21 hours ago I received an e-mail from adsense-noreply@google.com about the planned retirement of Google’s AdSense Referral program. It’s really not an urgency but they’re giving AdSense users a clue to start cleaning up unnecessary and future useless code so to speak. The last appearance of Referral links will stop showing in the last week of August 2008.

I didn’t really profit that much from this program, actually not from the whole AdSense at all, hence it’s not influencing me in any way. Last time I checked my total income through AdSense was only $0.91, which really is to be ashamed of. However, I know some people who earned hell of a benefit from it, and this news could find them unprepared.

The newly implemented strategy is totally different comparing to the old Referrals. Google has acquired DoubleClick Performics, hence their Affiliate Program will be functioning as part of the Google Affiliate Network. From all this inflection, considering that Google is always “constantly looking for ways to improve AdSense by developing and supporting features which drive the best monetization results for our publishers”, there was a sentence that caught my eye for a second while, reading through that email letter:

Affiliate Network will now operate as the Google Affiliate Network for advertisers targeting users located in the United States.

I’m not aware if AdSense Referrals worked the same way only for US advertisers, as I told you I wasn’t much of an AdSense fortunate, but the above statement tells me more or less that users from other countries won’t profit anything using this newly implemented program. At least not for the beginning, probably later on it’ll widen it’s possibilities. Thus, this means that as long as I’m leaving in Kosova, I shall not plan on using this service, instead search for other alternatives. Period.

Whatsoever, there is a sign I’ve usually noticed when a company gets acquired by a bigger one. They usually lack the time to update they’re website once they get pwned. The same detail I noticed at Performics Affiliate Marketing page (see for yourself if page is not altered yet). The Google Affiliate Network logo used there is of the highest resolution possible, they didn’t even think of resizing it. Probably it could be a matter of “feeling proud to be Google” thing or either “I don’t want to use Microsoft Paint to destroy Google’s Logo quality”. Either ways it looks not nice.

Last but not least, AdSense for Search & AdSense for Content are not altered from this deflation. So consider continuing to earn income, if until now you did so. I wish I would though.

We all love it for it’s simplicity, or at least I do. However, some source claims that Gmail soon will get built-in themes available for it’s users.

I’m not even going into wondering of how the themes will look like or how many of them will be, but what pushes me to write about this, is the thought of why didn’t they make it earlier. Google’s engagement has certainly been much higher upon dealing with troubles caused by other competitors and other particular things rather than worrying about Gmail themes. Plus it could be intentional but the BETA tag still remains there, 4 years and 3 months since it’s initial launch a lot could have been accomplished, considering the fact of Google having 19,156 full-time employees under its giant empire, yet it remains there.

Ultimately, users are able to change the look & feel of GMail, but that in an indirect way of approach, through a GreesMonkey script, using a Firefox extension called Stylish with one, two, three or more user created styles, and again through another Firefox add-on.

If you ask me, there’s no certain need to do that, whether or not Gmail is skinnable makes no real impression to me.
Its functionality is what I like the most.