Robert Reich about the Obama bitter comment

I really don't get the big problem with Obamas comment about people being frustrated and bitter. Middle and lower classes in the US sure has a lot to be frustrated and bitter about, as far as I can tell.

Former US labor minister Robert Reich has put his two cents into the discussion.

Robert Reich's Blog: Obama, Bitterness, Meet the Press, and the Old Politics

Are Americans who have been left behind frustrated? Of course. And their frustrations, their anger and, yes, sometimes their bitterness, have been used since then -- by demagogues, by nationalists and xenophobes, by radical conservatives, by political nuts and fanatical fruitcakes – to blame immigrants and foreign traders, to blame blacks and the poor, to blame "liberal elites," to blame anyone and anything.

Obama also has responded to the spin from Clinton and McCain in a very good way, I think.

Norwegian SEO company banned from Google

Norwegian SEO company Prioritet has been banned from the Google index for going on four months now. Google has removed the SEOs web site from their index, and as of 5 days ago several of the SEO companies customers have been removed from the index.

Read more about Prioritet over at SEO SPAM Cops

Michael Moore telling CNN the truth

Love this. Michael Moore on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and really going after the poor job CNN has been doing when it comes to the war and his previous movie Fahrenheit 9/11 - as well as the mud slinging that is happening right now about his new movie Sicko - which is showing on a cinema near you right now. The movie tells the story about how bad the health care in the USA actually is. Makes me feel lucky to live in a civilized country such as Norway.

How Google is ripping off advertisers

There has been much talk about click fraud and Google Adwords, a program for advertisers where you can bid for search words and place ads on numerous websites through the Google content network. But something that has gone largely unnoticed is how Google is making it easy for domain thiefs and domain miss-spelling sites to make a killing off of unsuspecting Google advertisers using the Google Adwords advertisement system.

The perpetrator: Google Adsense for domains

Until recently I wasn't aware of "Google Adsense for domains". Its a program that lets people own enough domain names set up domain parking sites that in essence only contains Adsense advertisements and no content. Placing ads on content free pages is actually against the regular Adsense terms and conditions and I would get in trouble if I did that on my blog or any other site I have. But the ads shown on these special "Adsense for domains" sites are not covered by the Adsense terms and conditions but rather the much less strict terms and condition for "Google Adsense for domains"

The scam

So what is the big deal you might ask? Well, my biggest problem with it is that I can't avoid placing my ads on these suspect sites if I want to advertise on Google and on its search and content networks. There is no option in Adwords to exclude Adsense for domains sites. And the main reason I want to exclude these sites are that while they may provide clicks, the clicks that they provide are of close to no value. Primarily because users are lured to these sites and click around to find what they were looking for in the first place, and are probably unaware that they end up clicking on a paid ad. Examples of such sites are f-sekure.com - a typo domain. Many cyber squatters are also using the Google service to earn money off of other peoples trademarks. F-secure - a manufacturer of anti-virus software has covered the problem with cyber squatters buying typo-domains for anti-virus software and earning money through the Google Adsense for domains program.

The solution

The issue isn't new. Its been raised time and time again by advertisers on Google, but I guess the pressure has not been enough for Google to act. All the really have to do is to split their network into search, content and domains. That way we can all pick and choose where our ads ends up being displayed, and we will be able to advertise content networks without the fear of Google assisting in ripping its advertisers off through shady websites. It would also be good if we would all get better tools to guide our traffic to sites that makes sense for us.

Until that happens, do as I do: Turn off the content network and the search network and use all your money on Googles own search. If enough advertisers do this, I am sure Google will wake up and smell the coffee and do something about this mess.

More information about the impact of the Google Adsense for domains program

• SearchEngineWatch: Google AdSense For Domains Program Overdue For Reform
• SearchEngineWatch: Search Engines Making Millions Off Type-In Traffic From Domains
• SearchEngineWatch: AdWords For Domains Garbage Traffic

Joost invites

If you know someone using Joost, then you have a way of getting an invite. Now its open for everyone that knows someone that has a Joost account.

