OK, I’m done with proprietary video players. As of this second (your fault, T :))
If you send me a video, make sure that 1. you’re searched YouTube for the same filename and send me that URL. Failing that, 2. I can drag and drop the video onto the VLC Player shortcut.
If it won’t play on a click in a browser or in the email link in Gmail–trash can time.
Thanks for listening 
My initial stint in Dublin has forced me to spend time in a hotel room with 20 TV channels. Thanks to that, I’ve become a fast fan of the BBC’s Life on Mars. Oddly this coincides with becoming, only now, acquainted with the David Bowie’s Hunky Dory, which has the song of the same name. I must say, what a kick-butt show. I’m excited that I have the whole of Season 1 to enjoy (it’s the beginning of Season 2 right now).
I just read that there are plans for an American version. Why there is a need to shard series that are successful in Europe? This original series has wonderful characters and an a gripping plot. Perhaps the success of the U.S. version of The Office opens the flood gates for more of this kind of porting (Little California anyone?).
I’m torn because I think The Office U.S. stands on its own very well–the office job experience is something that is shared across borders easily. We already have a rash of CSI clones, so I’d suggest that Life on Mars should be sold to HBO by the BBC and shown as is (a la Extras) and we can dispense of the re-creation of the series.
In the meantime, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a DVD, or will see if I can get my stateside TiVO to capture reruns and fill out Season 1.
First of all, a bit of a thumbs-down to Vodaphone.
I arrived at the Dublin airport this weekend, and the first thing you can see is the Vodaphone store. I got a cheap phone and SIM card on my last visit. What I didn’t have was my own phone number–it was written down or printed somewhere on material that was long thrown away.
It was hard to believe, but the Vodaphone guys could not figure out my phone number. I had the SIM card an the phone, but no, apparently my account was lapsed, and they needed the phone number to access everything on my phone. I ended up shelling out another 15 Euro for a new SIM card, not a huge deal, but Vodaphone earns a big Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Welcome to Ireland!
Every moment since has been fantastic. I’ve re-acquainted myself with colleagues who I am in communication with weekly, but it’s usually really really good to press the flesh and talk face-to-face. The Dublin office has been very welcoming and there is a lot of good work going on, and a unique culture with so many people from different countries working together. This is going to be a good year…
(Speaking of that hyperlink, I saw the film on the plane and thought it was quite good. I wonder why I didn’t hear more about it)
Hello world! I’ll be at Search Engine Strategies London conference next week. Matt, my colleague in Webspam, is speaking in a keynote conversation with Chris Sherman (looking forward to meeting Chris). Vanessa Fox will be speaking as well. There will also be a number of Googlers from our Online Sales operation on panels. I met Danny Sullivan in Las Vegas at the last Pubcon, and it will be great to see him again.
While I won’t be speaking, I hope to meet a lot of people and hear what kind of issues they’re having with regard to their websites and their presence in Google. We’ve introduced some new stuff recently, including a new backlinks tool in our Webmaster Tools. I expect there to be a lot of buzz about that new tool.
Following SES, I’ll be spending some time in our Dublin office. The plan is for Google to send me there for a good part of 2007 with our fantastic Dublin Search Quality team, finding new ways to communicate with webmasters and site owners in Europe, as well as addressing webspam issues in over a dozen languages.
Oh yes, and then there’s the Guinness…
