Google Grants...and Google for NPO's

UPDATE: Be sure to read our most recent post on Google resources for arts organizations.

I know this makes two in a row from me on Google.  However, in my defense, I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now and, since I just found out (thanks to the Non-Profit Tech Blog) that Google has a launched a new non-profit portal that aggregates all of its services that apply to NPO's, I figured now is a good time to highlight one of Google's services that, I think, totally rocks:

Google Grants.

To really explain Google Grants, I first need to explain Google AdWords.  You know those “Sponsored Links” that sometimes appear to the right of your search results on Google?  Those are brought to you by Google AdWords.  I’m not going to explain any more than that since Google has already done that work for me with the detailed information and demos on its site.  Suffice to say, Google AdWords can help increase traffic to your Web site.

And Google Grants is a program that Google has developed to help non-profit organizations have access to free Google AdWords advertising.  Organizations who are awarded Google grants get at least 3 months of AdWords service with cap of $10,000 worth of advertising per month.  Awesome!  Google Grants even goes beyond just giving away free advertising, by helping organizations to define and refine ad campaigns.

Click below for a Q & A with a past Google Grant recipient after the jump.

If your organization wants to learn more about Google Grants, please visit the new non-profit portal that Google has launched and click the Google Grants link.  Or, you may click here.  Google also has developed a Google Grants Blog.

One of the reasons I’m so interested in Google Grants is that one of CAMT’s clients, Art in Context, was a recipient of a Google Grant in late 2007.  I’ve interviewed Teresa Schmittroth, Program Director at Art in Context, about her organization’s experience.

JOSH:  How was the Google Grant application process?

TERESA:  The process was actually pretty easy. The grant application requires standard information about the organization such as nonprofit status, mission statement, contact information, a brief statement on how Google Adwords would contribute to the organization, and a description of the organization's target audience. In addition we were asked to submit a proposed ad campaign and a sample of key words relevant to our organization. We applied for the grant on July 12, 2007. Within 24 hours we received [a confirmation] response. By November 29, 2007 we were notified that our organization was selected for a Google Grants award and our account was activated.

JOSH:  How did you find using AdWords?

TERESA:  I was really impressed with the depth of the ad campaign that the Google Grants Team set up for Art in Context. Upon activating our account there were several 'ad groups' they had developed for us specifically addressing the type of information we provide public access to, e.g., Exhibition Listings, Artist Listings, Image Listings, etc. The ads were slightly commercial-eze for a nonprofit library, but compelling. I spent several days tweaking the language and the key words, but the structure Google set up was really good. By January, when searching for the word "artists" on Google, Art in Context was among the first results in Google's Sponsored Links.

JOSH:  Did you see an increase in your site traffic as a result of your work in AdWords?

TERESA:  We did experience a very noticeable spike in phone calls from researchers after the ad campaign began. Also, the following comparison of page views between February 2007 and February 2008 demonstrates a definite increase in information displayed, which is key to our mission:

	February 2007	February 2008
Page Views	1,514,630	2,042,540
Average per Day	54,093	70,432
Average Page Views per visit	4.27	7.09

Here is a snapshot I just put together for our board:

Google Grant activity for Art in Context Dec 1, 2007 to Feb 29, 2008

• There were 30,188 clicks to Art in Context from Google's Sponsored Links.
• There were 2,146,880 ad impressions for Art in Context displayed in Google's Sponsored Links.
• It would have cost us $20,510.48 for this service if this were not a grant!

JOSH:  Any other thoughts/comments about the Google Grants program and Google AdWords?

TERESA:  Thank you, Google!

And thank you to Teresa Schmittroth, Program Director at Art in Context, and Google Grants.

Google Website Optimizer - A Fight to the Best

Like Caesar in the days of yore, you can host your very old gladiatorial games and pit different versions of your Web pages against each other.� With the help of Google's Website Optimizer (unfortunately, as of now, it is a free tool only available to those organizations with Google AdWords accounts), visitors are shown different versions of a particular page, and the choices they make once there are tracked.� You can then view reports detailing the results to help make decisions about your site design and strategy. More information, including walk-thru demos and guides is available at: http://services.google.com/websiteoptimizer/

sIFR – Taming Fonts Too Dangerous For The Web

Have a new design for your Web presence that doesn’t use standard Web safe fonts? Tired of boring old Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman? In the past, if you wanted to use fonts that weren’t Web safe, you pretty much needed to put the text into an image, like a GIF, to be sure that people would see your text the way that you intended. After that, changing text meant creating a new image.

