Lies, Damned Lies...

Web Analytics in the movies

So if you thought you were destined to spend the rest of your life explaining what web analytics is to bored-looking people at cocktail parties, think again, because Sony Pictures is about to take the industry mainstream (kinda) with the release of Untraceable, a movie about a serial killer who uses real-time traffic data from site visitors to decide how quickly to kill people. I always knew it was a dark art...

One of the more amusing details about the movie is the location that it was filmed in - none other that Portland, Oregon, home of Webtrends, and, of course, the one and only Eric Peterson. Anything you want to tell us, Eric? ;-)

Dear John...

I know we've had some rocky times together, but you can't just walk out on me like this. Was it something I said? I know that at times I disapproved of your relationship with Avinash, but with a relationship as long-standing as ours, a little jealousy's going to set in eventually.

So where will you go now? Will I see you growing your hair out and hanging around in bars with Eric? Or shaving your head and pontificating with Jim? Don't tell me you have a new flame already - or are you going back to Marc? I know you always had a soft spot for him.

Well, wherever you end up going, good luck, I guess. There'll always be a warm welcome for you here, when you're done flirting with your fancy new friends.

Yours bitterly,

The Web Analytics Industry

 

[PS Seriously, good luck with your move, John. You've done a great job at ClickTracks and I for one will be watching carefully to see where you apply your talents next]

Bring the love back

I'm a sucker for a nice little TV short, and this amused me at the same time as giving me that glow you get when the behemoth of a company you work for does something cool:

The Break Up
Uploaded by geertdesager

My favorite line from this is when the guy says, "Know you? Sweetheart, I know everything about you! You're 28... to 34".

To learn more about the film and the way it's being used, visit www.bringtheloveback.com.

[Update 6/5/07: Thanks to Kip for pointing out that I had the URL above totally wrong; I've corrected it now]

Dilbert on KPIs

I kind of have an unwritten rule not to include Dilbert cartoons on this blog, partly because it's such an appallingly hackneyed thing to do, and partly because it will reveal to my readership that I'm not in fact the debonair man-about-town that the pithy content of my blog would have you believe, but a paid-up geek whose one unchanging Christmas gift request to his wife is the annual Dilbert desk calendar [Too late for that - Ed]. But today's Dilbert comic merits an exception:

Heh. Hehehe. Heheheheheh <*snort*>.

Now go buy some branded Dilbert stuff from Dilbert.com to make me feel better about the copyright infringement.

xkcd

Apologies for the lack of blog posts of late... has been a little busy round here. In the meantime, here's another humorous site which warmed the cockles of my geeky heart.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Indexed

 Felicitously combining two of my favourite things - charts and jokes - Jessica Hagy's indexed delivers a daily visualization that helps you make sense of this confusing world:

Needless to say, my birthday's in September. I suggest you add her to your feed list now.