July 2006

You never know who you'll run into at a trade show. I stopped by Ad:Tech Chicago earlier this week, and in the exhibit hall reception spotted Bob Cringely, PC industry pundit extraordinaire. I'd met him briefly at a previous WebmasterWorld…

The Revelation Effect. If you've ever solved word puzzles, such as anagrams in which one must unscramble letters to form a word, you've probably experienced the little "aha!" rush when you solve one. An interesting article in the Journal…

While the term "infovore" has been kicking around for a while as a cute name for a consumer of information, the University of Southern California's Irving Biederman is using the term to describe humans exhibiting a more specific kind of…

Earlier this month in Mood-Sensing Advertisements, we described research being conducted by Cambridge prof Peter Robinson on an "emotionally aware" computer. While that phrase may imply a degree of emotional sensitivity that won't arrive…

What's the difference between (1) investing in the common stock of a public company or (2) buying an expensive perfume or men's fragrance? The answer seems simple... a financial investment is a decision based on a cold, rational analysis of…

In the last few years, web advertisers have begun to employ behavioral targeting to deliver advertisements to individual users. By keeping track of sites a user has visited, ads viewed, or other behavior, new ads can be delivered that more…

A provocative article in Seed by Yale's Paul Bloom, Seduced by the Flickering Lights of the Brain, suggests that scientists are getting carried away with their reliance on fMRI studies....This is more than just phrenology. But it is not so…