It’s no surprise that Apple has launched a new series of ads to compete with the launch of Windows 7, but the one above in particular really makes me want to smash my head into my desk. It starts with PC saying that Windows 7 is “not going to have any of the problems” Windows Vista had, and then proceeds to repeat that mantra through past versions of Windows (all the way back to Windows 3) while PC’s clothes get further outdated. All the while, Mac remains typically hip.

Now I know that Apple isn’t aiming for realism here–but pretending that the Mac OS didn’t have issues throughout the 90s just like Windows is pretty much rewriting history. I would argue that Windows 98 and 2000 were far better than anything the Mac had to offer until the release of OSX. And let’s not forget that the company wasn’t truly hip until Steve Jobs came back 1996. But then I suppose that doesn’t make for a cute commercial.

You can check out the other ads in the series over at All Things Digital.

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Apple’s New Anti-Windows 7 Ads Hurt My Brain

• Why The Magic Mouse is the Most Important Apple Announcement Today
• Did You Hear? I Think Apple’s Releasing a Tablet!
• My Thoughts on the Palm Pre
• Thoughts on the September 09 New York Tech Meetup
• Windows Mobile 7 with Zune Integration Coming Soon?

I always find it odd that while many seem to have no issue with Apple coming up with new and creative ways to market their products, for some reason it’s an issue when other companies try to market against Apple. Case in point: Ars Technica is currently polling their readers to see what they think of Verizon’s new “iDon’t” ads. At the time of this post, 38% of users said they loved the ads, and 28% said they were “just okay”. Still, that’s a majority viewing those ads positively. I’m thinking the results of this poll may be a bit of a surprise to Ars, because they argued that general users wouldn’t find the points covered in the ad all to useful.

Ars readers are surely far from “general”, and I’m sure they’re getting more out of this ad then most. But I do think covering the fact that the Droid has a keyboard, a 5MP camera, and that it’s going to be available on Verizon’s great network will pique mainstream interest more than Ars thinks. The iPhone and AT&T’s 3G network are ripe with flaws to critique, and I certainly have no problem with companies aiming directly at them in their advertising. Verizon pulled a similar ploy with their “There’s a map for that” ad, and we’ve also seen Microsoft try to take on the Apple tax with their “Laptop Hunter” ads.

They may not be as creative or (sometimes) groundbreaking as Apple’s marketing, but they are fairly honest critiques against Apple’s flaws. Mainstream users may not get everything Verizon wants them to from the ad, but it’s a knock against Apple’s seemingly perfect marketing facade. I would consider that at least a semi-success for Verizon.

View the ad below, and tell me what you think:

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Do Verizon’s “iDon’t” Ads Miss the Point?

• The Android T-Mobile G1 is the Real Successor to the Helio Ocean
• Why The Magic Mouse is the Most Important Apple Announcement Today
• Did You Hear? I Think Apple’s Releasing a Tablet!
• Bing Adds Twitter and Facebook Posts to Search Results, Should Google Worry?
• My Thoughts on the Palm Pre

I’m not sure if there’s a point to this video at all, but for the sake of stuff getting smashed, here goes: Gizmag is reporting on a recent Australian Sony press event held at a crash test facility, wherein they propelled shiny new slim PS3s into 46″ Bravia televisions. The stunt was apparently part of an Australian promotion that sees Sony giving away 25,000 120GB PS3s with certain Bravia models.

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Sony’s Idea of Corporate Synergy: Smashing PS3s into Bravia TVs at 50mph

• Asus Starts the USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb Hype Train
• Thoughts on the September 09 New York Tech Meetup
• Finally, Netflix Streaming is Coming to the PS3
• Looking Forward to the Android Takeover
• Why The Magic Mouse is the Most Important Apple Announcement Today

I realized then something I should have noticed long ago: I could never abandon Firefox. This isn’t out of some illogical fanboyism, or a naive belief in the almighty nature of open source code. No, I could never abandon Firefox because of one key feature that no other web browser can compete with: Extensions.

Yes folks, I’m a Firefox extension addict.

