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Long-Lost Pyramids Spotted on Google Earth?
Surfing Google Earth can be quite fun—especially when you zoom in and find a pair of possible long-lost Egyptian pyramids.
Angela Micol of Maiden, North Carolina, has done just that, spotting a pyramidal shape about 140 feet wide and another, bigger one with mounds roughly 250 feet across. “The images speak for themselves,” says the satellite archaeology researcher.
“Field research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids, and evidence should be gathered to determine their origin,” Micol tells Archaeology News Network. “With the use of Infrared imagery, we can see the extent of the proposed complexes in greater detail.” An Egyptologist confirms that the sites are undiscovered and says one is sized much like a 13th Dynasty Egyptian pyramid.
How Google Reveals State Stereotypes
Ever wondered what people really think of your state?
Google can tell you: Just type in, “Why is (state name here) so…” and let autocomplete fill in the rest; that’ll show you what others have been searching. Blogger Renee DiResta tried it for all 50 states, and released an interactive map showing the top hits.
Turns out Wisconsin is “stupid,” Georgia “racist,” Ohio “boring,” and California “expensive.” New York is “great,” but, alas, also “expensive.”
Click HERE to see the full map and what people think of your state.
Users Like Google+ Better Than Facebook
Finally, some good news for Google+.
The most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) finds that users are much happier with the Google social network than they are with Facebook. Facebook scored 61 out of 100 in customer satisfaction (down from 66 last year), while Google+ scored 78. Of course, Facebook also has more than 900 million users, a much larger user base than Google’s site. “So,” Wired notes, “what the ACSI is really telling us is that Facebook is the addiction we hate, but just can’t kick.”
Facebook managed to rank amongst this year’s five lowest-scoring companies, thanks to user dissatisfaction with ads, privacy issues, the mobile app, and the new Timeline.
Google+ users, on the other hand, expressed more happiness with the site’s approach to privacy, ads, and mobile. “If Google+ continues to attract users at an aggressive pace, Facebook will run the risk of losing its main competitive advantage over time,” declares the report. In general, social media suffered from poor scores on the report, while search engines performed well.
Google+ Basically a Ghost Town
Google+ launched with ambitions of competing with Facebook, and if you listen to CEO Larry Page, it’s on pace to do just that, with 90 million users registering since June.
But there’s one big problem, the Wall Street Journalobserves: Those 90 million users aren’t actually doing anything once they’ve signed up. According to comScore, the average Google+ visitor spends just three minutes a month on the site, compared to six or seven hours for Facebook.
“Google+ “does not have the same degree of vibrancy that Facebook, Twitter, or even Pinterest has at the moment,” says one media buyer.
Google insists that Google+ is more than a destination website, arguing that it adds value to other Google services like search and YouTube. “We’re growing by every metric we care about,” said one Google VP.
Episode 67: Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now 2010 Recap
Almost 3 weeks after new year’s (lame), Michael recaps some random things from 2010, including his top Facebook status’, top pirated tv shows and top Googled ladies. Check out themichaelshowpodcast.com!
The Michael Show has a new iTunes feed. Subscribe to it by clicking HERE.
D5 Creation
