HealthMap.org is a brand, spanking new website which draws various articles and information from Google News, online discussion forums and the World Health Organization to name a few, and proceeds to organize that data along a map so that the public can view outbreaks of disease or infection by geographical location. Its accessibility in particular makes it an excellent resource for researchers, public health officials and people in general, all over the world.

Not only does HealthMap.org carefully organize news articles and information with a high-quality filter, the map also categorizes outbreaks based on their level of severity using a color-coding system; this level is determined based on the amount of news coverage and the nature of the news coverage reported on it. HealthMap.org is actually able to ‘understand’ the reporter’s language; recognizing that the word mysterious, for example, is much more likely to be used in conjunction with an outbreak of a disease rather than in a report on the vaccination for a disease.

Clearly this site will be, and indeed already is, an incredibly helpful site – according to an article on Wired.com, epidemiologist Hannah Gould was able to quickly recognize a recent E. Coli eruption at a major grocery chain; and using this site, people in countries where healthcare is non-existent and any kind of disease prevention and treatment is thusly handicapped, people are able to see what is going on and recognize the illnesses that are swarming their area.

But is a site like HealthMap.org really a good thing for North Americans? I am not so sure. Of course, spotting an E. Coli outbreak early on is important and I’m sure that this site will aid in the prevention of many illnesses, but on the whole I am not so sure that this is something we need right now. To me, this site is yet another building block solidifying the culture of fear that we have been constructing and nursing over the years. Several years ago, everyone was positive that they would be afflicted with SARS or be struck by the dreaded bird flu; a couple of years before that, you may as well end your life otherwise the painful flesh eating bacteria would do it for you. Although these were very real diseases with tragic consequences, the amount of anxiety that throbbed in North American culture was outrageous – people stocking up on hand sanitizer and donning facemasks in order to leave the house – the true epidemic was the astounding paranoia, not the avian influenza.

Today, think about how many commercials you see that claim you need this drug or that drug to calm your restless legs or cure your child of ADHD - sure the side effects of the drugs are severe and often disgusting, painful or embarrasing, but at least you will have been cured of that terrifying RLS. Fear is an industry and indeed one of the best marketing tools available to pharmacies and drug companies alike.

Do you know what an actual North American epidemic is? Dangerous self diagnosis using the Internet as a surrogate doctor; people Googling their various symptoms and taking what they believe to be the necessary curative measures, only to end up making themselves even more sick; even causing irreversible harm to their bodies.

HealthMap.org is clearly a highly advanced and helpful website; it is without a doubt impressive, informative and useful but, unless a vicious strain of RAGE virus a la 28 Days Later begins rapidly transforming people into flesh eating zombies, then I don’t want to hear about every single newsworthy diagnosis that takes place within a 100 mile radius of me. I don’t want to be terrified of some violent virus or worry about my family contracting some deadly disease. Thanks but no thanks HealthMap.org – I like what you’re doing, but I’d rather not.

Have you ever had one of those nights where you are sitting in front of your computer planning to look up one little video? Say, a particular Radiohead performance (you can thank me later for this one), or something funny that your friend suggested you look up; and three hours later find yourself musing over an America’s Funniest Home Videos montage set to a Huey Lewis and the News song of playful kitty cats doing those hilarious kitty cat things.

Of course you have.

And somewhere in between Radiohead and wily kitty cats you have squirmed before a series of brutal face plants, giggled over a pile of hamsters stuffing their faces with broccoli and laughed hysterically at the unbelievably lame Cobra Commander music video circa 1986 GI Joe (YouTube ‘Cold Slither’ and once again, thank me later). It is the nature of YouTube to keep you clicking to new videos so that in the span of an evening, you might have viewed hundreds of random videos, even if it’s only for a second (for example, when you stumble upon some struggling musician offering his own personal acoustic cover of Knocking on Heaven’s Door – you won’t be there for long).