While I can certainly use other web browsers for light browsing while remaining clearheaded, when it comes to getting some actual work done I find myself going through some major extension withdrawal. My palms get sweaty when faced with the inefficiency of accomplishing certain tasks without extensions, not to mention when I remember that many things are impossible to do without extensions–like blocking an annoying flash ad, or completely integrating my del.icio.us bookmarks into Firefox.

Internet Explorer and Safari don’t have anything to compare, and Opera’s widgets serve another function entirely. While you could argue that Opera does a decent job of integrating many useful features into the browser itself, somewhat negating the need for added functionality via extensions, that still makes it incredibly difficult for Opera to cater to the needs of all users, not to mention the time it takes to add new features to the browser.

The modularity of extensions makes it easy for users to customize Firefox lego-like, and without much effort make the browser suit their needs. They’ve also spawned a massive user community who have created everything from generally useful extensions that appeal to many, to extensions that serve more esoteric niche functions. While niche extensions may not seem that important, it is somewhat heartening to know that whenever you run across an annoyance or missing feature in Firefox, there’s a good chance an extension exists that could help.

I know I’m not alone in my extension addiction–just look at all the Firefox users publicly complaining about extensions that don’t work in Firefox 3 yet. I just hope Mozilla realizes how effective extensions are at locking users into their browser. It’s an age old adage of marketing; create a special feature that your competitors don’t have to attract customers, and then lock them in by making them addicted to it.

Special editions of Firefox like their Campus Edition are a good way to ingratiate new and less tech-savvy Firefox users to extensions, but they honestly need to do much more publicity for these sorts of projects (and for extensions in general). I just learned about Campus Edition last week, and it would have been nice for me to hear about it when it was released last August seeing that I work in IT at a college. Unfortunately, it seems the Campus Edition has been discontinued as of Firefox 3’s release (though they may just working on upgrading it from Firefox 2).

Mozilla really needs to focus more on extensions if they intend to continue battling the browser wars against Internet Explorer, Opera, and yes, even Safari. They’ve practically saturated the techy market already, so now they need to work on grabbing general users away from other browsers. Extensions, being among the most visible and functional features Firefox has to offer, could certainly help them do that.

Update: I just ran across a review of Firefox 2 that I wrote in 2006, and found it a very interesting read now that Firefox 3 is out. I found this section in particular poignant, given that I think Mozilla needs to start marketing better to general users:

Given that many of the tweaks in Firefox 2 are under the hood, it probably won’t do much to encourage new users to move away from IE. Mozilla may have some new marketing in the works, but for now Firefox 2 seems to be a release made more for the loyal than anything else. We may even see fewer people jumping to Firefox with the release of IE7 because Microsoft’s new browser already sports many of Firefox’s trademark features. This latest browser war may end up being fought over subtleties rather than significant differences.

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I’m a Firefox Extension Addict, and Why That’s Good for Mozilla

• Dear Digsby, Where’s the Group Chat and In Line Text Formatting?!
• Do Verizon’s “iDon’t” Ads Miss the Point?
• 1080p Xbox Movie Streaming Works as Advertised
• What nVidia’s Tegra Means for Mobile Devices, and Why You Should Care
• Why The Magic Mouse is the Most Important Apple Announcement Today

photo credit: markhoekstra

How sad it is that the biggest news to come from the Zune front in the past few months is anything but positive: Word is out that Gamestop has stopped selling Zunes.

Honestly, I’m surprised it took this long, not because the Zune 2 is a worthless player (despite what some other news reports seem to love implying), but because it was a dumb idea to sell the Zune 2 in a freaking video game store in the first place. I’m sure some genius marketing drone figured it was a good spot because 1) Gamestop fit the target Zune demographic, 2) they could easily market it as a companion product with the Xbox 360, and 3) they didn’t have any iPod competition. The rest of us saw the futility in that move from the very beginning.

I can only assume that the Gamestop deal wasn’t a large part of Microsoft’s Zune strategy, if only because it would be truly dumb if it was. And let’s not forget the fact that the Zune is still readily available in major stores.

But come to think of it, I haven’t heard much regarding the Zune 2 ever since Microsoft launched Zune Originals program, a service which lets you customize your Zune 2 with artwork by famous hipster types. While it’s certainly cooler than the bland metallic backside of the iPod, it’s certainly not a feature that will convert the iPod faithful or lure away first-time customers to the portable music player scene.

