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Engaging with the Kentucky Derby Online

Aris Yulianta — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:33:04 +0000

Not that this comes as a surprise, but the Kentucky Derby is in on the social media game. We're seeing pretty much every major event become more engaging with the general public. Not unlike the Presidential Inauguration or the NFL Draft, there are plenty of ways to get involved with the Kentucky Derby online as well.

The Derby has a section of its official site called Derby Connect that offers a suite of online tools to "keep you in the action every step of the way." These include a YouTube channel, a Facebook Page, the Derby Universe on Netvibes, and Derby widgets. The widgets are still being worked on according to the site though. They better hurry up if they want them ready for this year.

The Derby has over 30,000 fans on Facebook. The page features regular updates on individual horses and odds, a nice collection of photos, and plenty of fan discussion.

The Kentucky Derby YouTube Channel, which has actually been in existence since 2006 features 56 videos for those who can't get enough of the Derby. One particular video shows you how to make your Mint Julep, a traditional Kentucky Derby drink.

Of course, the Derby has its own Twitter account as well. Follow username @derbyoaks for the official twitter feed for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, straight from Churchill Downs. The feed currently has over 1,400 followers, and is being updated regularly.

There is plenty more Kentucky Derby media in the form of news, photos, videos, etc. on the Derby's site itself. There is also a means of betting online via Chruchill Downs Incorporated's account wagering service Twinspires.

Wikipedia Founder Slams Wikipedia Art

Aris Yulianta — Sat, 02 May 2009 11:27:09 +0000

Some controversy stirred up earlier this week after the Electronic Frontier Foundation stepped in on behalf of the creators of Wikipediaart.org, a site dedicated to a Wikipedia-related art project. The EFF was responding to demands by a lawyer for the Wikimedia Foundation, the parent company of Wikipedia, that the artists turn over control of the domain.

Claims that the domain violated Wikimedia's trademark and the ensuing legal back and forth have renewed the debate over fair use and free speech, and to an extent, what constitutes art. There’s even a bit of a debate over what constitutes “a threat.”

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales characterizes the project as “an alleged bit of performance art,” and the project creators, Scott Kildal and Nathaniel Stern, as “trolls” “dedicated to vandalizing Wikipedia as a publicity stunt.” [His full statement is available as an update to an earlier article, linked below.]

The project originally took place on the Wikipedia site itself, but was quickly deleted by Wikipedia editors. Though there was some debate over whether a collaborative art project had a place in an online encyclopedia, the final agreement was that the project—also thought to be critical of Wikipedia itself—was a form of vandalism.

After the entry was deleted, Kildal and Stern registered wikipediaart.org and moved the project there. For more background on the project itself, and a discussion of art and fair use, please read “Wikipedia Art Pushes the Elastic Boundaries of Fair Use,” from earlier in the week.

On March 23, Douglas Isenberg, representing Wikimedia, sent a letter to Kildall explaining Wikimedia’s ownership of the trademark WIKIPEDIA, the company’s obligation “to enforce its legal rights” and the company’s concern there may be some confusion about Kildall’s website’s affiliation with Wikipedia itself.

Isenberg says in the letter Wikimedia asked him to investigate whether Kildall was in violation of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), the US Federal Trademark Dilution Act, state and common law trademark and unfair competition statutes, and the Uniform Domain Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

Afterward, Isenberg asks Kildall to transfer wikipediaart.org to Wikimedia, “cease using the Wikipedia trademark,” and that Wikimedia “reserves all rights and remedies of any kind or nature in connection with this matter.”

Wikipediaart.org has posted that letter, along with others, at the site, except for a series of correspondences from Mike Godwin, Wikimedia’s general counsel.

Although Isenberg’s letter sounded enough like a threat to Kildall to seek legal counsel, and his counsel seems to have agreed it sounded like a threat, and a lawyers from PublicCitizen and the EFF thought it sounded like a threat, both Isenberg in a later letter, and Wales himself, in a statement to WebProNews, say it was not actually a threat.

“The reporting on the situation was widely in error, mostly due to the EFF's erroneous blog posting,” said Wales. “There was never a legal threat, no action of any kind, and there is no intention to take action of any kind. We asked them politely to put up a legal notice distinguishing themselves from Wikipedia, and they did.

”A group of trolls managed to manufacture for the media a publicity stunt. It's disappointing how easy it was for them to pull it off.”

A disclaimer distancing the project from Wikipedia is mentioned as already in existence in the letter posted at Wikipedia Art by James Martin, original counsel for Kildall, in his original response to Isenberg on April 3, along with expressed willingness to agree on a new one.

Though Godwin’s correspondences are not posted, Public Citizen’s Paul Levy’s letters are, the final one indicating Wikipedia Art would go to court first for declaratory judgment that use of the domain constitutes fair use. This, it appears, the last correspondence.

