November 8th, 2008 David Chung
The behemoth that is SMX had to be tackled one day in my so far shortish career in SEO. This report here won’t specifically talk about what I learned at the presentation – I’ll leave them for other posts. What I will talk about here is my thoughts and feelings about the event as a whole.
I’ve usually tagged onto the end of UK events in the various pub excursions in LondonSEO, however, it was time to get in the main event. When I first got there, you do get that uncomfortable feeling that you don’t know anyone and a little anxiety creeps in. That very soon disappears (after a morning cuppa tea). I believe Jill Whalen wrote an article once about survival in the big world of SEO expos awhile back but the big tip is to be yourself and meet n’ greet. I don’t think anyone has big ego issues so there is no reason not to shake a few hands and wear a big smile. I didn’t take up an observation I note from some people to wear the most outrageously bright outfit; a form of SEO peacocking. Perhaps next time:) I met several people and got on fine. I even met some Twitter followers of mine and it is pleasant to see them face-to-face .
In terms of the venue itself, it was a little too grandiose for my liking. It was comfortable enough and at least it was on my same tube line as where I lived and worked, however, it did suck out some of the conference atmosphere I felt. It was kinda awkward as well for delegates to ask questions in a big hall with only one microphone to go round.
Next few posts would be more about my interpretation of the presentations and advice. A big thanks to all those I met and made my conference networking experience an enjoyable one.
Posted in My Web World, SMX London Expo | No Comments »
May 9th, 2008 David Chung
Everyone with some reasonable computer knowledge has downloaded torrent files before. Rocket science it ain’t! One thing that was noticed when trying to download films was that when a user activated the .avi file a message came up saying that this movie clip had to be viewed by a certain program. “Download program here” the page announced! Now the lure of seeing the latest movie isn’t that strong with me and it certainly isn’t strong enough for me to trust some weird HTML page telling me to download a dodgy viewer program I have never heard of. But unfortunately it is for some, in fact, 530,000 computers according McAfee, the security company which says that the number of computers infected with Trojan viruses. These viruses are not malicious as in stealing data. They simply serve advertising. Could there be more than meets the eye here?
According to the Guardian, last year Media Defender was exposed as deliberately placing thousands of dummy media files into the path unsuspecting downloaders. They did this on the instruction of the big media corporations. This of course, simply changed the way Torrent sites operated with many now putting a ratings system on files so users can give the thumbs up or down (also can be manipulated though it’s something of a fight back). Hmm, dummy files and now possibly virus hit files?
Big Companies can take even more drastic measures. The MPAA(Motion Picture Association of America) recently successfully sued TorrentSpy for $110m on grounds of Copyright infringement. They are now actively targeting Pirate Bay now for $15m of lost revenue. The Torrent Spy case has effectively opened the door for companies to go after Torrent portals. I predict that a few of these sites will eventually disappear but the internet is a big place and there’s always somewhere to hide in most cases.
Now, lets look at this in a different way. Despite, companies crying foul of Peer-to-Peer torrent wares destroying their businesses, we still have of plenty of success stories. The latest Grand Theft Auto game generated a staggering £255 million sales worldwide and the latest Iron man movie took $98m worth of ticket sales over three days. This isn’t pocket money for the big companies. At the end of the day, if the product is good, we’ll want to see it, play it, listen to it. However, the torrent sites are only the tip of a big iceberg. The big corporates will always have tricks up their sleeves but Torrents are here to stay.
Posted in My Web World, SEO Blog News | No Comments »
