Do you pay when Google employees click on ads?

I am wondering, would it be possible to geotarget an Adwords campaign to Googleplex? The land area is almost 1 sq. km so it should be enough to meet the Adwords minimum area requirements. That way you could see whether and how clicks by Google employees count.

It would be worthwhile to check with Google PR people whether there is a "Google policy on employees clicking Adsense and Adwords ads". Do these clicks get filtered? Google CEO Eric Schmidt let it slip at an August 2006 Search Engine Strategies that he clicks ads 'all the time'. This may seem like a questionable practice, especially if Schmidt's 10,000+ employees follow suit...

Several people replied in Comments that Google supposedly filtered out all clicks from its offices, and from the whole Google network (employees on laptops connecting through VPNs).

It would also be interesting to know whether Google employees are allowed to click ads outside of work. This could be a conflict of interest for some: it may be tempting to do some late night clickin' and boost ad revenues after a quarter when a hiring binge dented profits in Q2 2007.

But seriously. I deal with various Google ads a lot in my day job. Generally, I try to avoid clicking on them both on my own sites and other sites. When I search on Google, in the ads displayed you can select the URL, copy it and visit the site without incurring its owner costs.

With Adsense ads Google places on other people's sites, the standards seem somewhat looser: on many sites if you tried to click to select the URL you actually click the ad. The clickable area is much larger and often invisible when the color matches the surrounding box. It's curious why reduction of the clickable area of ads on Google's search results pages wasn't followed in ads on Adsense and Google's other advertising properties.

But no doubt this will be self-regulating: when advertising on Google becomes crap and advertisers see lower returns other networks will grow. People learn and at the tip of the pyramid stats are being scrutinised closely.

Košice Rejoice - Londoners Are Coming

Kosice is Slovakia's second city. Located near the country's far east end, over 5 hours by car from the capital of Bratislava, Kosice often got the short schrift over recent years.

I have long believed that what Kosice needed was a direct flight to London and now, SkyEurope is giving it to us later in 2007. Seeing what SkyEurope has done for the development of tourism in Bratislava and for our freedom to travel, I fully expect to see the magic again.

Young people from Kosice are a migratory lot, often bypassing Bratislava for Prague and London. This will make migration easier but also facilitate contact with the home. Hopefully, the positive effects of what Kosice residents bring back (in material terms and know-how) outweigh the greater ease of departure.

Tourists are coming too, no doubt and in great numbers. It will drive development in the hospitality industry - both for lodging and services. The hotel market in Kosice has been stale to say the least and this should shake it up a little. I would not be surprised if English stag parties discover Kosice - the bear is cheaper than in Bratislava and residents will be friendlier before they find out what stag tourism is all about.

Investment both in business ventures and real estate will very likely increase too, with the added ease of flying from London to Kosice direct in a few hours.

Like Putting on a Ski Mask to Rob Google Blind

I've been eager to see who gets to advertise on my blog. At the moment for obvious reasons I don't get any visitors or anyone clicking my ads, so I guess Google is reaching into the dark corners of its advertisers' database in the rotation.

I have seen and felt Google Adwords guidelines on all sorts of advertising copy - spelling, punctuation, use of superlatives. I have also read extensively about the death of MFA.
Anyway, in true Andy Beal style, WELCOME NEW ADVERTISER, Project Black Mask:
For an incredible RRP of $97, ProjectBlackMask.com promises to reveal Google's Dirty Little Secret to "wealthbuilders".

I did not click (so I do not have to email Google), I typed in the URL directly. And I learned the the Project Black Mask has nothing to do with affiliate marketing but everything to do with

...gaming the search engines for thousands of FREE clicks in a completely automated way. Black Mask is about milking a loophole in the Google algorithm that was open in 2006... is still open in 2007... but it might not be in 2008...

"Like Putting On A
Ski Mask To Rob
Google Blind!"

More Project Black Mask ads (and respectable organic exposure) can be found if you search Google: a Squidoo lense, Digg entry and 11 ads, all pretty targetted:

Black Mask Blindfold
Project Black Mask is outdated
Learn why here
www.bigwiglog.com

Project Black Mask LAUNCH
Massive $50 Discount. Only Here.
_Everything_ will be revealed!
ProjectBlackMaskRevealed.info

In fact, you can see a whole bunch here.

