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Beanstalk's SEO News Blog

At Beanstalk Search Engine Optimization we know that knowledge is power. That's the reason we started this SEO blog. We know that the better informed our visitors are, the better the decisions they will make for their websites and their online businesses. We hope you enjoy your stay and find the SEO news contained within this blog useful.

July 31, 2012

It’s Hard To Do The Right Thing

For anyone who’s ever found themselves blocked while trying to do the right thing, this post is for you.

Some time ago we were contacted by a company (Eyewear Pros to be specific) that wanted to make a donation to charity. Now that doesn’t sound hard and I suppose it’s not but there was a twist, the owner of the business is passionate about the need for glasses – especially to those less fortunate and so he asked us to help him setup a campaign in which he would make a donation to New Eyes For The Needy for each pair of glasses he sold off his website. The folks at the charity were easy to work with and that side of things worked itself out very quickly. But he wanted to take it further, he didn’t want to simply give money to the charity, he wanted them to end up with more glasses to distribute and so on top of the donation he offered to pay the shipping for his customers to send their old glasses. In fact, to incentivize people further – he wanted to offer an additional donation based on the number of pairs sent in.

Once again we found the folks at New Eyes For The Needy to be easy to work with, the problem arose when we contacted both USPS and Stamps.com to try to arrange some type of pre-paid shipping solution. We’ve all had envelopes sent to us with pre-paid postage so this has to be easy right? Wrong.

After weeks of communication with both companies we are still unable to provide any type of acceptable solution. the best we’ve got so far is a choice between either:

Send full shipping to every client and simply hope they use it to ship their glasses, or
Send them an unpaid shipping label and not cover the costs

Can you see the problem? We know it must be possible but there’s no clear solution that anyone we’ve talked at either company to can provide.

If any of our valued readers know of a solution or a company that we should talk to, your input would be greatly appreciated. It’s frustrating when you have a client who’s trying hard to do the right thing and can’t, especially when you regularly get pre-paid envelops included with mailings and are doing exactly what you’re trying to.

If you have any suggestions please feel free to contact us with your thoughts.

And because our client is so passionate about the charity, here’s a bit more information on it:

SEO news blog post by Dave Davies, CEO @ 8:28 am

Categories: beanstalk,Misc
Tags: charity seo —

May 1, 2012

Search Engine Experiment in Spam Surfing

If you took a very heavily spam-influenced search engine like Bing for example and removed the first 1 million results for a query, how good would the result be?

How about doing the same thing to the best filtered search engines available?

Well someone got curious and made the million short search engine.

What this new service does is remove a specific # of search results and show you the remainder.

I became immediately curious about a few things:

Where are they getting their crawl data from?
What are they doing to searches where there’s only a few hundred results?
Where is the revenue stream? I see no ads?

Given the lack of advertising I was expecting them to be pulling search data from another site?

There’s no way they are pulling from Bing/Yahoo, there are 14+ sites paying for better spots than we’ve earned on Bing for our terms..

And while the top 10 list looks a bit like DuckDuckGo, we’re seemingly banned from their rankings, and not at #6 at all. It’s funny when you look at their anti-spam approach and then look at the #1 site for ‘seo services’ on DDG. It’s like a time machine back to the days of keyword link spam. Even more ironic is that we conform to DDGs definition of a good SEO:

“The ones who do in fact make web sites suck less, and apply some common sense to the problem, will make improvements in the search ranking if the site is badly done to start with. Things like meta data, semantical document structure, descriptive urls, and whole heap of other factors can affect your rankings significantly.

The ones who want to subscribe you to massive link farms, cloaked gateway pages, and other black hat type techniques are not worth it, and can hurt your rankings in the end.
Just remember, if it sounds too good to be true, is probably is. There are some good ones, and also a lot selling snake oil.”

We know the data isn’t from Google either, we have the #1 seat for ‘seo services’ on Google and maintain that position regularly.

So what’s going on?! This is the same company that gave us the ‘Find People on Plus‘ tool and clearly they know how to monetize a property?

My guess is that they are blending results from multiple search engines, and likely caching a lot of the data so it’d be very hard to tell who’s done the heavy lifting for them?

