Twitter Shows Language Evolves in Cities

New Scientist (11/17/12) Jim Giles

Georgia Institute of Technology professor Jacob Eisenstein and colleagues are using social networks to examine the evolution of language.  The researchers collected 30 million Tweets sent from U.S. locations between December 2009 and May 2011, and built a mathematical model to capture the flow of new words between cities.  The model found that new words tend to take life in cities with large African American populations before spreading more widely.  Moreover, cities that are economically and ethnically similar are more likely to share new words.  "Their results indicate that birds of a feather tweet together," says University of Groningen linguist John Nerbonne.  The researchers are working on a more detailed analysis that could potentially reveal which cities are most influential.  Eisenstein also wants to know whether neologisms spread more quickly because of Twitter and other social networks.  An analysis of many types of data, including blog posts and Facebook entries, would enable the team to study whether social media is accelerating the evolution of language more generally.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628916.300-twitter-shows-language-evolves-in-cities.html

Do you need a blog - 13 reason

Blogs aren’t exactly the new kid on the digital ecosystem, but , they sure do get the job done. Here’s why I think you should seriously consider adding a blog to your personal or company’s website.

1. A blog shows visitors you know your stuff


Whatever your industry, potential customers probably want to know you understand it before they hand over their credit card number, or even call. If they can easily find some articles written by you and/or your staff that show your company’s expertise, they’re going to feel a lot more confident about spending their time or money (or both) with you.

2. A blog helps you get more traffic

Sounds good – maybe even a little too good to be true, right? Nevertheless, if you’re blogging regularly and well – or even kind of well – you’re bound to get some social media attention that will bring more visitors to your website. You may earn links from other sites, too. And then there are the SEO benefits inherent in any decent blog…

3. Blog = SEO, baby


The more content on your website, the better your odds of ranking highly in Google search results for the keyword phrases Google finds in your posts.


Search engines really look for each page of a website to be about one specific thing. Every blog post is a page, so if you want to rank for 50 different keyword phrases, you really need to have close to 50 different pages (such as blog posts) with each page dedicated primarily to a single keyword phrase.


You can’t hope to rank well in search engines for many keywords that matter for your business if your site has just a few pages such as Contact, About Us, Meet Our Team, and a home page that talks about all the various things you offer.

4. Blog posts are link bait


We’re sure you know that links from other sites to yours – also known as backlinks or inbound links – are an important factor for helping your site appear higher in SERPs (search engine results pages). And as you probably also know, it isn’t easy to get someone to link from their site to yours. (Unless you pay them, and we don’t recommend that.)


It’s unlikely that someone will want to link to your home page, or to a page about your product or services. But how about an interesting and insightful blog post about your industry? That might do the trick.


If you regularly put out interesting or helpful content on your blog, you will have a much easier time getting backlinks. Be a good example: When you see interesting or helpful content on someone else’s blog that’s relevant to one of your posts, do include a link to that blog. (They may return the favor!)

5. A blog is food for social media 


Just like it’s hard to rank well without blog posts, it’s hard to get anyone to share a link to your website on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ if you don’t regularly blog about interesting topics.


If you can blog well enough that people start sharing links to your blog posts from their social media accounts, there’s nothing better. People like to share valuable articles with their networks, and these social media links will help your SEO. Social media mentions and links are a signal to Google and Bing that people consider a site valuable – and the search engines use that signal to help them rank websites in search results. Plus, you’ll get more direct visitors from the people who actually click those social media links.


For tips on creating blog posts more people will want to share in social media, read our post You Deserve More Blog Comments & Shares.


One more great thing about blog posts – they give you something to mention in your own social media accounts. Some days even the cleverest person runs out of new things to say.

6. Behold the CTR power of Google Authorship


Have you seen a search result like this? That’s called a rich snippet – a Google search result that isn’t just the plain ‘ol link with a little text below. When the author of a blog post is hooked up with Google Authorship, their blog posts will look like this in Google SERPs.


So what? Well, search results like this have a much higher CTR (click-through rate). MarketingTechBlog.cofares.net found that their posts with a Google+ portrait in search results were almost 5 times as likely to be clicked on in search results than links without it.


Read more about the importance of Google Authorship and how to set it up for your blog.

7. Unlike social media posts, you really do own your blog content – and you’re the one benefiting from it


For many business owners, the idea of giving up control is scary. But that’s exactly what you’re doing when you post content on a social network.


