Does Google Website Optimizer Work On Large Sites?

You bet it does! With a resounding yes, we're proud to give a shout out to our sibling product, Google Website Optimizer, which was used successfully to run a huge, and we mean huuuuuuge, multivariate test on the YouTube homepage. Take a look at what happened on the YouTube blog. Over 1000 different recipes were tested on all US homepage visits, with great results - the new page performed 15% better than the original page.

The YouTube blog post is fascinating reading, showing screenshots of the different variables on the homepage that were tested. And for those of you working on high traffic, enterprise-level sites, you know that making small, proven improvements - thereby moving the needle by small percentages - can mean huge wins for your bottom line. It's a must-read showing the practicality of multivariate testing.

Strangers gather on Web to make collective art

One of the Web's basic tenets is that small contributions from lots of people can amount to something powerful in the aggregate.
Now, a growing group of writers, musicians, visual artists and videographers is turning this Wikipedia-era philosophy into online collaborative art.

Twitter users are banding together to write an opera for London's Royal Opera House. Bands like My Morning Jacket and Sour, out of Japan, are turning to fans to help film their music videos. Programmers are pulling quotes from online social networks to make automated poems.

More than 50,000 animators are divvying up work on an upcoming animated film called "Live Music," and amateur videographers are re-filming "Star Wars" in 15-second bites.

This crowd-sourced creativity online is putting a new twist on traditional ideas of artistic ownership, online communication and art production.

"What's exciting is that it's being tested out by a lot of people who have access to [the technology]," said Mary Jane Jacob, executive director of exhibitions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "I think that we're in a great communal workshop."

In recent months, the collaborative projects have been showing the professionalism it takes to get noticed amid the clutter of content on the Internet, said Ze Frank, an online personality who orchestrated several early online art projects. Sign up for a CNN art project

Frank said people have been making collaborative online art "since the beginning of the Web." But much of it wasn't worth looking at.

Some collaborative books proved to be too much work for even herds of people to tackle. Efforts to create massive drawings with thousands of contributors sometimes ended up looking like random scribbles, for example.

Terror Attack in Sri Lankan Cricketers

Five Sri Lankan players have been injured in a terrorist attack near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavitana are those being treated in hospital for minor injuries.

The Sri Lankans were on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium when their bus was attacked by five armed terrorists near Liberty market. Habibur Rehman, chief commissioner of police, said 12 masked terrorists fired at the Sri Lankan team bus. The gunmen shot at the wheels of the bus and also injured the driver. A grenade was also thrown at the bus but it missed. The incident puts the ongoing second Test and the tour in doubt.

"The bus came under attack as we were driving to the stadium, the gunmen targeted the wheels of the bus first and then the bus," Mahela Jayawardene told Cricinfo. "We all dived to the floor to take cover. About five players have been injured and also Paul Farbrace [a member of the support staff], but most of the injuries appear to be minor at this stage and caused by debris." FOr more .. Click http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7920272.stm

Google Sync Beta Uses Microsoft ActiveSync

By Stuart J. Johnston
February 10, 2009

Google announced Monday it has begun beta testing its new Google Sync cloud-based synchronization services meant to link users' iPhone and Windows Mobile calendars and contacts with their Google accounts and automatically keep them in sync.

Also on Monday, Microsoft announced that Google Sync relies on its own Exchange ActiveSync technology, which it has licensed to Google.

"Earlier today Google announced Google Sync, which is made possible by a patent license they obtained from Microsoft covering Google’s implementation of the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol on Google servers," read a statement posted on Microsoft's PressPass site.

"For iPhone and WinMo [Windows Mobile], Google Sync does indeed utilize the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol," a Google spokesperson confirmed in an e-mail to InternetNews.com.

The two statements may reflect the continuing tension between the two technology giants. Microsoft's statement said that the license is an outgrowth of its Interoperability Principles, which it announced a year ago. The software giant also said it has already licensed the patent to "Apple, Nokia, Palm, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson."

Google, of course, was touting how useful its services will be in the face Microsoft's developing onslaught against the search titan. Google Sync will support syncing in both directions via push technology, freeing users from having to remember to do it manually.

"For iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, Google Sync allows you to get your Gmail Contacts and Google Calendar events to your phone. Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over-the-air, so you can attend to other tasks," according a posting on the Google Mobile Blog on Monday.

Google declined to say when Google Sync will exit beta testing. "Following our credo to launch early and iterate, we're introducing Google Sync in beta," the spokesperson said. "We don't have any timing to announce with regard to when Google Sync will come out of beta.

Such a pairing shouldn't come too much as a surprise, as the two giants do have potential common ground, said one analyst. "Frankly, these companies can have one place where they are at each others throats, like online advertising," Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, told InternetNews.com.

"At the same time, Google is pushing into the cloud, and dealing with Microsoft applications is required if you want to deal with 90 percent of the world running those apps," King added.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com.