All that aside, it’s rare to see a search engine that blatantly gives you numbered SERPs and for now MillionShort is, on the left side-bar, showing numbered positions for keywords. That’s sort of handy I guess.

You can also change how many results to remove, so if your search is landing you in the spam bucket, then try removing less results. If your search always sucks, and the sites you want to see in the results are on the right, you’ve apparently found a search phrase that isn’t spammed! Congrats!

Weak one: Google Drive

~~Well my enthusiasm for Google Drive just flew out the window on my second week using it.~~

UPDATE: Turns out the disk was full and Google Drive has no feedback at all. Thanks FireFox for telling me WHY the download failed. Oh man.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 11:01 am

Categories: beanstalk,Bing,Bing,Browsers,Google,Google,Google Chrome,Google+,Mozilla Firefox,Mozilla Firefox,Rankings,Search Engine News,SEO Tools,Technology
Tags: Google Drive, irony, MillionShort, organic seo —

April 26, 2012

Week One with Google Drive

Well Google Drive has been making a lot of headlines about ownership of files, depth of file privacy, virus scanning, archive support, etc.. etc..

One item I have not seen anyone mention is the installer/login system that Google Drive is using.

As an SEO who has to be able to test a multitude of browser versions, I’ve managed to work myself into a neat situation where each time IE is called upon to render something I get a warning message about the version I have installed.

The warning message is great because it lets me know when an application is cheating and using IE for displaying information vs. using default system calls built into windows. The most common application I see doing this is VMWare’s ESX console which has a very graphical summary of the virtual devices.

So imagine my amusement yesterday when installing Google Drive and seeing this:

“O RLY?”

Ownership of Files

A certain technical news source (rhymes with SEENET) that’s famous for publishing outright false information, misleading articles, and brainless technical pieces, one-up’d itself yesterday by trying to scare people away from Google Drive by publishing a hard hitting new post about Google Drive an it’s terms of service.

In order to make the story work however, they had to omit the first sentence of the section they were complaining about. Anything less wouldn’t make the post seem worth writing, much-less reading. After considerable hate from readers they actually had the nerve to ‘tack on’ the honest truth, at the very bottom of the post, instead of removing it entirely due to it being completely worthless.

The bottom line with Google and privacy is that NOBODY would use them if they abused your trust so you can rest assured that Google is doing everything they can to keep your files safe. The clauses in the TOS that state Google has rights to your files is clearly there so they can more accurately provide services that interest you.

If you take a lot of high resolution photos of animals, Google knows you work with animals. If you upload videos of cars on a race track, Google can guess you like race cars. Etc..

I’d much rather have my screen space wasted with info about the next WRC event than see a bunch of adverts for a local dog grooming outfit (I don’t hate animals, but I also don’t have pets).

File Privacy

Lots of folks are wondering how private the files are in a Google Drive.

The truth is that unless you’ve changed something from the defaults, every file uploaded is private to you. You can share files and folders with a few clicks, and there’s multiple options for how files are shared (read-only, contribute, full control), but it’s up to you to manually allow sharing.

One fellow even claimed that Google Drive was modifying the JPG files uploaded from his digital camera!?

I tested this on my own this morning with a 5.8MB .JPG @ 3968 x 2976 resolution. Yes, indeed, if I choose to view or preview the image Google isn’t going to waste my time viewing a 6MB .JPG, and instead it renders a much smaller preview to get the image on my screen quickly.

However if I choose to download the image I get the exact same file I uploaded with no changes whatsoever, EXIF data included!

Archive Support

So far I’ve had no problems with .RAR and .ZIP archives in Google Drive, and I have the option of opening the archives which means downloading individual files inside an archive is very easy. I’ve only tested Google Drive with Windows and Ubuntu so far, but as expected it’s making things very easy to share between the machines and the OSes.

.7z (7ZIP) support is not enabled yet, but at the moment the format isn’t very widely used so I doubt many users will mind the fact that you have to download the whole archive vs. opening it on-line. Obviously anti-virus scanning isn’t available on archives that aren’t supported.

Protected archives are also supported in that you can browse the unencrypted contents, but Google Drive doesn’t make any attempts to get passwords out of you, which should help with all the tin-foil-beanie types.