Then came sIFR – Scalable Inman Flash Replacement – which essentially takes text and uses JavaScript to build it into a Flash movie (where it’s able to apply the font that you want). And, presto! A headline in Matura MT Script Capitals!

sIFR has been around for a while, and has cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility. And the great thing is, if an end user’s browser doesn’t have the tools needed to display the sIFR text, a Web safe font alternative that you specify will be used.

Learn more about sIFR and its implementation.

Other Resources: - sIFR in Action - sIFR Font Libraries

Hodgepodge - CTC Vista, Mobile Giving, and Net Neutrality

CTC Vista - The deadline for non-profit organizations to apply for the CTC Vista Project is February 22, 2008.  Essentially, this program places IT savvy Americorps*VISTA members in non-profits around the country to help with their technology planning and needs.  I've had the pleasure of talking to and working with one such VISTA member, Morgan Sully, who is currently contributing his talents to the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC). Mobile Giving - the Mobile Giving Foundation is working with major cell phone carriers in the US to make donations collected by SMS text messaging more feasible and profitable for non-profits.  Read more here. I think larger arts organizations, who might have the resources to mount and support a successful mobile giving campaign, may want to keep an eye on this.

Net Neutrality - Comcast has admitted to purposefully slowing down internet traffic on its network.  For those of you not familiar with net neutrality, you can visit Save the Internet.com or check out the Wikipedia article.  The FCC's investigation into Comcast's network practices is ongoing.

JotYou!

JotYou is a site that allows you to send SMS text messages to mobile phones, but with a twist. You can set up the message delivery so that it only delivers when people are in a specific geographical area and you can adjust the send time and expiration time of the message. So, your recipients only get the message if they are in the area you have selected within the specified time frame. If they arrive too late or if they do not move within the location radius, they never get the text message.

After looking at the demo video for JotYou, I got to thinking that this service might actually be useful to arts organizations. I'm not going to go into the pros, cons, and etiquette of using mobile messaging as a marketing tool, since that's a whole other can of worms. But, for the sake of argument...

Let's say your organization sponsors a gallery or art crawl through your downtown cultural district. You could have people sign up beforehand to be part of the Art Crawl Mobile Messaging Tour, which would message the guests, as they navigate the streets, with tips about things to see, directions to get there, and maybe even clues that would lead them to Art Crawl Mobile Messaging Tour exclusive content (like free cups of hot chocolate and coffee).  How cool is that?

I have not actually tried JotYou, so I don't know how reliable the service is or how accurate its geographical-based messaging is, but I think that the potential for creating value-added experiences for willing participants could be interesting enough to start experimenting with JotYou.

When href="Links, Links, and More Links"

I stumbled on a great collection of links of artist using technology, hosted by the San Francisco State's Conceptual Information Arts (CIA) program.  There's over 4,000 links to artists whose arts melds with disciplines as various as computer media, robotics, virtual reality, and even microbiology. However, after clicking around and encountering some broken links, I started to wonder, "How the heck do they keep track of so many links?  How does anyone who has an extensive list of external links avoid frustrating, broken links?"  After some searching, I found something interesting.  And free.  And simple.

There's an add-on for the FireFox browser called LinkChecker that you can use to verify the links on any Web page you browse to.  Links are highlighted different colors based on status (green is a valid link, red is a broken link, yellow is a link with an error, and gray is a link that times out before responding).  I installed this add-on and put the page of links at the SFS CIA program to the test.

For the 4,238 links on the page, LinkChecker took about an hour to go through them all, but I just minimized the page and let it run in the background.  Once it was done, I knew that I could click with confidence.  This is a great tool for the end user, especially someone doing research (on artists using technology, perhaps?).  Run the LinkChecker, go have a cup of cocoa, and come back and know exactly which links are valid. 

From a site manager's perspective, the add-on is helpful as well.  You can test your own site's link pages, see what links are broken, and then clean up your code to remove them.  The main downside of this add-on is that it is completely manual.  The link checking isn't done automatically or at a regularly scheduled time, and LinkChecker only flags a link as broken (placing the burden of maintenance on the site manager).

