Mimi's Site Review

Draft2Digital & Smashwords Merger: A POV of the Current State

2022-06-23T22:56:00.001-07:00

We are starting this with a Spot the Difference game between Picture I and II

Picture I Smashwords Blog as @June 24/2022 5:14am GMT

Picture II - Direct2Digital's Blog as @June 24/2022 5:14am GMT

What This Says

Have you spotted the difference?

Answer: check the dates of the most current posts made... Smashwords says February and Draftt2Digital says...yesterday(June 23/2022).

Smashwords have not posted anything since March 1st, since the day the acquisition took effect.

This can say anything and everything.

What They Should Be Doing

Keep Things Going

It should be important to show normalcy in times of transition. It should be.

Having posts not just to keep people in the loop but to talk about everyday what-going-on with writers and the industry shows everything is just fine. Neglecting that blog makes the house feel abandoned.

Granted, it was very Mark-centric yet this is more the reason to keep it going by another inhouse staff or with uncredited posts; if it comes to that.

Where is the dated integration plan? What are authors getting right now in their inboxes telling them how things are getting along or the next thing that is coming up? And if it is business-as-usual that wants to be projected then it just has to be that; business-as-usual.

The Ulbricht Silk Road Saga: 3 Quick Takeaways For Platform Creators

2015-05-30T04:48:00.000-07:00

The founder of silk road received a life sentence. Here are 3 quick takeaways from this saga for platform creators

1: Pick Your Domain

What is illegal in country A may be legal in country B but one thing you should do is that you should make sure you are not a citizen of a country where your platform would be considered as being illegal. Whether you are living in that country is irrelevant if they decide to come after you. Now they might not get you but you should be ready to live with the fact that you might seen as a criminal or lawbreaker in your home country.

2: Its Smooth Sailing If The Authorities Are Behind You

I do not like the idea of bitcoin. If you ask me, it looks criminal. That is, the potential for criminality is high. Bitcoin looks more criminal than e-gold.

In a fair world, the government that prosecuted the people behind e-gold would have apologized to them after the bitcoin/silk road saga. Without bitcoin, Silk Road may never have sprouted. In fact, Silk Road became a possibility because of bitcoin and it was built around bitcoin.

However, e-gold was shutdown. Bitcoin is still being celebrated. Nothing touched bitcoin even when it was so glaring that it was the key to the existence of Silk Road because the authorities have looked at bitcoin and concluded that it was a good thing.

What is the difference between bitcoin and e-gold? One was created with the full awareness and support of ‘the’ authority but e-gold is from Canada.

3: Do Not Get Carried Away

It is a crime to get carried away by the success of your platform even when what you are doing is not criminal. This man slipped in many ways but if there is a lesson to draw from this, it is that your head should always be on your shoulder. If you have a growth plan for you platform and have put in place actions you would take if the platform reaches certain benchmarks of growth, stick to that plan. It might cost you something for life if you allow its success to get to your head.

WATTPAD.COM FARM: SUBTLE SHADES OF ANIMAL FARM ON WATTPAD

2015-05-20T21:46:00.001-07:00

This will be the second time I’ll be giving a mention to wattpad.com on this blog. The first time, I concentrated on the people behind the platform. I have taken time to socialize on the platform and this time around, I will be beaming my torch light on the people using wattpad and the Animal Farm complex that hovers just below the surface.

Animal Farm?

For those who missed out on when the education system was designed to educate, Animal Farm is a literary masterpiece that depicted the inequality that is inherent in any society.

Wattpaders are symptomatic of this Animal Farm complex in subtle shades. Come with me as we walk into the social dynamics of ‘these’ people. You are going to enjoy this but put at the back of your mind that this is still about reviewing a website/platform and seeing how it can be optimized to give out its best to users.

Basic Info: How Wattpad Works

It is a platform that brings readers and writers together, making readers out of writers and writers out of readers, allowing for both osmosis and diffusion to take place within a singular state of different concentrates (I challenge you to come up with a more original description).

Heavy Vs Lite

There are people who have chalked up to half a million reads/eyeballs. That is, what they have written and posted on the platform has been read at least 500,000 times. These are the heavies.

Then there are people who have less than 30 reads. These poor souls are the extra lite.

Yet again, the heavies have some huge following while as you will expect, the extra lite as so lite that you can drink 15 crates without felling tipsy. What does this difference imply? A lot.

Follow/Do Not Follow dichotomy

People who have so mush (sorry, I meant to say much, although I think it should actually be many) people following them tend to follow fewer people (too few) when compared to those following them. It is like twitterverse 2.

The massive number of reads means they will get massive and increased following. At the same time, they are no longer obliged to follow those that follow them. Neither are they obliged to personalize their messages. Rather they use Blackberry Broadcast to announce one thing or the other (BTW, a word of advice to wattpadders that want to join the heavies, slow down on your broadcasts and go for personalized messages PM. And if you want to tell everybody or all your followers something, use the bottom page of your next update to do so or go back on your last posting, click on edit and place it at the bottom, bold it so that it would be different from the story).

This reminds me of twitterverse culture where all the star has to do is twit and beehive of followers will buzz round their every character.

In case you do not know (i.e. talking to the heavies), you are perpetrating a subculture, importing something that should not be because the makeup of wattpad (where everyone is a potential writer and reader) implies that a more socially homogenous and integrated system should apply. That is, come down your high horse and interact with your fellow writers and readers.

Drawing/Fishing for Relevance

Simple. All you need do is read a chapter and post and incisive comment. It may be a one liner but this is not usually the case. That said, what you should focus on is the incisiveness of your comment. Being flippant or sounding trite DOES NOT WORK HERE. This is not to say people do not do and get away with it.

If you can do this, you would be throwing the right night into the sea and you could catch a ton of fish (too bad you cannot currently look at stats to see how many people check out your profile page, that will give you an idea of how relevant you are becoming, aside from you followers. For the record, I was only joking about adding the G+ profile page view stat).

Drwing/Fishing for comment/stars

There are some who actually ask you to read. And there is nothing wrong in doing this as long as you do not come off sounding beggarly.

The golden rule applies here. Do unto other what you want done to you. so it becomes a tit for tat issue. I scratch your back and you scratch mine. This is vain. Ideally, it should not be the case but politeness (well, it is polite to return a ‘favor’), personal interest (they will come back to vote on your next installment), we-are-the-little-guys/us-against-them mentality and other issues compels this tit for tat to continue unabated.

So what the we have in a nutshell?

A platform that is on its part to completely replicating our offline societal structure of the Haves and the Have Nots.

A platform that allows for soft scheming as one of the unstated basis of interaction between members.

A website that is streaked with a competitiveness that is not yet bordering on the unhealthiness (emphasis on the not yet).

It piques my interest to see how they will nip this at the bud and that is dependent on whether they see these things as issues to address.

3 Reasons Why People Shy Away From Opening A Twitter Account

2015-05-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Left Behind Complex

I missed the bus. The air flight is full. All spaces have been taken. They are having so much fun, why should I spoil it for them. The left behind complex anchors your feet (fingers really) from clicking that Sign Up tab.

Even if you eventually sign up, the left behind mentality might just make you to look like the person that came late to the company party and looked for in inconspicuous corner to hide until it was a politically correct time to make an exit. So you just you hear people say, I do have a twitter account but I am not an active user.

Building From Scratch

Filling your twitter space is daunting. These are the two ways people make a hash of things and both are equally frustrating.

One Way

Follow established and highly impersonal twitter accounts. Like the accounts of banks, newspapers, conglomerates etc.

The other Way

Follow the stars. Yes, they feel more ‘personal’ than following monolithic companies. Besides, you can easily immerse yourself with whatever it is that is going on in their lives. Of course, it will do you a lot better if you can follow stars who and by nature of what they do, are more interactive than others (comedians, social commentators etc)

Both ways are still a cover up. The fact remains that building from scratch and creating a real twitter social community is too daunting a task. It is something that takes time, like the relationship between wine and time. And time is something you never had, which takes you back to the left behind complex.

Simply Complex

Twitter is so easy. Yeah, right. What is hashtag? What is the difference between...I do not even know enough to ask an intelligent sounding question. And it is embarrassing Googling up “how to use twitter”. It is simple alright, it is simply complex

Quit the Doomsday Attitude; how can I really overcome early Twitter Jitters?

If you leave things as they are, more people will shy away from twitter and those that join will take too much of a time to come out of their shell. But is there any way that this can be helped?

Take it like the physical social world. It is a new place right?

Go as a group

Even if none of you know anything about the club (sorry, Twitter) or have never been there before, going as a group allows all of you to draw confidence from each other –or laugh at/with each other, which is a cool way of feeling at home in a new environment. You guys get to follow each other, create your own community and build your confidence in a new environment together.

Ask someone that knows to Accompany You

Yes, just like going to a new place. Having a guide that is conversant with the place will quickly put you at ease. You become part of his/her network and gently introduce you to ‘real’ people. You can find your way from there.

Twitter could become a dying network if more people feel left behind, think it too hard to start from scratch or feel they will not be able to wrap their heads round the lingo. No pressure on them then.

80 reasons why I am terrified of Google

2015-04-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

Reason 1: Google Loves Me

Google loves me. This is a fact. Another seeming fact is that Google loves me so much that its creepy. Google is so much interested in me that from the onset of a platform like gmail they did not waste any time to start asking for my personal telephone number.

I was shocked the first time I had them ask me to leave my number with them. They said they wanted to give me a chance to secure my email address should I lose it and them having my phone number will go a long way in proving that I am the owner of the said email address.

Up until that time, other free email platforms only asked for a secondary email address (at least to my knowledge).

Reason 2: Anger

Google has a way of getting under my skin. This is what happened the first time they asked me for my phone number. I must confess here that I used to suspect that I was an introvert. I called it a suspicion because when I am in the midst of others, I can live it up or ‘turn up’ but when I am alone, I feel so much at ease.

Another thing is that I am not too keen about ‘showing’ myself to strangers. So I used to suspect that I was an introvert but as far as the internet is concerned, I know that I am. I do not just buy the idea of telling people who I know I may never meet something about me or giving details about me to organizations that I sense I may never walk through the actual doors of their office.

These were the early days of the internet (for me i.e. when they asked for my phone number) and I did not know anything about identity theft. And if ID theft was still in its infancy then, it has become a great grandpa with lots of great grandkids.

Anyways, Google has never stopped tickling me wrongly and you will get to have a sense of this as we go through the 78 more reasons why I am terrified of good (I do intend to list 78 more).

Reason 3: Intrusive philosophy: Number 3 Reason why I am Terrified of Google

We might eventually get to mention some of their intrusiveness one after the other (we just mentioned one in Reason 2), but one very big reason I am terrified of Google is not because they sometimes bring up one or two things that seem intrusive, rather it is the seeming philosophy of intrusiveness that holds everything they do.

Google wants to be on, in, around, with and by you. This is one reason I personally decided to ignore Google Chrome when they decided to launch their own browser; to me ignoring it became a matter of principle. I eventually got it (after I had cooled off from reason 2 i.e. anger) but I pointedly decided not to upgrade it for ages (I think I am like 26/36 versions/updates behind if not more).

They have this philosophy of intrusiveness weaved around everything they do and I blame Mr. Bill Gates. He was the first person I heard use the phrase the “internet of all things” and I think some organizations took him too seriously. And by the time you add another single word phrase in the name of “convergence”, you get to know why we are where we are today.

