a fine balance
thoughts and observations
yes sir, i’ll have another
Feb 5th
I had an interesting search experience today. I typically rely on a browser’s dedicated search box instead of actually navigating to a search engine’s homepage. Today, I went to google.com and started searching for chrome extensions. I was surprised when the top result in the auto-suggest popped up with the usual blue text and URL you see in an AdWords ad. It’s hard to tell if that’s really an ad, since that link is to a legit Google site focused on exploiting Chrome’s V8 Javascript VM for some interesting use cases.
Is this the direction Google is taking, mixing ads and search results where users have experienced strictly search results? It’s certainly one way to drive up CTR, but at what expense to the user experience? I’m curious to see if this is a widely deployed “feature” or something that is being tested across a limited number of searched. It was definitely a turn off for me. Some experimenting shows me that it’s kind of like a “I’m feeling lucky” hit for a specific URL that matches the search query. If so, their choice of presentation is unfortunate.
some updates
Feb 5th
I felt motivated today to spend a little time updating my site so I changed the theme and cleaned a few things up. I’m hoping to spend a little more time thinking and writing this year.
Apple and their customers
Dec 24th
I wanted to post a quick note about a recent series of experiences I had with Apple regarding a MacBook Pro I purchased a couple of years ago. About a year ago, the battery stopped holding much charge, so I called in and got it replaced under warranty. I also promptly signed up for Applecare as many stories were popping up regarding catastrophic failures of macs and I wanted to “protect” my $2000 machine.
There were some known NVIDIA GPU issues with my model and they finally struck about a month ago. The display stopped working and I could not output to an external display but I was able to still boot the machine in target mode. I promptly made a backup and dropped off my Mac at the Apple Store in Bellevue to get fixed. Their diagnosis matched the known GPU issue and a new “logic board” was required. Within 3 days, my Mac was ready to be picked up, and the repairs would have run ~$1200 out of pocket if not for Applecare (and in this case, a known issue that extended warranty coverage beyond the first year).
Fast forward 3 weeks and I’m flying to Milwaukee and get a Service Battery error in my Power Manager panel. I stop by the Bayshore Apple Store and am greeted by an extremely helpful floor rep who delved into a good bit of detail around my issue. He set up an appointment for me since the Genius Bar was booked and when I went in the next time I didn’t have to retell the details of my issue. A quick diagnostic test and I got a new battery.
I have to say, Apple’s desire to take care of their customers and their products stands out from the crowd. IBM was the same way with Thinkpads when I was using them. It’s a big deal to me and helps balance out some of the other issues I hear, like the Time Capsules that are dying just after their one year anniversary of use.
I wish more companies were like this, I remember the hurdles I had to clear to get D-Link to replace my parents’ router after it crapped out. Kudos to Apple, this experience helps justify some of the cost premium for their products.
Seafair
Aug 1st