I would bet good money that there are link validation software and monitoring services out there that are more robust than LinkChecker, but I've never used or investigated them.  Still, LinkChecker is simple, free, and a great resource to have when dealing with loads of links.

Anyone out there struggling to keep their collection of links clean and tidy?  Know of any other tools or resources to verify links?  Want me to do a little more digging on this subject?  Give us some comments!

Related Links: W3.org Link Checker - http://validator.w3.org/checklink FireFox Add-Ons - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

Google Apps

I sat in on a webinar yesterday, courtesy of NTEN, which gave a whirlwind, back-end tour of Google Apps. What is Google Apps? Google Apps is an online collection of communication and collaboration tools, such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, and Google Docs.

• Gmail (email) - many folks out there use Gmail for their own free, personal email account, but Google also offers Gmail for businesses. One neat feature of Gmail is the ability to use labels (taxonomy) on your emails to help with sorting and search management. Also, emails are displayed as conversations, so it’s really easy to view, sort, and file entire email chains.
• Postini - recently acquired by Google, Postini provides software that is integrated into Gmail that provides better spam filtering and email archiving, security and encryption. Unfortunately, this service is only offered with the paid Premiere Edition of Google apps (more on this later).
• Google Calendar – there’s nothing really fancy about Google Calendar; it’s your basic calendar application. One nice thing is that it is tapped into your Gmail contact list. You can also sync up your mobile phones or BlackBerrys. Also, with some editions of Google Apps, you can set-up and allow reservations of shared resources, like conference rooms.
• Google Talk (instant messaging) – an IM in your browser. It’s also integrated into Gmail and its contacts. For more information on IMs, see David’s previous blog post.
• Google Docs (document creation and management) – this is the meat and bones of Google Apps, in my opinion. While Gmail, Postini, and Calendar might all combine forces to overthrow Outlook or Thunderbird, Google Docs is Google's attempt to replace MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. All of the Docs are powered by AJAX, which basically means they're all browser-based and stored in HTML (essentially). I'm not going to go into all of the features of Google Docs, but some of the highlights include being able to have multiple people simultaneously working and saving on a document, versioning which keeps a history of every change made to a document, and the export to PDF feature. Google Docs also serves as a document repository for your Docs-created documents, but at this point you can't upload other file types (at least I don't think so).

What’s it cost? The free Standard Edition has access to most Google Apps functions, but there are limitations: 6.32 GB storage, no 99.9% uptime guarantee, text-based ads on certain screens, no 24/7 assistance, no Postini, no email migration tools, and so on.

Non-profit organizations are eligible to receive the free Education Edition, which gets you some of the benefits missing from the Standard Edition, but you still don’t get a 99.9% uptime guarantee or Postini.

The Premiere Edition, which gets you the whole enchilada plus 25 GB of space instead of 6.32, costs $50/user account/year.

For more detailed breakdown of the different editions, click here.

Is it a good idea for my organization to start using Google Apps? Well, that depends. If you are a small office that's connected to the internet and want to take advantage of the collaborative tools that Google Apps provides, then maybe it's worth looking into. Google Docs, for example, is a very strong, collaborative resource that doesn't require an organization to pay for, own, or manage server(s) to share documents. The free Google Apps Education Edition gets you some nice features, and cost of the Premiere Edition isn't astronomical. However, there are some things to consider.

• There currently is no offline support for Google Apps. If your internet connection goes on the fritz, so does your ability to access and work on your documents. Google is working to change this with Google Gears, but it's in development and might not be ready for a while.
• Without paying for the Premiere Edition, you don't get a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Doesn't sound like to big of a deal...until you can't access your files. This is just something to consider, though, rather than lose sleep over; Google's network is very, very big and most likely trustworthy in terms of uptime, redundancy and security.
• In its current state, Google Apps seems more like a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, other processes and software. The convenience of the collaborative tools might be overshadowed by the additional time and energy spent configuring, learning, and using these new tools.

Though it may happen in the future, I don't think Google Docs or any other online document creation and management software is robust enough, at this point, to replace MS Office. Personally, I’ve been using Word since I had to write my first school report (on the state of Arizona) and I can't quite come to grips with the idea of never using it again. Yet.