I do not know if they have a secret manifesto that clearly elucidates this philosophy of intrusiveness as the basis of their engagement with the world, but everything they do even to the point of starts ups they support with cash just underscores this philosophy and do not get me started on Google’s Dropcam. Talking of secretiveness…

Reason 4: Old CIA Front Conspiracy

I remember when the buzz of Gmail started. Then you could only get it by invitation. I decided to look them up using a search engine. I cannot really say if it was Google Search I used but I will never forget the first page results (I think it went down more pages because those were the days they I just kept on clicking on Next Page. I’ve now become a first page searcher).

Everything about Gmail on the first page results was about them being a front for the CIA. Now I am not American. I had also read enough Jeffery Archers and the likes to know what a CIA front company meant but since I was just a young lad who wanted to own an email account, I did not give this much thought (besides, a friend had already offered to invite me and it felt kind of cool that I would be part of the early users).

However, and with years gone by, and with the intrusive philosophy we just talked about in Reason 3, and with the Snowden leaks, and with the Great China e-wall, and with GHQ, NSA and others, one still wonders…

Now it may be too much to say that Google was and probably still is a CIA front company, but with all the things revealed, who isn’t? And if this is the reality we are facing, it gives me one more reason to be terrified of Google since they know more about me than any other organization.

Reason 5: 1^st Class Online Reputation Management

This should be a good thing, right? What happened to all that Google is a CIA front that littered the internet? I am curious to know because it is no longer on the first page search results anytime I type gmail.

Is this fair? Well, they invented online reputation management. That is, without them, the concept of online reputation management may never have come about so it should make sense that all that bad press would be buried at the 1000^th page of gmail search results (do not quote me…I would have used up my data plan before getting to page 700).

The moral of this reason is that for a company that has so much influence on the internet and how people interact with online content…

Reason 6: The Wind Factor: One Scary Reason Why I am Terrified of Google

There is a way the wind blows. Find a windy area and just stay still. At times, it hits you at the face, then changes direction. It can come at you from everywhere. There are times when it looks as if Google is a giant either without a sense of where the direction it initially wanted to take or changes its mind by the second. And we are the tiny ants…

I love Gtalk. Now I have to use Hangout. Hangout is not bad in itself. But I do not like Hangout because I love Gtalk. So they inform me that if I am still interested in Gtalk, I should use their chrome browser, their latest i.e. up to date chrome browser ( see second paragraph of reason 3).

What stops Google from holding a consistent direction? They will tell you their bottom line. There is a lot to be said here and I will be distributing them to other reasons.

Reason 7: All about Google not you

After all is said and done, it is about the company’s bottom line and not their customers. We cannot use this against Google because everybody does it. However, I am the one talking here and for a company that owns or controls about 25 percent (?) of the internet content-wise(?), it is an issue to me when they follow this acceptable principle of doing business and providing services.

I love my Gtalk. But it is now dead.

Reason 8: To Murdered Loved Ones

Google Author, Gtalk, Updates-making-obsolete-great-services, etc. The star wall will be filled with stars of fallen Apps and services that Google put a hit on because they could. I am having a momentary black out because one cannot begin to list all those that have fallen because Google wanted to move on.

I remember when my trusted blackberry (an ancient model) lost its native gmail. They all start with an email serving notice to users of how that app or service is about to be discontinued. I am sure that have at least one person specially hired to craft those letters.

They give a standard period, send more emails, then kill the app. The most recent for me is my Gtalk. Now there are apps and services that I cannot recall that have gone down that path.

Reason 9: The Great Lab

Google is the scientist and we are the guinea pigs. At times, it is like they deliberately throw something out to just see how we react and after they have taken all the notes they want to, they shut it down, calling on the Obituary Specialist to craft another letter.

Reason 10: Money To Shutdown

Everybody else does this. Companies that have the financial clout buy up smaller companies that have a better service or could potentially upend their plans and then shut it down. Google has a bit of cash to do this.

Reason 11: Blackhole or Expanding Universe

The universe is expanding at lightning speed. Google seems to be doing its best to match this. A black hole never gets filled and Google keeps on eating. It is either they are starting something new or buying up another. The thing here is that they seem to have hit a rich vein where everything is profitable. Either ways, it gives me this uneasy feeling that I will wake up one fateful day and get an email from the Obituary Specialist telling me they will be discontinuing Gmail and Google Search in 45 days time because they have moved on to other things.

Reason 12: The Penalty Experts (1)

Nobody penalizes like Google. And if you get shut out in one, you get shut out in all. This could be the most terrifying thing about Google.

Google might be quick to deny the last sentence, and indeed they may have changed (that is one thing you are sure they will do…change) but yours truly have seen this firsthand and I do not wish to check whether it is still happening.

Reason 13 : Eventual Policy Somersaults

There was a time when you can only have one Google Adsense account. That changed. Now I am not a google-hater, I am just terrified of them but I am sure there are well documented cases of Google’s policy somersaults both in the positive and negative sense. I only got to read up about having another Google Adsense account recently and was surprised because there was a time when this was something that could not be imagined. Talking about policies…

Reason 14: Google Terms of Use Policy: The Lost Mayan Mystery Scrolls

Ah, Senate committees have been set up to decode Google Policy. Continents have set up bodies to look into it. I am sure they will soon bring up something like the Chinese constitution (i.e. simplicity-wise) but there was probably a time when some lawyers were paid seven figure sums to make it as dark as possible. So they crafted it and weaved some dark spells over it to make it hard to decipher.

Reason 15: Government Induced Breakup

Microsoft went that way and it may not be too much of a stretch to see Google eventually going down that path. What will bother me will be how things will be divided and who will run what because it matters.

Reason 16: Stifling Competition or Size Matters in this Industry

No one likes a bully but what seems to be worse than a bully is someone or something that has the size and potential of being one. This is probably one reason why every move Google makes is looked at with a magnifying glass.

Reason 17: Showering Naked and in a Public Square

There is something scarily creepy about clicking on an email to open it and when it does, the right side of your screen has ads relating to the content of the email. It’s like the Google founders are reading your email over your shoulders. There is no way and place that won’t be seen as being rude. The rudeness aside, it does look like a leftover from the Scream Franchise or is it I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Reason 18: US Alone Products

This is annoying. You hear of a great product that they have just put out. You read and get excited as you read what the new service or app does. Then they pour a bucket of cold water over your head at the end of the press release/article with the information that the product/service is country bound.

They usually say US. The next country is UK. If they are interested in expanding it, Europe becomes the next place, then Australia. We still haven’t touched Asia and South America. Oh, I live in Africa.

With some, they will tell you from the onset that it is not going to cross the Atlantic or it is only limited to selected regions (meaning Africa is out of it). However, if it is something they intend to roll out to everyone, I get to get it last (Africa alphabetically starts with Z).

It would be nice if they could do something just for Africa or release something and test run it in Africa (I think there was a time they released something for Asia or an Asian country). Anyways, even if they were to do something just for Africa it would be something with er, Africa in mind and usually with the “aid Africa” mentality, meaning a weak product designed to “help” or “encourage” Africans –as if we cannot compete with others if given the same access and tools.

Non-inclusiveness segregates the internet and if the internet should be a fundamental right for everyone- something organizations like Google should push for since it means more money for them, then they should be in the forefront of exposing Africa, giving us access to the best of the best and not something ‘specially’ made with er, Africa in mind (as if it’s part of their CSR).

Reason 19: Redefining a Failed Product/Service

What Google calls failure may not be what another company would call failure. In fact, they might call it a success. If Google feels like a hundred million users of a product is a failure because they were aiming for half a billion users, sending in their Obituary Specialist would be wrong. Why not spin it off or something but keep it alive rather than shut it down? And they have hurt many users who really love the product and have started using it to add immense value to how they use the internet.

They seem to view this as a taboo or sacrilege but they could also sell the product to a company and have an arrangement or majority stake so that those people can continue with it and everybody is happy.

Reason 20: The Fear of the Disruptor is the Beginning of Wisdom

Every CEO of a company in an established industry is terrified of having a disruptor. They are the apps, products, platforms or services that upends the market and change things overnight. Google is a robust company and there are very few things that can make it lose its footing. One thing that can is a disruptor sneaking in and just taking over overnight. It could be with the Search Engine, email service or Adsense i.e. areas that are critical to Google.

The perfect nightmare is that which happens and nothing can be done to change or influence it. The perfect disruptor will provide something that everyone will see to be better and will switch to and no amount of money or inducement will make it change its course. This is one of the surest ways for companies to become obsolete.

With the nature of disruptors, Google is not too big to become obsolete and this is a scary thought for me (unless I am the one introducing the disruptor or switching over will not upend my own internet strategy/plan). Many people have built their internet plans around Google as they see no reason why the company will not continue to be relevant. By the way, I hear Myspace is making a comeback?

Reason 21: The Responsibilities of Becoming a Nation

Google is big, maybe too big. They have grown to start planning and strategizing with nations in mind. I bet there was a time when the only thing they had in their mind was becoming the best product/platform for me, their one and only customer. Now there are more things to consider before they do anything.

This makes me feel smaller and less relevant to Google. Now I feel more of a number, something less than a decimal fraction of a point in the whole scheme of things because of the scale at which they operate. This means, I am just less than negligible and I will not be a dot in a paper as one strategic decision means I am locked out of their system.

I wonder what happened to the users when Google announced they were pulling out of China?

Reason 22: Third World Meets First World (1)

You might not know this, but living in a country where the risk of your country being sanctioned by the country your favorite and most strategic online platform operates from; thereby affecting you (if it means that company has to cut off/reduce operations for citizens of that country that uses their platform is high) does not help matters.

Paypal (after like forever) finally included my country in their list (they had us blacklisted long ago it seems). Yet we can only buy and cannot sell i.e. only pay out but not receive payment using the platform (so, so unfair and wrong). This is the price one has to pay for being a citizen in one country that does not have any real strategic value for the other.

Moneybookers (prefer this name to the new) had told me (twice) that they were under instruction from their regulatory arms (government) not to allow people residing in my country to sign up (that still hurts). A Stripe customer care responder told me categorically that they are not interested in having users from my country because of the level of fraud emanating from there (yet, where online fraud happens the most is from their country).

The point here is I am fighting uphill while I’m being pounded and bombarded from all sides. Something out there might happen tomorrow and Google country i.e. the US government or a regulatory arm might just give them an instruction and that is that for me and my access to Google.

Reason 23: Third World Meets First World (2)- Front Facing Product Marketing

Another reason why I am terrified of Google is that there are times when some of their products/services do not just have me in mind or my “third world” location makes it impossible for me to utilize it fully.

That is, even when it may be open or accessible to me, it appears it was made while I went to ease myself and the only people in the room were from their side of the divide.

This places me in a disadvantaged position from the word go as I cannot compete i.e. if I am in competition with others in the same room although they reside in the land of the brave and free (and environs).

For instance (a very simple example), Google has (re)introduced domain registration for the blogger platform. For as little as $1 a month I think or $12 a year, you can give your blog a proper domain name. This is a great product/service but I cannot use it even though it accessible and affordable because my location and “third world” status makes it impossible to make that payment.

Of course, you can now point out Paypal but Paypal is not part of the Google family and that is my point here. They have created a good product but they are only facing one direction (facing West) and should have gone a step further to see how they can make it easy and accessible for those in Africa to acquire.

Reason 24: Third World Meets First World (3); Product Inconsistency

Continuing from above, meanwhile and at the same time, Google Adsense has always had a means of paying account holders that could seamlessly work from Africa. One of the means of payout they provided is through Western Union.

