Hey Google, what’s trending? Oh, just the death of journalism Mountain View has announced "the biggest expansion of Google Trends since 2012" in a move set to thicken the already impenetrable walls of its media-baiting echo chamber. "Every journey we take on the web is unique" began the traffic consolidator's announcement. Offering churnalists the opportunity to find real-time data on …
Someone once said "There is nothing new under the sun." And Mark Twain (I believe) said that he had a book that contained every word in every speech that his debate opponent had ever said - I think it was a dictionary conveniently handy to the loo.
With more blogs than people on the planet it's not too surprising that stuff gets regurgitated every now and then. Perhaps a more useful function would be one that found brand new uses of words, phrases, sentences, ideas rather than examples of the same old tired ones.
Google: Whoa, that's a totally new one on me!
"a faster, deeper and more comprehensive view of our world" through what they describe as "the lens" of Google Search
... which will, no doubt, screen out anything Google doesn't want you to see...
A link to F'em as an example of someone wronged by Google? Seriously.
F'em were a parasite on the back of search engines and now, backed by Microsoft, are trying to claim they were a victim rather than a meta search who wanted free advertising and questionable SEO to try to propel a myth they were a serious business rather than just an affiliate hunting link farm.
> Because Google only contacted Journalists.
This does not by itself prove that Reg writers are not Journalists, since Google didn't contact ALL Journalists. And I'm not sure (if I were a Journalist) that I'd WANT Google to be contacting me in that capacity, given the current article's content.
* 20 Amazing uses for Creosote
* 10 Animals you won't believe are real
* The most important youtube comments of 2015
* Why scientists think tomatoes may help us live forever
* This man wants to wallpaper Mars
* 15 children who are really baby adults
* 10 ways to spot clickbait
Actually, part of the reason I like the Reg is the skepticism. However, this is a case where you could actually DO something. My oft-repeated always-ignored suggestion is that you start selling SOLUTIONS to the problems you are so delighted to tell us about. Wasting keystrokes, but here's a slightly different version:
You hold the subscription money in a "charity share account" that we can donate towards projects that solve the problems. Perhaps 90% is for internal projects, which basically means you take the money from one pocket to another. For example, an internal project to pay for an article you'd already published might not raise the funding, but that would give you valuable feedback about your bad choices. In contrast, a topic we're actually interested in would fund the project for the original article, a project for more research, and maybe one or more specific follow-on article projects.
The external projects would be special gravy, especially for the authors who sincerely want to solve the problems. In addition, one would hope that their research into and resulting clarity in describing the problem earns them some say in the projects that might help solve the problem.
*sigh* More details available upon request, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for requests. It seems like the only way to make it happen is quit my current fairly satisfactory job and do this one myself.
In the early morning, Radio 3's news consists almost entirely of unedited excerpts of press releases lying on the mat when the staff arrive to wind up the gramophone and put Catriona Young out with the milk bottles.
Charity for dying children discovers more dying children than ever!
Mr Politician is expected to claim later today in a speech to people who aren't listening that....
The campaign for more poo walked into the house claimed today that a worrying increase in continental shoes-off-at-the-door behaviour has led to an alarming rise in allergies related to clean living.
So nice that the old fashioned ways still have relevance in today's crazy social-media world.
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