Google Apps and other "Desktop in the Sky" applications (see a previous post by Brad on ajaxWindows for an example) are worth keeping an eye on. Case in point: if you visit Google Apps site, you'll see that almost all of the product's logos have the term "Beta" included in them. As the presenter explained yesterday, Google is constantly improving and modifying Google Apps. In a few years time, Google Apps could become powerful and all-in-one enough to woo me away from MS Office. We'll see.

If you have any other questions about Google Apps, feel free to either check out their site or post a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.

More resources:

• Google Apps for Non-Profits
• Google Apps Tours and Demos
• Review of Google Apps

Can You Ever Have Too Much Redundancy?

SanDisk has created a flash drive for the forgetful, careless, or paranoid:  the 4GB Cruzer^® Titanium Plus, a USB flash drive that automatically copies the drive's contents to an online account every time you plug it into a internet-connected computer. Scenario 1 - You delete an important file from the drive and need to recover it, pronto.  You easily access your online account, which also has 4GB worth of file space.  Your account stores files that you delete from your drive for 30 days provided the total size of the currently backed up drive files and the previously deleted files do not exceed 4GB.

Scenario 2 - You lose the drive.  You have the option to password protect your files using a AES hardware data encryption feature on the drive.  Plus, the drive comes with two years free service with BoomerangIt, a lost-and-found mediator; you slap a sticker on the drive, and, if someone finds it, BoomerangIt facilitates its return (for a fee, of course).

Scenario 3 - You run over the drive with your Subaru. Again, you're covered.  The drive's gone, but your files are still online.

So, what's it going to cost you?  $60 for the drive and $30 a year (after a 6 month free trial) for the online service.  That's a fairly hefty price, at first glance, for a 4GB USB drive, but the peace of mind might be worth it. 

For more details and specs, check out SanDisk's press release.

Man from Mars

I can't remember where I first heard this lovely bit of advice, but I figured I'd pass it on (especially since one of my New Year's resolutions is to make silly pictures of myself more often). When looking at your organization's Web presence, it sometimes helps to ask yourself, "Would a man from Mars understand this? Would he be able to figure out what we're about?"

If a casual, first glance at your home page does not make it clear what your organization does or where a visitor can find needed information, then it might be time for an overhaul.

Klaatu barada simple.

Please BCC Me

It's amazing how many people still don’t, at the very least, BCC their recipients when sending out mass emails. BCC stands for blind carbon copy; this means that any address listed in a BCC field will get a copy of the email, but their email address will not be displayed to anyone else who is sent the email. That includes anyone in the TO or CC fields. Before I continue, I want to offer this to all of those out there who have been victims (I thought about putting that in quotes, but ultimately decided not to) of non-BCC’ing. Whenever your email address is exposed in a manner you wish it hadn’t, send a friendly response to the sender of the email and point them to this post. I have composed a reply with this post’s link here.

Since September 2007, I've received at least 5 emails where I my email address is listed right out in the open in the CC field (along with a total of 406 other individual email addresses). My email address has been leaked on audition notices, a Holiday "goodie guide" from the couple who made my wedding cake, a local performance group's new show announcement, and other emails.

So what's the big deal?

Security. Pure and simple. If you have email addresses for patrons, artists, donors and so on, it is your responsibility to protect those addresses and use them wisely. Due to the faux pas of the aforementioned emails, I now have access to over 400 email addresses of people who have shared interests. I could add them to my own email distribution list, send them my own announcements, spam them, track them down, flame them, or worse. To borrow an analogy..."Look at it another way, would you send your entire holiday card address list out with each card you sent?"

Nobody wants their email addresses shared in this way. Nobody.

How do you BCC?

It’s simple. When sending a mass email, first put your own address in the TO field (1). I know this sounds weird, but trust me, this is the thing to do. Plus, you’ll receive a copy of the email in your own inbox for your records. Then, put all of your other addresses (the ones you want to hide) in the BCC field (3). You have the option of adding addresses in the CC field (2), but keep in mind that everyone getting the email will see these addresses.

All of the recipients in the BCC field will get a copy of the email with the same address in the TO and FROM fields (in the screenshot above, myown@emailaddress.org) and no other addresses.

Pretty nifty, huh?

