Making Web Applications People Love

Gmail Ads Not Just Based On Current Content

Gmail ads not just based on current content, originally uploaded by bigmick.

I just got an email in Gmail and noticed these ads. They are completely unrelated in all ways to what is being discussed in the email.

However, they are related to things I've been talking about in the past.

Call me Naive or Susan, but I always thought Google was "Do no evil and we're not as bad as Gator because we don't track your behaviour we just show ads based on the current content that you're looking at which is OK isnt' it?"

This is the first time I've clearly seen the links. Lithuania, Koh Samui (spelling?) and San Francisco.

In-tar-rest-ting!

Digg Digg Boing Boing

digg boing boing, originally uploaded by bigmick.

Digg is my new Boing Boing.

I go to Diff when I want to get distracted by the broader world which is probably going to be interesting to me. More than CNN would be anyway. But it's not a definitive source.

For the real 'meat' of news, I go to Tech Meme I know it's going to have only the best news of the day and nothing more.

I don't got to Boing Boing anymore. I'd like to. I just don't have time.

It's interesting how the same need is being fulfilled in a slightly different way. And whilst communication has become more efficient so that I can injest a little more, it's not cumulative. Something has to give.

It's tough to deal with this. Boing Boing doesn't want to be Digg, but it got replaced for me by it. Innovators Dilemma as Clayton Christenson would say.

Hodi - Karibu

Hodi - Karibu, originally uploaded by bigmick.

I love the little Flickr tool which shows me two pics from my whole collection on my personal blog. Better than the flash one that isn't random.

Ones like this pop up and I go "Ahhhhhhh".

Would I pay for it?

Nope, I'd rather go without. But it adds a little to the value I pay for Flickr.

It's one of the things that is a big challenge for new apps. The product may be free, but the marginal utility is very low. This means that the real value of a single use of a product is a few cents or less. If the product has a non-monetary cost, like a registration form or a slow load or something else that sucks, then even though the product is free, it still costs too much.

Like that little photo widget. Each time I see it, if I had to pay 1c for it, then the actual cost is crazy high. But Flickr didn't start with that. They started with something simple, but bigger. In fact they started free and bigger. Great online photo albums. And slowly grew out the value.

To be continued....