Tall Skinny Kiwi

Google Webmaster Tools: Search Results from each country

Google webmaster tools now has a feature that lets you see what google searches people did to find your site FROM EACH COUNTRY! I had no idea they were so different. Its really worth a look. Here are my number one search queries in which my site appeared:

USA - "andrew jones"
UK - "habbohotel uk"
New Zealand - "kiwi nudes"
Germany - "Horst Schafrenek"
France - "sex house"
Turkey - "i dress"
Netherlands - "andrew jones"
No results yet from China, Australia and a few other straggling countries.

And if you don't have Google webmaster tools, then do it. And set up a site map so you can control those Google bots, wild beasts all of them, and point them to the blog posts they need to see.

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, google webmaster

iphone

Apple's iphone comes out tonight. Whoopdy Do! Its just a stupid phone and it costs too much money - $499 and $599. My motorola phone is 2 years old and if it died tomorrow i think i would resurrect my REALLY old Sony Ericsson 68i which i loved. If i want iTunes then i will buy an iPod. If i want a notebook i will write on paper with pen - which i still prefer. Yes it looks cool. Damn cool. But I just cant justify buying it or the service. In fact, AppleMatters calculates the iphone will cost you $3000 over two years. Maybe you cant afford it either. Is anyone buying this phone? Engadget has the skinny.

I remember the days when Apple was a company that helped people become productive rather than their current role as a vendor of cool products. I attended Mac Expo in 2000 in San Francisco and my life changed . . . radically changed. It was productivity rather than products. I think those days are gone.

Technorati Tags: iphone

Internet "Smelly Vision" by 2015

News story says Korean tech experts predict computers will transmit scent through the internet by 2015. This will be very good news for the alt. worship communities and cyberchurches. Maybe even bloggers. Expect my recipes to have accompanying smells. I wonder how others will use it?

Coffee smells for emerging church conversations?
Incense for cyberchurch services?
Old leather for classic book reviews?
Sulphur for online gospel tracts?

Wiki Words

- Wired's Big Question Wiki needs some people to help fill in the blanks to BIG questions like:
Where is the Holy Grail?

- SmartBibleWiki.com is under development, courtesy of the omnipresent Dr Andy Jackson of SmartChristian who has the skinny;
"SmartBibleWiki.com will be an open-source website dedicated to the interpretation of each book of the Bible. I will keep you informed as things unfold, but I would appreciate your prayer support as I take this initial step with already having a heavy teaching and ministry load."

Look for it soon.

Technorati Tags: wiki

Leith Anderson in the Search Engines

Mark Driscoll's latest blog post on how churches should respond to pastoral crises of falling leaders (ie . . Haggard) has made me think about how churches and their web sites should also be geared to BLESS their rising leaders (ie . . . Anderson).

Yesterday I did a search for NAE Interim President Leith Anderson, not because i don't know who he is - i do and have eaten with the man - but I wanted to see what the world would find when they typed "Leith Anderson" in their search engines.

And guess who was first? An adversarial site [Lighthouse Trails] that does not appreciate the gift that is Leith Anderson. The same site that slams the emerging church for being six degrees from Dallas Willard and slams prayer movements for being contemplative.

HELLO?
he he he he
HELLO?
EARTH TO LIGHTHOUSE????
Has there EVER been a prayer ministry that has not been contemplative?

[Having said that about Lighthouse, I should add that LighthouseTrails has a very personal message regarding Haggard that is worth reading and made me second guess the site. I might even order Catherine's book called Laughter Calls Me]

Anyway, where was I? I took another shot today at finding Leith and looky what happened. Lighthouse has gone to number 3 and Wooddale Church has moved to first place. My guess is that the folk at Google jumped in, expecting the rush, and added some human insight because the system was not going to work right for Leith Anderson. Yahoo is kinder to Leith and points to his books before landing at his church [No. 7]

Have you tried linking to Leith Anderson? Almost impossible. The only place on his church site is a group photo with frames. Here is why Leith gets no respect in Googleland . . . his church web site is flash driven and there is no static anchor text for Leith so he doesn't get the necessary permanent links he needs to control his own story.

Which causes me to say . .. hey . . . church webmasters . . instead of forking out the big bucks for fancy graphics and morphing flash icons, go out and buy a $10 book on SEO (search engine optimization) and let your pastor take his/her rightful place in the rankings. And if you cant do that, be honest and tell them to get their own blog and start laying down some history and some ranking cred because the day may come . . and indeed is now upon Leith Anderson . . . when the myriads and the masses will come looking.
Blessed is he who is found ready.