Limitations of Use

This one is yet to be determined. Google clearly won’t allow you to upload a 4.7GB DVD and then share it public with no limits, that would be amazingly poor insight from a company that takes great efforts to plan each move.

How much ‘sharing’ you can get away with seems to be an unanswered question at the moment, but given the lazy pirates around the globe I’m sure someone’s going to put this to the test immediately.

Another rumour floating around is that the largest single file you can store on Google Drive is 10GB. While that’s a MASSIVE file allowance for a single file, it still seems odd that such a cap would exist since you would have to be a paid user at that point. Since the cost of trying the commercial version is very low I’m going to give it a whirl and see what I find.

More to come!

Beanstalk Minecraft Map Contest!

I haven’t been flogging this very much, which is bad form given my profession, but we still have a glorious brand new Android tablet with Minecraft PE installed to give away!

How do you win this approx ~$300 prize? You play a video game, and you have fun creating a map that will be displayed and recognized by fellow gamers on our website. Yeah, life is rough eh?

Our initial contest winner of the $50 prize, Faragilus from the Ukraine, got his prize this week and we will be featuring his work with the rest of the winners at the end of the contest.

For more information please look at the original post here: Beanstalk Minecraft 1.2 Contest

PPS: I know this is a REALLY long post today but I had to toss in a Google Chrome video that really is neat. While Microsoft is spending time and money trying mock it’s competition, Google’s having fun with demonstrating it’s products and how they help people on-line connect in real life.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 12:06 pm

Categories: beanstalk,Browsers,Google,Google Chrome,Internet Explorer,Internet Law,internet security,Privacy,Technology
Tags: Chrome, Contest, Google Drive, Minecraft —

April 19, 2012

Robotic Asteroid Mining for Rare Elements

When I was a teenager the coolest speakers on the planet were made by AVI Sound International in Vancouver BC and they stood out from other manufacturers because of how they used rare earth neodymium magnet structures.

Using these rare materials in speakers intended for bass was a first in the world of audio products, and AVI has helped many enthusiasts win at international competitions with their exotic products and no-compromise ideas. Even at the time the cost of using these rare minerals was really crazy, and AVI only produced limited quantities before totally stopping production.

Fast forward to 2012 and US federal authorities tasked with resource forecasts are already predicting a world-wide shortage of neodymium, and other rare minerals, that will be outpaced by our needs as early as 2015! The transition away from these magnets for things like traditional physical HDDs will help, but our needs in just the electric-vehicle industry alone is causing concerns.

Enter: Planetary Resources

It is speculation at the moment, but when you take someone with the resources and imagination of James Cameron, pick Peter Diamandis (the X Prize founder) to lead the operation, stir in some wealthy Google executives, and call it ‘Planetary Resources’ you are begging for speculation.

When Earth runs low on rare resources, the value of reaching into space for those resources starts to match up with the cost of doing so.

The trick is to find a way to mine without having it cost more than the minerals are worth.

It’s for this reason that we’re not likely to send Bruce Willis, or any humans, off to space with a pickaxe any-time soon.

The first industrial space mining is almost certainly going to be done by robotics, and guess who’s behind a new robot fighting show on TV called “Robogeddon”? Yes indeed, James Cameron is lending his experience in robotic battle cinema to the new show which will be hosted by Mark Burnett from Survivor and Shark Tank.

Is it really financially feasible to mine asteroids?
Back in 2005 Peter Diamandis did a TED video discussing how a single asteroid full of nickel-iron alloy could be worth “$20 Trillion” on the precious metals market:

(Oh Canada .. @ 8:35m)

When you look at the resources we need to continue advancing clean energy technologies like photovoltaic panels, electric motors, batteries, etc.., these items are all based on rare minerals we are rapidly running out of on this planet. By as early as 2020 we will start hitting a crisis of supply that nobody doubts will impact our current clean energy initiatives drastically.

So at this point we already know we can’t afford to not take this next step into space exploration and mining. The gains in science and development of the entire human race alone make the case for this work.

Another factor is the privatization of space exploration with NASA stepping out of the publicly funded access to space. This lack of a publicly financed effort makes room for all the private companies who now can see the value of the investment and competing for the business in this new sector.

I don’t need to tell the reader how excited and eager I am to hear the full ‘official’ announcement of Planetary Resources’ plans which should be coming as early as next week!

