Curious about a file extention I'd never seen before (.g) I decided to search Google for the answer. A search for "file:g" returns nothing and I mean nothing. No search results, no message like "There were 0 sites found for that results", NOTHING! I thought, this can't be right. So I added a character before the filetype param and I naturally started with the letter "a" like so "a filtype:g" since it's been blessed with being associated with the number 1 in most of our heads. BAM! Nothing again. Knowing the proverbial, 3rd time is always a charm, I tried the same search with b "b filetype:g" and finally got some results. I know I could've used "inurl: .g -.gov" but I'm really after the file type and extention information and not sites using it. Reason I Found Google bug 4 Well, I was on Blogger (as usual) and saw they were using .g in their file extention on the Blogger profile search. Since I didn't remember seeing that file type before I decided to dig into the Google mines and see what I could find. I'm sure it's just some random extention but for those of you out there looking for Google's next big move I'll give you the conspiracy theorist version. Google File Extention Anyone? Perhaps Google's created their own file extention as a way of permeating our lives even more. I mean they already have their own file system, gfs for short. And with the launch of gmail they've showed us they will be more than a search engine. I mean, every time you use gmail you're creating brand recognition for the lego server inspired logo. Heck, they have their own operating system as well so a file extention is nothing. Or like I said earlier, it could be just a random file extention. You be the judge.

If you're a marketer looking for good data then you probably already know that there are a million queries you could execute in Google to find your target audience and the web sites they traffic often. Since many University and company directories are put behind a firewall or at least an ssl (i.e. https//), it's safe to say that a few of them have been crawled and don't require a password to access. Searching Google for "inurl:https:// directory" returns approx. 1,660,000 urls that have "https://" and "directory" in the url.

Secure Search on Google Results
The first result was perfect. It's https://directory.berkeley.edu/update/ and by following that link and clicking the "find people" link in the top left corner you get a search form. Now you've got access to UC Berkeley faculty and student contact information like phone numbers and email addresses.

This page on MIT's site talks about restricting access to content using a secure sockets layer but fails to mention how to protect that content from search engine spiders. Although, the user access "should" protect the data ;)

I also found a listing of everyone at the Rockefeller University by way of that same search for secure directories.

Caveat Emptor - scratch that - Caveat WebSite - Website beware!
(Thanks for the tip Bob!)

It's official, via my coworker Andy's post at search engine lowdown. The company I work for has put together a search engine marketing conference. I'll be speaking on Successful Link Building Campaigns and Andy will moderate. I can't imagine what Andy was thinking when he decided to give me 30 minutes and a mic and put me in front of more than 200 business people. I guess I can't get too crazy since he'll be moderating my talk.

My SEMLive Session on Link Building will Cover
What does PageRank actually mean to you? How does adding more inbound links to your Web site improve your search engine ranking? I'll walk you through an essential plan that will help you increase the number of favorable links to your Web site and improve your search engine visibility.

I'll also be speaking at the Search Engine Check-up session where we'll go through some live sites and identify issues that may be hindering a site from being completely visible to the search engine crawlers and humans alike.

Diane Rinaldo (from Overture) will be speaking and a representative from Google will be speaking as well. The conference will be held at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC on October 26th and will run from 8:00 am - 5:45 pm. If you're interested in registering you can fill out the signup form. It's priced incredibly low. If you're a North Carolina resident and you regiser before Sept. 30th it's only $99 and $199 after the 30th. All other residents are $199 before Sept. 30th and $299 after the 30th. All in all it's gonna be a great conference and maybe I'll see some of you there.

This is the biggest baddest suv I've ever seen. It takes away a slight amount of the guilt I have from recently purchasing a Yukon Denali but not much. Can you imagine taking the kids to a soccer game with this thing?


Here's an excerpt from the International Truck site describing their new truck.

"Your eyes don't deceive you. It's a pickup truck. From International. Which makes it much more than a pickuptruck. It's an International © 7300 CXT born out of the proven International 7300 severe service truck used by professionals for the most rugged applications."

So you get all the attributes of a commercial truck – but you don't need a commercial driver's license to drive it.

The legendary International © DT 466 diesel engine provides up to 6 tons of hauling power. The air-ride cab and seats provide an exceptionally smooth ride. And a spacious and well-appointed interior ensures automotive-like comfort and convenience. The result of more than a century of leadership in the truck market, the International 7300 CXT delivers performance. In a big way"

Update to Post Aug 11, 2005
When I initially posted about the biggest suv I owned a Yukon Denali. After 5 months my wife and I couldn't stand it any longer and decided to replace it. We ended up bying a diesel powered vehicle but not the International CXT. Instead we purchased a 2005 Volkswagen Jetta TDI powered by a 1.9 liter TDI [turbo diesel]. We love it. Going from 13 mpg in the city to 36 mpg in the city is amazing and Shannon can actually park it. We do miss some of the room we had in the Yukon but it's totally worth it and I know Shannon would agree. So I'm sorry to disappoint those of you that thought I love gas guzzling oversized bloated suvs, I'm really a penny-pincher at heart.