Technorati Tags: church, haggard, leith anderson, mark driscoll

Bloglings, meet your Maker

I liked the title of this blog post about Tim Berners Lee so much i just had to say it out loud and repost the picture of Sir Tim. i also just found Tim's book for £2 and ordered it. Thanks to Gareth of View From The Potting Shed.

Technorati Tags: blog, web 2.0

Oct 26: Orkney Island's Firefox 2.0 Party

Firefox 2.0 release party. 4pm, Oct 26th. My place. Bring your notebook. WIFI provided and tea or coffee. We will dedicate this new browser to the Creator to be used for creativity, justice and happiness. Get invited here.

Technorati Tags: blog, web 2.0

Contribute 4 has blog capabilities

Adobe's Contribute 4 sounds impressive with the blogging capability . . . but i am leaning towards online solutions like Flock browser. And i still cant beat ecto for blogging control and offline writing.

Technorati Tags: blog, web 2.0

Swarm released by Digg Labs

Swarm: A great Web 2.0 info-experience and i already have an account. All kinds of news and info popping up on the screen in the same way my brain works . . . but . . . no RELIGION news! Come on, we are waiting . . .

Technorati Tags: tech, web 2.0

Have WiFi, Will Travel

Well I dont have one, yet. But since many conference centers don't have a Wifi connection, like the one i have just come from last week, I could always bring my own along. The Kyocera KR1 Mobile Router might be just the ticket. Laughing Squid has roadtested it and BoingBoing approves but it looks like it will only work for my American conferences.

I have also been toying with the idea of using web-based conference material rather than computer based. With wfi, I could just lead people through a web presentation and they could access it also in real time, and after the conference. Very Web 2.0 . . . My only holdback is the lack of wifi at most conference centers and churches. But all that will soon change with toys like this one. Does anyone have one yet?

Related: The Wifi-enabled Church

Other Tech News;
- Next generation Mac OS 5.1 [Leopard] should feature calls from i-chat 4.0 to traditional phone lines [macrumors]
- $60 software to be released this summer called Crossover will let you run Windows apps on an intel Mac without buying Windows. [MacCentral]

Technorati Tags: church, conference, mac, mobile, tech, wifi

MacBook is here

The MacBook. Its here. Finally. And its exactly as predicted by MacRumors and other sources. The new MacBook replaces the ibook - of which i have had two. It comes in white or the more expensive, slightly faster, slightly bigger 80 Gig HD in the wicked color BLACK, which seems better looking but i am not sure if is worth the extra price. No modem, but I dont think a modem is really needed in our WiFi world. Not for me, anyway.

I reckon its an excellent buy if you go for the cheapest option with 1 Gig RAM (add $100 or £70). Aren't you glad you waited?

Technorati Tags: macbook, tech

Vizrea: Phone to Blog Software

Vizrea was "unstealthed" today and makes a splash on the Seattle Times. From its humble beginnings in the basement of our nu-monastic-community in Prague (the Giant Peach) to the computer screens and fancy Symbian-based phones of the world, Jarda's software, which became a joint Czech-USA project, has eventually been released. I am very connected to this software and will be using it WHEN it recognizes the MAC community and financially-challenged bloggers with old MMS phones.

The story of this software starts nearly 4 years ago in Prague when my good friend Jarda read a post on my old blog mentioning my desire to post images directly from my phone. Jarda, having left his Microsoft position, and giving some leadership to the Czech web portal Atlas, moved his office into the Giant Peach (our community) and got to work. Heres a short timeline with links to my old blog.

May 2002 - Jarda promises me some phone-to-blog software.
Dec 2002 - Jarda is working out of the basement in our house on his phone-to-blog software that is going to be called BlueLog.
May 2003 - Someone beats me to be the world's first phone-to-blog blogger. Dangitt!!!
June 2003 - I write "I also want to use my mms phone more but am still waiting for the right software to get developed."
2004 - Jarda hooks up with some old Microsoft buddies from Seattle.
2005 - I get an email from Jarda. "Hi Andrew, Andrew, Andrew :))))) Sorry, that it tooks three years and more to finish my promised blogging engine :))"
2006 - Software is eventually released as Vizrea Snap for the PC. Some say it will challenge Flickr.

Jaroslav (Jarda) Bengl is a great person, an avid photographer, a devoted follower of God, and a Geek par excellence. He is a considered the "father of the Czech internet" and we are very proud of him and his mates from Seattle. But here's the thing - Vizera doesn't work with Mac yet so I still cant use it. I also cant use it with my OLD Sony Ericsson T68i phone. That means, dear Jarda, that you are still not off the hook. Get back to work, dude!
HT: Alexandr 'Sasa' Flek (Jarda's spiritual advisor)

Technorati Tags: blog, phone, vizrea