Brandon Live!

So for a while now I’ve been trying to give MSN Search a chance.  But a few months ago when I would try to use MSN Search instead of another provider, I would quickly give up and go back to my old ways.

Then things started to change.  I’d try MSN once in a while, not find what I wanted, and look elsewhere.  But instead of seeing a set of clearly superior results, I started seeing pretty much the same thing.  As in, no one could get me what I wanted.  Not without a more refined query, digging into several pages of results, etc.

But over the last few weeks I’ve found myself using MSN Search more and more, and being really happy with the results.  I really think they’re on the verge of hitting a huge milestone in terms of core relevance. 

Do I expect non-Microsoft people to try MSN Search every few days?  No.  I think that once MSN Search is comfortable with its core relevancy, they need a big push to get a bunch of users to try it.  And not only that, but they need an edge that will make it stick.

Will it happen?  Stay tuned. 

But in the meantime, there’s a new Channel 9 video with some Web Search geeks from my building here.

I think I’ve got enough evidence to back that up.

If you aren’t aware, this guy is the Anti-Violent Video Games sleezeball lawyer from Florida that even other Anti-Violent Video Game sleeze distances itself from.  He also has lied about having the support of the National Institute on Media and the Family.

But most recently, he published his “Modest Proposal” - promising to donate $10,000 to charity if a video game developer created a game that he describes in the letter.

So someone did it.  What do you think happened next?

I’ll quote Penny Arcade who said it best,

Thompson now claims that his repellent suggestion was “satire,” and we must conclude that his financial offer was also satire, some new breed of satire apparently that I’m sure is just hilarious to people in need.

There is good news, though.  Today Penny Arcade donated $10,000 to the ESA in his name.  God bless ‘em.

How much will you bet that the mainstream media glosses over this one?

In the same vein as ILoveBees, OurColony, and Origen 360, a new campaign seems to have emerged.  It’s centered around this site:

www.hex168.com

For those of you that went to whip out your calculators, yes a hex 168 would be decimal 360.  Team Xbox has some interesting pictures apparently related to the story.

They also suggest that an informant told them the meaning behind the campaign will be revealed on October 18th (this Tuesday).  Some speculate that it might be the first chance to preview an actual Xbox 360 game in person. 

What do you think?

While reading this, something jumped into my mind.

Sony is like the kid who plays Monopoly and always loses because he spends the entire game trying to get boardwalk.  Meanwhile, the other players drain him dry with their countless (but less expensive) properties.

Sony seems to be obessesed with formats.  Every chance they get, they introduce a proprietary format (Betamax, Minidisc, Memory Stick + 18 incompatible variations, UMD, and so on).  They’re willing to sacrifice anything “for the format.“  Yet, they never succeed.  They seem to have this mindset that if they could just win a format war once they will be undisputed kings of technology, heralded far and wide for their genious creation.

Based on their record alone, I’m predicting BluRay to fail (and peaceful coexistance would constitue failure from Sony’s perspective).

No one wants a proprietary format owned and exclusively produced by Sony.  No one except Sony.