Now, can you imagine if the (shameful) amount of time you spend on Youtube.com and the exact things that you have clicked on were made public? It would be mortifying. Not necessarily due to the actual videos you have looked up, as I’m sure that there are far more embarrassing things that one could have been looking up than America’s Funniest Home Video montages, but just the idea that these statistics have been made public – it would make you feel downright scandalized.

Unfortunately, it seems as though this will become the fate of YouTube.com users. This week the courts declared that Google was obligated to disclose the records of every video viewed by YouTube users, including users’ names and IP addresses to Viacom. This billion dollar lawsuit against Google, starting in March 2007, is for their allowing clips of Viacom’s copyright videos to appear on YouTube.

Many people believe that this is an incredibly intrusive violation of rights, although the ruling judge deemed the issues of privacy to be ‘speculative’ and as a result, Google has had to hand over the YouTube.com user viewing habits that reside on the logs of four tera-byte hard drives. Google has also had to turn over millions of videos however, the judge denied Viacom’s request for titles, keywords, comments, and flags for inappropriate content, ruling that the request was too broad. He also stated that private videos uploaded by a user sharing with one other user are protected under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great analysis of what went down during the court proceedings as well as links to some interesting article about privacy violations. Also, a lot of the articles that have covered this recent issue carry some really interesting feedback in the comments sections from people just like you and I who feel concerned that their love of people falling down, smashing their faces or anything that America’s Funniest Home Videos could assemble a montage of will be exposed to the world.

There is another conference a comin’ and this time it is the SMX Local and Mobile taking place in San Francisco from July 24th to July 25th, 2008. SMX is focusing on equipping the attendee with all of the tactics, methods and techniques needed to master local search and mobile marketing; two important emerging marketing channels that one would do well to fully understand.

Mobile Marketing refers to the growing number of businesses utilizing cell phones or other mobile devices in order to advertise – consider how often you hear things like, “text this code to this number and enter to win a pair of baby yak!” Well, maybe you don’t hear the baby yak part very often, but I’m sure you have been bombarded like the rest of us with ‘textable’ codes and requests to upload various things to your mobile device. This is a big part of mobile marketing, and when carried out correctly can be an incredibly effective way to advertise. Lots of people have their eyes glued to their BlackBerry’s these days – they may as well be checking out your ad.
Local search refers to methods for obtaining optimal organic search results on the Internet – these searches are enhanced with location specific data that helps to foster in-store purchases.

So who should attend this Local and Mobile shindig? Basically anyone interested in gaining a competitive marketing edge. If you have ever been curious about local search or mobile marketing strategies then this is the conference for you.

Hosted by Chris Sherman and Greg Sterling, this conference will feature cutting edge sessions, speakers, lots of chances for question and answer, as well as ample networking opportunities…and who can deny the gratifying properties and magnetic power of free food…

You can check out the registration page here, and review a quick overview of the agenda.

Could it be? Could it really be?

Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team and all around SEO aficionado is going to shed some light on that dark and mysterious labyrinth of a concept, search engine optimization. SEO: it evades many, baffles most, and causes some to bang their heads on their desks repeatedly, muttering strings of incoherent frustration. Luckily, there are guys like Matt who know a thing or two (to say the least) about the secrets of SEO and the tricks to get you ranking.

Jefferson Graham of USA TODAY got to talking with Matt Cutts with the intention of dissolving some of the frustrating ambiguity that surrounds search engine optimization and spamming issues. Search engine optimization is incredibly important these days, espeically when you consider the amount of people who’s relationship with the internet is made up soley of search engine searches.

There are many people, myself included, who will type anything into Google or Yahoo; who allow Google to essentially shape our experiences with the web; grabbing sites for us so we don’t have to do any of the legwork. Looking for a book? May as well go straight to Google, that way, even if you spell it wrong, it will be fixed up for you:

Did you mean: The Great Gatsby?

Why yes I did Google, thank you very much.