The Zune Store is finally beginning to shape up by adding some television content, but it’s still playing a desperate game of catchup with Apple’s iTunes Store. While MS has always had the $14.99 monthly music subscription model to lord over Apple, it’s simply a matter of time before Steve Jobs decides to implement something similar.

So I suppose the question to ask now is clear: What the heck is Microsoft doing with the Zune?

It’s clear to me that the device still has loads of untapped potential. Microsoft could easily add a rudimentary web portal utilizing the device’s Wi-Fi connection, and it could eventually be used to stream music and video. Honestly, the portal should have been a part of the Zune from the first generation of the device, but they couldn’t even see fit to include Wi-Fi syncing back then.

A Zune portal could easily allow users to stream and purchase music right from the device. Think the Amazon Kindle, but for music. Other devices, such as the MusicGremlin and the Sansa Connect, are already doing just this, so it’s simply inexcusable that Microsoft couldn’t manage the same by now.

The Zune Wi-Fi connection could also be used to update your podcasts directly on the player whenever you come across a friendly Wi-Fi connection. This is something I’ve been waiting for patiently ever since portable music players started adopting Wi-Fi, and it’s yet another feature that makes too much sense for Microsoft to implement.

Despite my many complaints about the product’s handling though, I still want a Zune 2. Being a Windows user and iTunes hater, it’s simply the best choice for me right now. It would also be a logical upgrade from my Toshiba Gigabeat S60, a device which was basically the proto-Zune. The current Zune software is an upgraded version of the Gigabeat software, and it’s honestly one of the best portable player interfaces I’ve ever used.

I’ll willingly buy a Zune 80, but until Microsoft starts to tap into the latent potential of the product, I’ll always consider it yet another half-handed MS attempt at being adequate rather than innovative.

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Gamestop Dropping Zune, What Exactly is Microsoft’s Zune Strategy Now?

• 1080p Xbox Movie Streaming Works as Advertised
• Windows Mobile 7 with Zune Integration Coming Soon?
• What nVidia’s Tegra Means for Mobile Devices, and Why You Should Care
• Finally, Netflix Streaming is Coming to the PS3
• Looking Forward to the Android Takeover

Perhaps the worst kept secret in recent console gaming history, we now know that the $499 60GB PS3 is soon-to-be extinct. The newly announced $599 80GB PS3 (with Motorstorm bundled) well then remain the only PS3 package in stores. Still, a glaring question remains unanswered:

Will the 80GB model drop to the $499 price point once the 60GB models are gone?

We know that there are supposedly a few months worth of 60GB stock left, but is that enough time to justify a price drop on the 80GB model? This is perhaps the best outcome of this whole fiasco, and honestly the most likely. They can minimize the price to $499 very easily by simply ceasing to include Motorstorm in the future.

If, however, the 80GB remains at $599, then it becomes yet another PR debacle for Sony. After all, they knowingly led us to believe the $499 60GB was a “price-drop”, not a “clearance sale” (as Joystiq puts it). Even if they never said anything directly many people on Sony’s end knew that this was going to happen — clearly making it a lie of omission.

The aftermath of this announcement to execute the 60GB model has yet to be fully seen, but I suspect that even the prospect of losing out on the $499 deal is enough to convince informed gamers that they need to get the 60GB unit. Could this be exactly what Sony wanted? The complete lack of demand for the 60GB unit at its former $599 price point is certainly well-documented — could this be a sort of artificial jump-start for demand?

All Sony has to do to drive these desperation-induced sales is to stay quiet on its real plans for the 80GB PS3. Given this recent announcement from Dave Karraker at SCEA, it sounds like that’s exactly what’s going to happen:

“We won’t be making any further announcements regarding our PS3 model hardware strategy in North America until the 60GB model is exhausted and market conditions are evaluated.”

Hell, they could probably even continue to secretly produce the 60GB unit until there’s a convenient time for them to cut it loose… At this point, could you really put it past them?

Upgrade 1: 7/15/07 11:00AM

Also, let’s not forget that this is the last PS3 model with the Emotion Engine chip built-in, making it the last PS3 that is fully backwards-compatible with PS2 games. That gives the 60GB unit more than just a price-point advantage, it actually has a hardware advantage over the 80GB unit. Personally, I’d much rather have guaranteed backwards-compatibility than a mere 20GB extra of space — especially when the hard drive is user-upgradeable as well.