Speaking of Competitions..

April 15th was the final day of our Beanstalk map making contest in Minecraft.

While we were really impressed with all the effort going into the maps we know that most map makers are still trying to finish the maps they started.

At this point we have confirmation that all entries past the date of our prize change are interested in extending the competition.

To make things as fair as possible Dave has agreed that we will give out the original $50 prize to the best map we have now, and then give everyone until May 31st to finish their maps for the main prize.

This should be plenty of time to finish all those ‘runaway trains’ of details and tweaks that map makers find as they start to complete a major build. I know that on the demo map I could probably spend a week just detailing the cloud structures and leaves on the Beanstalk leading up to the giant’s castle.

Congrats to Faragilus for his floating castle and beanstalk map submission! We’ve sent out an email to confirm your win and will be shipping out your prize once we’ve confirmed your address info.

Faragilus’ map will also be featured along with the top finalists, and he is welcome to re-submit an updated map at any time if he wishes to also compete for the grand prize. Because the competition is still on-going we won’t be featuring any winning map content until the May 31st closing date.

Good luck and have a great time making your maps!

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 1:49 pm

Categories: beanstalk,Google,Misc,seo articles,Technology
Tags: google, James Cameron, minecraft contest, neodymium, Peter Diamandis, Planetary Resources —

March 29, 2012

Google’s Self Driving Cars – More than a vision

As an SEO who loves 12 volt tech, cars, and robotics, I tend to focus on these updates from Google’s self driving car project. This morning I came across a video showing off the first official self driving car ‘user’ Steve Mahan, who is legally (95%) blind.

My only disappointment with the video was that Steve’s user # at the end of the video:
“#0,000,000,001″
..would only indicate ‘billions’ and not a ‘googol’ of users like :
“#00,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,001″
See how witty that would have been?

Okay I also wasn’t impressed with the parking, just getting the car into the slot like that reminds me of driving past the local bingo hall. Where’s the pride in parking accurately?

After seeing this sort of result from Google’s innovations it’s really sad to hear rumour that Google is pushing to trim the fat and look at reducing all the innovations it’s known for. Considering the volume of ‘Google is evil‘ and ‘Google just wants to steal our info‘ rumours that keep going around, hopefully the users can see that actions are more honest than words?

A Minecraft Demo Video?!

Yes indeed! I managed to find no solutions to the darkness issue, so I took a video of something that looks great when it’s dark: Lightning!

http://vimeo.com/39324558

In fact one of the fellows who’s helped with the detailing stole our thunder over on Reddit’s r/minecraft, but we’re cool with it. Would have been nice if he’d link over to the contest page, but we understand. *sob*

The video, even as dark as it is, does give a sneak peek of the Beanstalk we’ve been building on the demo server. Hopefully we’re providing inspiration vs. stealing all the good ideas.

Speaking of ideas, we are still fishing for some good ways to detail the Goose nest and how to make ‘leafs’ that look thin on the Beanstalk. Serious brownie points are available for anyone who shares a way to get around those hurdles so we can focus on other parts of the maps.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 10:39 am

Categories: beanstalk,Google,just for fun,seo articles,Technology
Tags: minecraft contest, self-driving cars —

March 27, 2012

Google IO is a sellout

I know we’ve been anti-Google the last few weeks, but Google’s upcoming IO conference really did sell-out, in 20 mins no less!

With only 5,500 seats the 20 minute sell-out wasn’t too shocking, but the $2,000 EBay auction for a Google IO ticket took me by surprise. I tried to go find it for a confirmation picture but it was already nuked. Even at the full price of $900 a pop, the scalping price was over double! Heck educational admission ticket prices are only $300 each!?

If you’re wondering ‘what the heck is Google IO?’ that could be our fault, because our post about it last year, Ooh Shiny! ChromeOS & ChromeBook, was totally about the new ChromeBook and not the conference.. Oh man!

Each year Google hosts it’s Input/Output conference to not only share a vision of what’s ahead for Google, but also to get some feedback from the developers and users that work with Google’s solutions.

As is the case each year the team of nerds over at Google have put together a ‘chrome experiment‘ for anyone with a Google account.

