Signs on the Sand

Amazon has launched Context Links Beta program. The idea is that you insert a little Amazon script into your pages and when the page is open in a browser the script identifies words and phrases it thinks are relevant and makes them links to whatever Amazon products.

I enabled the script on my blog's frontpage (pinky double underlined links) to see how relevant it is and here are the results:

1. "Visual Studio" - Microsoft Visual Studio Standard 2005
2. "XML Viewer" - Sams Teach Yourself XML in 24 Hours, Complete Starter Kit (3rd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself)
3. "httpHandlers" - MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-528): Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Web-Based Client Developmen…
4. "DocumentSource" - Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Core Reference
5. "MVP Summit" - Professional DotNetNuke 4: Open Source Web Application Framework for ASP.NET 2.0 (Programmer to Progr…
6. "Google AdSense" - The Adsense Code: What Google Never Told You about Making Money with Adsense
7. "WHATWG" - Designing with Web Standards (2nd Edition) by Jeffrey Zeldman
8. "Community Technology Preview" - Computer Resources for People with Disabilities: A Guide to Assistive Technologies, Tools and Resources f…
9. "Google Apps" - "Google Maps Hacks" by Rich Gibson
10. "Leumi" - Terror Out of Zion: Irgun Zvai Leumi, Lehi and the Palestine Underground, 1929-1949 by J. Bowyer Bell
11. "Google Reader" - Google for Dummies by Brad Hill
12. "User Agent" - Microsoft Agent Software Development Kit (Microsoft Professioal Editions)
13. "Fuck Windows" - "Death is a Window by E.C. Blount
14. "DreamHost Web" - Internet and World Wide Web Simplified, 3rd Edition by Ruth Maran
15. "The Pragmatic Programmer's" - Der Pragmatische Programmierer. by Andrew Hunt

Well, sure there are lots of opportunities for improving relevance, but still not bad at all for beta