This is strange and disturbing.

Pay Pal offices in San Jose have been the target of an explosion. Thankfully, no one appears to have been injured, however police have been reported as saying the blast was deliberate and no accident.

“It’s definitely not an accident,” San Jose police Sgt. Nick Muyo said. “Everything else there is accounted for. This was not any kind of accident or malfunction.Whatever caused this (blast) was pretty strong,” added Fire Department Capt. Jose Guerrero. “It’s tough to break one of these windows.”

Thanks Loren from Search Engine Journal.

What is Jotspot?

Jotspot is a wiki and offers enterprise social software. Jotpsot is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses. The company was founded by the co-founders of Excite. Now they are part of Google:

“It was pretty apparent that Google shared our vision for how groups of people can create, manage and share information online. Then when we had conversations with people at Google we found ourselves completing each other’s sentences. Joining Google allows us to plug into the resources that only a company of Google’s scale can offer, like a huge audience, access to world-class data centers and a team of incredibly smart people“

Some speculate that this acquisition could signal that another piece of the supposed Google office suite has fallen into place.

“JotSpot has modules for spreadsheets, calendars, documents and photo galleries, and could extend that to presentations, forms and other kinds of content. JotSpot also has an Application Gallery of add-ons, such as project management and forums. Like salesforce.com’s AppExchange, a vibrant ecosystem could build up around JotSpot’s platform and Google’s monetization platform“

I`m in Tokyo. Home to my good friend and very amiable host, John Scott. Needless to say, I`m not doing much work, but I have had some very good Gin & Tonics, which is just as well because you wouldn’t want to be paying Tokyo prices for bad ones

I digress. Here are some pictures.

I love this city.

It truly is one of the worlds best, yet curiously has remained largely undiscovered by many western tourists until quite recently. It has the buzz of New York, the variety of London, the friendliness of Bangkok, and the ruthless attention to public sanitation matched perhaps only by Singapore. This is quite some achievement when you consider the sheer volume of people living here. Most people are thin (presumably from a healthy combination of walking and small food portions), well dressed (shopping is the national sport) and appear blessed with fine featured, natural beauty (there is no other word for it – the women are stunning. If I wasn`t happily married etc…).

It is surprisingly pedestrianised. For example, we were at Shibuya, possibly the worlds busiest intersection. When the crossing lights turned green, it seemed like the entire population of, say, Sydney, were attempting to cross the intersection at once – many of whom were travelling very quickly on bicycles. No one crashes into each other. Apart from anything else, that would be impolite, and the Japanese have an uncanny awareness of other people around them, ingrained since birth. One thing westerners may find odd is that they are in a distinct minority. It is possible to go an entire day without once seeing a face other than Japanese.

Tokyo is exciting and dynamic, and there would never be enough time to explore it all. Price wise, it`s no more expensive than London or New York, and the language barrier is not as big a problem as might be imagined. Many signs are in english, and communication can be achieved by pointing, smiling and waving. It hasn`t been homogenized by the tourist trade. Yet.

As one tourist guide book suggests “Get here quick, before the rest of the world catches up”.

Very useful tool for testing your SEM campaigns:

‘Website Optimizer is a free tool that helps AdWords advertisers test different landing pages and determine which one drives the most conversions. A true multivariate testing tool, Website Optmizer allows you to test variations of headlines, promotional copy, and images. The tool allows you to update your site with the winning test combination and continue to experiment’

The program is currently in beta, but hopefully it will get a wider release soon.

Andrew Goodman has a good write-up, and a few concerns:

“(1) I’ll probably use this stuff, if they let me; (2) I’m afraid of the larger consequences, especially if Google begins to “organize and make universally accessible — to itself — the world’s confidential marketing information“

Google could be a little more transparent about the last point.

What does `bait and switch mean`? What does DNS stand for?　Who is Matt Cutts and why do people worship the very ground he walks upon?

For those new to the SEO world, Aaron has published a very comprehensive SEO Glossary.

