From large scale stat providers right down to the smallest detail it is easy to take a statistic out of context and draw false conclusions from it. You also can leverage statistical errors to make stories easier to spread.

It's that time of year again - the toys have been open (and the sundry pieces scattered to the four winds ... sigh), the eggnog's begin to acquire a slightly off taste and the stores have all finally turned off the elevator rendition of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" (to much applause by the customers). Here in Canada we celebrate "Boxing Day", a quaint tradition that used to mean that you would box up those slightly used clothes and toys to give to the needy and desperate so that you had room for the new toys and clothes, but now just seems to be an excuse for the stores to box up the slightly used clothes and toys that didn't sell through the last month and sell them at cut-rate prices to the needy and desperate (or at least those who hadn't maxed out their credit cards buying the same stuff at above bargain prices) so that they can free up room for the new toys and clothes. Funny, the parallels.

Our communities have a new, big home; so update your bookmarks and favorites: http://www.codeplex.com/smartclient The GotDotNet hosted sites (CAB, SCSF, MCSF, Updater, Offline) are all going to be moved to this CodePlex, including all the existing forum threads and content. We believe that this consolidation of related resources and the new CodePlex cool features (existing and planned) will lead to a much better experience for all of you (and us :-) ). Complete migration will happen in the next 2 weeks after which, the GotDotNet sites will be kept in "read-only" mode. Have a great 2007! Read More......(read more)

Post about how the WSJ recently baited bloggers for links.

I've been tagged by Paul , so here are 5 things to share about me: 1) I was born in Michigan, lived for two years in California, and then spent a decade growing up in England. I attended Duke University and graduated with a degree in Computer Science. 2) During college I also worked for Apple Computer. 3) I joined Microsoft straight out of school. I was recruited by 5 different teams within Microsoft that were each trying to sell me on their group. J Allard (who then ran the IIS team and later went on to create the XBOX and Zune) found out I'm a huge college basketball fan and somehow got Bill Gates to send me a basketball to help convince me to join his team: Although the basketball wasn't actually the reason I picked the team, it didn't hurt....(read more)

Aaron Wall reviews Brad Callen's SEO Elite link analysis software product.

Found this cool quiz from Frank Shaw @ TheGlassHouse , I'm Spiderman, which super hero are you? Your results: You are Spider-Man Spider-Man 70% Green Lantern 60% The Flash 50% Iron Man 45% Superman 40% Supergirl 40% Catwoman 40% Wonder Woman 35% Robin 25% Batman 20% Hulk 10% You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility. Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz... Read More......(read more)

Total Training has released Total Training For Photoshop Elements 5, a new 6 hour DVD video series designed to help users master the extensive, sometimes hidden capabilities of Photoshop Elements 5. (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Kirsty sends this in: "It's new brush set time! I think this new set might be quite useful to some of you: Frames and Borders." (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Janita of Seishido, the brush angel with a heart of gold, has just shipped us her latest preview package of free brushes and textures for your downloading pleasure. (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Our friend Mark Galer has written an extensive article on the features of Photoshop CS3, from a photographer's point of view. The article also includes lots of screenshots of CS3 in action. (posted by Jennifer Apple)

This edition is filled with posts from just one source, as it looks like John Nack has gotten bitten by the blog bug real bad. He has stopped eating and sleeping and seems to have turned into a virtual vending machine of Adobe goodies. (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Here we go, back to normal life, and getting our work out the door on time, well for at least the next 3 days... (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Here's how to set up your workflow so you're efficient, not intimidated. The article is a PDF that is excerpted from Photoshop Workflow Setups: Eddie Tapp on Digital Photography... (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Matt Kloskowski (of PhotoshopTV and Killer Tips fame) has posted a very interesting list of predictions for 2007, all of which involve the digital imaging industry. (posted by Jennifer Apple)

Links to the week's topics from search engine forums across the web: Search Marketing Jobs Slow Down? - Making the Most Out of AdCenter - Google Says Internal Duplication Is Ok - Blogrolls and Ordinary Link Exchanging, and more.

Featured posts from the Search Engine Watch blog, as well as our customary headlines from around the web.

CSS, Ajax and Web 2.0—more than mere buzz words, these are advancing technologies that bring vast improvement in the design and usability of web sites. What about search engines? Do these new technologies help search visibility or hurt it?

At Search Engine Strategies Chicago's keynote interview on December 5, conference chair Danny Sullivan asked online industry gadfly Jason Calacanis a series of questions, some provocative. Would Calacanis bite?