OK, I see I have to update: I will give you a Joost invite, but its not free for all anymore. The Joost invitation system is a royal pain in the ass, so the effort I put in to give you an invite has to be countered by an effort by you to do something for me. Alas: You scratch my back, I scratch yours:

So here is what you need to do:

1. Link to my site http://weblog.bergersen.net/ from your blog/site/whateverIt HAS to be a site / blog that has been around a while, I will not accept links from blogs or sites created just to get an invite.
2. When that is done, let me know in the comments to this posting, and I will send you an invite.

I will do my very best to do that for everyone that meets my crierias. Give me a couple of days to be able to handle your request from you send it to me though.

Joost in public beta

Joost invites are VERY popular these days. If you don't know what Joost is - let me tell you. Its the new "product" of the creators of Skype and Kazaa. Its a streaming peer-to-peer TV-network.

You should check out Joost!Hopefully I will be able to give away some invites soon too, so stay tuned! The really unfair thing is that I have been on Joosts list of willing beta testers since forever, and never got one.

The Adobe Creative Suite rip-off

What is Adobe thinking? Have they decided that americans are poor and europeans are filthy ritch, and that a product should cost twice as much in Europe as it does in the US? It appears so.

Flashmagazine.com has this story: CS3 international pricing insane showing the disgusting mugging of european customers by Adobe.

There is a petition going on, so if you are also disgusted by the price policy of Adobe - then you should really take a minute to sign the petition!

Flash CS3 on the way

Flashmagazine.com has a first look at what is to come in the new Flash CS3.

Flash CS3 Preview - Flashmagazine

Although this is the third iteration of Adobes Creative Suite, for many of us, this is the first true test of the acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe a year and half ago. And based on what we have had a chance to see, it appears the first thing on the agenda was integration.

Among the enhancements: Better performance for the new virtal machine and ActionScript 3, better integration with the rest of Adobes products - such as Illustrator and Photoshop - and a lot of interface enhancements in the program itself.

Read the whole review at Flashmagazine.com for more insight.

Dagbladet.no skriver om meg

Dagbladet.no har meg som toppsak for øyeblikket, men har linket feil. For å finne mer om min blogging om Bedriftsguiden.no og Nettkatalogen - se min norske blogg.

In English:
Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.no has published an article about lawsuit letters I have been getting from the lawyers of Bedriftsguiden and Nettkatalogen - two internet catalog companies. The threats follows me blogging about these two companies.

If you know norwegian you can read the Dagbladet.no article about the whole ordeal.

And my original article about Bedriftsguiden

In English, feel free to read the english blog post about the threats: Flashgamer.com about Bedriftsguiden

Bedriftsguiden - Norwegian internet catalog with threatening letters

Bedriftsguiden and their lawyer has threatened me with suing me for damages. They claim I am in competition with them and that my writings about their service in my original blogentry Bedriftsguiden and their somewhat dodgy ways of marketing themselves are in violation with Norwegian marketing law.

I know how this looks, I seem to be a magnet for letters from norwegian internet catalogs. I guess they don't like the spotlight and digging I am doing on them - but lawyers and possible lawsuits will not stop me.

Nettkatalogen - norwegian internet catalog sends letter to my boss

In 2004 I wrote in my norwegian blog about the norwegian internet catalog Nettkatalogen and their phone sales staff making unsustainable and false claims (Norwegian blog: Nettkatalogen bedriver useriøst telefonsalg) when trying to sell their service. I thought the sales pitch was so bad that I just had to blog about it.

Almost to the day two years later they have their lawyer write up a letter and tell my boss about my blogging of the incident. (Norwegian blog: Nettkatalogen skrev brev til arbeidsgiveren min)

The letter is headlined "Blog of employee" and among other states that they think my blogging is against the ethic guidelines of the Norwegian Union of Journalists (!). I guess the letter is more of a try to put pressure on my through my employer rather than addressing any kind of legally sanction able situation in my blogging of the lack of seriousness of their sales staff...