This shows product inconsistency. On blogger, you can now purchase a domain name but there are no easy means for me to do this from my location but on Adsense, which I can use with Blogger, I can withdraw money using Western Union.

Each product must be consistent with the other. I should be able to conveniently buy a domain name and withdraw money within your universe. If you could provide something for me for Google Adsense to do this, then you should be able to do same with Blogger.

Reason 25: of Updates, Algorithms, Literacy & Web Crawlers 1: Announced Changes

At the back of the mind of every web content provider/webmaster is the thought that they might discover today that Google has tinkered with its searching algorithm, again and 3 weeks ago.

There might have been a time when they announced such changes, but they only do it these days after the fact. This does not make for good planning on the side of the content providers. I have my suspicions why Google has adopted this measure of just tweaking and updating and allowing the world to discover it for themselves, suffice it to say that it keeps everyone that needs to be in the know on their toes because a lot rides on page ranking.

Reason 26: of Updates, Algorithms, Literacy & Web Crawlers 2: My Suspicion

Everything is tied to money. The higher your page rank, the more money you make and at times, the money you make comes from the coffers of Google. That is, they get to be the ones that pay you for the traffic they send to your site. The fact that they are the ones basically sending the traffic to your site because of their search engine/algorithm could present a Machiavellian pose to them.

“Why are they making so much off me? I own the machine and control the purse strings, don’t I?”

And in the character of James Dastardly Deeds ( I do not know where that came from… definitely from my cartoon days…maybe Blue Falcon and Dog Wonder?), why announce any upcoming changes to the reading ability of the machine when ‘they’ will quickly adjust and still keep making so much off me? Hmm.

Reason 27: of Updates, Algorithms, Literacy & Web Crawlers 3 and This is Getting to be a Franchise

Webmasters and content providers alike have to keep on changing their SEO techniques to suit the literacy level of the machine but at the same time, you will hear the guys behind Google tell you in their Hangouts to just write good content. That is, they want to make you believe that great content is all that matters while they are planning for the next update.

Sad news; the internet is not all about great content, whatever that means. As long as those updates and tweaking continues, SEO will still be relevant and Google will not be stopping their unannounced tweaking anytime soon.

Reason 28: of Updates, Algorithms, Literacy & Web Crawlers 4: Major and Minor Updates; Oversight Functions Recommended

This is a critical aspect of web content and relevance. The Senate or regulatory bodies may have to look into it. Your machines are yours but it might just give undue advantage to you (since you also hold the purse strings) if you tweak things and others get to find out 3 years later (exaggeration noted).

Tell people what you want to do before you do it and how it’s going to be done so that they can apply themselves to staying relevant as far as page ranking is concerned.

If you can legislate or weigh in on internet highways and accessibility (er, talking to regulators now), then doing something about preparing content owners before major/minor updates are made to search engine algorithms should be a logical step.

It is basically (back to Google) changing the goal posts without informing the players or allowing them to find out for themselves.

Reason 29: of Updates, Algorithms, Literacy & Web Crawlers 5: Machines Still Cannot Read

I am wrong on this because they can (although they do not have the sense or awareness that they are reading…hmm, that’s deep). The Google Web Crawler/algorithm/the-thing-that-reads-indexes-serves up online content to Google search engine result page, is a machine designed to be an illiterate.

It has teachers that deliberately taught it to read wrongly. I cannot remember why I am including this as a reason why I am terrified of Google but I bet you would get something out of this if you read it one more time (buzz me after you do).

Reason 30: The Penalty Experts (2)- Check that old email account

Once upon a time, in a land far away, I sat in front of a computer and keyed in my password on the Gmail homepage. I clicked enter. I was not taken to my inbox. Rather, I was taken to a page where I had to verify that the email account belonged to me. They told me they suspected I was not the owner.

Moved forward five years (maybe 6 or 4 and by now, you should know that my attempts to verify that I was the owner did not work), I tried the account again. They took me straight to my inbox.

This is a true-to-life story and if there is a moral here it would be to go back and check if Google has opened up that account you lost some five years ago.

Reason 31: New Debilitating Policies

I gather that you may now have to wait for some months (six?) before you can deploy Adsense to a new website (or is it you now have to wait six months before you can use an Adsense account after signing up for it)? It used to be plug and play. Policies change but what most will not expect is for that change to be for the worse as far as they are concerned.

You just don’t know what you will hear tomorrow. This in itself is not good.

Reason 32: Redefining a Failed Product/Service (2)- A Case for Google Reader

2013 was a bad year. Google Reader was never a failed product. Unfortunately, Google decided it was and sent in their Obituary Specialist. This is one product that will get millions of users if it is brought back today. This is an appeal; there are products that could be revived and revamped and would be instant hits. There should be a couple that would getter a better reception now if they are reintroduced. Think on this.

The guys at Android Police broke hearts with their April Fools gag (April 1 2015) about Google Reader. Seriously though, it would be great if Google could go up their attic and dust up some products.

Reason 32: Google and Their Future Scares Me

Just listening to the Google X guy talk up Moonshot and I get the feeling that I am losing these guys. They are taken on the universe and killing things like Google Reader (and my Gtalk), things that are closer to my neighborhood.

Listening to them talk about the future with their Google Glass (which deserves a subtitle of its own) and self driven cars makes the idea of one day waking up to a letter from their Obituary Specialists telling me of the death of gmail a real possibility.

Their future seems to move away from their present and past.

Reason 33: About Google Glass

First thing, it supports the idea of Google’s intrusive philosophy. Second thing, it also supports the piece on Google being the scientist and us folks being the guinea pigs. It is as if they have gotten all they need and they simply shut it down, referring to the Obituary Specialist to craft (this should be draft but I prefer craft) a letter.

Another thing is that it points to the idea of Google just doing what they like, when they like and change directions as they choose without consideration (something could also be said about this being part of the CIA front/Snowden Report thing).

Reason 34: Humongous Cash Reserve

They are all stockpiling as if there is an impending currency draught. Aside from tax issues and depending on what side of the divide place your tent (on arguments ranging from communism to strategic business decisions), this may not be a bad thing in itself. It becomes worrisome and a reason to be scared of Google and the rest when placed beside some of the points we have already highlighted and the next 7 or 8 points we are about highlighting.

Reason 35: Secret Unethical Tests

It was not too long ago that we got to find out that Facebook conducted a secret test on some of its account holders without their permission (since we are writing with the internet in mind, forget I said it was too long ago but it was reported that Facebook…). There was a time Google went to town with one of their mobile gizmos and it was reported that as the vehicle passed by people with mobile devices their gizmos did a lot of er, data mining.

Whatever, the reason, such tests will scare anyone and this is one sure reason why I am not just be terrified of Google but of every tech firm that seems to have a stockpile of cash. Please is send some my way if you do not know what to do with them.

Reason 36: Explanations After the Fact and Committees

Is it not interesting how they (all) switch to full-disclosure mode AFTER the public gets to find out what they did? Another thing of note here is that regulators seem to fall over themselves to set up committees and sub-committees, giving off the appearance of activity in the eyes of the public. I have my suspicions but they are mine, you go have yours.

Reason 37: Do it Now and Apologize Later

Maybe the Facebook experiment seems to encapsulate this point better although with their case, they really did not come off as looking or being sorry for what they did.

The same thing applies to all in fact, there seems to be this Nike “just do it” air about them as if they sense that all it will take for them is to say sorry afterwards and everything will go right back to normal.

Maybe they already have a machinery in place, just like their Obituary Specialist or GOP’s Talking Points Steering Committee On Just About Anything and they are pretty confident they can handle any fallout.

Reason 38: Slap at the Back of the Hand Approach

This could be one reason why they have this air that they can get away with almost anything (this refers to all of them). When the committees sit, listen and penalize, it leaves you with a feeling that they got away lightly, again. This should have been one of the first reasons of the 80 reasons I am terrified of Google.

Just look back at those committee meetings and the penalties, it will leave you wondering…

Reason 39: Above the Law Perception/ Big Boss Mentality

This is a natural progression to the theme we are working on right now. When you use people in an experiment they are not aware of (shout out to Facebook and the likes), and you already know or believe you will get away with a scolding as penalty whether you are in Europe or US (remove China from this list), it gives the impression to yours sincerely that these guys are operating at a level that makes them not necessarily unaccountable but Al Capone-ish Untouchable (by little me of course and not the regulators).

Reason 40: Uncle Sam’s Got My Back

This is more so when they have issues with Europe (which seems to occur more often than not). Google does not need a soothsayer to tell them that they will be summoned by the European Commission for one thing or the other every new business year. In fact, they may very well have included that in their budget and allocated money for making such trips to Europe.

However, there is this feeling I get that most times, they just go through the motions of these meetings because Uncle Sam (by Uncle Sam, I do not mean the IRS, who by the way, are not really happy with Google and co because of the overseas cash-piling issue, but I mean the US government) has already settled the issue. In fact, one might say that perhaps the committees are not being set up for Google per see but for the public since they must give an appearance of doing something about the latest ‘indiscretion’ of this spoilt child of Uncle Sam.

I wonder what would have happened if it was Huawei that was caught er, data mining the devices of the good people of Europe or for any other indiscretion of Google.

Reason 41: Well Sue Me Mentality

This is not so much a reason I am terrified of Google as it is an irritating thought that buzzes at the back of my mind. At times, it is like they dare you to do you worst if you do not like what they have just done, especially when they send those letters from their Obituary Specialists and there is a general outcry from users. They act as if they don’t just give a flying fig or how many times have you heard them bring a program back (yes, think ABC, HBO, FOX etc) or added a season to that great show because there was a general outcry or petition to that effect?

Reason 42: Small Claims Cases and Perception of Abuse

This could be an empirical way of finding out how terrifying Google is; go check the small claims cases against Google for the past 5 years (maybe 10). Do not just look at the volume or quantity but the quality or individual cases. They may be few but this is one issue that is close to my heart because it is all about that single individual who feels he or she has been shortchanged.

Of course, Google will not look at it like that because at the back of their mind, they will be looking at the possible millions of people that have the same issue (they might even have an exact record of the number).

So they come at you with a sledge hammer because they are looking at the bigger picture. Poor you.

I just read about a 17 year old kid that built a picture loading app (from a desktop) for Instagram, something that Instagram are really not interested in and have gently told the kid to ‘discontinue’ it. As at the time I read it, they were still treading softly with the ingenious kid even though he hacked into their er, whatever to have it built. He is making some bit of cash that he is putting into his college fund.

They cannot look the other way because of the millions of professional cut-throat programmers (exaggeration? Maybe not) lurking around and pretending that they do not have one eye on how Instagram is handling this issue…poor kid.

Reason 43: About Google Wallet & Online Payment

I love the dream of Google Wallet. I used to suspect that Google had shares in Paypal, otherwise they would have set up something or buy up something that will compete against them. However, it looks like they have their sights on something else.

Reason 44: Gang ups

They are terrifying when they are alone imagine what they become when they come together to get a point across. It is not bad when what they are coming together about is something that favors me (well, and you). The NSA heckling is a case in point but what if they come together for something that does not favor me (well, and you)?

Reason 45: Buy ups and regulators

Why do regulators turn hawkish when two big companies want to merge or one wants to buy up the other in other industries? Why don’t they apply the same hawkishness when it comes to Google and the rest buying up techs and other online platforms? Does the same anti-monopoly rules not apply?

And there are times they deliberately buy up to shut down, with everyone knowing that the company they are buying up are providing a service or product that will upend theirs.