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arisjulianta — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:22:43 +0000

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Google and Yahoo Both Use Goats for Lawn Mowing

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:07:39 +0000

Google posted to the official company blog today that this spring, the company has begun using goats instead of lawn mowers to maintain the fields of their Mountain View headquarters. The idea is that this is a low-carbon approach.

"Instead of using noisy mowers that run on gasoline and pollute the air, we've rented some goats from California Grazing to do the job for us (we're not 'kidding')," explains Dan Hoffman on the Google Blog. "A herder brings about 200 goats and they spend roughly a week with us at Google, eating the grass and fertilizing at the same time. The goats are herded with the help of Jen, a border collie. It costs us about the same as mowing, and goats are a lot cuter to watch than lawn mowers."

If this wasn't a strange enough story, evidently Yahoo has already been doing this too. On Twitter, Yahoo tweeted at Google saying, "They like our grass too," with a link to a photo on Flickr of goats grazing on Yahoo properties. This photo was uploaded two years ago.

"Once or twice a year, a large herd of goats can be seen just past our parking garage in Sunnyvale, grazing happily on the tall grasses of the hill (cough - landfill - cough) beyond," says Yahoo in the caption. "We have a special fondness for the goats and are always sad to see them go (which, based on their voracity, happens much faster than you'd imagine)."

Yahoo may not have Google beat in the search game, but they are certainly ahead of the game in goat mowing. It's pretty interesting. We've been covering the search industry for years, and this is the first I've heard of any goats.

What Is Twitter About in One Word?

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:20:15 +0000

The "what is Twitter about?" article is not a new concept. It's been discussed frequently pretty much since Twitter was launched. Yet people still have a hard time grasping the concept. In fact, Twitter has had a hard time with user retention most likely because so many people try it based on all of the hype, and then don't return because they don’t "get it." What is Twitter about to you in one word? Tell us.

The truth is, it often takes a while using the service to "get it." The more you use it, the more you start to realize the benefits that are there. I (with a little help from Mike and Tiffany) asked a whole bunch of people what Twitter is "about" to them in one word. A handful of them responded, and here are some of the answers I got:

- Updates
- Egos
- Networking/Networks
- Relationships
- Represent
- Connection
- Possibilities
- Instant
- Marketing
- Speed
- Noise
- Inane
- Communication
- Contrived
- Aggrandizement
- Useful
- Spammy
- Conversation
- Open
- Freedom
- Useless
- Awareness
- Chat

Going into this thing, the word I was clinging to in my mind was microblogging. It has always been described with this word, but what does that mean? Small blogging. To me, Twitter is not a whole lot different than a collection of blogs, only all of the entries are really short (140 characters or less).

Is there a lot of noise? Sure. Could the same thing be said about the Blogosphere? Absolutely. You read blogs because they are written by people who talk about topics you are interested in reading about, or because you're interested in what the blogger has to say because of who they are. The same could be said about Twitter. You follow those whose thoughts you are interested in hearing, whose links you are interested in sharing, whose company's you are interested in staying informed about, etc.

Company Twitter accounts are no different than company blogs for all intents and purposes. The same goes for personal accounts and personal blogs. Do you care what I ate for breakfast? Probably not, but someone might. And I could've just as easily posted the same info on my personal blog. The difference is that on Twitter, I would've got right to the point - I didn't have any breakfast this morning. A blog entry might have taken several paragraphs to explain the reasoning behind this. If these are the only things I blogged about, you'd probably stop reading my blog.

If these are the only things I tweeted about, you'd probably stop following me. If twitter accounts are like blogs, then Twitter is like its own Blogosphere (or microblogosphere) combined with a feed reader. You select the ones you want to follow, just as if you were selecting what blogs to subscribe to.

To me, this is what Twitter is about. That’s not all it’s about, but that’s how I get the most use out of it. That’s probably why I am not an incredibly frequent Twitterer per se. I read Twitter a lot more than I write on Twitter, but that’s still using it. Neville Hobson recently wrote about how Twitter is for listening. For some of us, that is the biggest part of it, but still for others, it’s speaking. We couldn’t listen if nobody was talking.

It is clear that Twitter is about a variety of different things to different people (and nothing to others). One person's microblogging service is another person's networking platform. There is certainly plenty of crossover as well. It doesn't have to be about strictly one thing. It's whatever you want it to be. And if you don't want to use it, nobody's putting a gun to your head (hopefully).

Thank you to all who participated in my little survey. I’m not sure if we’ve helped anyone “get” it or not, but either way it was interesting to see the different words people came up with. Somehow, I didn't get many repeats. Twitter obviously fits different molds for different people. But we already knew that.

Got a word for Twitter that's not on the list? Share it with us.

...Try not to get too profane.

Las Vegas Strip Star Danny Gans Dies Suddenly, Says Twitter

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 20:17:01 +0000

There is some very sad news out of Sin City today, as longtime Las Vegas Strip performer Danny Gans has been found dead.

Of course the more “traditional” media has their coverage up, but it’s the famous microblogging site Twitter that is spreading the news in almost pandemic proportions.