The splash page for the Google IO event experiment teases us with the following:

“Brush up on your geometry, dust off your protractor, and architect a machine only you could have dreamt of. Join developers tackling our latest Chrome Experiment for a chance to have your machine featured at Google I/O.”

… yet the site seems a wee bit too popular at the moment, refusing to proceed into the actual site no matter how many times your click it. I’ll have to keep trying but right now it looks like I’ll have to come back and update after lunch.

If you REALLY wanted to click something to fiddle with in your browser, and it has to work right this second, well try Browser Quest from Mozilla Labs! While the game is currently still up and running I expect it will completely flat-line as it reaches peak popularity. I am running around as DobbieBobkins if you get in.

Browser Quest is an HTML5 site, with everything using the latest web-tech available. Don’t let those 8-bit graphics fool you, this is a modern technical demonstration. I’ve seen the game work with the latest versions of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Opera, just fine, though Opera was loading like dirt because of some broken plugins.

Speaking of coming back to things. I keep saying that we will have more on the Beanstalk Minecraft map contest, including some videos to inspire folks with ideas.. Sadly I am SO out of date with video capture that it boggles the mind.

Apparently my problem with recording is missing codecs, so I installed the FFdshow package which supposedly contains the right codecs to maintain the correct color space and gamma values in my source videos. If that sounded like Spanish, in a nutshell I’m fixing some dark video issues.

Here’s my last upload fresh off the preview screen, and it’s STILL TOO DARK?

http://vimeo.com/39291926

So, for now, today’s post is more of a bookmark, with some Google IO teasing, to be visited again after lunch when things are less popular.

UPDATE: Okay I got into the Google IO on my lunch and did a Bean experiment:

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 1:38 pm

Categories: Apple Safari,beanstalk,Browsers,Code Tests,conferences,Google,Google Chrome,html 5,just for fun,Mozilla Firefox,Mozilla Firefox,Opera,seo articles,SEO Tips
Tags: browser quest, chrome experiment, Google IO, minecraft contest —

March 15, 2012

Beanstalk SEO Announces Minecraft Contest

The official press release for our first Minecraft contest finally went out today (though our blog readers got an early start from a mention last week). Here’s the press release:

- – -

Beanstalk Search Engine Optimization Inc., the company that guarantees improved search rankings through the use of time-tested and ethical SEO services, is excited to announce a new Minecraft contest. For those not familiar with Minecraft, it is an online block building game that’s only limit is your imagination. With over 25 million registered users, there are some serious bragging rights to be had by competing in Beanstalk’s Minecraft contest.

Beanstalk is looking for the best Minecraft builders out there, whether solo, or in teams, to build the most nerdtacular beanstalk map possible. Something preferably hollow, twisting and tapering near the top (like a real beanstalk) that can be accended to its summit.

In our minds, no beanstalk map would be complete without a castle full of surprises to pillage at the top. Thanks to the Minecraft 1.2x update this month, it’s finally possible to fit a giant size castle floating in the clouds at the top of a giant size beanstalk. In fact a large part of the judging criteria of this contest will be to build a palace in the sky that will be the ransacking envy of your peers.

Map makers are free to add other relevant content or characters related to the many beanstalk fables.

A good example would be the recent “Puss n Boots” film which mashes together some child-hood tales.

Off-topic content will be judged the opposite. For example, replacing the castle with a model of the Millennium Falcon might be funny, but we can’t give out points for unrelated efforts. Please keep in mind that Beanstalk is looking for original content, so if existing designs are submitted, they will not be considered for judging, but rather fed to our pet Endermen for dismantling.

The rules for the contest are simple:

You must include an actual map file that Beanstalk will keep in it’s secret stronghold to load up and test in-game. (no videos, pics, or links to a server please)
Maps should take full advantage of the new Anvil map height limit available with Minecraft 1.2x.
Game mode isn’t important, and maps may be submitted from either ‘survival’ or ‘creative’, and they can be single or multi-player.
Maps with inappropriate Easter eggs, other than maybe some golden ones for the judges to mine, will also become fodder for our Enderbros.
Rumor has it that there is a very good chance that incorporating the Beanstalk logo into your design will gain favor with the judges, but this sort of butt-smooching should be secondary to brilliant design.
Designs should be made with Minecraft’s default textures in mind, so if you are using texture packs or mods, be aware that they cannot be ‘required’ and will not be considered in the judging criteria. If we get additional content with the maps we’ll consider using it for videos/screen shots after a winner has been picked.