Why not step in and prevent such from happening? And what if the said companies present a product that you just know will make you dump Google. They do not allow competition.

Reason 46: Let’s Face it, 20% is High (1)

If it was a ‘foreign’ i.e. non-American company that controlled around 20 percent of internet traffic, the government would have been up in arms. Just look at how they are heckling Huawei and they do not have that kind of market share in their industry.

Reason 47: Let’s Face it, 20% is High (2)

But should they not do something about them as they seem to have too much of a grip on the ‘local’ market? Google is massive and this ordinarily should not be used against them but are there no real fears or threat their size poses to free enterprise or competition?

Reason 48: Let’s Face it, 20% is High (3) But…

This gives you and me something that can work to our advantage as it concerns creating sub-platforms within the Google framework. The only catch is that they have a great say to the success/failure of that platform…another reason why I am terrified of Google.

Reason 49: Google Optimization; Scientific Calculator Effect

Way back, I used to have this peeve about Scientific calculators. After realizing that the only thing I used them for was basically to plus, minus, multiply and divide. I started asking myself whether it will not make more sense for me to stick to a simple solar powered calc instead of carrying about something I know I will never get to use 1/100^th of the functions and buttons (knowing nothing about them).

This peeve transferred to people around me as I asked them if they had ever used the RAD function or any other ‘exotic’ button. I am having this same scientific calculator effect with the Google universe. I know I have still not explored Google Docs as I would love to and many other tools, apps and platforms within the Google framework.

How does this make me terrified of Google? The first thing is that it keeps on expanding, more than I can ever keep up with. The second thing is below…

Reason 50: Google Optimization

They set up and shut down tools so quickly that I do not have the time to explore and exploit them. Another thing is they do not think twice about shutting down a tool they have had going for years (Google Reader) even when you may have done a good job integrating that tool into your er, whatever.

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Commercial Break Begins

Okay, we still have some 30 more to go and I think a commercial break should be in order. So just think of your favorite commercial, rush to the fridge, or take this time out to check what’s going on in other stations.

Commercial Break Over

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Reason 51: Google Optimization & Product Testing

There is this other thing about Google tools and products that can be annoying if not terrifying. If you are not careful, you will forget that the product you have gotten so used to or have already incorporated into your, er, whatever is actual at the beta stage of testing.

You then get shocked when they announce they are pulling the product out of the market (technically, it was never really in the market). Now it does not matter if they are going to shut down the product or move it from Beta to full product because with Google, the transition (from Beta to full product) may not be immediate.

Reason 52: Google Glass, Meerkat and Periscope

Google has taken a lot of stick on Google Glass and I am not about to add to the herd mentality. However, this whole piece is all about me and not Google. I have talked about the seeming intrusive philosophy that guides Google products and services and one that got people to take up arms against Google Glass.

The product has now been retired from the Beta stage, meaning the final product will be next but Meerkat the live streaming app has come into the scene and the reaction to it is different. The points below attempts to highlight why the reactions have been different and underscore why Google should consider a shift in their design philosophy (something that I have ascribed to be intrusive since I am the sole arbiter in these matters).

The first difference is that Meerkat is an app, Google Glass is hardware. Being an app makes it look less threatening (emphasis on the makes it look because it can as intrusive as Google Glass). It is part of the apps on your device, something you can open and shut at will and is less threatening because it is part of other apps found on your phone. I do not want to go beyond 3 paragraphs per point, so check the next point.

Reason 53: Google Glass, Meerkat and Others

Google Glass is a hardware that seems to have only one purpose; record what the wearer is viewing. It is easy to be more terrified of this than Meerkat since the former seems to announce itself on arrival whereas Meerkat is hidden and the person has to go through a process of setting it up before streaming.

I do not like people snapping my pictures without asking for my permission (that’s a lie, I simply do not like taking pictures). I will be mortified if someone comes in with their camera already on their shoulders. However, I will have gotten cues if it was Meerkat (and done a Jet Li on the person before they start streaming).

Reason 53: Google Glass, Meerkat and the Power of Perception

Perception matters. It does not matter if a particular light has to glow, which you can use to tell if the Google Glass is recording (the fact is Google can change a whole lot of things before they release the final product and make it look less threatening), the issue here is a wearer of Google Glass looks like a reporter that has already started recording without asking for an interview to be granted.

Reason 54: Google Glass, Meerkat and Legislation

Technology is getting scarier and no matter what the Google X head says, it is something that will not stop getting any less scarier. That said, legislation should be put in place that will protect the social rights of interaction and the dynamics of such interaction as it concerns being recorded by another party. To think that there was a time when the statement above would have sounded really stupid.

It could be person to person or something to hold the companies accountable.

Reason 55: Google Glass, Meerkat and Another Problem I have with Google

Why not produce technologies of polar opposites? I say this to Google and anyone that wants to make a killing in the killing fields of apps and tech hardware. If you can spend so much in building something like Google Glass, why not build an opposing product that distorts/disturbs/prevents/warns-if-someone is recording you without asking for your permission? Or are you really sure that you are not a CIA front company?

Reason 56: What’s the Rumor About Google Plus?

Google plus is just 2 days old (no exaggeration here) and I am hearing rumors about a breakup (or is it Google Circle). I think these guys are hyperactive and chronic tinkers. Give them a project, like build a colony in one of the moons of Saturn or anything that will really keep them occupied. It’s like anytime there is a lull in their office, they look at the next thing to tinker.

Reason 57: Another Thing About Google Plus

Another reason I am terrified of Google is that to me and anytime I look at their products/platforms, I am left with the sense that there is so much more they can do with them. This is exactly how I feel about Google Plus but I fear how they approach product optimization. It always seems to be an exploration in deconstruction.

They can go another direction with the Google Plus rather than the rumored deconstruction, which is consistent with their philosophy of product discontinuance.

Reason 58: have you heard about Google Tango

Let me see, how do I explain this. It is a home-mapping device. I hear they have concluded Beta testing. Why am I mentioning this at this point? To me, it goes back to the case of why do they really churn out such products. What is the ‘real’ reason behind such a device.

Aside from connecting or weaving a grand James Dastardly Deeds conspiracy, such a product tells me how far ‘out there’ the people in Google Labs are. I would very much like them to be grounded with me please.

Reason 59: Suspicion About High Product Churn Out

Before, I talk about my suspicion about Google’s high product churn out, I want to say that their high products churn out is another reason I am wary of Google. They seem to have too many things cooking and serving too many dishes at the same time.

Reason 60: Now for My Suspicion About Google’s High Product Churn Out

The more products they churn out, the more compelled they feel to send the Obituary Specialist to announce another death. Sadly, it is the loved and cherished or the ones people are just warming up to that gets axed. One of these days, they will send an email announcing the impending death of their email service.

Reason 61: Product Churn Out and Getting Out of Touch with base

Are they disengaging from their original ‘customers’? Do the new products showcase that pattern of disengagement? Or are they telling their original customers to keep up or get left behind? Hmm

Reason 62: Early Killing of Products

Microsoft (a name I have conscientiously avoided up until this moment…) could have killed the Surface Tablet after the write down when they released it for the first time.

Maybe they had too much riding on it and they had made up their minds to ride or die with it, but by Pro 3, they heaved a sigh of relief.

The idea of comparing both might be wrong (feeling it already) but if Google had shutdown Google Plus (I sincerely have an issue with Google Plus and Google Circus because I do not know if they are together or separate and I might be meaning the other while mentioning one) when they started…

Reason 63: My Thoughts on Android

I never liked android and was a little peeved when Google ventured into the mobile market (yes, I want them all to myself). This could be a reason why I have never bought an android device (aside from the issue of cash at hand).

By now, you will know my issues with regards to intrusiveness, being in, on, underneath you like white on rice (the famous Hollywood threat expression).

However, they made quite a success of it as it concerns getting hundreds of millions to include android into their personal non-internet lives (something Google seems to value more than gold). It should be noted that those that are really making money are the top guys (like Samsung) but by Google’s standard i.e. the wide adoption, it’s a success.

Reason 64: Google Chrome Diaries; Implant

Google has a plan. I personally do not know why people get peeved anytime they hear another product coming online from their stable. Now Chrome is one of the most popular browsers around. Google has a plan and it may take you years to start connecting the dotted lines. Their chrome book (cannot recall what its called) kind of made sense of them releasing the chrome browser. If nothing else, this shows that they are following a script, and this is scary in itself.

Reason 65: Google Chrome Diaries; Embedded

Now speculations about their chrome book (I still cannot recall the exact name of this device) has it that users will be able to access their android apps within the browser which is the sole browser on their chrome book (giving up on trying to recall the name). Hmm… I think this is what they told me when they were shutting down Google Talk, that I could still access it through the chrome browser (I think I say).

What is there to be terrified about this? This is a postulation but I think the guys at gOOGle (I mean Google) have been bingeing on Walking Dead. There seems to be something about the ‘herd mentality’ that they have caught on to and users are being shepherded into a direction.

Reason 66: Google Chrome Diaries: Jungle Justice

Now there is a reason why I cannot recall the exact name of their device i.e. the chrome book, which I will call Chrommy. I have never set my eyes on one. I mean, not even in the jungle that is my country. Interestingly, I have seen people with blackberries as they swing by and I have occasionally sighted iphones as well.

Chrommy may not have been made with Africa in mind. However, I understand that based on its pricing, if there is any tablet that should be made for Africa, that tab should be chrommy because it is one of the most affordable.

It also seems to be one of those devices that could really have an impact in Africa and my country in particular especially for schoolers. I am charging Google for this advice; launch chrommy in Africa. Go to the schools and work something out. You can contact me for the how to and you could just help us to climb down from trees although nothing beats the view.

Reason 67: Email Privcay; A Thing About Ownership

Terms of use and standard privacy notifications aside, who really owns the emails? If I sign up to use your email service, which you have decided to provide ‘free’ of charge to me, who owns the emails sent to me, you or me?

I may not own the physical platform but if I’m not using your email service, that particular message would not have come. The message was sent to me, do you then have the right to ‘read’ my message? If it is my message, do you then have the right to show that message to a third party? Can you not create a system where you tell me first or ask for my permission before showing my email to a third party? (this is my privacy rights piece)

Reason 68: Google and Backups

I understand the importance of backups. Mistakes happen. Files can be lost. Access can be denied or suspended at a critical time. Backups are great. It may not be a bad idea to have backups for platforms and apps as well…

Reason 69: Of Neuro Computers & Algorithms

I do not know what I am talking about here. I know of super computers but it seems as if the next age of computing has come upon us and it is giant tech firms with a lot of financial muscle like Google that are in the forefront of creating such machines.

Computers with extremely complex algorithms are now interacting with each other and producing outcomes that the designers may not entirely have a grasp on (listened to a TED talk recently…that’s why I’m sounding so smart). And the next age of computing, which is already here exponentially increases the complexity of this interaction, potentially making us, the creators, bystanders. I do not need to tell you how terrifying this can be and all because someone wants a machine to ‘intelligently’ converse with a human being and identify a picture.

Reason 70: Musings, Musings, Musings

Google could be terrified of itself. Yes, they are having fun but just as it is with a Robert Ludlum/Jeffery Archer/Fredrick Forsythe -ish character, there could be someone somewhere or a group of people who cannot sleep because of what they know. And “you can’t handle the truth”.

Reason 71: Google and the Always Wired Plan

This is not an original idea. Ideas are hardly original but Mr. Gates dream was to have a desktop on every, er, desk. That evolved to the ‘internet of all things’. Google has been pushing along this direction from the onset. To make this Always Wired plan possible, they will have to see how they can bring the cost of connectivity down as well as provide fast internet connection.

