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What’s Behind Those “Single?” Lawn Signs?

single_lawn_sign

No matter where Robert J. Moore went, he kept seeing lawn signs like the one pictured above. While visiting his parents in his hometown of Glassboro, New Jersey, he saw “Single? www.GlasboroSingles.ORG” signs. In Midtown Manhattan, he saw similar signs: “Single? www.FifthAvenueSingles.COM” signs. While travelling through West Windsor township in central New Jersey to do a guest lecture at Princeton, he saw “Single? www.WindsorSingles.ORG” signs.

Wondering why a dating services would target such tiny locales and why a website would promote itself with lawn signs, Moore started to do a little investigating and found a company with franchise offices spread across the United States making use of a “low-profile marketing machine” and a “data-driven technological infrastructure that supports it”. Using parked domains, plain-Jane lawn signs and data analysis, they’re making 8 figures of revenue yearly.

It’s an interesting article showing some fascinating detective work. I have to concur with the first comment submitted by a reader: Robert J. Moore is the Upton Sinclair of lawn signs!

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Digital Camera Deals at Shoppers Drug Mart

shoppers_drug_mart If you’re in Canada and you’re looking to buy a digital camera in the near future, you’re in luck. According to the website SmartCanucks.ca, Shoppers Drug Mart is having a big sale on cameras starting near the end of the month.

The table below shows the cameras that will be on sale, when it’ll be on sale and what the original and sale prices are. To make your research a little bit easier, I linked each camera model to a corresponding Google search.

Canon
Model Original price Sale price Sale period
A460 $139.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
A550 $169.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
A580 $179.99 $88.88 11/29 – 12/12
A720is $219.99 $149.99 11/29 – 12/12
S5is $349.99 $299.99 11/29 – 12/12
Fujifilm
Model Original price Sale price Sale period
F480 $169.99 $149.99 11/29 – 12/12
A820 $179.99 $149.99 11/29 – 12/12
J100 $179.99 $169.99 11/29 – 12/12
Z10 All Colours $199.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
S700 $249.99 $149.99 11/29 – 12/12
F50fd $269.99 $199.99 11/29 – 12/12
Kodak
Model Original price Sale price Sale period
C613 $99.99 $88.88 11/29 – 12/12
V803 $159.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
Z885 $199.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
Z812 $279.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
Olympus
Model Original price Sale price Sale period
FE-20 $129.99 $99.99 12/13 – 12/26
FE-210 $129.99 $79.99 11/29 – 12/12
FE-220 Blue $139.99 $79.99 11/29 – 12/12
Stylus 760 $229.99 $149.99 11/29 – 12/12
FE-350 $249.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
Stylus 790SW $299.99 $199.99 11/29 – 12/12
Sanyo
Model Original price Sale price Sale period
S750 Pink $99.99 $47.99 11/29 – 12/12
Sony
Model Original price Sale price Sale period
S700 $159.99 $88.88 11/29 – 12/12
W35 $159.99 $99.99 11/29 – 12/12
W55 $189.99 $149.99 12/13 – 12/12
W55 Pink Kit $209.99 $149.99 11/29 – 12/12
HC28 $329.99 $199.99 11/29 – 12/12
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Strangely Enough…

LinkedIn Logo…just as it was my blog that helped land me a new job after getting laid off from a blogging company, it’s quite likely that the 36 people who got laid off from LinkedIn will try to land new jobs through their LinkedIn networks.

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David Janes’ Code Weblog

Screenshot of David Janes' Code Weblog

David Janes is one of the hardest-working guys in the Toronto software development scene, both in terms of sitting at his computer and cranking out code and coming out to geek networking events. He’s got a new blog, David Janes’ Code Weblog, a blog rich in programming tips, how-tos and example code. Be sure to check it out!

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Herman Miller’s “Embody” Chair: Aeron++?

