August 27, 2008 — 05:53 AM PDT — by Stan Schroeder — —
There’s an interesting new research tool available, focusing on tags - or, more precisely, tag pairs. Tagatum’s tag spider searches blog feeds for tags, combines tags into pairs and calculates which pairs are most often used together.
Those who are experienced in keyword analysis and the subtleties of SEO will probably know what to do with the tool, but if you’re clueless, the creators of Tagatum already have a couple of ideas for you. For example, one method of use is the simple extension of search queries with commonly used tag pairs, while another involves a “tag snowflake“, a more advanced version of the common tag cloud, showing how strong a relation is between tags.
Tagatum is not a tool that an average user will find attractive, but I have a feeling that it’s a godsend for someone who’ll know what to do with it. Developers will be happy to know that an API is also available, and I don’t doubt that someone will put it to good use.
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August 27, 2008 — 03:41 AM PDT — by Stan Schroeder — —
Is nothing sacred anymore? Is there no length to which spammers won’t go? They’ve taken over our e-mails and social networks, and now they want to take the old school nerd’s most sacred delight: ASCII art?
CNET reports that it’s true. In yet another way to circumvent spam filters, spammers have started using ASCII-style messages - and it works. It’s not an entirely new practice, but according to Internet security firm FaceTime there’s been an upsurge in this particular type of spam in the last week, which means we’ll all start seeing a lot more of it real soon.
I haven’t yet received any such abominations in my inbox, but I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time before I start seeing VIAGRA and CIALIS (on a side note, I know what Viagra does, but I’ve never bothered to check what Cialis does. Don’t tell me; I’d rather not know) in nice, big, fat ASCII letters.
I don’t know why, but I somehow thought that even spammers hold some things sacred; I guess I was wrong. Once you step over to the dark side, anything goes.
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August 27, 2008 — 12:14 AM PDT — by Kristen Nicole — —
So KateModern just ended and you’re wondering how you’ll avoid the upcoming prime time blitzkrieg of new season premiers. EQAL, the creative minds behind LonelyGirl15 and KateModern are continuing the legacy with a new series that builds on the cult following already built up by the LG15 phenomenon.
The new series is called “LG15: The Resistance” and it will offer much of the same mythology that LG15 ended with. One of the things that made LG15 and KateModern different and successful was their ability to take advantage of the Web and its social media-sharing capabilities. From constant renewing of content, EQAL was able to offer something different than what you find on television, in frequency and engagement levels. This resulted in a very loyal following, but with the new series, EQAL is actually taking a few cues from the traditional television sector.
Instead of having daily content added to the ongoing series, new episodes will be released on LG15’s website on a weekly basis. This is in an effort to have a broader and more mainstream appeal so that viewers that don’t have the opportunity to watch episodes on a daily basis can still come back a week or so later and remain caught up with the story line. For those die hard fans, however, EQAL is still offering daily content in the format of blogs and shorter-form video commentary to squelch their insatiable appetites.
Something else that will be different this time around is the distribution format for “LG15 The Resistance,” which essentially becomes a relaunch of the original LG15 site. This reformatting is an effort to make the LG15 site more central to the new show and its community of followers, and this effort is reflected in the new social networking features that are included in the relaunch.
Continue Reading You Should Know LG15 Will Never Die. New Seri...
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August 26, 2008 — 09:31 PM PDT — by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins — —
There’s another Digg Townhall coming up, and as we always do, we plan on liveblogging the event here at Mashable. Sean P. Aune and I will be hosting the event, offering commentary and moderating the chat.
This Digg Townhall will be, as Kevin put it, “a bit of a twist.” It’ll be webcast live from the Digg Stage at The Big Tent at this year’s DNC in Denver.
If you want to affect the topics that’ll come up for discussion, you’ll want to head on over to this thread on Digg to vote up or bury down the questions that Kevin and Jay will address on the show.
Otherwise, just save the date: hursday, August 28th at 1:30 pm PST/4:30 EST. Sean and I will be waiting to hang out for the duration!