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Sony Drops the 60GB PS3: Brilliant Marketing Scheme, Or Are They Insane?

• Why The Magic Mouse is the Most Important Apple Announcement Today
• Sony’s Idea of Corporate Synergy: Smashing PS3s into Bravia TVs at 50mph
• Finally, Netflix Streaming is Coming to the PS3
• Windows Mobile 7 with Zune Integration Coming Soon?
• Bing Adds Twitter and Facebook Posts to Search Results, Should Google Worry?

Sure, the new 80GB model comes with a free copy of Motorstorm, one of the few must-have PS3 titles thus far, but even then you’re paying $40 for an extra 20GB of storage which you will most likely not need. Unlike the 20GB/60GB models, wherein the more expensive model featured Wi-Fi and media card slots, the only difference between the new 80GB model and the 60GB is the disk space. That’s it.

I predict we’ll see history repeat itself, and this 80GB model will go the way of the 20GB model simply because there’s very little reason to justify the extra cost if you don’t want Motorstorm. If Motorstorm is on your radar, then the deal may be a bit more tempting.

Let’s not forget that the PS3 is expandable with any 2.5″ (laptop-sized) SATA hard drive. You could just as easily buy the $499 60GB PS3 and upgrade in a year or two when you find yourself running low on disk space. At that point, you’ll probably be able to find a 200GB laptop hard drive for $100 or under. Right now you can get a 120GB laptop drive for that price.

Despite the existence of the 80GB option, the 60GB model will remain the more important one because it’s now that much closer to being price competitive with the $399 Xbox 360 Premium and the $480 Xbox 360 Elite. It’s a vast improvement over the previous premium for being a PS3 owner, that’s for sure.

Update 1: It seems that the $499 PS3 has it’s days numbered, so I suppose that answers the question posited in this post. Everyone will be buying an 80GB PS3 for $599 because Sony has gone completely mad.

Note: This post is a semi-prequel to “Sony Drops the 60GB PS3: Brilliant Marketing Scheme, or Are They Insane?“

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Who the Heck is Going to Buy the $599 80GB Playstation 3?

• Finally, Netflix Streaming is Coming to the PS3
• Do Verizon’s “iDon’t” Ads Miss the Point?
• 1080p Xbox Movie Streaming Works as Advertised
• My Thoughts on the Palm Pre
• Did You Hear? I Think Apple’s Releasing a Tablet!

You might remember this site from the waves it made a few weeks ago at social news sites. It was a seemingly useful experiment meant to compare the uptime of several inexpensive hosting providers when faced with a flood of traffic. Dubbed the “Web 2.0 Effect: Which Host Will Survive?”, a term they invented to group the sort of traffic rush you get from being featured on sites like Slashdot and Digg, the experiment looked to be a useful reference for anyone getting started with paid website hosting. The experiment relied on being flooded with traffic, and that they were by Digg and Reddit. It garnered an impressive 1,812 Diggs and 838 Reddits at the time of this post.

I was first referred to the site from a friend who was looking for hosting of his own. I distinctly remember the first thought that went through my head when I saw the winner: “Who the hell is Burton Hosting?” That started a chain of events that made this post necessary. My friends and I thought there was a good chance that this entire project was just a marketing ploy, and we set out to do some research.

What we found confirmed our suspicions several times over: It appears that the Web 2.0 Effect was not a legitimate experiment in any way. We surmise that it was, in actuality, an elaborate viral marketing ploy meant to shovel sales into the hands of Burton Hosting.