To avoid a popularity contest, and keep some control, Beanstalk will select what they feel are the top 5 maps. The winner from the top five will be selected by the Minecraft community to keep the results impartial. So if your map makes the top 5, make sure to tell all your diamond hunting friends to vote.

First Prize

– For the best beanstalk map is an Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet. We will purchase a brand new Acer Iconia Tab A100 (NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual-Core 1.0GHz, 1GB DDR2, 8GB Storage, 7″ Multi-Touch Display, and Dual Webcams) that we will install Minecraft Pocket Edition on before shipping it to the winner.

Beanstalk is also working on prizes for those who finish in the top five and we might even add in a few Easter Egg prizes throughout. At a minimum, the names and mapping skills of the best entries will be featured on Beanstalk’s site. Enter today and you could have your friends making creeper faces when you win this sweet tablet.

The Beanstalk Minecraft contest runs until April 15, 2012. Entries will be accepted at any time, but if you are updating a map already submitted previously please be very clear about it so we do not disqualify a map for multiple entries.

A demo server is running right here: mcbean.dyndns.org
.. and it has the Dynmap plugin, so you can take a look with your browser by clicking here.

The idea of this map is to show what we mean about ‘giant’ scale structures, and we also tried to demonstrate all the new features of the Minecraft 1.2 update as well. Hopefully the style of the building is unique enough that we aren’t ruining anyone’s submissions.

Contest details and updates will be posted to the Beanstalk website @ http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/blog/tag/minecraft/.
About Beanstalk Search Engine Optimization Inc.

Since October, 2004, Beanstalk has provided ethical and effective SEO services. They pride themselves on being there for the long haul, as “black-hat” tactics may give short-term benefits, but will not help you to rank in the long run.

Luck and chance are also not factored in to Beanstalk’s methodology. Search engines use complex algorithms and Beanstalk makes sure to stay within these rules to provide you with the greatest benefit. Even though search engine rules will change over time, the quest for quality content doesn’t. The journey towards a better, more usable, internet is something beneficial to us all.

In essence, Beanstalk wants to build great websites and great community, that keep client pages ranking high. Beanstalk works hard for their clients, proudly stand behind their work and guarantee a solid ROI. The internet will continue to change, so make sure that you change with it.

SEO news blog post by Dave Davies, CEO @ 8:45 am

Categories: beanstalk
Tags: beanstalk, Minecraft, seo contest —

March 12, 2012

Beanstalk Offices Closed

Power outage at Beanstalk SEO.

Due to fairly significant wind storm, the power in our offices is out. Since 99.9% of the work we do requires power and the rest involves the ability to see 3 feet in front of ourselves the offices are closed today as power is not estimated to return until 4PM PST.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause out visitors and clients.

SEO news blog post by Dave Davies, CEO @ 10:18 am

Categories: beanstalk

March 2, 2012

Beanstalk Minecraft 1.2 Contest

UPDATE: Contest has been EXTENDED until May 31st 2012 in order to give all participants a chance to finish their masterpieces.

As I mention on the blog yesterday, Minecraft 1.2x has been released, and today they are already at 1.2.3 (gee that’s easy!) after fixing some bugs.

Announcing:

Beanstalk's Minecraft 1.2 Contest

Minecraft Map Making Competition

First Prize: Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet + Minecraft PE installed (~$300 value)!
Top 5 entries will be featured!
SMP, CMP, CSP, or SSP!
The Beanstalk map contest runs until May 31st, 2012

UPDATE: While we finalize map-upload options, if you want to submit a map for us to download please use this link so we know to send your submissions to the right folks. Thanks!

We really play a lot of Minecraft here and we have always wanted a 3d fly-by of a Beanstalk.

It wouldn’t be too hard to make something in SketchUp or pay someone to make something in 3DS or Blender, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun or as cool as doing it in Minecraft.

The problem we had was the man with the $50 to give away really felt that there should be a castle at the top of the Beanstalk, way above the clouds, for a ‘Jack’ to explore.