But what am I explaining this for? You all know that it is important to try and keep a good rank in Google, Yahoo and other popular search engines - it’s just a matter of how to do that.

In Graham’s USA Today Article, Matt Cutts outlines some key rules to follow when trying your hand at search engine optimization strategies, and cites blogging as an excellent search engine optimization tool. According to Cutts, Google examines over 100 pieces of data in order to determine where a site will rank and links are a big part of that decision.  Basically Google is like highschool, only not as miserable. The more popular you already are, the higher you are going to rank - the popular keep getting more popular while the geeks stay geeky…unless of course they know how to use SEO. Is this analogy even working?

Anyway, it’s all about getting solid, respected sites to link to you. If they like you, then you must be pretty cool therefore, to the top of the list with ya! A great way to exchange links is blogging. Blogging is an awesome SEO tool - it is essentially cost-free and helps you to communicate with your customers and generate helpful content.

Check out the article here - it is definitely worth your time to see what Google’s main SEO man has to say about ranking. Also, take a look at Matt’s personal blog - filled with his own tips, tricks and information, this blog is an excellent SEO resource.

It was decidedly so, as of a unanimous vote held this week, that the rules and regulations for generic top level domain names (gTLDs) be loosened and relaxed, making it possible to register any organized collection of letters as a TLD. For example, with this newly allowed flexibility, eBay could be given the opportunity to manage the domain, ‘.ebay’. Right now, there are a limited number of top level domain names available, the most reconizable being ‘.com’, ‘.net’, ‘.edu’ etc.

There are however, a few stipulations that ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has lain down, setting some solid groundwork for this easing of the TLD reigns. One being, that applicants for new domain names must demonstrate superior skill capacity in the areas of organization, financial prowess and operational and technical understanding with respect to running a website.

It will be interesting to see what this new flexibility in TLDs will do for the fervently debated ‘.XXX’ domain, being as the essence of this vote is in accepting any string of letters as a TLD. ICANN has rejected the implementation of a ‘.XXX’ domain for adult oriented sites three times so far, religious groups in agreement, citing that the acceptance of this domain would open the flood gates and lead to the legitimization of pornography, or as The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, puts it, the ‘.XXX’ TLD would provide “…a haven for illegal and offensive content.”. Though advocates of the controversial TLD insist that it will make it much easier to regulate the content of these sites. It’s hard to say how ICANN will react to the application of a ‘.XXX’ when the inevitable next time rolls around.

ICANN’s decision will hopefully allow, not only for further personalization options for the site, but also increased creativity, originality and innovation coupled with a focus consumer choice and competition with the domain name space. They expect hundreds and hundreds of new domains to be registered quickly after they make their grand appearance at the end of 2009.

And why not at the bargain bin price of $500,000 bones:

Prices to register the new domain names, expected to be anywhere from $150,000 to $500,000, would most likely prohibit individuals from applying for new domain names. ICANN said the high fees would allow it to recoup the approximately $20 million it expects to spend on implementation of the new policy.

Click here for the full article.

I guess we will find out soon how this decision will effect the world wide web. Some people believe that this will begin to change the very framework of domain name services; welcome more creativity and brand new ideas. Others however, aren’t sure if a move like this is necessary, and pose the question as to whether or not customers will even want these flexible TLDs to be a part of their website. Only time and trial will tell - so it’s a good thing for domain name tasting:

The ICANN board also approved actions to stop the practice of domain name tasting, which allows a registrar to register a domain name and place pay-per-click ads on it for up to five days to determine whether it will make money from those ads. If so, the registrar can then register the domain name for $6 per year. If not, the registrar must return the domain to ICANN.

Click here for the full article.

You can check out the ICANN website to find out more about their decision, policies, expectations and applications with respect to this decision.

This is going to be a big one guys.

Microsoft is holding the 2008 Worldwide Partner Conference in the heart of Houston Texas from Monday, July 7th to Thursday July 10th.

