1 person doesn't like this

Google Reader's trying to get all sociable, and has started telling you how many people 'like' a given story.

I don't like this feature, even more so given the example below, which suggests that '1 person likes' the story that over 1,000 employees at Allied Carpets are set to lose their jobs following the chain's collapse. Unless it's the MD of Carpet Right.


Oh no wait, you can actually see the name, profile and other shared items of the person. In this case, he seems to like Lube, Commodore 64s and pictures of Joey Barton and Ashley Cole's bottoms. Seriously.

Now that's what I call contextual targeting

A Google content ad for Compare the Meerkat on an article about... Compare the Meerkat.



And that's not all. The ad also appeared on my Google Reader under the article. Good ammunition for those who doubt the relevance of some content ads. It can work!

Dear Mum, For Christmas I would like... Tokyoflash Negative Watch

I keep stumbling across coll stuff I cannot justify buying for myself at this time of year. I have taken to adding such things to my 'Starred Items' section in Google Reader (if anyone knows how to publish Google Reader Starred Items daily as an automated Blog post, please let me know) and then largely forgetting about them.

I have decided to take action. Between now and Christmas (and possibly beyond, depending on how effective it is - it's my birthday in February after all) I am going to post stuff on here that I want, as a reminder to myself and others. Here is the first:



I'm in the market for a new watch so be aware there might be a few up here. This is the Tokyoflash Negative watch, available from Tokyoflash and brought to my attention by the newly prolific Switched On Set. It retails for a misleadingly hefty 16,900 Yen, which is actually £90. I think I prefer the silver.