Initial Suspicions

As I mentioned already, I found it curious that a relatively unknown hosting provider won out so clearly. There were several other peculiarities I noted upon first seeing the site:

• This wasn’t a very realistic experiment: The test was simply a paragraph of “Lorem ipsum” text on a colored background. If they really wanted to test real-world hosting capabilities they should have included post-1995 web features such as images, dynamic content through a database connection, and scripting of some sort.
• It wasn’t a controlled experiment: The crux of the project relied on seeing which hosts choked when flooded with traffic. The problem is that the site needs to be highly publicized to get that traffic in the first place. What’s to prevent any of the featured hosts from surreptitiously allocating more resources to the sites? Nothing, that’s what.
• Where are the better known hosting services?: Where’s the geek favorite, Dreamhost? And for that matter, where’s Bluehost, Lunarpages, Godaddy, or any other semi-popular hosting service?
  • Take note that the HostGator test subject is actually listed as a HostGator Reseller. Any potential problems with that listing could be attributed to the reseller allocating their allotted resources badly.
• Burton is the least popular by far of all of the providers being tested: A quick Alexa comparison showed us that Burton receives drastically less traffic than the competitors. Burton is the blue line trailing the bottom of the graph.

Digging Deeper

A more thorough investigation confirmed that we were right to be suspicious. We started by running a simple WhoIS search on the 0effect.org domain. That gave us two names: Russ Jones and Ronald Jaffre. Looking at the Reddit submission, we learned that rjonesx submitted the site to Reddit. That matched the gmail address listed in the WhoIs data, so it appeared that Russ had Reddited his own site. There isn’t anything wrong with that in general, so we looked to the Digg submission next.

Russvirante was the Digg user who submitted the story, and we assumed that this was Russ Jones as well. Googling for Russ Jones, we found that Virante.com is among the first few search results — specifically, as Virante High Potential Web Marketing. A quick glance at that site showed us that Russel Jones is actually the CTO of Virante. And unsurprisingly, one of their specialties is social media/viral marketing. Now the idea of the “Web 2.0 Effect” site being used as a viral marketing campaign for Burton Hosting begins to gain some substance.

A Super Smart Experiment?

We then found a blog that Jones writes for, which also looks to be directly affiliated with Virante. In this post, Jones links directly to the “Web 2.0 Effect” site but talks about it as if he just happened across it. Not only does he give it a fabulously self-serving title (”Super Smart Experiment: Surviving the Digg Effect”), he also can’t seem to help gushing all over his own project:

“Definitely one of the smarter experiments I have seen these days… I absolutely love this kind of attitude of bootstrap experimentation, especially when it is crafted in a way that makes it really accurate. I have seen stories before where they just pound 1 host, but not one where they can really compare multiple hosts at the same time. Kudos!”

Sorry Russ, I don’t believe you can give kudos to yourself, especially not when you’re possibly revealing your connection to a “secret” marketing plot by doing so.

So here’s the rub–why did Jones disassociate himself with this project at all? The likeliest solution, of course, is that he didn’t want the “Web 2.0 Effect” project to be tied directly to his blog or Virante. A quick glance at the Virante.com main page shows us that posts from the “Google Cache” blog show up in a highlighted section. They couldn’t very well admit to creating this experiment on the blog if it’s in actuality something they’re doing for a paying client.

Social Spin

Still, I suppose he reserves the right to call this a “super smart” experiment. He successfully fooled the vast majority of the online community, save for a few insightful Reddit and Digg users. I found more evidence of marketing misinformation by sifting through Russ’s responses to the Reddit and Digg submissions. When pressed that this looks like marketing spam on Reddit, Russ replies:

“If you notice, there are no affiliate links for any of the domains and the data is displayed as clearly and openly as possible.

I am sorry that I can’t prove it to you that it is not advertising, it is simply impossible to do that. All I can say is that, to me, it would be very valuable to know which hosting company can survive this kind of traffic on a $5/month account. Unfortunately, i can’t figure that out without something like this, and I could only afford to try 9 hosting accounts (many require multi-month sign ups which are expensive!)”

The site definitely has an air of transparency. At first, it doesn’t look like they are trying to make any money from gathering so much traffic. Then again, if I were pulling a massive marketing stunt like this, that’s exactly what I’d want the audience to think as well.

Also, I find it hilarious that he says they couldn’t afford to test other hosting providers because it gets expensive. In that case, wouldn’t it make more sense to make the most of your funds and efficiently test hosting providers that people actually use?

Jones also reveals a sliver of truth in a later Reddit comment:

“I am a CTO at a small web design / development company. This information we need to know for our clients, and the only way we could figure it out was open it up to the community (how else are we going to get the traffic to really figure out which ones are the best?)