Up until recently there were only hacks/mods to make Minecraft maps above 128 z levels.

Now with Minecraft 1.2x and it’s Anvil format maps that issue is moot. Now there’s LOTS of vertical space to make the beanstalk, and a giant size castle!

The end result would be something like this without the limits that were in place when this video was made:

Personally I’d like to go for a giant beanstalk with a hollow interior, sort of twisting as it gets taller and more slender at the top. I’d also want to try and make something giant sized that works.. Like a light cube that’s built so that it still lights up when you hit a giant switch? Or a giant wood+wool version of a bed with a real bed placed just dead center so it looks right and is still functional?

Maps can be submitted from creative or survival, and it can be a multi-player or single player map, they just can’t require texture packs or mods to be scored. So you could fire up a server, invite a few friends, and raffle off the prize amongst yourselves, it’s up to you.

Maps submitted are ours, so you can’t send in a link to a server or a video, we want maps we can load up and test in-game. We might even offer the maps for download, but we’d have to confirm there’s zero ‘Easter eggs’ obviously.

For fairness we’ll pick the top 5 maps just to make sure we have some ‘say’ but the #1 map will be selected by voting (most of us are huge gamers/nerds so anyone can submit, anyone can vote).

I am trying to get something set aside as prizes for the top 5 (on top of the winner prize), but right now it’s up in the air and the only thing we can offer the runners-up is your name in print and your mapping skills featured/recognized on-line.

Beanstalk 1.2 Demo Map

This map was made for explaining the contest and as a summary of the changes in the 1.2 release.

Sadly we’re also busy SEOs and we can’t be doing keyword research while we’re building maps so I have to push this out ‘as-is’ and hope it’s still handy as a reference and gives folks some ideas, like how to get up a vertical shaft quickly.

Beanstalk 1.2 Demo Map Download
Beanstalk 1.2 Demo Map Download (DX version)
(DX version has 2 very large Menger sponges, and is very CPU intense. This ClearLightstone texture pack has a special ‘Menger’ Gold Brick texture.)

NOTE: Due to the differences between the weekly builds and the release versions, this map has some unusual lighting features that are not currently easy to re-produce.

This was especially difficult for me when I was making the ‘Beanstalk’ sign in the distance and only some blocks leak light. Once the lighting glitches are consistent I’ll re-visit that sign idea and animate it.;)

Up for entering? You can do so here.

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 3:14 pm

Categories: beanstalk,Facebook,Google+,just for fun,Misc,social media,Twitter,YouTube
Tags: Contest, Mapping, Minecraft, Minecraft 1.2 —

February 15, 2012

Searching for love with Google

In my years on-line (wow I’m old!) I’ve searched for some really strange things but never have I used Google to find the answers to matters of the heart, that’s just kooky. It’s actually as kooky as Google’s Valentines day video/doodle:

I mean really, milk and cookies? Those two can’t stay together for more than 5 mins without ruining each other. Who is Google kidding?

The one thing that strikes me about this is that Google couldn’t even demo some search queries for finding Valentines gifts, and had to just show some random pixels on the screen?

Giving this a try on my own I suddenly see the problem, a Google search for the phrase, “a gift for the girl who has everything except me”, really doesn’t match anything.

So Google’s not cupid, and the video’s a bit stupid.. but there’s something about that doodle:

Aha! I’ve got it! The gay couple and the astronaut aren’t playing skip rope! That’s blasphemy! Someone call Google and get someone in charge on the phone!

It’s amazing that Google managed to toss that out without more ‘conversation’, I did get a kick out of articles like this blasphemy peice on WatchPlayRead’s blog.

Okay so it was a dry day for search engine optimization, but even nerds got into the spirit of the holiday. Speaking of nerdy, we have another macro image for anyone who wants to guess.
(Remember, we’re going to give credit to the winner right here on the blog, and on our social media accounts, so it’s a good ‘mention’ for the winning guess.

February Macro 3 – If you think you know what this is, or where this is, send us your best guess via Twitter or G+

SEO news blog post by Ryan Morben @ 12:50 pm

Categories: beanstalk,Google,just for fun,seo articles
Tags: Google Doodle, Macro Contest, Valentines —

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