Yesterday Google announced their eBookstore. While at first glance another online bookstore doesn't seem to matter all that much, but Google has a history of knocking down giants. So what do you need to know about this initial launch of the Google eBookstore?

1. Distributed/social comments

To leave a comment on Amazon.com you have to be logged in with your account. They also take steps to make sure people aren't spamming the comments or running multiple accounts. Google eBookstore on the other hand is aggregating comments from several different sources. GoodReads.com is the main source but there are also comments from editorial sources and Kirkus.com. You can also leave your review directly in the Google eBookstore.

My question is, what are they doing to protect from people spamming comments? Are they checking for people using multiple accounts either through Google or GoodReads? The consumer reviews are very important in online sales so I would love to see more information on what they are doing to protect the process.

2. Device Agnostic

The Google eBookstore launches with support of reading on the web, Android phones, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Barnes & Noble Nook and Sony eReader. Curiously left off the list is the Amazon Kindle although I would assume that will happen in the near future. Google's site says, "Currently, Google eBooks are not compatible with Amazon Kindle devices, though we are open to supporting them in the future." Once it does, I would start to wonder why anyone would buy an ebook anywhere BUT a store like Google's that allows you to remain device agnostic. Hopefully this will twist the arm of the other major players to decide on a single format for ebooks that can be used (and protected) across all devices.

3. Huge amount of titles available

Google launched with over 3,000,000 titles! That is bigger than any other store currently.

4. Google is crawling the entire book

Depending on the copyright of the book and the publisher's requirements, Google is crawling the content of the entire book. The most exciting thing about this is that books will start showing up in search engines for terms outside of the authors name, book title and short description. What this will do to actual book sales is yet to be seen, but I can only assume this increased exposure will increase sales as well.

I'll pause here and mention that the launch of the Google eBookstore was made possible by a settlement in the class action lawsuit brought against Google by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers and a handful of authors and publishers over three years ago. By reading through some of the information on this lawsuit it sounds like a lot of decisions have been tentatively made and there is a lot of progress yet to come.

5. Book previews

Publishers will have the option of making 20% to 100% of their book available for preview to readers. It will also make it very easy to embed portions of the book in your website. This is exciting as it will make it much easier to share portions of the book and make them available to potential readers.

6. Analytics

The Google eBookstore will integrate with their analytics software as well. From Google site:

Online reports let you manage your account information, view how many consumers have looked at your titles, see click rates on purchase links, and review other stats related to the Google Books program.

For those of us that focus on analytics and website optimizations to drive sales, this is an exciting feature. I would love to see the other retailers follow suit on this one. The ability to see stats and user actions will help make decisions on how we are driving people to the various online book stores.

7. Adwords integration

An obvious move, the Google eBookstore integrates with their Adwords product to make it easier to purchase and track advertising campaigns.

8. Resources and Education for Authors and Publishers

While it is current pretty sparse, Google has created a resources section to help authors and publishers take advantage of their new platform. Keep an eye here as this section is sure to grow quickly.

--

I'm most excited about what this move by Google will force the other online retailers to do, especially Amazon.com. Will Amazon open their Kindle format? Will they allow authors and publishers to track their analytics? I'm very interested to see what comes next.

I could not locate very much information on how much control authors and publishers will have in the listing of their books. Will you be able to change the primary category for your book? Will you be able to customize the author's page with video and other content?

Google has a history of launching a product and then quickly growing it and adding additional features. What will be next for the Google eBookstore and what will they continue to push the other major retailers to do? Time will tell.

• Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity - Great argument for how are school systems are setup to destroy the very skills we need to succeed.  This video got Candace and I talking seriously about homeschooling
• Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation - Really interesting argument for why normal methods of motivation in organizations (raises, promotions, etc) actually have reverse effects
• Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity - My favorite video on TED.  Extremely inspiring!
• Benjamin Zander on music and passion - One of the most fun to watch.  I'm more inspired by HOW he gives his talk than what he actually says
• Dan Gilbert on our mistaken expectations - This is the one I mentioned about people making irrational decisions.  Really interesting and fun to watch.
• Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce - Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite guys to hear speak.  He always has fascinating stuff to say and this one is really interesting about how we make choices and what makes us happy.
• Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success - Will challenge your views of who is actually responsible for your, and other people's, success in life.
• Clay Shirky: How social media can make history - Answers the question of why social media "matters".
• Gever Tulley on 5 dangerous things for kids - A fun one... 5 dangerous things we should let our kids do
• Taryn Simon photographs secret sites - Awesome photography of interesting places

What are your favorites?