One way they can do this is to get into those markets and provide premium service at dirt-cheap prices, forcing the original players to follow suit. Another way they can add to this or come from another direction is to find territories where internet penetration is still at its infancy and set a standard that new entrants will have to follow.

Now I thought this all by myself. I looked at my crystal ball and projected into how Google is going to get everyone hooked to them i.e. the internet. This idea is entirely mine and original to me. They are yet to take any step towards this direction but mark my words; they will. Then you will all come and worship at my feet.

Reason 72: Google is on Facebook and Twitter

I have this theory, that despite what the general public is made to think, Democrat and Republican top-wig party members have a secret place where they all meet and laugh at everything over drinks. Also, The Dalai Lama (I do not know if I got that right) sits to have tea with the Chinese authorities, Ukrainian and Russian Heads of State play chess together; Indian and Pakistani military topguns have a joint underground bowling club. It is just a theory though.

Reason 73: Some Big Fears of Google and How they are Handling it

Google is afraid that a company will rise out of nowhere and overrun their well laid out plan to rule the world, I mean, remain profitable.

Reason 74: Another Fear

Google is afraid of other big players coming into their turf and taking them to the cleaners. This is why they always have an eye on them and the other eye on Game of Thrones.

Reason 75: And Another Fear

Google is afraid a king will ascend the throne (the Iron Throne of course) and they will have no say in how the person got there. This is why they watch House of Cards.

Reason 76: Yet Another Fear

Google is afraid of being left out of decision making with respect to standardization and adoption. This is the sole reason Android came into existence.

Reason 77: Just One More Fear

Google is afraid that MAD (not Mad Men but Mutually Assured Destruction) is a concept that the competition does not have a full grasp of so they have adopted a policy to press the red button first.

Reason 78: How they are Handling Fear 73

I did not note how they are handling Reason 73. Kindly allow me to introduce you to Mr. Google Ventures…

Reason 79: About Pressing the Red Button First

There was a time when everybody kept to their own side of the lawn. Then Al Capone came along and had dreams of running the country from coast to coast. The big families would have none of it. It did not take long before tension gave out to all out war. Now everybody is doing everything and looking at how they can get into more areas and keep the war at the enemy’s turf.

One would say that it is us customers that benefits. Wrong. It is the customer that suffers because when we are about settling down with one app or product, another big player introduces something else specifically designed to undermine what we just want to settle down with and nothing has been the same ever since.

Besides, they keep on buying everything that comes up, in a bid to win this war, including some very nifty products/start-ups that could add immense value to us customers.

Reason 80: And the danger of War

And the danger of war is that everybody loses. Everybody dies because everything that is made only has one purpose; to further the cause of one side against the other. Everybody is weaponizing to win the war and nobody is thinking of producing products with the public in mind (the only thing on their minds is the enemy). It is all about the war and everything is channeled into getting the H-Bomb and winning it. Everybody loses, everybody is losing.

Reason 80 Plus One

Are you not tired already?

Okay folks, it’s a wrap. I got to the end. I spent the whole Easter weekend sitting in front of the computer, putting this down (my life in a sentence). I feel you should pay for this and if there was a donate button on blogger platform (there might be), I would have added it here. If I resided in a different location, I would have pasted a Paypal Donation button. Unfortunately, they can only allow me to use their platform to pay for products and not get paid (for products).

Apparently, they are afraid of me solely because of where I reside (which is a cool thing, really), and they have been dragging their feet forever and only just came into our market.

Now I am fully aware of the fact that I am posting this 10,000 word –ish piece talking about 80 reasons why I am terrified of Google on my Google owned Blogger, er, blog. For the record, Google bashing is not really a thing for me. This is actually a personal challenge. I got the title first and as at the point when I started out, I did not have up to 10 reasons (hence, I challenged myself to see if I could really come up with that number).

I mean, I could have decided to write 80 reasons why I love Google. In fact, I am presenting this as a challenge to you.

Write 160 reasons (i.e. write One Hundred and Sixty reasons and not write in 160 characters) why you love Google.

You will be surprised how far you will go. I would have joined in but I think I have had Google in my head for one too many a day.

Prize? You get to know your threshold as it concerns how far you can go in seeing the best out of anything.

WANTED: CHATTERS FOR HIRE or USING MESSAGING APPS TO EARN CASH

2015-03-21T04:01:00.000-07:00

About two years ago (maybe one), I posted a job on Fiverr.com offering a service of becoming an “online muse”. The job did not make it past their vetting process.

Fast forward to present times, there are possibly thousands of people doing a shade of this in one way or the other (not necessarily on fiverr). There are people who make good money by chatting with others online. Some of the different shades it comes in include:

Virtual Assistant

This has a degree of respectability attached to it. A personal assistant is something that anyone with a full desk would wish for at any given time. But it used to be expensive and still is, depending on the job description. However, the internet has made it possible to democratize the use of personal assistants and hiring them. It is now obviously cheaper to have your personal assistant. The ‘virtual’ nature of the job does not diminish its effectiveness especially for those who operate in fields where the assistant does not really need to be physically present in order to be effective.

Virtual Companion

This is closer to the job posting that was turned down by fiverr.com. People pay to have online companions. They may be sounding boards or just be there to allow you to get off steam. A successful virtual companion is the person that has established firm parameters of the relationship yet manages to ‘cross over’ that line in the eyes of the person doing the hiring to become what that person might call a friend.

Virtual Sexual companion

This is one of the most lucrative aspects of using chatting apps to connect with people and they pay good money. The whole package goes beyond chatting to include visual elements. It is quite strong on the visual elements but what separates it from the ‘traditional’ red-light district kind of jobs is that they add conversations, an ability to build a virtual relationship.

The future of chatting for hire

There are platforms that specialize in providing subscription chatting service where people pay to chat with models. Others use the traditional chatting apps like Skype, Google Hangout and Snapchat (strange that we should list Snapchat as traditional) i.e. chatting apps that do not provide specialized services and setup a means of payment with their clients.

As for the near-future of chatting for hire, more traditional jobs could move in to using chat apps, following the footsteps of the adult industry (they tend to always be ahead of the curve as it concerns adoption of new technologies) to establish a paying means of using them.

Consultancy Services

Consultants can incorporate a subscription payment model to establish a relationship with clients. The beauty of this is that in can be in just about any field:

A lawyer may decide to provide a very affordable means of providing legal advice to subscribing clients.

A doctor may also do the same thing

A social media consultant can set up a chat for hire system that would have those that signup pay a subscription fee (one-time or regularly) for consultations

A home security agency can do the same thing

All you need to do is customize it to fit your field, make it more affordable than the traditional means of contracting you and you have another branch or stream of income

Derivatives

Another thing with this is that you can leverage on this to earn in other areas.

· You could use it to sell your books

· Get more people to sign up for one seminar or the other

· Have another platform where you can introduce one product or the other

· Build your authority and increase the size of your network

Opportunities to leverage on existing and new technologies in new ways will always keep the internet fresh.

What’s Up With wattpad.com?

2015-03-20T07:34:00.003-07:00

Okay, the site is a great concept, for the creators. The site could have a better impact for the users. And by the users, I am talking specifically about “professional” writers.

It is great for online readers and those who are looking at the dream of becoming writers. If this is just about them then they have a playground where they can have as much fun as they want.

For the professional writer, the people behind wattpad should be looking at ways of adding more value to their wattpad experience.

If I was given an opportunity to send questions to the people behind wattpad... I would add these to it:

· List the values a professional writer will have on your platform should they sign up today

· Look at those values critically and answer these sub-questions

I. Do they make direct cash from your platform?

II. If they make indirect cash, how many steps away from your platform do they have to take it to translate into their bank account (See Principle of Indirect Cash for Online Platforms or MakingProfit for Your Platform through Indirect Cash for Members)?

III. Is there a really proactive thing you do that gives them an extra mileage in terms of exposure?

IV. What is the unique thing about your platform that adds real value to the professional writer that they cannot get anywhere else?

BOTTOM UP: STARTING FROM THE LAST QUESTION

A ready and defensive answer might be that there is hardly any platform on the internet dedicated to writers that has any unique selling preposition.

This is a lie and the question should serve as a challenge to create things that will keep you at the forefront of providing something unique to the professional or full-time writer.

The people behind wattpad.com have to put on their thinking caps and create something for full-time writers that go beyond the basic provision of creating an avenue for direct fan interaction and contribution.

Social interactive tools and platforms is not a dime a dozen. Platforms such as wattpad.com should do well to think out of the box so that they could be able to create tools that will add to the user experience of professional writers on their platform

Point of Emphasis

Nothing beats direct monetary compensation. The only thing that comes closer is indirect monetary value that is about 1 or at most 2 steps away. Another issue that will catch the eye of the professional writer is a platform that can provide social interaction and exposure that goes beyond the norm. Think about this; most platforms now integrate standard social media but what most end up doing is using the social network of the user to ‘push’ the user’ material.

Do you not think it would be a great idea if a platform can build a powerful social media reach and then push people like such professional writers through them?

Principle of Indirect Cash for Online Platforms or Making Profit for Your Platform through Indirect Cash for Members

2015-03-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

What is website member indirect cash earning? It is a way users of an online platform earn money not from the site directly but because they use or are members of the platform.

A good example of an indirect cash earning system is the ones adopted by online platforms such as Triond.com and Hubpages when they post user’ content on their platform and the users earn through Google. That is, the website/online platform does not pay you directly but you are earning cash via a third party for using that online platform to post content as it applies in this case.

While this is a common practise with content publishing site, the indirect cash earning system is not confined to such platforms and does not have to be. Any platform can devise a means through which its members earn indirect cash.

One glaring benefit of this method is that it gives user’ a great reason to either sign up with your platform or stick around. Any platform, i.e. any platform that can create an indirect means of earning cash for their users even as they use their website will not stop growing. The platform creator that wants to see his or her website flourish will do well to look into how it can create an indirect means of earning cash for its users.

Nothing beats the direct means of earning cash, which means you or your platform pays its user’ directly but not every website is set up to create such direct income. In fact, many websites do everything but create income for its users and the users themselves are not complaining because they are not expecting them to or because they know the value they are getting from the platform.

Having said that nothing beats direct earning from a website, it is however important to note that the indirect means of earning cash for members f your platform gives you less stress in the area of managing how it works. You are a middleman connecting two entities and this simplifies it for you.

Steps Away

How many steps does your website member have to take them to earn the said cash? The less number of steps they have to take, the better it is for your platform.

Standard content publishing websites like Triond and Hubpages have just one-step between their members and the indirect cash they earn for using their platform. All they have to do is to connect to their Google Adsense account or any other they put up and their members will start earning.

A website like wattpad also has indirect cash earning potential but it is more than one-step away.

· -Readers have to read you published work

· They may then decide to buy it

· They have to get to where it is available for sale because they cannot do this directly from wattpad

We are already looking at 3 steps and nothing is guaranteed from the second step. This is unlike that of Triond and Hubpages. But I have been mentioning Triond and Hubpages for a while now but this does not mean that any platform cannot serve indirect means of earning cash for their members.The initiative lies on the platform owner to look at what they have on ground and look at how they can make their members to start earning in multiple ways. The closer their earning is connected to their use of the platform, the more profitable it would be for it.

