Topix redesign nets 25% traffic boost; Color MAJORLY affects human judgement; Nielsen on using numerals for the web; Virginia Tech coverage revisited

By now, everyone’s posted buckets about the VTech murders. I’ll spare you my spiel and just ante a few of my faves:

• VA Tech mass shooting: Who or what is Ismail Ax? (Whoa. This is astounding all the ‘networked’/'citizen’/whatever reporting getting done here. Send this to your entire staff and tell them to put this in their pipe and smoke it.)
• Wikipedia’s remarkable entry
• I saw on Facebook (Va. Tech murders)
• The problem with pre-roll advertisements: now is not the time
• Virginia Tech shootings make case for citizen journalism
• Editor of Virginia Tech Paper: On Scooping the Major Media
• Innovation in College Media » Virginia Tech news analysis
• Newspaper Fronts: Serving History or Readers?
• Newsdesigner.com | Virginia Tech Front Pages
• Bombings Kill 60 at University In Baghdad (A little perspective… 60 died in 3 months ago in an Iraq university attack.)

Topix relaunch has caused a 25% spike in forum activity
“Our best bet now is that it’s due to the redesign plus the new site being faster, which has lead to more on-site activity.”

Complete Color Matching Guide
“Research reveals all human beings make a subconscious judgment about a person, environment , or item within 90 seconds of initial viewing and that between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on color alone.”

Breaking news from Jakob Nielsen – Use numerals on the web
Tom is the bomb: “Write ‘23′ instead of ‘twenty-three.’ Write ‘1000′ instead of ‘one thousand,’ as in: I can’t fucking believe Jakob Nielsen managed to crap out 1000 words on that subject.”

The Death of Web Radio? Royalty payments raised 300% to 1,200% higher
“On April 16, right in the midst of the NAB2007 broadcasters conference, the Copyright Royalty Board upheld its earlier decision to impose higher royalty rates on Web radio stations.”

Big multimedia stories that are too big
“There are good stories in there. This is excellent journalism. But do these online presentations hook a person who comes fresh to the front page of the package? Do they present the story in its best light? Do they make you want to stay and find out more?”

Yahoo partners with newspapers for search, local news
“The original partnership formed last November focused only on job ads, but the news today is that more than 264 newspapers in 44 states are now wedded to Yahoo for search, news and advertising in a sprawling agreement that will surely have huge impact.”

Pulitzer Prize announcement? Yawn.
“Journalism awards. Groan. Just ask me for a scholarship fund donation and skip these everyone-wins contests. There’s one in Florida with more than 40 categories AND four circulation divisions.”

The End of a 1,400-Year-Old Business
“Japanese temple builder Kongo Gumi, in operation under the founders’ descendants since 578, succumbed to excess debt and an unfavorable business climate in 2006.” … Hm… this sounds familiar.

Gray Matters: ‘What I did was wrong, and I apologize.’
Allan Detrich speaks through a friend: “Anyway, Allan tells me that he has never setup a photograph, other than portraits. That most of what he did was confined to cleaning up backgrounds and that he was good at capturing moments, but hated distracting backgrounds. “

Will Ferrell Movie Generator
This is excellent. And I’m ashamed I’d watch at least half of them.

Controversial Microsoft Silverlight Ad Campaign
So, Microsoft is like crack?