Technology

  • Google Reader API – A Brief Tutorial

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    A few days ago, I asked a question on Stack Overflow regarding the Google Reader API.  What I wanted to do was build a WordPress plug-in that would import my feeds from Google Reader into my dashboard.  I’ve already pulled in my site statistics and Facebook, Google Reader is the last holdout keeping me from

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  • Ten Reasons eReaders Will Never Replace Paper Books

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    Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my eReader.  It holds almost 200 books so far (of which I’ve read maybe 20) and has space for several hundred more without even adding external media!  It’s truly a revolutionary device, but I would never go so far as to swear off my old-fashioned printed books.  Call

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  • When Community Software Becomes Community Property

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    One of the most widely recognized social media applications in the world today is Facebook.  People use it for everything from email to event planning to entertainment.  You can manipulate your profile to display every detail of your life or nothing.  You can build an online profile to represent yourself in any fashion you want

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  • XML-RPC

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    Just to forewarn you, this might come across as a more technical post than I normally throw at you.  Still, I did something exciting last night that I wanted to share and perhaps educate you about. I built a custom XML-RPC server. And with that statement I know I’ve already lost most of you.  Rather

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  • Bayesian Statistics – Conclusion

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    People groan whenever I bring up statistics in relation to marketing theory.  In reality, though, most marketing decisions are made based on numbers.  Without some level of smart statistical analysis, you can’t make an informed decision based on your data and all of those research dollars are wasted. Given, the case study I posted yesterday

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  • Bayesian Statistics – Part IV

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    Understanding the Bayesian average is one thing.  Understanding how to calculate it is something different.  Understanding how to apply it is something in a whole other league.  So here’s a quick and simple case study regarding product feedback and comparing aggregate product ratings using Bayesian statistics. Situation Your widget factory produces three different widgets and

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  • Bayesian Statistics – Part III

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    A traditional average is easy to understand.  If you take a group of people, add their heights together and divide by the number of people in the group, you know the average height.  A simple average is a relatively easy way to create a prediction for future behavior – in many cases, you can reasonably

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  • Bayesian Statistics – Part II

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    Most statistics are based on solid, static data.  The average for a group of numbers is independent of what numbers are actually included in the group.  Statistics give us a snapshot of our data so we can make high-level decisions based on it without knowing the details of each discrete measurement.  This simplicity makes statistics

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  • Bayesian Statistics – Part I

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    In our careers as marketers we are often presented with problems that require some kind of statistical analysis.  One of the most frequently-faced issues is that of content or quality ratings. Let’s say your company produces 5 different widgets.  You ask 100 of your customers to rate these widgets and ask them to rate all

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  • Electronic Media

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    In a world where everyone is increasingly concerned with the ability of media to be personalized, it’s only obvious that we’d start turning to “virtual” libraries rather than real ones.  Who wants to peruse stacks of off-topic books when a computer could just display the most relevant material?  Searching becomes easier, and our time is

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