A BETTER NEWS ABOUT PAYPAL IN NIGERIA

2015-03-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

FIRST BANK NIGERIA has become the first bank to directly partner with PAYPAL to provide a seamless online payment service for FIRST BANK account holders in Nigeria, completely eliminating the process of verification for their account holders that use their platform to signup with PAYPAL.

Check out this link to get detailed information from the bank's website. According to them, they are the only bank that is (currently) having such a partnership with PAYPAL. This a great news for the bank and its customers. The fact that the verification process, which takes time and means a new PAYPAL account will not be allowed to fully utilize the services of PAYPAL until they have been verified will eliminate that waiting period because the PAYPAL will accept that users from FIRST BANK have already been authenticated by the bank.

We all know that PAYPAL already limits what users from Nigeria can do with their accounts in critical areas like e-commerce where they are not allowed to sell or receive payment. Additional limitations because of the verification period can only to serve to make the PAYPAL customer experience for Nigerians residing in Nigeria to be at best skeletal and nothing to write home about. Hence, FIRST BANK have done a great job for themselves by getting into this partnership that eliminated the verification protocol. This will naturally bring in more clients as those who still have a critical use for PAYPAL as it concerns making online purchases will flock to the FIRST BANK.

Another thing is that they have strategically placed themselves ahead of the pack if or when PAYPAL decides to give an across-the-board full access to their services to all Nigerians i.e. give them the ability to buy and sell.

In fact, it will not be too much of a stretch to imagine them securing such a deal first and exclusively for their clients. This is why my personal take is that for those who are into online e-commerce in Nigeria, getting a First Bank account and opening a PAYPAL Account using the bank will be a strategically important decision they have to take as it could reap big benefits in the nearest future.

BUILD MY INCOME DAILY (BMID): A PARABLE OF NOTHING

2015-02-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is a review of another multi-level (?) system that "guarantees" money to those who join. There is a gaping hole in this system even though they might claim that they are delivering on their promise. This review is based on what was said of BMID on fastecash.com. You can get it here

Imagine you meet a man at the door of a warehouse. The warehouse is empty and the man tells you "if you bring one person here, he or she will pay $29 dollars to enter. Once they do, I’ll give you $20 dollars and keep just $9 dollars". Great offer, right? So you go get one person and true to type, the man counts $20 dollars out of the money paid for entry and drops it with you. Now you are encouraged and there is a zing to your steps as you go all out to get people to come to this empty warehouse. They too here your pitch and before long, you and others are stacking up multiples of $20. This must be heaven; right?

Then the empty warehouse has another section that is partitioned. You make to enter but that same man tells you that you will need to pay him $119 to get into this section of the warehouse. This section is also empty but you get to keep $100 for every person you bring into this section. You will not need much prodding to push those you brought to the first section to come into this new section and they too will want to do same. Now you are stacking up Benjamins. Great, right?

By now, you must have been making some "serious" money but it is not over; there is another partitioned section in that empty warehouse. This time, you get to keep $200. You have earned enough and by this time, you have become a believer. This is also an empty section but you already know how this works. You take the step and viola; you are now stacking up multiple Benjamins!

Can you tell me what is wrong with the portrait we just painted above? So many things will blind you to it and they are colored green. You are making money so nothing matters; right?

The thing that is wrong with the picture above is that the factory was empty when you came in and so was every new section. You were filling an empty warehouse with people, but what exactly are they coming to do there? Nothing. They too are bringing in more people but they are all coming to do nothing.

If this was a stadium, it will give you a better picture of the failure of this system. If this was a stadium, people referring others will eventually get to ask what will happen when the stadium gets full. The point here is the source of income is getting people into the warehouse, which is the system. However, the critical failure is that the getting people into the warehouse and earning by getting them in should just be the first level of income whether it is divided into 3 stages or not. The whole system should be anchored into something that gives it more meaning beyond getting people in. The people should be coming in to do something, which of course should also create income and wealth for them.

Based on this, you can see how stupid everyone will look once they enter this empty warehouse with people everywhere and they begin to wonder, what are they doing here or should they not be doing something. It is still an empty warehouse and the fact that it is filled with people makes it embarrassingly more so.

BIGGEST DRAWBACK OF BUILD MY INCOME DAILY (BMID)

It is all about getting people in

The key area of activity is at the gate

Nothing is inside

PERFECTION

Get something doing inside

It should also create more wealth

The potential to earn and what to earn once inside should be more than what they pay at the gates ($29, $119 and $229). And in this way, getting them to pay the "gate fee" will be a soft sell.

OPPORTUNITY FOR EXPANSION

They made it to look like a system that is not fully developed. It looks rushed and not properly thought out because there is nothing really happening when they do get inside. Yet this is an opportunity for them to do something amazing. They can go back to their situation room and think up how they can add value beyond what they are already doing. If they can fill that warehouse with another source of generating income that surpasses what they get from the "gate fee", members will go gaga.

CONCLUSION

The actual website did a better job of selling a software combo that was hardly given a mention by the person that talked about it on the fastechash platform. It may be that he or she was concentrating on the benefit i.e. what they will earn for getting people into the empty warehouse, thinking that they will be more interested in the multi-level marketing where bringing in new members ensures they earn rather than talk about what they will get once they come into the system. Whatever the case, they could have done a better job of deepening the value of this platform they were selling.

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!

2012-12-14T14:46:00.000-08:00

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They have stretched themselves thin with the acquisition of vWorker (formerly Rentacoder.com) and now members who have cash in their freelancer.com accounts are suffering because they can't withdraw. The cash is only there on paper but there's really no cash to withdraw.

Freelancer is Losing Money?!!
They increased the minimum amount allowed when withdrawing from 200 to
500 dollars.

They did this suddenly and without warning. In the month of November the minimum was still 200 by December it had been upped by 300 to 500 dollars. Members were not warned or given any due notice which is a shocking departure from how freelancer.com operates.

They did this deliberately to forestall the anticipated holiday withdrawals by members. They increased it because they knew members would still be looking at the 200 dollars benchmark against the holidays. They would not have known and since they were only planning with the 200 dollars in mind, they would find themselves stuck and unable to withdraw once they attempted to. Could it be that there's no money to withdraw in the first place and that is why it was so suddenly increased without prior notice? This is very plausible.

The only place they showed that the money had increased was at the withdrawal page where they are meant to enter the amount they want to withdraw. That is where they quietly placed a tiny "min. $500".

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
Members who are now aware of this changed and made attempts to contact the site got another shock; they were ignored. Usually, the feedback system is one of the strongest aspects of freelancer.com. Aside from the automated response that will respond once a ticket has been submitted, a reply from a staff comes in less than 24 hours and if you do not respond the ticket or issue you contacted them about will be closed with another email informing you that it has been closed because they are assuming you were okay with their response since you did not follow up or reply. It has always taken 24 hours from the first submission from your end to the email informing you that the ticket has been closed i.e. when you are
satisfied with their response or don't respond to it.

Members who have complained about this increase have not been given any form of response save for the auto responders even beyond the 72 hour mark. Meanwhile and to underscore that something really underhand is going on, they are responding to other issues within their normal
time cycle.

They are stalling and don't have any ready answer or excuse for the increase because they know they have gone against their own system. If there was money in the coffers, they would have avoided this embarrassment but as things stand, they figure silence would there must the problem go away.

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They picked the softest target. They picked those whose complaint would not be heard in countries they want anything negative to be said of them which include Western European countries, North American with Australia and New Zealand.
Most from these countries use PayPal. The problem did not affect PayPal users as such but those who send money directly to their bank accounts (domiciliary bank accounts). Most of these ones don't even
use PayPal. Most of the people who do this make up the bulk of freelancers who seek employment on freelancer.com. They are the foot soldiers that take the less than minimum wage jobs and are mostly from Third World countries. They are also the majority of the workforce on freelancer.com that they site pride themselves with as they advertise cheap labor to potential employers that are mostly from the countries and regions mentioned earlier.

These are the people they targeted. These are the people that scrounge their way up the 200 dollar mark and these are the people's money they probably took and dipped into when going for Rentacoder.com (vWorker).
Now there's no money in the account of these foot soldiers and the best way to deal with this is the shoot the minimum up so that a large percentage of them won't be able to withdraw and only a few of which they already know since they know just where to put the new benchmark or minimum amount allowed to be withdrawn so that most would be cut off; from 200 they added 300 more to make it 500 dollars...? It’s Christmas.

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
They are coasting along and have decided who will suffer and be prevented from withdrawing money? They seemed to have picked those who would least complain and whose complaint won't amount to much. They are probably looking to lock things down until the holiday period, when they know they'll get the most pounding because of massive holiday withdrawals from people who have rightfully earned their money from the site and paid all their dues to freelancer.com.

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
Is a reversal in sight? Probably not. They might put off the reversal until after the holidays if enough people complain for them to even come out to say they want to reverse it. But they would have still
succeeded in coasting along and would have probably bought some respite by not allowing people to withdraw when they really wanted to.

Freelancer.com is Losing Money?!!
The increase of the minimum amount that can be withdrawn from 200 to 500 dollars would mean more money from the banks for them. They would have more interest because it would take longer for freelancers.com to make that amount hence interests accruable from the amount lying in the bank would be more. They are now free to use the money to do more with the bank and make more out of it since it will stay longer with them.

The only people that this new policy has benefited is freelancer.com. They may not have the money with them now but they are in a position where they can get away with almost anything. Who will hold them
accountable?

Yahoo sucks, Yahoo sucks.

2012-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

This is simply the worst free email service available out there. And to think that they are one of the founding members of the internet email service!

Non Existent Customer Care

Have you ever tried sending a mail or complaint to a Yahoo customer care 'officer'? Well good luck with the search. You will be taking from one page to the other only to come to a dead end and a dawning; Yahoo can't be contacted. They don't have anyone you can send a mail to and get an immediate auto-response that your issues are being addressed.

Poor or Non Existent Mobile Accessibility

I used to access my Yahoomail from my handheld, until recently.

For a couple of months now, any attempt to access it brings up a page that tells you to find the nearest desktop and try it from there. Shame! Shame!

It works from the desktop but go back to the handheld and the same Sorry Page comes up advising you to try using a desktop. What is wrong with "you people"? Its official; Yahoo sucks!

I have tried everything from cleaning out the cookies to removing pushed content but Yahoo really sucks.

Please Avoid Secret Questions!!!

Picture this. You are told to have at least two secret questions (this is Yahoo's attempt to catch up with the rest that have left them behind but just continue). So you pick something simple for you but difficult for another, like your favorite high school teacher's name (or the one you hated the most or the football coach).

You try to access your box and you are told to supply the name of that teacher. You enter the name. Result?

" Blah blah, answer did not match what we blah blah"

I mean, you should know your mother's middle name! But maybe your memory has been zapped and your middle name (that happens to be your most carefully kept secret) has been extracted from your mind and replaced, so you begin to throw in names and different variations of it!

Don't give three "wrong" answers or else your account will be blocked for 12 hours. Yahoo sucks.

And all this while you are trying to at least talk to someone but Yahoo is a matrix that is being run by machines so you can never find a human soul around except when another executive is being fired (that's when you realize they actually have humans running this thing). Yahoo sucks.

Wrong Alternate Email

This is another head scratching moment. Try to use another means to get round the secret questions dilemma like you forgot your password or something till you are taken to a page where

Selective Service

They do not have across the board service. This is why some of the things up there may be strange to some because they are in a "prime" country so Yahoo makes sure they send in humans to deal with them. But those that are in "The Colony" have to deal with robots and they don't make them as they used to. Yahoo Sucks. Yahoo Sucks. Yahoo. Sucks

Ratings

Poor service. You are the most rotten email service of the first generation that is still in existence. You have taken the boardroom instability into where it matters most; service delivery. Maybe you should scrap your email service altogether, just as you scrapped your Briefcase Service within your mail service (fools! Would this not have been an ideal time to seamlessly upgrade that into a "skydrive' service? But there is no Briefcase to upgrade is there? Fools!).