A search on Twitter yields a staggering amount of people passing along the info, giving condolences, prayers for his family and just genuine shock at the demise of such a young entertainer. The death of Gans has been talked about so much that it’s even made the Trending Topics list on search.twitter.com.

A search on Google for “Danny Gans” shows the standard .com’s and biographys but also gives some related searches about his death.

Danny Gans recently started a new show in February at the 1,500 seat Encore Theater, owned by Steve Wynn, chief executive of Wynn Resorts.

The news of Gans’ death hit Wynn very hard, he released a few statements through his company which stated, “All of us ... are devastated at the loss of our brilliant, talented and loving friend”. He even called his death “a profoundly tragic event that leaves us all sad and speechless.”

For information on how Danny Gans died and other facts about his life visit ... FamousDeadDB.com .

White House Twitter Account Comes To Life

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 19:59:34 +0000

Following the presidential election, Barack Obama's Twitter account fell silent for more than two months, and some people suspected that he'd abandoned the service after achieving his goal. But the old account still sends out an occasional message, and today, an official Twitter page for the White House was also introduced.

Mind you, our nation's leader doesn't seem to be typing out text message abbreviations while counting to 140 himself; one tweet identifies Obama in the third person instead of the first, so don't count on hearing his thoughts directly (or watching him waste his time).

Still, a few hours in its existence, it looks like the official White House Twitter account will provide a steady stream of updates. Five (counting a welcome message) have been made so far, with one of them talking about the president playing ball with the UCONN Huskies.

Interestingly, two other tweets mention swine flu, and all three accounts the White House follows belong to the CDC. The White House, in turn, has attracted over 6,000 followers so far.

In related news, Yahoo made an announcement about the Official White House Photostream on Flickr just two days ago.

Facebook Makes Friend Organization Easier

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:38:06 +0000

If you go to Facebook.com/friends, you can create friend lists on Facebook and organize your friends into different categories. This is good for organization, privacy, and for simply controlling what you see on your home page. This clip pretty much explains what it's all about:

You can separate your co-workers from your family and your best friends from the people you went to high school with but don't really stay in touch with anymore. Luckily nobody can see your lists besides you, so you don't have to worry about someone who thinks you're their friend finding out that you really just view them as some guy from high school.

Since the redesign of Facebook, there has been a virtual flood of information running through the stream. Putting your friends into lists can help you organize all of this information. It has not been incredibly easy for people to figure out how to utilize these controls, so Facebook is making it easier.

"But something else really interesting that Facebook is doing is that it is now auto-populating some lists for you, if you don’t have any," notes MG Siegler. "It’s doing this by using the details you entered when you confirmed a friendship with someone — the “How do you know this person?” question. This auto-generation of lists will no doubt spur more usage of them and will hopefully help less savvy users figure out how to use them to make the site more manageable."

If you go to the link that says +Create in the left-hand menu on your home page, you can create a new Friends list. Your lists will appear in that menu as you create them.

Google Promotes Profiles by Giving Away Business Cards

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:13:26 +0000

Google has been directing a lot of attention toward Google Profiles lately. They begin offering a vanity URL feature for them, and began displaying them in search results. Now they are actually offering business cards for them. The company is giving away 10,000 sets of 25 Google Profile business cards for free.

To get them, users can follow these steps:

- Confirm the information on the card

- Fill in their shipping and email information (this info is only used for confirming and sending cards)

- Cards should be delivered within 10 to 12 business days.

The offering comes in partnership with iPrint.com. iPrint is a personal online printing service that lets you customize printing materials and have them delivered to your doorstep.

The business cards probably aren't the greatest thing for branding (except for Google of course), but it is actually to promote yourself as an individual if you are utilizing your profile to its potential.

The profile allows you to put any personal links up that you wish, so if you want to let people know how to find you anywhere online (such as on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Your Site, etc.) it can be quite useful for that.

They are free anyway, so it's not like you'll be wasting your money on this batch. The offer is apparently only available in the continental United States.

YouTube Channel Redesign Gets Some Updates

Aris Yulianta — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:41:55 +0000

A couple weeks ago, it was uncovered that YouTube was testing a "secret" beta of a new channel layout. Since then, the YouTube team has been hard at work adding new features and making updates to the new channel design.

Brian at the YouTube Channel Blog lists these, which include:

- Backgrounds should now be fixed - yes, these broke for a short while - if your background isn't on your channel right now, try uploading it again

- Can now message a user again

- Can now delete recent activity items

- Squashed the bug that prevented you from featuring a playlist

- Subscribe button appears when you're looking at your own channel

- UI improvements

- Lots of bug fixes

In addition to these, you can also now rearrange the boxes on your channel with little arrows. These go any direction, but you can't move the profile box or the big videos box at the top. You can remove these boxes with the "modules" tab.

Users of the redesign beta should note that you won't be able to see the arrows on a black background, although Nick on the blog says this will be fixed soon. He also says that this feature is one of the few things that "auto saves," so if you move the boxes, they should be like that next time you log in too.