Texas: home of the late Buddy Holly, the original “bowl of red” (that’s chili to you bub), and for four probably sweltering days in July, over 10,000 partners, vendors and Microsoft employees from all around the world. With this record number of attendees comes ample opportunity to network, connect, discuss, brainstorm, share ideas or anything else you can think of doing with over 10,000 Microsoft related individuals.

The agenda and list of events looks to be packed with presentations about Microsoft; their overall vision, their various business and marketing strategies and important ideas coupled with a wealth of networking opportunities.

If you check out the Microsoft 2008 Worldwide Partner Conference website, you can check out the list of keynote speakers as well as browse the Digital WPC blog.

The search giant has clearly established itself as the predominant search engine, and with its ever-increasing list of web properties, the amount of data that Google is able to collect about individuals is increasing exponentially; not only are more users using more Google properties, Google is getting better at collecting more information from a wider range of sources. To me, this could potentially be a scary situation.

I frequently hound my colleagues about being logged in to their Gmail account while using the search engine, and yesterday I was preaching to the office about how much Google knows about everyone and that I purposely make an effort to use a variety of different providers for different online services like search. And no, I wasn’t simply acting as an evangelist for the turbulent Sunnyvale-based company I enjoy so much.

So, what does Google know about you? Well, it turns out they know a heck of a lot! Consider some of the properties: Google search/personalized (custom?) search, the Google toolbar, YouTube, Orkut, Blogger, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Desktop, Google Earth - and that’s not all of them! That doesn’t include Analytics, AdWords, AdSense, or search verticals like image, maps, books, and news. I’m quite certain that the average individual is using at least a handful of the services regularly, and the information that is collected from each of these properties is extensive!

Microsoft, the software giant that it is, may be referred to as the Dark Side, but knowing how that tale ends and seeing Microsoft as it is today makes the soon-to-be-Gates-less company seem somewhat less menacing. And while I don’t find myself strapped to a chair next to a cage full of rats betraying my beloved Julia, I can’t help but feel as though Google is slowly trying to brainwash me into believing that two and two makes five - or at least make me believe that they are a squeaky clean alternative to the Dark Side that I should trust.

For an in-depth look at what information Google collects from its various properties, check out Danny Dover’s article on SEOmoz that looks at Google’s user data collection.

People are all about interactive these days – I think that is pretty clear judging by the amount of people who have supplemented the computer for the television. Hours spent loafing on the couch at the mercy of cable programming has been replaced with actively seeking out movies and shows whenever you want to. Lots of people don’t even own televisions anymore and instead insist that, “they can find everything online,” and boast that, “there are no commercials!” I suppose that sounds pretty good but I, personally, don’t mind the commercials. They add to the overall TV watching experience. Imagine if I didn’t have Subway’s Jared to detest with unreasonable ferocity or that cute kid in the Band-Aid commercial to gush over every once and a while.

Anyways, it appears as though people will no longer waste their time with traditional television and are proving it in abandoning old shows for new ones. As evidenced by the highest-rated shows right now – sitcoms are dead and intense, interactive television programs are the way of the future. Take a show like, Lost; it doesn’t even have a theme song or a catchy Seinfeld-esque jingle to buffer between the commerical and the start of the show – it just jumps into the mystery and action without missing a beat, stalled only occasionally by the necessary recap of information. Or what about Heroes? These are shows which demand your full attention and span whole seasons without resolving a single dilemma. This is the kind of interactive television that people want to see and become absorbed in; they want shows they can talk about and guess at and lose themselves in.

Certain people have taken cues from the growing ratings and high demand for these interactive shows and have modeled their websites accordingly. Webupon.com have listed ten great interactive sites on the web and have assembled them nicely for your time-killing pleasure:

Interactivity is the name of the game at the moment. Here are 10 websites that are a combination of the fun, the weird, the educational or the simply bewildering. Prepare to be awed!

Click here for the full article.