Its official; Yahoomail Sucks.

Someone should tell them to recalibrate their matrix so that they can have a contact form and an auto-responder. It might be too much to ask of them to even have humans at the other end to address the issue. Yahoo sucks.

Freelancer.com: Illegal Blackhat Projects on Freelancer.com

2012-07-28T03:52:00.000-07:00

Warning: This is not a particularly positive review of freelancer.com but it is intended to force action on all parties involved.

The ever expanding freelance beehive that is freelancer.com is unwittingly creating more "red light" districts within its framework. "Red light" actually implies that although what ever goes on there may be morally questionable, it is still legal.

But what is legal about these actual projects that have been posted on freelancer.com?

Samples

Facebook Auto Liker page

Create Youtube views BOT Urgently!

100,000 Facebook Fans!

I want 10,000 Facebook likes!

I need 50k to 100k followers on twitter

Need 10K YouTube Like

10K YouTube Likes

*These are representations of some of the projects you can find on freelancer.com and they are actual projects. All you need do if you care to follow the links is to look just beneath the project for similar projects and they may lead you to hundreds of illegal blackhat projects.

A Closer Look

Creating a YouTube BOT

The "legality" of this project and projects of this sort may be something that is arguable in the minds of some. But one thing that is certain is that YouTube will definitely frown at the idea of having a BOT viewer to rack up viewing numbers of a particular video post. They will definitely see it as an illegal project.

Another thing is that it is unfair to everybody except the video poster. It is unfair to the human viewer and browser who would naturally want to see why such a video has a high number of viewers. It will also be unfair to videos in the same category as theirs because they will suffer for it.

Besides, the creator of this illegal project can use this to make thousand of dollars (conservatively speaking) whether he wants to use it to attract traffic to a site or as a "service". This is definitely a black hat project.

The same goes for the second. Facebook won't be pleased about such a project. They will definitely view it as being an illegal project.

-it encourages blackhat techniques by default because who is going to look at racking up 100,000 Facebook Likes without thinking of a shorter cut to meet the target if it is possible?

Any we all know that it is possible because fake Facebook Likes are already making the rounds.

The Blame Game

This is according to the order and portion of Blame.

Freelancer.com

They take the lion share of the blame for not only allowing such but encouraging it by default. Like we said before, these are just representations of projects that are in there hundreds and possibly thousands when you expand it to include other illegal blackhat projects on the site.

Taking a proactive stand on this cannot be over emphasized and this is the defense freelancer.com will naturally give but all you have to do is look just beneath the project for similar projects and you will see how shallow the defense is.

Greed

But freelancer.com has been proactive in some instances. There was a time when there were lots of money exchange projects being posted on freelancer.com. A majority of those projects had to do with people who owned PayPal accounts and wanted a quick way to exchange the money using the freelancer.com in-house payment system or by any other means.

Freelancer.com considered these as illegal blackhat projects and was quick to shut such projects down to the point of making it a point to announce that such projects will not be tolerated and stiff penalties awaited those that tried it. Why were they so quick to run this down? The only plausible reason that comes to mind is that they have a tie in agreement with PayPal (as PayPal is known to pursue with numerous sites). The agreement is actually strong enough to keep almost all of PayPal's competition out of freelancer.com (one has been recently included).

So when it came to something that affected there pocket, they were quick to shut it down. But when it comes to projects that can effectively run down the integrity of other sites -they have similar projects in their hundred posted just underneath.

Freelancer.com takes the bulk of the blame because they are the only ones that can do something about it.

-It is their platform

-They have shown that they have the capacity to shut things down if they really want to

Incentive

What they allow on the site makes them liable. You can't simply justify that you do not have control over projects that are posted especially when those illegal projects are highly detrimental to other sites. Such site will be confident of having a good case against you if the matter goes to court.

Why Freelancer.com will do Something Now

They will do something about this if not for anything else but for greed. They should know that now that it has come out and liability rests squarely on them as far as the sites that are being rundown are concerned, they will have to send out their "commando units" to shut this down just as they did with the PayPal money exchange projects.

Something Positive

Freelancer.com recently bought over Scriptlance.com which is one of the pioneer freelancing sites that was reputed to be the fifth largest of such before it was bought over by freelancer.com. Good things are happening freelancer.com but this also means that potentially more illegal blackhat projects are just waiting to be posted. They have to be on their toes not just with what affects their pocket but what might affect the pockets of other sites. And the real danger here is that is that freelancer.com might have a case to answer to if such sites decide to come after them for allowing illegal blackhat projects that are detrimental to their site to be posted.

Another way of Dealing with Unwanted SPAM ezines, Newsletters, promos to your email

2012-07-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

SPAM EMAILS

We have looked at how to deal and get rid of those annoying Facebook Notifications that seems to fill up your mailbox any time you open it. I hope you have put that to action? If not, go check out last month's postings on this blog and go find the title. But if you live in your briefcase and want it on the go, two words; spam it.

But there is another aspect of unwanted solicitations from sites that we want to deal with. There is a premise for this because some might look at the title of this article and wonder why we have to sign up to something we don't want in the first place? Several reasons:

• We signed up, we thought we "might" want it or we thought we needed it. Don't be shocked if a majority of people fall under this banner. But as it turned out, it was not what they were looking for but now they are stuck with ezines coming in daily or weekly. Did I hear you say unsubscribe? Read the next bullet point.

• They lied to us. They assured us that they would not release our emails to a third party but you suddenly notice that ever since you signed up you have been getting some funny and strange emails that you did not sign up for and are more or less spam emails.

Some only told us that might release your emails to partners. What they did not say was that their "partners" equaled half of Asia in population. Some actually traded with their email lists and your mail happened to be in the list.

• Besides, have you never tried unsubscribing and it just didn't, or am I the only one that such has happened to? And one thing with this is that even if they say they have "removed your mail from their list"; just know that it is the primary ezine/promo you initially signed up for that you might stop receiving (if you are lucky). The fact is your mail is still on their list and they will still trade with it and you will still be getting funny and strange emails.

Your Problem Solver is Here

Now that we have gotten the why did you subscribe to them in the first place outadaway, let your trusty solution finder, your problem solver, your code breaker, your.....(rambling...).

What to Do

Create Your Own Spam Email Collector

FAQ

• What is a Spam Email?

It is an email specifically created to "give" to sites you know next to nothing about, you just want to try out, or you suspect will open the floodgates of ezines/promos and sell you to the highest bidder without blinking.

• Why do you set it up?

Really? Is that a question or are you just joining the conversation?

You set it up just to keep it handy for such sites or even people. This is quite an interesting question (come to think of it). Do you remember how you use to wish some people did not know your address or phone number? Or how you see some and only want to meet or come across them on the way to somewhere but never near where you are coming from or where you are going? Or how some people will ask you for your room number/phone number/ dorm/ faculty/name and its as if an invisible hands just wrapped its finger round your throat and you grimace because you don't want to ( I mean; you can't) say a word? Well, this is what the spam email is for.

-it is the wrong address.

- it is the wrong room number/phone number/ dorm/ faculty/name.

- it is uhuru.

- it is freedom.

• Do you like Create your own Spam Email?

Only if you dropped out from university and own a fortune 500 company, or maybe Yahoo is selling and you buy a piece of digital property.

Take any typical free email service, use Gmail (they always have this ticker that snickers at how they have weight issues and increasing in size and are proud about it). Sign up a new free email account and let it always be handy so that you can give the creep "your" email address rather than you Blackberry PIN.

The Good News

You can use it to go through the initial process of signing up for sites and if the site is any good, all you then have to do is log on and change your email settings.

Like if sites were guys (let's not say they a re clingy girls), and you don't know whether you should invite them home or not; why risk it? Give them the Spam email and if they are any good, invite them to your home (primary email).

Google vs Amazon: The War Moves to Tabs

2012-07-16T02:51:00.000-07:00

Google is a big player in the cyber-world and there seems to be nothing stopping them from expanding into more areas.
Nexus 7 from Google is seen at the time of release as the best of tablets in its peer group. The only other tablet in this group is Amazon's Kindle Fire. The seems to be a response to an ongoing battle between these two giants.

Brief History
Who shot the first salvo of the tab war between Google and Amazon? While you might think that Google's Nexus 7 is a clear indication that they were the ones to go into Amazon territory, this may be far from the truth.
It was clearly Amazon that flew their bomber into Google airspace and indeed dropped the first bomb in this war.

The Android 'Rip off'
When Amazon released the Kindle. It ran on what you could call an 'Android'. You could call it an 'Android' but it was not exactly an Android but an offshoot of it. The Android is pretty much Google territory. It is in fact one of the success stories of Google that they will always beam about.

And everybody that is into Android pays homage to Google in real terms because the get some kind of cut in what ever money is being made.

But Android has what is termed 'Open Source'. That is, it has something that is not tied to any single company and people can use it to do or create anything without paying homage through licensing or any other means to anybody. This is exactly what Amazon did. Rather than take on Google's Android, they went for the open source so Google is not getting a dime as such from the hugely successful Kindle line from Amazon. This was the first salvo that was fired by Amazon in Google 'territory'.

The Empire Strikes Back
Google's response was the Nexus 7. Now they had already started showing signs that they were preparing and actually intended invading Amazon territory with the books and all but Nexus 7 is more like D-Day. But Google could argue that this was a response and a preemptive strike at Amazon with the way they started with Kindle and the Android stuff showed that they really had plans to move in on Google.

And Amazon has taken another step either in response to Google's Nexus 7 or in affirmation to Google's 'allegation' that they already had plans to move in on their territory.

Nexus 7

Amazon Buys up UpNext
UpNext is a company that deals in 3D mapping. Mapping is a service that the Nexus 7 will provide through Google Maps. Amazon's Kindle Fire can't even show maps, yet they bought UpNext.

This only means that they have started going for functions and the next generation of Kindles would be map-capable. And if they would be map-capable, it also means that they might go for full native functionality rather than depending on the Android market.

kindle Fire

The battle line was drawn long ago and things are playing out nicely. The battle between Google and Amazon has now moved into Amazon territory with the Kindle Fire beings challenged by Google's Nexus 7. This is a movie franchise so prepare yourself for more sequels.

Make Money Through Rewriting on Freelancer.com

2012-06-27T10:57:00.003-07:00

Make Money Through Rewriting on Freelancer.com

I withdrew my first thousand dollars plus from freelancer.com this year ($US1, 400). Ninety-nine percent of that amount came through rewriting.

This particular article has been written to highlight how you can make money through rewriting on the online labor market place called Freelancer.com.

The fact is that you can make money in freelancer.com through various means because there are hundreds of skill sets that are in high demand and the site keeps on increasing and improving by the day. There is practically no skill set that will not find some honest and profitable use on freelancer.com.

But we want to look at how you can make money from this site through Rewriting which is one skill set that is quite easy to learn and adopt.

What You Will Get

· Rewriting in a Nutshell

· Freelancer.com in Brief

· Making Money Through Rewriting on Freelancer.com: Simple Steps

Rewriting in a Nutshell

One of the easiest money making skills that is in high demand is rewriting. The online community needs rewriters more than they will ever know and this is an open secret.