A few more SEO/M glossaries can be found here:

SEOGlossary.com

SEM Glossary

Ever wondered if someone is looking over your shoulder while you`re searching?

Ever wanted someone to?

Ms Dewey will watch you while you search, and offer a commentary on your search stream. Depending on the type of query, Ms Dewey may be scathing or complimentary. Or both.

It`s pretty slow, but entertaining. And Microsoft, of all people, is repordedly behind it.

PS – Sorry for the gap in posting. I`m in Tokyo with John, trying to find bars. Which isn`t difficult, but it is pleasantly time consuming. Will post some pics soon, for those interested.

Yahoo has finally gotten around to the launch of its new ‘Panama’ Yahoo Search Marketing platform and initial user reviews and responses are quite positive.

Given Yahoo’s recent woes, which according to the New York Times are all centered around their inability to successfully monetize search, the new advertiser friendly service is a breath of fresh air.

The end results of the new Yahoo Search Marketing should ideally:

* Close the monetization gap with Google

* Breathe new life into Yahoo Search

* Monetize Social Media

* Boost the growth and popularity of the Yahoo Publisher Network

Search Engine Journal has coverage of the new Yahoo Search Marketing, with screenshots.

[Note : I'll be filling in for Peter a bit as he's traveling to Tokyo right now]

SEO Blackhat has compiled an excellent guide to proxies.

Proxies can be very useful for checking how your ads display, in context, in different countries and regions. You’ve got to be a member of the forums to get hold of his proxy list, however there are various scripts that will also do the job if you’re technically inclined.

Check out CGI Proxy 2.01

This issue is an interesting one, even if you have nothing to do with the gambling industry. Essentially, this issue is about the problems of legal jurisdiction in a borderless, internet world.

Alan Meckler:

“The USA government has gone nuts in its efforts to curb online gambling. Recently the feds arrested an English businessman traveling in the USA because he is the CEO of Betonsports.com based in England which accepts online bets from Americans. And just the other day another English CEO, Peter Dicks, of Sportingbet.com was arrested while spending time in New York…. Gambling is here to stay…therefore legalize online gambling so American business is not at a disadvantage against overseas business operators“.

Internet gambling can’t really be stopped. It will simply move to the point of least resistence, and if that point is outside the US, then that’s probably what will happen. The demand will find the supply.

Here’s some more recent news resources covering the cross-border issues:

• Pressure mounts on Internet gambling firms – Government may be launching crackdown, but can’t do much outside U.S.
• Sportingbet arrest threatens internet gambling – British executive freed on bail from Rikers Island
  Extradition to Louisiana sought for ‘moral’ offences
• Offshore gambling executives beware – Gambling industry experts agree: If you operate an offshore gambling Web site, stay out of the U.S.

Seth has a list of interesting statistics that serves as a useful reminder: us ‘net-heads are not your “typical” user, if there is such a thing:

31.4% of Americans don’t have internet access.

90% of the people in France have not created a blog.

88% of all users have never heard of RSS.

59% of American households have zero iPods in them.

30% of internet users in the US use a modem.

Detroit (one million people) has six Starbucks.

1% of internet users use Digg on an average day.

Marley and Me outsells Small is the New Big 200:1. On a good day.

.37% of the US population reads the paper version of the New York Times daily.

Brazil consumes 11% of the world’s coffee.

20% of the world speaks English.

98.2% of the households in the US have a TV, and virtually all of those TVs have cable.

On a related note, here’s a few statistics relating to online shopping patterns:

• Thirty-five percent of consumers said added costs, such as shipping and handling, or lengthy delivery times resulted in their abandoning an online purchase
• The top reason online consumers prefer to shop on the web is to avoid crowds, a reason cited by 38%
• Internet-influenced offline spending is 50 percent greater than online spending, meaning that for every $1 spent online, the Internet influences $1.50 in brick-and-mortar sales.

More interesting internet shopping statistics here.