So, we can pretend its altruistic :), but really it was a question I needed answered, but I needed everyone else to make it happen.”

First off, he tells us he’s a CTO (and we know for a fact that he is), and yet he couldn’t afford to have his company pump more funds into this experiment? It’s hard to imagine that even a small company couldn’t shell out for a more thorough survey of hosting options, especially given all the free publicity they would have gotten for providing such a useful service to budding website owners.

Also, I find it extremely telling that he mentioned he needed this information for his clients. It’s clear that this experiment didn’t really provide much in the way of useful information, but it would be useful for a client looking to garner some publicity. Saying that this experiment is meant for his clients is somewhat of a half-truth then, as it’s certainly a boon for Burton Hosting.

Other Points of Interest

We also gathered some other random facts during our investigation which make the “Web 2.0 Effect” appear suspect:

• Burton Hosting is the only provider in this experiment not based on the U.S. They’re actually based out of the United Kingdom. This makes it seem all the stranger that they would be chosen for this test.
• Ronald Jaffre, the other name in the WhoIS lookup for 0effect.org, has an address listed for Alvaston in Derby UK. Of course this is more circumstantial than most of the other evidence, but it does seem strange that Jaffre supposedly lives a mere 118 miles from Burton Hosting. (The Burton address was gleamed from the WhoIS lookup for their domain.)
• Both the Burton.com and 0effect.org IPs resolve in Georgia. Could be just a coincidence, but then again there have been too many of those already.

Summing Up

So it appears that something is not quite right with the “Web 2.0 Effect.” You don’t have to be a conspiracy nut to notice that there are simply too many problems with the experiment, among other coincidences and revelations, that lead us to believe that it wasn’t legitimate. While we couldn’t find any direct link between Virante and Burton Hosting, the implication gathered from all of this evidence is clear: Virante fooled the web good.

If anything, I hope that shedding light on this covert marketing ploy will make us warier of similar viral plots in the future. It stinks that we have to worry about marketing being pranced about as legitimate data, but it appears to be an unavoidable situation.

As technology makes it easier for users to connect and collaborate, it makes it even easier for advertisers to take advantage of our good will. We are not powerless against such tactics. Learn about and preach media literacy, never take any information for granted, and always ask questions.

Update 1: 7/6/07 – 6:19pm

Thanks for all the support everyone! Also, I knew more evidence would pop up once this story hit the wild. Digg user Dhalgren points out the following:

“What’s with the hidden links on the 0effect.org site?
From the HTML:
< div style='display:none;' >
< a href="http://concertmaps.wetpaint.com">concertmaps< /a >
< a href="http://concertmaps.wikispaces.com">concertmaps< /a >
< a href="http://digg.com/users/concertmaps/news/dugg" >concertmaps< /a >
< a href="http://www.myspace.com/concertmaps">concertmaps< /a >
< a href="http://concertmaps.wordpress.com">concertmaps< /a >
< a href="http://concertmaps.icontact.com/" >concertmaps< /a >
< /div >
< div style='display:none' >< a href='http://www.leisurelandscapes.com' >Leisure Landscapes< /a >< /div >
Also, it looks like he had a tracker with Burton:
< img src='track.php?host=burton&url=http://207.210.100.214' height=1 width=1 style='visibility:hidden;' >

Why only have a tracker with Burton? Looks suspicious to me. Like he wanted his client to know how much traffic was generated for their viral advertising…”

Although it looks like the page was edited after he posted this revealation:

“Since I’ve posted this he’s removed the links and is making the track.php dynamic. It wasn’t before…”

Not only were there hidden links, but it was quite obvious that Burton was tracking the hits to the “Web 2.0 Effect” site!

In addition, Digg users mmmooo and eviljim found a very interesting reference to a “viranteviral” project through the Apache server signature. Mmmooo notes:

“all this research, and for what…

Russ, you forgot to have bruton change the apache server sig for your ‘test’.

Apache/1.3.37 Server at www.viranteviral.burtondns.org Port 80

(just hit http://207.210.100.214/foobar)

ooops!

sounds marketing-ish.”

That probably wasn’t the best name for a secret viral project server, no?

