand, Google being the great data collector that it is, even my most pointless posts provides a data point. Now that's really paranoid. But remember folks, just because you are paranoid does not mean that somebody is not out to get you. ^_^

Now the guys who made this video are on a whole different level of paranoia. And guess what they want? Yes, they want... legislation! It's a way too late for that, considering how much data Google, Facebook, etc, have already collected, and are actively using as part of their everyday business activities. It's so ironic that the only place they had to posted the video was... YouTube!

"The avalanche has begun. It's too late for the pebbles to vote." - Kosh, Babylon 5