Categories
Gadgets Internet shopping

Here’s why you shouldn’t be focused on making iPhone apps

Starting an iPhone Application Business For Dummies
Starting an iPhone Application Business For Dummies

With all the talk these days of mobile devices and people making millions of dollars by selling apps like ANGRY BIRDS (just a reminder, iPhone app developers aren’t making that much money), the question keeps coming up about whether you should be making an iPhone app or not?

Categories
10 Things

The Best Companies to work for? How about “Where do YOU want to work most?”

The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America
The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America

We’ve all seen those lists of the TOP COMPANIES TO WORK FOR, based on survey results that cover all sorts of topics like their work-from-home/telecommuting policies, time off, healthcare benefits, and other aspect – both tangible and not so much.

But a list of the TOP COMPANIES TO WORK FOR will only go so far – because the majority of those lists are usually family-friendly, local organizations that know how to cater towards their employees.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.  If you are one of the lucky people working for one of those organizations, then good for you.  You’re already there.

Categories
Internet

Search Engine Jeopardy

Secrets of the Jeopardy Champions
Secrets of the Jeopardy Chamions

Web Watch is going to followup yesterday’s JEOPARDY post with this one, regarding WHICH SEARCH ENGINE WOULD WIN JEOPARDY!?

First, let’s consider the average human contestant on the game show.  The average contestant only buzzes in and answers about 60% of the questions correctly.

Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! superstar, was able to buzz in with a whopping 79% success rate.

So how do today’s search engines fare?

Categories
Internet News

What were the Top Words of the Decade? (You might want to Google it)


Scrabble Dictionary

Every year for the past 20 years, the AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY has gotten together to analyze and review word usage for the previous 12 months.  The beginning of 2010 is no exception, as Allan Metcalf and Grant Barrett (from MacMurray College and the online dictionary Wordnik.com, respectively) have released this year’s WORD OF THE YEAR and WORD OF THE DECADE.

The word of the year?   “tweet”, as either a description of the act of using Twitter, or the Twitter message itself.

The word of the decade?  “google”, used as a generic verb to search the Internet.

Categories
Internet Websites

Things Google Knows About You: Everything

Google Search and DestroyGoogle knows a lot about you.

If you use Google to search the web, then Google knows what you are looking for.

If you use Google’s GMAIL service, then Google knows who your circle of friends and family are, and the types of things that you email about (based on the Ad Words displayed alongside your messages).

Google owns Doubleclick, a leader in online advertising, so Google knows some of the sites that you are visiting (unless you opt-out of the Doubleclick tracking cookie, of course).

If you are using their new open DNS server 8.8.8.8, then Google can even track where you go on the web, whether you use their search engine or not.  (An aside:  Web Watch strongly encourages that you do have a secondary DNS server available to you in case your primary DNS server goes down, whether it be Google’s DNS server or someone else’s open DNS.)

Categories
How To Internet

Google has some tough interview questions (“you have eight balls the same size…”)

300 Interview AnswersWhen was the last time you went on a job interview?  Did you had some tough interview questions?

Web Watch is a fan of some of the infamous Microsoft interview questions, such as “how many payphones are there in Manhattan?”  (answer then: assume 4 payphones per street corner, then calculate how many street corners there are in Manhattan.  answer now: probably none)

Lewis Lin, an interview coach in Seattle, has compiled 140 GOOGLE JOB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS that have been asked over the years.