The specifics of using the BCC field, like getting it to show up in your email composition area in the first place and the formatting used to separate email addresses (commas or semicolons) can differ depending on what software you are using. If you need help figuring it out, I’d suggest using either the help resources of your email program, the links listed at the end of this post, or an internet search.

What other mass email options are out there?

This BCC business is the bare minimum that you should do to protect your recipients’ privacy. But, if you’re a group or organization that is currently or will be sending out lots of mass emails (or eBlasts, if you prefer the hip and trendy terminology), consider utilizing one of the many bulk email software/services out there. Here’s a list (in alphabetical order) to get you started in your searching.

http://www.constantcontact.com/ http://www.icontact.com/ http://www.lsoft.com/ http://www.patrontechnology.com/

Anyone out there use one of the services mentioned above? Or are using a different one and want to tell us about it? Please leave us a comment.

Related links http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~watrous/Bcc-for-privacy.html http://www.iwillfollow.com/email.htm

Reporting Live from AFTA’s National Arts Marketing Project Conference

Well, I’m down in sunny, breezy Miami, FL, enjoying the warm weather and the Americans for the Arts NAMC. It’s been a busy two and a half days of conferencing, and I just wanted to take a minute and share a few cool things I’ve learned while here:

• According to a survey conducted this past March by FireSpring (I think), when asked whether they use a particular medium more or less this year than the last, an average of 52% responders indicated that they were using the Internet more. Every other medium (radio, print, newspapers, television) all showed a decrease. Now, more than ever, organizations must put time, money and deep consideration into their Web presence.
• The Philadelphia Orchestra is working in conjunction with Internet2 to stream real time content into educational venues around the world, giving viewers an inside and behind the scenes look into the concert unfolding live before their eyes. The have completed a pilot program, and plan to launch a more wide-spread, sustainable program soon. For more information, you can read their press PDF by clicking here.
• Bijan’s on the River here in Miami makes a HUGE plate of paella (6’ or 7’ wide?) for parties. It was spectacular.

Well, that’s all for me. I’ve got to grab a bite, hop on a flight, and head back to wonderful, but cold, Pittsburgh, PA.

For more information about AFTA's NAMC, please visit: http://www.artsusa.org/events/2007/abc/namc/default.asp

411 on GOOG-411

This may be old news for some, but it was new to me when I found out about it this morning (maybe I've just been too busy working on my life-size, papier-mâché sculpture of Dwight Schrute). Google is now offering a new 411 service that is toll-free and pretty darn useful. Simply call 1-800-GOOG-411. (1-800-4664-411). The system uses voice recognition software, which I’ve found to be clunky at times with other systems that use it, but I had no trouble tracking down my favorite comic book store's address and phone number.

Tell GOOG-411 your city and state and either the name of the company or a category of businesses that you’re looking for (i.e. "comic book stores"), and a friendly, helpful GOOG-411 computerized operator will help you out.

Also, if you are calling from a cell phone, just say "text message" and GOOG-411 sends you a text message with your search results phone number, address and an optional map link.

For more details, check out the GOOG-411 site:

http://www.google.com/goog411/

Building a Home on the Web

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has built is home on the Web, years before it actual finishes construction on its physical home (scheduled to open in Washington, DC, in 2015). The site is a great example of using the Web for community building. Most interestingly, they have developed a Memory Book, which allows site visitors to contribute stories, thoughts, photographs, and any other insights they have. The NMAAHC also has posted several audio interview samples from its StoryCorps Griot, which aims to collect and present the voices, experiences and life stories of African Americans.

http://nmaahc.si.edu/

Spam turns Arty!

Here's a fun site that mixes technology, art, and social themes. Spam Recycling is a site devoted to turning ugly, useless spam messages into beautiful works of art. Essentially, you forward a spam email that you have received to spam@spamrecycling.com (after removing all of your own personal information like your name and email address) and Spam Recycling emails you back a link where you can watch as your spam message explodes and rearranges itself. Here’s what I created using a spam message with the subject line “Have Some Fun Tonight...”

Not exactly a Picasso (or useful beyond the five minutes of enjoyment during its creation), but an interesting blend of art and technology nonetheless.

http://www.spamrecycling.com/

Brother, Can You Share a Desktop?