Gizmodo has a photo gallery of Herman Miller’s follow-up to the popular (and very comfortable) Aeron chair: the Embody chair, which was designed by Aeron co-designer Bill Stumpf. They declare that it’s “The Best Chair We’ve Ever Sat On”:

This is supposed to be an extremely comfy chair. Its backrest is described as “a matrix of pixels creates dynamic seat-and-back surfaces that automatically conform to your every movement and distribute your weight evenly.” The seat is “a series of plastic bands providing suspension, the second is a sheet of coils for support, the third is a system hexagonal rings that shift with your weight and the final layer is a mesh that allows air circulation to keep the sitter cool.”

It’s also supposed to be a “green” chair: made from non-toxic and sustainable materials and 42% recycled content. The entire chair is 95% recyclable.

By now, you’re probably asking “How much?” The answer: $1600.

Gizmodo’s subjective verdict:

…it is the most comfortable chair we’ve ever sat in. You can adjust the amount of recline, the tension of the recline, your seat depth, your back curvature, your armrest positioning and how high the seat is. But you can do this on many other chairs. What makes this one special—and more comfortable—is that the backrest has individual supports. Think of a Simmons mattresses with individual coils; this adjusts and supports whatever contortions you’re putting your spine through in your daily routine of reading Gizmodo.

It looks really nice. It’s a crying shame this chair is outside my budget; I think I’m going to opt for the Steelcase Leap chair, which is also quite comfy, and sells for a good $1000 less.

But wow, I’d love to have an Embody…

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GeoSocial Meetup: Thursday November 6th at the Charlotte Room, Toronto

Earth, as seen from spaceThe folks from PlanetEye — the travel-planning site whose motto is “Discover destinations. Plan trips. Share experiences” — are hosting a GeoSocial this Thursday, November 6th at 6:30 p.m. at the Charlotte Room (19 Charlotte Street, Toronto, not far from the corner of King and Spadina).

GeoSocial?

Organized by PlanetEye’s Mark Evans and Juan Gonzalez, a GeoSocial is “a group for people interested in exploring the uses of geodata to enhance the relevancy of information on the web and create new means of social interaction.”

Juan explained more in a recent post on the PlanetEye blog:

We firmly believe the GeoWeb has succeeded in providing an easily understood framework for gathering, analysing and displaying information. The challenges that remain ahead are now about leveraging this framework to create better ways for people to explore and discover their world.

GeoSocial wants to provide an open forum for all people developing ideas, technology and products that leverage the GeoWeb to create advanced social applications that can deliver personalized, geographically relevant content. We also want to invite people from other areas (bloggers?) to participate and discover how these technologies can fundamentally impact their own products.

If you’re building (or just thinking of building) location-based mobile applications, mashups, maps, producing or consuming geodata, writing about your city or neighbourhood or just have an interest in what’s being called “Where 2.0”, come out to this event and meet some like-minded people!

(I’ll be attending this event, by the way.)

Links

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Windows Exploits Come from Third-Party Apps

According to Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report (SIR), malware writers aren’t targeting Vista directly; they’re using holes in third-party apps to attack people’s systems instead. Microsoft’s data agrees with that of independent anti-malware company Kapersky Lab: while direct attacks on XP account for almost half of its vulnerabilities, nearly all attacks on Vista are done by way of exploiting third-party software.

ZDNet’s article on the report includes these graphs comparing the top 10 browser-based vulnerabilities on Windows XP and Windows Vista:

Graph: Top 10 browser-based vulnerabilities in Windows XP -- half are Microsoft's fault.

Graph: Top ten browser-based vulnerabilities in Windows Vista -- all are third-party apps' fault.

One question that comes to mind: is it because Vista is more secure, or because attacking XP is a better approach because it represents a larger base of targets? I certainly don’t know the answer.

Another question that naturally arises from this is: How do you solve the problem of vulnerabilities through third-party apps? I’m a firm believer in Bruce Schneier’s maxim, “security is a process, not a product,” and think that the best approach is a multi-pronged one. The prong for which I’m responsible is educating developers about application security, and as I find out more about the Windows platform and security, I’ll write about it here on Global Nerdy as well as in some of Microsoft’s developer-focused sites.

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