alwayslookaround (and occasionally tell about it)

Google has obviously become a household name. There’s no doubt that they have earned their #1 spot by having an excellent search engine, but is it that much better than Yahoo? Some say it isn’t. Many have no idea, because they only use Google and never even consider using Yahoo. Part of the reason for that is that Google has become a standard in most people’s lexicons. We’ve all seen and heard TV shows, radio shows, movies, your friends, your grandmother, etc. talking about something and saying “just Google it”. Or, “I Googled it”. That has had a HUGE effect on the spread of the use of Google. How much did Google pay for all that great advertising and word of mouth? Nothing. They have never advertised. So how have they gotten such a great reputation? First off, by having a great product. Secondly, by having a great phrase. “Google it!” It just flows.

“Yahoo it!” doesn’t have the same ring. But Yahoo does have a terrific search engine. So they need to work on a new slogan for it. Something that can/will be easily adapted and spread by word of mouth. Something as fun and catchy as their original “Ya-hoooooooooooooooooo” slogan, but that speaks directly about their search engine. Build it (the phrase), and they will come.

I received a call from my Mom last night. She told me she accepted an offer to sell the house I grew up in. She retired and moved down to Florida about a year ago, so it doesn’t make sense keeping it. Especially since she just finished paying off the mortgage, only to turn around and take out another to finance her new life in Florida. She tried convincing my brother and me that one of us should keep it, but neither one of us can ever imagine moving back to Long Island. And even if we did (about as likely as the return of MacGyver, which I am still waiting for), we probably wouldn’t move back into our childhood home. It’s a very modest (i.e. small) condominium, and although it served us well, it’s a place we grew out of, not one we can grow into.

My Mom is pretty upset about selling her “home”. It’s a somewhat sad event for me too (and I’m sure for my brother as well, even though he denies it), but I’m trying to view it as what it is - just another step on the ladder of life. For my Mom though, I think it represents a lot more. As a single Mother raising two children on a public servant salary, making the mortgage payment was always her top priority, and often a huge concern. In fact, I remember my Mom’s biggest fear always being “to be homeless”. When I was younger, I just assumed my Mom had a soft spot in her heart for homeless people, especially because we often bought food for them. In reality, she herself (with my brother and I) was only 1-2 paychecks away from being homeless, hence her fright. Thankfully, she (we) made it. It wasn’t always ever easy, but she never missed a payment. The funny thing is that as she’s gotten older, I think “elevators” has probably climbed it’s way to the top of her fear list, but I’d bet the homeless concern is a very close second, even though she is more financially secure at this point. I suppose after you live with a fear for so long, it becomes hard to shake.

Anyway, it’s a strange feeling to know that you can no longer go back to the place you grew up. It’s definitely a loss of some sort, but I can’t exactly put it into words. Regardless, rather than getting stuck on the “loss” part of it, I want to congratulate my Mom for her “gain”. She maintained ownership of that home for my entire life to date, and she did it against all the odds. In succedding, she has gained admiration, respect, gratitude, awe, love, memories, and most importantly, a family with a tight bond. Those are things that the sale of a property can never take away.

Well done, Mom!!! Sell and move on. Upward and onward.

Tonight I watched “Dummy“. Excellent movie, I loved it. A fun performance by Milla Jovovich, who was cast in a much different type of role than the ones she is normally cast in. Also a fine job by Adrien Brody, who really does all of the ventriloquism in the movie.

It was a fine start to my return to Netflix. I haven’t used Netflix in more than 4 years. But now that I’m back in the US for the foreseeable future, I have resumed what I have missed. :-)

On a side note, I was very impressed that Netflix maintained my rental and ratings history the whole time I was gone. Amazing customer service/satisfaction.

Fred Wilson posted a link to an article by Om Malik about the Mayor of Paris wanting free wireless internet access for all. I lived in Paris for about a year, and I was blown away by how much more reliable (not to mention clean!) the Paris Metro system is compared to the Metro systems in other cities of the word, especially the ones in the US. Add to that the food and wine, and you can understand why Paris remains a top-class city. :-)

Seriously, it doesn’t surprise me that Paris is progressive enough to be pushing a free wireless internet initiative. The only thing that surprises me is that the US is still such a laggard when it comes to major wi-fi/wi-max networks covering our cities. Yes, I realize there are initiatives in a few select cities, but there aren’t as many as there should be. The bureaucratic red tape and strangleholds by the old world Telcos are holding us back in a big way.

On that note, I’m happy to report that my idea in the SinceSlicesBread.com competition has been selected as one of the 21 finalists: Blanket The US With Wireless Access. Not only because there are cash prizes for the winning 3 ideas, but also because the winning idea will be pursued by the competition sponsors in an attempt to bring it to fruition and make it a reality.

The public picks the winners. So please visit the competition website to learn more about the competition, review the 21 finalists, and vote for your favorite 3 ideas: SinceSlicedBread.com

It appears Yahoo is finally taking action to convert Google searchers into Yahoo searchers. A few days ago, I noticed this message appear when I opened the Yahoo homepage via the Firefox browser. I think it’s a fine move, and I hope it works for them. But I wonder how effective it will really be.

You’ll notice the message has a “Don’t show this again” check box. Even without checking the box, the message is frequency capped to 1 impression per user. Why show it only 1 time, especially when you give the user the ability to turn it off? Maybe Yahoo is testing the effectiveness, and they’ll soon increase the frequency cap. Or maybe it’s a half baked execution of a good idea. Only time will tell.