Need a quick and cheap (how about free) way of holding an online meeting with someone else on your computer? Try out CrossLoop. This free, secure screen sharing utility is easy to download and install. And even easier to use. I actually just used this program this morning to host a meeting; my attendee, who had never used CrossLoop before, had everything set up and ready to go on their side within two minutes or so. And presto! CrossLoop is still a relatively new program, so the longevity of its service and gratis status remains to be seen. Also, it is currently on available for Windows machines. But, in terms of quick and easy desktop sharing, it's something definitely worth looking at.

Rhizome.org

Rhizome.org (part of the New Museum of Contemporary Art) is an online community devoted to the merging of art with technology. Their ArtBase is an archive of works that "employ materials including software, code, websites, moving image, games and browsers to aesthetic and critical ends." Rhizome.org Mission Statement - Rhizome.org is an online platform for the global new media art community. Our programs support the creation, presentation, discussion and preservation of contemporary art that uses new technologies in significant ways. We foster innovation and inclusiveness in everything we do.

Music and Video and iPods, Oh My!

On August 4th, the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, performed a concert entitled "Fantastic Planet" which combined classical music (of course) and more modern elements, such as video projections and....iPods? Prior to the show, NSO conductor Emil de Cou had recorded a commentary track that offered insights into the music of the evening. Pieces of history, trivia, and background that concert-goers eager to experiment could download to their iPods (or other MP3 players) and listen to during the live performance.

"I thought it would be neat to have the conductor being your seatmate, whispering into your ear at key moments," Emil de Cou said before the performance.

Reading the review on the Washington Post, it's obvious that the experiment achieved mixed results. Some folks had trouble syncing their iPods to the live music. Others found the commentary track distracting. With music, spoken words and video, all swirling around the brain at the same time, it's no wonder. According the Stephen Brookes, "Two minutes into the opening piece I quietly slid off my headphones, and by intermission it was impossible to spot anyone still plugged in."

But the idea of commentary tracks for classical music is not a bad one. DVDs almost always have commentary tracks. But usually those tracks are switched on during a movie you have seen countless times and know the plot, characters and dialogue stone-cold; so, it becomes quite easy to concentrate on the commentary and the movie at the same time. I doubt if many in the audience on August 4th knew Vaughan Williams's "Serenade to Music" as well as I know every line in the "Princess Bride."

Also, in commentary tracks, syncing is vital. Especially if the track refers to something occurring at a specific moment. With live music, it is probably hard, if not impossible, to truly craft a commentary track that will sync up, because the beauty of live performance is the fact that it is live, and thus different every time.

Regardless of the evening's perceived success, kudos to the NSO for trying something new! If I lived in Washington, DC, I would have been there with my iPod in one ear, the music in the other, a smile on my face, and a big thumbs up to their creative experiment combining arts with technology.

Original Washington Post Article

Saving the Planet One Search at a Time

Back in January, 2007, Boston Blogger Mark Ontkush decided to do some fancy mathematical magic and figure out how much energy could be saved if Google switched from a white background to a black background. I had never considered this before, but it makes sense that a mostly black screen uses less energy than mostly white. Not an incredible amount (15 watts) less, but if you consider how many hits a day Google gets (about 200 million) it starts to add up. After his computations, Ontkush announced that changing Google to a black background would save 3,000 megawatt-hours a year. 3,000 megawatt-hours! Holy batteries, Batman! I was astounded. Primarily because I didn't know what a megawatt-hour equated to. After some quick research, I had some additional perspective. It turns out that 3,000 megawatt-hours could power roughly 95 homes for an entire year. Not quite as mammoth as I original thought, but still not inconsequential.

And other people took notice. Specifically, an Australian company called Heap Media decided to put Ontkush’s musings into action. And so, Blackle.com was born. Powered by Google Custom Search, Blackle returns Google quality search results while saving energy with its black background. A running tally on the front page notes how much energy Blackle has saved (at the time of this posting, approximately .147 megawatt hours).

For my own part, I’ve set Blackle as my new home page for my browser (sorry Google) to see how it feels to use this inverted color scheme as my primary search engine. Luckily, I don’t use any features of Google beyond the search engine; I don’t have a Gmail account or custom iGoogle pages, so I’m not really losing any functionality by switching to Blackle. It will be interesting to see if I can make the change stick.

In reality, using Blackle is not going to save the world. But it is a small, small step. And if it helps keep me conscious of my energy consumption, that’s something.