Both of these new pieces of evidence further cement the relationship between Virante and Burton hosting. Russ has spent quite some time in the Digg and Reddit comments trying to convince us of the legitimacy of the experiment. I wonder what he would have to say about this new evidence…

Update 2: 7/8/2007 10:16pm

A few more quick updates. First off, in the interest of full disclosure, I changed the title of the story (but not the permalink) to include “Burton” and “Virante” to give this article a boost when people search for those terms. I think these tactics should be known to anyone who deals with Virante or Burton in the future.

I should mention that the main reason I invested so much in this article is that I really hate it when people take advantage of growing social media trends. I know there isn’t much we can do to avoid it. Whenever something popular appears, people will figure out a way to game it for their own benefit. In this case though, at least I was able to make a bit of a difference.

A couple hours ago, I e-mailed Russ Jones to see if he had any explanation for the evidence in the first update above. Seeing as how those two bits were pretty much the last nail in the coffin for this project, I was curious to see if he had any reasonable response to them. I’ll let you guys know if anything comes about from that.

Unsurprised to say the least.
I’ve caught Burton Hosting posting fake reviews to a number of web hosting review sites previously as well — including our own. They’ve been spamming on digg for awhile under a few different aliases.. a number have reached the frontpage.

So it appears that Burton is not new to sketchy marketing tactics, this project was just their biggest attempt to date. To be fair, tons of hosting companies do the same, but it’s especially relevant that we know Burton isn’t afraid to engage in these activities. You can find some of their fake reviews over here, along with one that ranks them as “Poor.”

Update 3: 7/20/07 11:11pm

Is Virante and co. pwned? Well according to Google, it looks like they are. Honestly I never expected this article to be awarded with such a lofty geek title, but it looks like you readers made it happen. Take note that before this update, I never once used the term “pwned” in this post, and honestly I don’t think in my site either.

Since this moment of victory is sure to be short, I’ve captured this moment in history for all eternity. Click the thumbnail below for the full picture:

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Uncovering The Web2.0Effect.org Hoax: How Virante Marketing Solutions & Burton Hosting Fooled the Web

• Sony’s Idea of Corporate Synergy: Smashing PS3s into Bravia TVs at 50mph
• Thoughts on the September 09 New York Tech Meetup
• Do Verizon’s “iDon’t” Ads Miss the Point?
• Windows Mobile 7 with Zune Integration Coming Soon?
• Bing Adds Twitter and Facebook Posts to Search Results, Should Google Worry?

I thought it would be interesting to do a bit more with my random assortment of cool links, most of which are gathered from Reddit, friends, and a variety of other places online. To this end, I will start a series of posts where I share useful links and why I found them worthwhile.

• Getting Buried in Digg, Not as Bad as it Sounds: If you hadn’t noticed, my last post on Al Gore’s contributions to the start of the internet was unceremoniously buried when it approached 70 diggs. I’m sad that there are those on digg close-minded enough that they would seek to silence such an important story, because it could have easily made the front page and have been read by thousands more. This article goes analyzes digg traffic and shows that getting buried doesn’t necessarily kill the traffic coming to your post.
• Harry Knowles chooses HD-DVD: After remaining fairly quiet on the topic of HD discs, Harry Knowles, the founder of Aint It Cool News has officially thrown down the gauntlet and declared favor for HD-DVD over Bluray. This news is significant because Sony has been declaring that Bluray has won the HD-disc war for some time now. Personally, I still think HD-DVD is the more logical choice for the successor to DVD. You can read more about the war between Bluray and HD-DVD in this Amherst Bytes article.
• 17 Firefox Extensions to Make Blogging Easy: I’m really becoming fond of life hacking sites for great articles like this. To be honest, I had never heard of many of the extensions listed, but now I’m going to work to make them a part of my workflow.
• Speed Up File Copying with Teracopy: I often have to move large files around at work, and I find the single most annoying thing about file-copying in Windows is that it’s incredibly dumb when faced with a corrupted file. For example, if I’m moving 5GB of data and there happens to be a corrupted MP3 in there, Windows will throw an error and cancel the copy job. When this happens you have to sift through each individual folder and sub-folder among the files you want to copy, and figure out which files are actually salvageable. Teracopy prevents stupidity like this and also offers faster copying as well.

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