Whatever people say about Google and democracy in China, Google proves its democratic nature here: you can pooh-pooh Google and advertise here no problem! :)

A socialite's priorities unmasked

Fabiola Beracasa* is a socialite - I would be too if I were the daughter of banking magnate Alfredo Beracasa. She runs a business called Circa, buying jewelery of other socialites in distress - an uberdiscreet business according to a Gotham Magazine article on her busy daily schedule (hattip to Wealth Report).

I found one thing in Fabiola's schedule fascinating:
7:45a.m. Meet my trainer, Reily, and go for a four- to five-mile run outside, followed by a half hour of weight training. (Next entry 9:15 a.m.)
4:30 p.m. Review the donation requests that have been sent to us and decide which events and charities Circa will commit to this year. (Next entry 5:30 p.m.)

This woman actually proudly admits to spending more time on her morning workout than her annual decision on charitable giving? ;)

* photo by Style.com's Sherly Rabbani and Josephine Solimene featuring the fabulous Fabiola with a Carlos Mota at a dance in February 2006

Finally - Witricity puts us on our way to transmit electricity wirelessly...

I think everyone has some future inventions they are waiting for eagerly - something out of a science fiction but feasible with our current knowledge. Perhaps just a tad to costly to manufacture or simply not a priority.
For me, I've had a few such dreams and am proud to report that another one seems well on its way to fruition.
Specifically, I've often though about wireless transfer of electricity. My limited knowledge of physis did not allow me to gauge whether this is realistic, but apparently it is (via Virginia Postrel): MIT's team led by Professor Marin Soljacic (in an MIT-released photo via AP/Washington Post) transmitted electricity to light up a 60 w light-bulb about 2 m between the two coils, calling the result Witricity.
This is much cooler than the earlier attempts I had read about (pads, where you would place your mobile phone to recharge it).
What is my next goal you ask? The personal jet packs, of course (I imagine they will be attached to a chair to keep your legs from getting burnt by the flames...).

Where the hell is my ATM?

Me: There used to be an ATM here, now there is just some cable sticking out from a hole in the tiles. So I thought I would let you know. I mean maybe someone stole it or something?

Tatra Banka Dialog Call Center Lady: I don't thinks so [with a 'I am not really hired to deal with silly jokes tone].

Anyway, my Tatra Banka bankomat at the Bratislava Radisson (I don't live AT the Radisson, just near it) has disappeared. No sign, just a hole in the floor tiles with some cable sticking out. The call centre lady had no idea about the ATM, she was simply able to list where ATM's are available at present.

If the bank were to act somewhat sensibly they could:
1. mine the data for customers who were repeat users of that bankomat,
2. notify them of why this one is disappearing, whether and when it will be back and where the nearest one is,
3. put up a little note,
4. inform their call centre.

Now this would be too customer focused even for what in my view is Slovakia's most customer-focused bank.

UPDATE: Having blogged this, I decided to pursue it further, even at the risk of acting slightly ridiculous. I sent off a question through a contact form at Tatra Banka's website and received an automated reply promising that I will be contacted ASAP. As an interesting aside, the www address in the signature of the automated message pointed to an advertising feature of Tatra Banka's Bank+Coffee, rather than the bank's main website.

UPDATE 2: Not too many days later I have heard back from an ATM business specialista:
"With regrets we must inform you that the bankomat has been deinstalled permanently from these premises. At the same time we want to assure you that we plan to replace the deinstalled bankomat, in a nearby object. If we have caused you any problems please accept our apology."

Next time I will translate my response to the ATM business specialista.

Long Time no Blog - and not because I was enjoying Sunset on the Hokianga Harbour

I have not blogged for over two weeks now, not due to a lack of material but due to its abundance (at least in proportion to discretionary time usable for blogging). ;) I have a few topics to cover:
1. Bank usability
2. DaveN's new car and the mean looking 5.6l 7 seater (EUR 35,000 for export outside the EU only)
3. Optimising for image search (how do you imagine "Sunset on the Hokianga Harbour"?)*
4. Like DaveN I will try to do these posts in seven minutes each, or maybe 14

* No, sorry, This is definitely not a sunset at the Hokianga harbor, it is a sunset at an Irish Harnour from Webmink to investigate a point.