links for 2008-04-28

Unlike the American Olympic team, it seems that The Economist *has* fallen foul of the Google 'paid link' police. Astonishing really, when you consider their main advertising model is...selling contextual links on web pages ;-) [via OJB]

"Sadly, my story, the fairly common, non-conflicting story where cultures don't clash, but sit quietly side by side with minimal effort required, is one that never gets the limelight".

"My question is, why aren’t Google, Microsoft, and other mainstream media sites putting a giant 'CLICK ME, I CAN SAVE YOU TIME AND MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER!' button on all of their pages, versus the ubiquitous yet sorely unknown RSS icon?". My answer? Ads.

"If they value trust so much, why didn’t Liverpudlians boycott the Sun over its reporting of a fake shark off the coast of Cornwall? Selective application of the trust principle?"

I probably should have gone to this, but somehow ended up at the Doctor Who Exhibition in Earls Court instead...

"Half the UK population has grown up playing computer games. They aren't addicted, they aren't psychopathic killers, and they resent those boneheads – that's you – who imply that they are addicted and are psychopathic killers".

"So from the user experience perspective, the first questions we should ask are how often does the engine return the very best matches at the top of the results list, and how good are the matches it does return?".