In this post I'll describe two common examples and how to accomplish them. But first, here's the piece of code we'll be using:

<?php
include(TEMPLATE . '/template-file.php');
?>

This bit of code is extremely useful as it can be used in any template file to include any other template file. Here's the two most common uses:

Category Sidebars

If you would like to show a different sidebar based on which category the current post is in:

<?php
if(in_category(1)) {
include(TEMPLATE . '/sidebar-1.php');
} else if (in_category(2)) {
include(TEMPLATE . '/sidebar-2.php');
} else {
include(TEMPLATE . '/sidebar-post.php');
}
?>

This could be useful to show a different FAQ for a product category, a different set of widgets if it's the News category, etc.

Homepage Header

Since the homepage is often a separate layout from the rest of the site, you may want to have a header-home.php template file that is used on the home page and then the default header for the rest of the site.

So you can continue using the default get_header() call on all the template files, here's the best way to go about it:

1. Duplicate your header.php file and name it header-default.php

2. Create a header-home.php file and insert your markup for the home page header

3. Open your header.php file and delete everything (only after step #1 of course) and add this code:

<?php
if(is_front_page()) {
include(TEMPLATE . '/header-home.php');
} else {
include(TEMPLATE . '/header-default.php');
}
?>

In purchasing a Flip for my wife the week before Christmas, Woot did an extraordinary FAIL in user experience and pissed me off in the process.

Most of the time I ship my purchases to my home address. For obvious reasons, I was having this item shipped to my PO Box instead. And since this was just a few business days prior to Christmas, they were running a special on a free upgrade to 2-day Fedex shipping.

When it shipped I received a link for shipping confirmation and it said the item was shipped via Fedex SmartPost and wouldn't arrive until the 27th. So I sent their support an email:

Hi there, my order # is xxxxxxxx.

I went back and checked here:

(http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=2869013)

and judging by the thumbnail I was supposed to get two day shipping to make sure the Flip would get here by Christmas.

I just checked the Fedex tracking link I was emailed:

http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?tracknumbers=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And it says it was mailed by SmartPost and won't get here until the 27th.

Am I missing something? Was it not supposed to be 2 day shipping?

Just let me know. Thanks!

And their response:

Since FedEx won't ship to a PO Box, we sent your package via Smart Post so it would be delivered. This is the address you had the package shipped to:

Timothy Grahl
PO Box 4112
Lynchburg, VA 24502

Thanks for Wooting

I didn't realize FedEx doesn't ship to PO Boxes and I thought it was weird that it didn't give me a warning about the shipping method not working when I entered my shipping address. Since I'm not always the most thorough person, I went back and ran through a test order to make sure I didn't miss something. On the day I took these screenshots they were running a free upgrade to overnight shipping.

Here's the screen where you input your shipping address:

And the order confirmation screen:

Absolutely NO indication that they wouldn't actually be shipping the product overnight (or in my case, 2-day).

I attached these images to my email response back to Woot's customer service:

To be honest, this is pretty frustrating. There is no notice on your site that Fedex doesn't ship to PO Boxes and I didn't know that they didn't. In fact, on your address line 1 it says:

(street address, P.O. box, company name, c/o)

If there had been any indication that the 2 day shipping method wouldn't work with a PO Box and therefore, make the item late for Christmas, I would have changed the shipping address. However, as it stands I won't be getting the item in time for Christmas even though I ordered it in plenty of time and was promised two day shipping.

In fact, in doing a test order today the attached screenshot shows up. I think it's absolutely ridiculous that on the same screen you show the shipping address, you also show "Fedex Overnight Shipping" and give no indication that the combination is impossible.

Is there any way at all I can get another Flip shipped overnight so it will be here in time for Christmas? I'll pay the extra to ship back the first one once it arrives if need be.

