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Google Meets The Axis of Evil Comedy

Last week, I heard a comedian named Ahmed Ahmed, who is touring on the “Axis of Evil Comedy Tour”, via a radio interview in which he was asked what it was like having the same first and last name. Much to my surprise, he started talking about how a guy on the FBI’s most wanted list – Ahmed Mohanned Hamed Ali – shows up right next to his when you type – Ahmed Ahmed – into Google…notice the first and second entries in the first of the two photos below. Ahmed has a point when he states that when typing in Ahmed Ahmed twice he doesn’t find the result relevant as I don’t either. But the oddity of this doesn’t stop here…

At present if one types simply – Ahmed – into Google, Ahmed Mohanned Hamed Ali does not show up at all in the top ten results! Even more bizarre is that there are other Ahmed’s that show up prior to him Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah (page 4) and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan (page 6).

So I’d like to ask Matt Cutts and Adam Lasnik, search evangelists at Google, just why does Ahmed Mohanned Hamed Ali show up for a search for Ahmed Ahmed and not Ahmed?


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MyBlogLog to Rebrand and Make Significant Changes

At SOBcon yesterday in Chicago, Robyn Tippins, who was recently hired as the MyBlogLog community manager, spoke about several major upcoming changes with MyBlogLog.

There are several changes in the works:

1) The biggest news is that there will be a rebranding of MyBlogLog. The exact timing and new brand were not revealed. (YahooBlogLog or MyYahooLog? Time will tell.)

2) A complete site redesign is on the way!

3) A new “Widget 2.0” is coming with some hover features.

4) Yahoo! is hard at work to remove the offensive photos so that MyBlogLog would be palatable to more conservative business blogs.

5) Some sort of method to turn off your presence for some types of sites will be added.

As they do not have these changes locked in, Robyn would love your comments and feedback. To not overwhelm her, please drop your comments below.

Analysis: The rebranding is not a surprise move. MyBloglog is really only known amongst the first adoptors and blogosphere and getting the Yahoo! name is front of more people in a soft way is a good move. Yahoo! seems committed to making these changes, while listening to suggestions and making the product more dynamic. Looks like the best is yet to come from MyBlogLog.

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Mother’s Day 2007: A Search Engine View

Fresh from having a nice breakfast with my Mom on this Mother’s Day, I decided to take a look at the search engine offerings.

Live.com – no offering visible upon my visit.

Ask.com – real nice offering of a heart with a tattoo looking thing that says “Mom”
tattoo1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google –

Yahoo! – Nice crayon coloring the logo with a nice note. See the full animation by clicking this link.

Winner: Yahoo! who got the meaning of the day put into full action! Congrats Yahoo!

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!!

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Upcoming Yahoo! Presentations – Terry Semel & Sue Decker

These upcoming events will be available for streaming online.

Yahoo! to present at the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference and
Goldman Sachs Internet Conference during the month of May.
Tim Cadogan, SVP, Search and Listings Marketplaces will present at the
Deutsche Bank Technology Conference. The presentation will take place
on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 1:30pm Eastern Time / 10:30am Pacific
Time.

Terry Semel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Susan Decker,
Head of Advertiser and Publisher Group, and CFO will present at the
Goldman Sachs Internet Conference on Wednesday, May 23 at 9:15pm Eastern
Time / 6:15pm Pacific Time.

A live webcast of both presentations will be available on the Investor
Relations website at
http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/calendar.cfm?CalendarID=5.

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SOBCon Chicago 2007 Attendee Link List

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers will gather in Chicago this weekend!

Get your list of attendee links for your own blog to link out. It is the list on the site with a few blog links corrected. If you notice other errors, please comment below and I’ll correct the link list when I have time.

SOBcon2007 Chicago Attendees:
Sandra Renshaw
Brad Shorr
Timothy Johnson
Tammy Lenski
Muhammad Saleem
Lorelle VanFossen
David Dalka – Motivational Business Keynote Speaker
Todd And
John Yedinak
Joe Hauckes
Tim Draayer
Jeremy Geelan
Carolyn Manning
Sheila Scarborough
Steve Farber
Dawud Miracle
Doug Mitchell
Jeff O’Hara
Dave Schoof
Jamy Shiels
Adam Steen
Hannah Steen
Chris Thilk
Barry Zweibel
Eric Bingen
Ellen Moore
Cord Silverstein
Jean-Patrick Smith
James Walton
Sharan Tash
Vernon Lun
Tony Lee
Scott Desgrosseilliers
Mark Murrell
Kammie Kobyleski
Easton Ellsworth
Mark Goodyear
Ann Michael
Kent Blumberg
Ashley Cecil
Robert Hruzek
Sabu N G
Mazur Krystyna
Lisa Gates
Franke James
Chris Brown
Troy Worman
Karen Putz
Jesse Petersen
Andy Brudtkuhl
Lucia Mancuso
Peter Flaschner
Derrick Sorles
Mike Rohde
Thomas Clifford
Rajesh Srivastava
Claire Celsi
Jason Alba
Cristiana Passinato
Sean R.
Alex Shalman
Cristiana Passinato
Brad Spirrison
Ari Garber
Dr. Rob Wolcott
Cheryll Cruz
Sharon Scherer
Jonathan Phillips
Jason Wade
Jill Pullen
Doug Bulleit
Wendy Kinney
Chelsea Vincent
Ayush Agarwal
Paul Mangalik
Premchand Kallan
Xochi Kaplan
Michael Snell
Ella Wilson
James Bergstrom
Raj Majumder
Keith Levenson

SOBcon2007 Business Keynote Speakers:
Andy Sernovitz
Phil Gerbyshak
Liz Strauss
David Armano
Mike Sansone
>Drew McLellan
Mike Wagner
Terry Starbucker< Rodney Rumford Ben Yoskovitz Chris Cree Robyn Tippins Diego Orjuela Vernon Lun Wendy Piersall