Facebook could decide that you’re violating their terms of service and delete your page. LinkedIn gets to decide which ads to place around your content. Twitter sometimes goes down and makes your tweets temporarily inaccessible. Pinterest could get bought by some company that doesn’t care about keeping the site working. The list of risks goes on.


When you put out great content on social networks, you get some benefits for sure – and so do the social networks. They get more pages in Google’s index, they can sell more advertising, and their valuation or stock prices could go up – all thanks to you and a few million others.


Now don’t get us wrong. Here at AboutUs, we definitely think social media is something businesses should be using. But we hate to see blogging overlooked when it has some serious advantages for almost any business.

8. Getting and keeping people on your site probably helps your business goals.


Do you want people to buy your product, call you about your services, fill out a lead generation form, or do something similar? If someone is reading a blog post on your website, the odds are much better that they will.

9. Blog posts have a longer shelf life

Email newsletters, tweets and Facebook posts are fleeting, and will likely be forgotten and hard to find a few days after they’re sent or posted. Your blog is a great place for more evergreen topics that will stay relevant and helpful weeks or months after they’re first published.


It’s certainly fine to blog about timely and current things, and we encourage you to do so. But make sure the important things you want people to see now and later are published on your blog.

10. Help with customer support


Do you keep getting the same questions from your customers? Why not turn each question and answer into a blog post? It will lessen the load on your customer support people, and make it easier for them to give more detailed answers quicker. It can also show prospective clients that you are serious about helping your customers.


11. Cred for author


Do you want your CEO to be seen as a thought leader in your space? Do you want to give your employees some publicity? Writing for the company blog and getting a byline can give employees (including the CEO) some street cred, and probably a warm, fuzzy feeling. Bonus points for having each author create or enhance their Google+ profile, and for assuring they have Google Authorship status. (Do NOT post everyone’s blog posts as Admin…we’re begging you.)

12. Blog comments – and commentors – are gold


One of the great features of blog posts is that they allow readers to leave a comment. This conversation is invaluable. It can give you ideas for your new product, next blog post, a better customer service process, or something else important to your business.


Because it takes time and effort to comment on a blog post, anyone who does is probably worth taking a look at. Are they a prospective client or business partner someone should follow up with? Is the commenter someone you should follow on Twitter? Is he or she a customer you should reach out to, maybe to offer support or ask for a testimonial?


Comments also make your blog post more meaty content-wise, both for your readers and for search engines. For tips on getting more blog comments, read our blog post about that.

13. Blogging shows you’re still in business, and rocking it


When I look at a company website, I often come away with a sense of how “alive” the company is. First and foremost, I can’t help but notice if the site looks like it was built in the ’90s, or if it’s modern. I also notice the presence or absence of social media links and a blog, and I pay attention to when the last blog post was published. For this reason, I only recommend adding a blog to your site if you plan to blog more than once a year.


An active blog (posts are published once a month, or more often) is a signal to Google that your site is “alive,” and that it’s worth revisiting regularly to re-index and discover new pages. If the content on your website hasn’t changed in years, Google will visit it less often. That sends a signal that the site isn’t so valuable, and can cause Google to rank the site lower than it would if you published more regularly.



Convinced? Here’s how to add a blog to your website


Adding a blog to your website can be very easy or pretty tricky, depending on how your website was set up. Talk with your technical or website person and see if they can add a blog to your website at www.YourWebsite.com/blog or blog.YourWebsite.com.

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Faster Chips 'Cut Cloud-Computing Bills'

BBC News (10/23/12)

Researchers at Deutsch Telekom Laboratories and Aalto University have found that customers of Amazon's EC2 cloud service do not receive the same level of performance. Amazon says it uses generic hardware, but the team used tools to examine the software that controls the groups of servers customers rent, and was able to identify the chip at the heart of each server in a group or instance of computers. Measurements taken over the course of a year revealed instances running newer, faster chips, and they were much faster than clusters that used older hardware. "In general, the variation between the fast instances and slow instances can reach 40 percent," the researchers wrote in a paper, noting that for some applications the newer clusters worked about 60 percent faster. The faster instances would enable users to reduce their server bills by up to 30 percent because the newer machines are able to crunch data faster. The team is now working on tools that can determine the performance characteristics of particular clusters and push work to more powerful groups.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20028594

How to Get Your First Cloud Computing Job

InfoWorld, October 12

As the cloud computing field continues to expand rapidly, there is an accompanying need for top IT talent to develop and implement this technology. That translates into many new jobs chasing very few qualified candidates. As a result, many IT professionals are attempting to figure out how they can adapt for a career in the cloud. For now, there are two basic types of cloud jobs: cloud technology specialists, who focus on a specific cloud technology and how to develop or implement it; and cloud planners, who configure new systems in the cloud or lead the migration of existing systems to the cloud. The article takes a closer look at how jobseekers can land both of these cloud jobs.