And their response back:

It's understood that po box addresses cannot receive FedEx 2 Day, Ground, or Overnight shipments. Our system will not stop you from providing a po box address should a buyer decide to have the item shipped there instead of their physical address. We will always ship FedEx Smartpost to po box addresses. If we do not allow it, then we will request the physical address or not allow you purchase the product. Unfortunately we cannot ship another unit to you in time for Christmas. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Woot.com doesn't do a very simple check to see if their shipping method matches my address and it's my fault?

The first issue of not checking my address against the shipping method is forgivable. But then blaming it on me and refusing to help me out is absolutely ridiculous

Woot customer serviced did a fantastic job pissing off a customer that has made over 30 purchases in the last 12 months.

Woot.com gets a FAIL for user experience.

I spent a little bit of time experimenting with the transparency of the GIF format vs the PNG format. I know there's a lot of technical stuff that goes into the differences, but I'm just going to present my findings.

I started with a pretty simple, quick and dirty web 2.0 badge. I saved it with transparency using 256 color GIF, 256 color PNG-8, then PNG-24. I was pleased with my findings, see the image below:

It's not hard to see who wins this one.

I was suprised to see that GIF's compression was suprisingly bad. The PNG-8 did much better, at 3/4 the size, and with better transparency to boot. The PNG-24, which I have used extensively, has true Alpha Channel Transparency which is pretty great for absolutely positioning things like logos on top of other items. For GIF's lack of compression, I might as well use PNG-24 instead.

So based on this very quick and not very thorough test, PNG wins out.

I must issue this one caveat, due to IE's PNG Issues, you might have to do a little more work to your site. But I promise it'll look better.

Today I'd like to share some tools (mostly Windows features) I use that save time on a PC. Some of these tips only save me seconds, but those seconds add up over a long time.

1. Getting Organized

I'm not the most organized person in the world by a long shot (just ask my wife). But I do try to make things easy to organize on my computer. So, I have one folder I save all my Out:think stuff in, one folder I save all my digital photographs in, and one folder I save all my personal projects in.

This allows me to quickly determine where a file would be located if I haven't accessed it in awhile and need to get it again. In the old days, my computer was such a mess, I lost track of everything, using time that could have been used for a productive purpose.

Most of the tips below require that you use this type of "Main Folder -> Sub-folder" architecture to be useful.

2. Folder/Application Shortcuts

This might seem like a no-brainer, but you can put shortcuts just about anywhere. This enables you to capitalize on those folders that, by default, windows encourages (pushes) you to use.

Any windows user knows what it's like when you need to save a document in Word, or in my case, Photoshop. The folder it starts you in is miles away from the desired destination folder. Fortunately, the left sidebar always has options for My Computer, My Documents, Desktop, and some other mostly unused stuff. Use this to your advantage.

1. Open two file explorer windows
2. Navigate the left window to your desired partition/drive (C:\ by default) that shows the folder you want to link.
3. Navigate the right window to "My Documents" (on Vista this is just the user's name).
4. Now Right-Click and Drag the desired folder from the left window, to empty space in the right window (don't drop it on a folder, or it will go into that folder).
5. When the option is given, choose "Create Shortcut Here"
   

   Here's how it's done.

6. Now when you save a document, you can navigate quickly to My Documents -> Your Favorite Shortcut, instead of clicking through.

It might be worth noting, that Vista brought back a feature I loved about windows 98, which is Favorites.

It's pretty easy to take advantage of this. See the screenshot below:

Drag and Drop to add to favorites.

3. SendTo

SendTo must be a little known secret about Windows, because I've not seen a lot of people use it. Believe it or not, you can customize this feature. You don't just have to ZIP things or send items to your email (which I'm not sure if anyone does). I also use this feature to send files to specific folders, and install fonts.

For Vista: To add to your SendTo list, just type "Sendto" in your file explorer destination field.

For XP: Go to Start Menu -> Run -> Type "sendto" in the field click OK.

Installing Fonts has Never Been Easier!

Now you just Right click and Drag your desired folders over to add their shortcuts the SendTo list. You can easily transfer files from one location to another (although I believe it copies by default). This is especially useful for downloading and installing fonts. When you get your new font and unzip it, just SendTo C:\Windows\Fonts to install the new font. I labeled mine "Install Font".

4. Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can be really effective...but most people don't use them, who has time to remember the exhaustive list of them? Well, there's a few that I bother to remember, they use the Windows Logo Key.

The windows logo key; Yeah, it's the one between Ctrl and Alt -- it has a purpose.

1. Windows Logo + D: Shows Desktop -- press it again to go back to the previous state.
2. Windows Logo + E: Windows Explorer -- allows you to look through your folders. It's a quick access way to get to your files.
3. Windows Logo + F: Search for files and folders. -- Saves you a couple clicks to get to this application.

5. Third Party Help

After using a Mac, I just can't cope with Window's abhorrant lack of concern for getting around quickly, so I call in some third party help. I have tried a number of programs that simulate the Expose feature, and have found some pretty good ones. Lifehacker had a pretty cool article on them that I would suggest reading. Right now I'm using TopDesk.

TopDesk isn't freeware, its 20 bucks, but from what I can tell so far, it's worth it. I am currently using a duel monitor system, and it does a very good job of showing all windows on both monitors...not consolidating to two.

Pretty cool right?

TopDesk will do more, so you can visit their website if you like, but I suggest trying out the free versions too, they might work just fine for your needs.

That about wraps it up. If you found this helpful, or would like to share a tip, Leave a Comment.

Blog Blazers: 40 top bloggers share their secrets to creating a high-profile, high-traffic and high-traffic blog

You can see the bios of the 40 bloggers here.

The interesting thing... I've worked with three of them to build their blog and develop their online strategies.

Dane Carlson - Business Opportunities Weblog - Bio

I started by guest blogging for him about four years ago while he went on vacation. After that I grew into doing ad sales and working with him on different strategies for the growth of his blog. While I moved out of contracting for him, we still collaborate on a regular basis.

Anita Campbell - Small Business Trends - Bio

I've been working with Anita as her web master and strategist for almost four years. She's a brilliant business woman and my best client. We've worked together on many aspects of her sites including growing her readership, implementing new revenue strategies and designing/building/maintaining her websites.

Ramit Sethi - I Will Teach You To Be Rich - Bio

I began working with Ramit this past Spring and have helped him implement various things on his site. We've also been working together on developing several strategies to market himself, his blog and his upcoming book. There's lot more to come in the near future!

So congrats to them for being added to the group of 40 top "Blog Blazers". They are all brilliant and deserve their top at the spot.

I'm just grateful that I got to play a small role in helping them get there.

I was floored by how many times I got punished for being a customer of US Airways. Here's a few things that made up my experience:

• Charged me $15 to check one, normal sized bag.
• Since several of the passengers had heard of the $15 charge ahead of time, there were way to many people trying to carry on. A few of them were forced to check their bag on the plane... they didn't pay $15.
• I was charged $1 for a cup of coffee.
• My connecting flight had zero air conditioning. Had to be over 90 degrees in there.
• I've been flying my whole life, and both US Airways flights had the hardest landing I've ever experienced. Bounced everyone around a good bit and it was enough to make a few passengers shriek.
• They announced the wrong baggage carousel... twice

A few of the above things could be written off to human error, but the first three came from corporate policy. At what point is it good business to knowingly punish your customers for choosing you?

My flights home were on Delta. It was a much better experience. I didn't get charged to check a bag or for a drink of water. The flights were smooth and comfortable. Etc etc.

Guess who I won't be flying on next time...

I headed out to Kroger to pick up some groceries and the entire parking lot was full (spaces and aisles) of people waiting to get gas.  There were Kroger representatives directing traffic and one told me that if I wanted to get groceries I would have to wait for an hour and a half in the line for gas like everyone else.

WTF?

So I drove to the next parking lot over, parked and walked the extra 50  yards to get into Kroger.

Once inside, everyone was talking about the gas prices...

"Better get it today or you may not be able to get ANY gas tomorrow!"

"I heard prices are going to be over $9 a gallon!"

Meanwhile, I got my groceries, drove home on less than a quarter tank of gas and the next day went and paid an extra $0.20 a gallon.

Seriously... what is going through these people's heads?  Why are they so easily persuaded to waste a couple hours of their time to save a potential $10?

My time is worth way more than that.