Fortunately I am pretty safe in my job, but I can see how a letter from a lawyer could be of serious consequence for a lot of bloggers.

If you have had a similar experience with lawyers getting in touch with your employer for things you have written in your own personal blog I would love to hear from you.

Web design time management

Here is the truth about how web designers and web developers spend their time creating sites:

Web design time management

Funny as hell, but oh so true.

CSS hacks and Internet Explorer 7

To follow up on the CSS frustrations for IE 6 post: Here is the way to go about dealing with hacking CSS for IE 7 and all its likely quirks with CSS: Easy CSS hacks for IE7

I really wish I won't have any use for it, but I fear I will be using it a lot in the years to come.

[Via FWW Posten]

Death penalty keeps killing inocent lifes in the US

Faulty Testimony Sent 2 to Death Row, Panel Finds - New York Times

Faulty evidence masquerading as science sent two men to death row for arson in Texas and led to the execution of one of them, a panel of private fire investigators concluded in a report released Tuesday in Austin.

[...]

The report examined prosecution arson testimony in the trials of two men: Ernest R. Willis, convicted of killing two women in a house fire in 1986 in Iraan, and Cameron T. Willingham, convicted of burning his home in Corsicana in 1992, killing his three young daughters.

Mr. Willingham was executed by lethal injection on Feb. 17, 2004, after Gov. Rick Perry rejected a plea for a last-minute stay, once the courts and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles had declined to intervene.

Mr. Willis was exonerated and pardoned on Oct. 6, 2004, and collected almost $430,000 for 17 years of wrongful imprisonment.

If you are against killing inocent people, you have to be against the death penalty. Anything else just doesn't make sense.

Isn't it time the United States of America joined the rest of the civilized world and abandon the death penalty. Its really heartbreaking to see how barbaric and faulty todays system is.

Internet Explorer 6 and CSS frustrations

Right now I am working on the "2006 edition" of tryggogsikker.no - a site that has been live since 2002 and has markup that should make my stomack turn - if I wasn't so used to it by now.

So now its all XHTML and CSS. And with that its all CSS-frustrations, especially with Internet Explorer.

But Jensa knows how to cheer me up. Check out this gem (for however long it stays):

http://connect.microsoft.com/Styles/GeneralStyles.css


/* fix for the IE 1px-off margin error */
* html .StupidIEMarginHack { margin-right: 1px; }
* html .StupidIEWidthHack { width: 100%; }


Quite briliant, especially when you consider the source. But still a bit redundant for all of us that has had to struggle with IE and its terrible handeling of CSS. Lets hope IE 7 will do a LOT better.

Guantanamo : Using terror to fight terror

Its about time to post a little again. If you live in the UK you should make sure to catch the screening of "The Road to Guantanamo", airing on Channel 4 on the 9th of march and on the cinema screen accross 18 countries the day after (except the US).

The film is about three english guys that were detained in Guantanamo charged with being terrorists. The movie details their meeting with the unlawful "prison" and the torture they were put through in the 2 years they were detained there.

The Guardian writes about the men and the movie today: Using terror to fight terror

Almost two years ago, I sat in a room for most of a day in a house in north London with three men who seemed to have achieved the impossible. Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhel Ahmed, childhood friends from Tipton in the West Midlands, had just rematerialised after more than two years in the legal black hole of Guantanamo Bay, where they had been denied all contact with the world beyond the wire. Having been cleared of any involvement in terrorism by the British and US authorities, they told their story in a five-page interview for this newspaper, exposing both Guantanamo and the process that consigned them there as a horrifying mixture of incompetence and brutality.

Gaunt and hollow-eyed, their faces betrayed the stress of both their 29-month ordeal and their sudden change in circumstances. 'I just can't believe we're sitting here,' Ahmed told me. 'This time last week, we were in the cages at Guantanamo.' They had been given almost no warning they were about to be released, while the long flight home - their first experience of being unchained outside a cell since their capture - had left them jet lagged and disorientated. [...]