In most instances, the listings for the cloud planner positions are filled by existing IT staffers who understand full well that having cloud computing experience on their CV translates into larger paychecks going forward. Those looking to break into cloud computing will have the best luck by learning a specific technology, then taking a cloud technology specialist job. The trick is getting the initial experience. The most ambitious candidates will begin their own "shadow IT" projects using a hot cloud computing technology, then soon find their way to a formal and high-paying cloud gig. Cloud computing is filled with stories about self-taught successes, due to the lack of formal training offered.

Those seeking higher-level jobs such as cloud planners and architects won't entertain as many options, but they can be found. The best way to prepare for these jobs is to understand all you can about the technology, including use cases and existing architectural best practices and approaches. If there's an upside to the emergence of cloud computing, it's the number of job opportunities it's creating, much like any hyped technology trend we've seen in the past. Cloud computing, however, is a further-reaching, more systemic change in the way we consume technology. Thus, the job growth around this change will last for many years.

Click Here to View Full Article 

Internet Anti-Censorship Tools Are Being Overwhelmed by Demand

Washington Post (10/22/12) James Ball

The overwhelming popularity of U.S.-backed programs to thwart online censorship is limiting access to the tools in repressive countries because demand is creating bottlenecks and there is insufficient funding to expand capacity.  The United States invests about $30 million annually in Internet freedom, with the government funding nonprofits and other developers of software that can be downloaded by users in nations where censorship is rampant.  But China, Iran, and other countries are stepping up their efforts to stifle Internet freedom, prompting proponents to urge the Obama administration to ratchet up its own initiatives.  Calls for the Broadcasting Board of Governors to boost Internet freedom spending are being weighed against congressional pressures for the agency to reduce its budget significantly.  Officials privately say the funding issues are mired in security and political concerns.  Internet freedom activists say the development of online censorship bypassing tools is partly challenged by the need to determine the amount to invest now to help users avoid detection, versus how much to invest on more complex future projects that could keep up with censorship technology.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/online-tools-to-skirt-internet-censorship-overwhelmed-by-demand/2012/10/21/390457a2-082d-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_story.html

IETF Starts Work on Next-Generation HTTP Standard

IDG News Service (10/03/12) Joab Jackson

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is working on the next generation of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), says Mark Nottingham, chairman of the IETF HTTP working group. The IETF standard SPDY protocol will serve as the basis for the updated protocol underlying the Web. HTTP version 2.0 will accommodate the evolving use of the Web as a platform for delivering applications and bandwidth-intensive, real-time multimedia content. The working group will look to reduce latency and streamline the process of how servers transmit content to browsers, but the protocol also must be backward compatible with HTTP 1.1 and remain open to be extended for future uses as well. HTTP 2.0 will primarily use TCP, but other transport mechanisms may be substituted. A proposed standard is scheduled to be submitted to the Internet Engineering Steering Group by 2014. The working group also will continue to refine HTTP 1.1. "Having a real, stable, solid, mature standard would be key to further improvements of HTTP protocol," says NGINX's Andrew Alexeev. "There's definitely the need for a modern Web protocol that is well suited for today's and tomorrow's Internet infrastructure, Web architectures, applications, server, and client software."
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/100312-ietf-starts-work-on-next-generation-263000.html

An Operating System in the Cloud

PhysOrg.com (10/09/12)

Tsinghua University researchers have developed TransOS, a cloud computing operating system that stores its code in the cloud, which enables a connection from a bare terminal computer. The terminal has a minimal amount of code that dynamically connects it to the Internet, after which TransOS downloads specific pieces of code that offer users options as if they were running a conventional operating system via a graphical user interface. Applications call on TransOS only as needed so that memory is not used by inactive operating system code as it is by a conventional desktop computer operating system. "The TransOS manages all the networked and virtualized hardware and software resources, including traditional OS, physical and virtualized underlying hardware resources, and enables users to select and run any service on demand," according to the Tsinghua researchers. They note TransOS also could be implemented on other devices, such as refrigerators and washing machines, and factory equipment. The researchers say it is essential that a cloud operating system architecture and relevant interface standards be established to enable TransOS to be developed for a vast range of applications.
http://phys.org/news/2012-10-cloud.html