Profitable spelling mistakes

Google has been criticised for earning millions from web users’ spelling mistakes. Advertisers are buying media space on domains for the sole reason that there might be a chance that web users will arrive at the destination because of a spelling mistake or a typing error. Benjamin G. Edelman, assistant professor at Harvard Business School, claims Google earns between $32 and $50 million from such advertising deals.

For instance www.whitehouse.com is a popular site that gets many hits which is the incorrect domain if you are trying to get the American Presidential White House. The correct domain is www.whitehouse.gov. Another popular mistake is www.microsfot.com which you can probably guess is a spelling mistake for www.microsoft.com which again receives numerous hits.

Advertisers buying this type of space might not get as many hits as they would have originally liked considering they are betting on spelling mistakes, however it is a whole lot cheaper making the deal more cost effective. The advertisers get the figures they need to justify the purchase to its clients and Google get richer and all because of a society which is lackadaisical when it comes to spelling and grammar. History truly does repeat itself, this is not the first time one mans fault is another mans gain, although I personally don’t think Google should be criticised for this.

Plus, on the advertising front you’ve got to think that people, once they realise they are on the wrong site will immediately click off, meaning they will not absorb as much of the advertising message as someone on a site who arrived there deliberately. The company who’s had its ad placed there is the ultimate loser.

The morphing mobile market

Nokia has recently released a video and images of its new conceptual nano mobile phone. The mobile is called Morph and uses nanotechnology which is still in development but suggests it is going to offer some very impressive and incredible functionality to its customers.

The phone is designed to be stretchable morphing into different shapes to fit round your wrist like a bangle. It can also be stretched out to function as a very thin touch sensitive screen.

Established mobile manufacturers like Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola must be feeling the pressure from all the new brands and mobile phones coming out in the market. Clothing brands are developing mobiles as designer accessories. Internet and technology companies such as Apple and Google are using mobiles to acquire new customers and up sell software and products to existing customers.

The launch of the new Google Android and 2^nd generation iPhone is clearly a warning for other mobile companies to step up a gear to differentiate design, operating systems and functionality to compete in the saturated mobile market.

To chav or not to chav? – What an ugly question!

We all find it funny even though we know we shouldn’t; people tripping in the street, items in people’s teeth, skirts tucked into pants and generally ugly people.

I had the misfortune of being on a long haul flight at the weekend surrounded by ‘the tracksuit family’. There were 15 of them in total, ranging from babies to old men. Buck teeth, bad hair, massive gold hoop earrings (even the baby) and all in matching chav tracksuits. They really were living, breathing stereotypes.

I logged on this morning to my emails having been away for a week and while they were downloading I thought I’d do a quick Google search to see if everyone has judgemental moments like me. I found this site http://www.shameachav.com/ where you can rate a picture on how ‘chav-like’ the person in it is.

And then it suddenly struck me, we think we’re safe rating others from behind our magazines/newspapers or computer screens, silently judging the masses while smugly chuckling to ourselves about our amazing hotness. But maybe we aught to beware!

Imagine if it was out of your hands and all of a sudden it’s your picture online and suddenly you’re the one being rated. Well, that’s exactly what happens on sites like http://www.uglypeople.com/. I somehow don’t think a sane person would upload their own picture. In the age of Facebook, giving your friends access to all the ‘drunken night out’ pictures you have, beware of the morning where you Google yourself to find that shot of you being sick into your shoes in Malaga!

Of course, here at Custard Tower’s one would never dream of uploading a fellow Lushes pic… ;-) hehe!

One Night in Paris (on the Oval Office Desk?)

According to a Google search conducted this morning there are more than 2,290 news articles on Paris Hilton’s supposed rise to the presidential candidacy. This media frenzy was sparked by the fact that, in the increasingly childish presidential campaign Hilton’s seems to be the voice of reason, even if that does include a pledg to paint the White House pink. Loathe as I am to get into the whole he started it first playground thing, McCain fired of the first round claiming that Obama resembled Hilton’s vapid celebrity persona.

Hilton responded with her own presidential comeback bikini clad and poolside. However, few people know that the address was drafted by Adam McKay, the comedy writer whose past collaborations have included Will Ferrell and John C Reilly. Expect to hear more from the aspiring young penman in the next couple of months, his career is set to go stratospheric. You can also see the Hilton presidential video at the following http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HeealouOeQ. You can also see Paris’ other video here (SECTION CENSORED BY BLOG EDITOR.)