Before we look at how to make money through rewriting on freelancer.com, we have got to sum up rewriting in its essence. Rewriting is communicating meaning without using the original words.

There is what you can call original content and rewritten content. The rewritten content communicates the meaning of the original. A well rewritten content is one that is so different from the original that the only thing the reader will be able to deduce is that both write-ups are talking about the same topic and not that one copied the other.

And if you want to make money through rewriting on freelancer.com, you have to be ready to make your rewritten content look like originals in their own right.

How to Make your Rewrites to become Original Content

Software

There are lots of anti-plagiarism packages available. They compare articles and tell you to what degree they are alike. They usually have an Originality Index or Score that is given in percentiles. They are usually simple to understand with one text box where you would cut and paste the original content and another by its side where you would paste the rewritten content.

Clicking on the comparison tab will give you an originality score. A very good rewrite should have an originality score of above 90%.

Wordsmith

A vast vocabulary on your part will not harm your cause although it is not a critical criterion. Rather, having a good grasp of what the article, paragraph or even sentence is saying and 'translating' and communicating that with your own words is critical in making a success at rewriting.

Freelancer.com in Brief

For a more detailed story about freelancer.com, you can visit the site.

Freelancer.com in my own words is a precious gem of an idea that started as a pebble rolling down a mountain, you can picture the rest.

Freelancer.com has never been static; this is one reason why this online meeting place for skill owners and seekers alike has kept on growing and evolving.

You say you don't have any skills, can you type? There is someone that needs that skill at freelancer.com and will pay you to type forms as a data entry technician.

You are an 'over-qualified' architect who has 'retired' but still want to design and build things; come to freelancer.com, there's someone looking for your skills and will pay you for it.

Moreover, they are always busy tweaking and improving. This is why I see it as a living organism that is always responding to current and even anticipating future developments. This is a company and a site that has come to stay. It is needed by everyone.

The person who wants to make money through rewriting on freelancer.com has come to the right place because it is structured to give convenience and functionality to both the skill seeker and owner.

-They have an in-house dispute resolution system.

-Excellent in-house payment system

-A comprehensive Pay-out system

The rewriter is given less to worry about and more room to concentrate on delivering high quality articles to their client.

Making Money Through Rewriting on Freelancer.com: Simple Steps

Sign Up

The first thing you will need to do is sign up. Freelancer.com is all about getting people in and is one of the most all-inclusive sites on the internet.

Choose Your Skills

Make sure you include rewriting as part of the skills but checking or marking the check box that is by the side of rewriting. It is advisable to check other skills that can be associated with rewriting like article writing, eBooks etc.

Freelancer.com sends regular emails to you based on jobs posted so that you can follow their links and go to the exact page where you can place bids. They only send you links to the skills you checked. So it makes common sense that if you want to make money through rewriting on freelancer.com that you must make sure you check the article rewriting box.

Search and Browse the Site

Aside from the regular mails that are sent, one of the fastest ways to get the latest jobs posted is to run a search on the site. It is quite comprehensive and you can modify the search to suit your needs.

You can search for the most recent posted projects, projects that are about closing, short and long term projects etc. And the best thing is that all of this can be on just article rewriting alone. There are even project posters that will specifically ask for newbies!

Follow Due Process

One of the best ways of making sure that you make money through rewriting on freelancer.com is to follow due process and take advantage of everything the site has put in place for you.

There are reasons why:

-You are told to make sure you don't use short phrases while placing a bid.

-There is a PM (Private Message) on the bid page. You might need to let the project poster into some things that will give you added advantage without anybody else knowing what they are.

-There is a space where you are to enter the amount of down payment you need. Although it is not in all cases you should enter a number in that.

Do you want to sign up? go here

Take your time to study the layout of the site and read up as much as you can. For instance, there are exams in the site that you can take to show your proficiency with what you want to get involved in and what others to hire you for. The exams are optional but for a newbie that is ready to make money, it would help your cause a great deal if you pick a Proficiency in English Language exam or related exams and get 'certified'. It pushes your image within the community framework and employers will take you seriously.

Making money on freelancer.com has been designed to be very convenient for you as a skill owner. And as a person who is interested in making money through rewriting on freelancer.com, you have an assurance that you have come to a place where everything is constantly being done to give you a better user experience.

Grab this opportunity to make money through rewriting on this site. Freelancer.com is an organic site that has provided a dependable platform for skill owners and seekers alike to interact in an atmosphere that encourages good business practice. People like me who have come in have stayed because we know that the heart of any successful online platform is that its users are left satisfied. It is time you take that skill from off the shelf and dust it. And there is no better place online to start making money than in freelancer.com

Best Way to Get Rid of All Those Annoying Facebook Notifications

2012-06-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

Best Way to Get Rid of All Those Annoying Facebook Notifications

Okay; you have signed up on Facebook and are enjoying it. You are not like those who love to hate but can't do without it. There is however a slight problem; the notifications are really clogging up your email and is downright annoying.

Reason Why it is Annoying

Defeated Purpose

1. They are meant to notify you of what your 'friends' are up to and who posted on your wall or sent you a message. But the really annoying thing is that you already know this because you log on straight to Facebook anyways. And you don't really log on to your mail box to check your Facebook notifications but to check other stuffs.

So there is really no need for the notifications in the first place since you are almost always on Facebook anyways.

Your Important Emails Get Lost in the Crowd

2. There that sense of relief and satisfaction when you open your email box to get a long awaited mail and find it there just waiting to be clicked. This is why it can really be annoying when you open that email all because of the daily and even hourly Facebook notifications, all you see at first glance are just that; Facebook notifications. Your mail gets 'lost' in the whole set up and you actually have to squint your eyes and search for it. This is annoying.

Marking and Deleting is Pure Torture

3. 600 mails! And when you look at the very first page of your email 99% of what you see are just Facebook notifications. So you start the tedious journey of deleting the mails by checking the empty box in front of them and then clicking the delete tab. The page refreshes and another set of 99% Facebook notifications stares at you in the face like fresh set of zombies slowly coming towards you with the slow but deliberately intent of getting hold of you and sinking their rotten teeth into fresh flesh. And there is just no killing them because the more you delete, the more you see and while you are yet deleting more Facebook notifications are coming in. This is more than annoying; its torture.

Solution

What is that?

It's a bird!

No! It’s a plane!

No! It's mimisitereview!!

Okay; here is the plan to get rid of those Facebook notifications once and for all while still enjoying your Facebook time. But I will be right back with the solution after this commercial break....

(Commercial break...just think of your favorite commercial)

And we are back!

Follow this instructions carefully, do not do any other thing besides what you are about to read. It is a secret that has worked magic for me. It is the best thing to have happened since coke was invented. It is...

1: Check the latest Facebook notification you received.

2. Okay; check the first 10 so that you will cover all the different formats of Facebook notification.

3. To be on the really safe side; check all the Facebook notifications on the very first email box page.

Next Move

-Do not click on delete. Click on Mark/Report Spam.

-Did you get that? CLICK ON MARK/REPORT SPAM

Effect

Your spam filter will start sending every Facebook notification to the spam box henceforth.

Freedom, fresh air, independence.

You can now enjoy your Facebook time in peace and your email box won't suffer for it.

IS THAT ALL?

*Yes. I use it when checking sites out. Register and afterwards spammed their emails and everything goes there leaving my main box free.

I also tried it with Facebook and their notifications disappeared.

Occasionally, a notification might go unnoticed under the spam radar and you would find it in you main mail box sitting all nice and pretty. Don't allow it to feel relaxed, mark it as spam.

* This worked on Yahoo! And Gmail, and Hotmail. I believe it will work on any good email service that has a solid spam filter mechanism in place.

Follow the instruction above and you will be free of the Facebook notification plague.

Google Plus: Why I Am Happy For Them

2011-07-02T04:09:00.001-07:00

Product to Project
They quickly changed the product to a 'project' and that gave them
room to manuever. Whatever fault you find now can't stick on them,
it's an ongoing work.
This puts the reveiwers in a not so comfortable place of relative
influence(they usually want to be lords over all they behold).

Select Entry
Just like Gmail, Google Plus is currently an invite-only event. So
those that come in are psychologically prepped up to sit in awe raw
than in judgement. So if they have a fustrating experience, the
fustration won't be directed at Google in terms of a backlash but at
why they have to be the one to experience it and they diffuse that
fustrattion by connecting with others.

Face book Eat Your Heart Out
It was well timed. First a salvo from some high ranking Google people
at facebook pointedly picking a hole that they were about filling up
and then the release. And Facebook can't do anything about it. They
would not dare, should not. They shouldn't because what Facebook has,
that is now being ridiculed is their asset. Facebook is like a rowdy
party that has its edge and fun in its rowdiness. Everybody is in
everybody's face and its a typical college get together all over again
where the main aim is to relieve tension and be as crazy as you can
for the limited time available before the next morning. So they are in
a fix, if we move, they will say we moved and if we stay......we'll
stay(hopefully).
But this gives Google Plus all the aces as it were because they can
tout why they are different and sell their difference without fear of
Facebook risking a response, strategically or otherwise.

A Good Lesson In Product Release When There Are So Much Haters
Around(RIM take note) ie when you are percieved to too big to be
liked.

Rewind into last year. And the RIM guy comes up and says....here's our
tab project. We are releasing only two million units within the month
of April alone as our 'beta' stage and buyers will be in a position to
help perfect the 'project'. Meanwhile they are still sticking to their
time table of early release against the backdrop of a not so ready
product.
They could have even released it in January then given developers a
set time line of two months to come up with apps that will be added in
April etc. At the 'beta' stage 1.5 million units would only be
released to blackberry users while the remaining could be given to the
public who reading between the lines would add a blackberry device to
their list of gadgets.
There are so many ways this could have been handled....in restrospect
and there are still so many ways it can still be properly handled even
now. But Google learnt there lesson well from other people's mistake.

Google Plus: Why I Am Happy For Them

2011-07-02T04:05:00.001-07:00

A Good Lesson In Product Release When There Are So Much Haters
Around(RIM take note) ie when you are percieved to too big to be
liked.

Something Big is Coming Soon

2011-05-29T04:04:00.001-07:00

Announcement
We are about effecting some changes on Mimi's Site Review.
I'll be keeping you posted but a thirty to sixty day timeline to
effect the change is what we are looking at. We want to change the
look, feel and format of our site reviews with the target of producing
a consistency and quality that can be easily identified with and that
would add a distinct value to those who come here. The count down to
full implementation might start from the end of this month.

Quick thought/ review
ecrater.com
I 'discovered' this site on google search when I was looking up
'freee-store'(it was second on the number one page). What's unique
aboutit? It the first of such sites that I signed up to completely
from myhandheld without resorting to a desktop.
Why is this so special? Most sites don't handle mobile sign ups well.
Some even tell you plainly to sign up using a desk top(I won't mention
names). For others, you will encounter problems like dud tabs( tabs
you would tap but won't do what they are meant to do whether is to
link you up to another page or something else). But with ecrater.com
sign up, everything went smoothly. The whole process of signing up
went without any hitch and even though this should(in this time and
age) be seen as a given, it really isn't and they should be commended
for:-

1. Having a site/system that is fully optimized at the sign up stageto
give the mobile browser the best experience possible. Many a site fail
at this and there are even sites that should have no business failing
at this(like a company that is wholly dependent on the web for it
existence and income not to be able to give you this full mobile
experience when signing up and to actually tell you to go to a desk
top....its really a shame and like I said before we won't mention
names). There are even content publishing sites(another pointer) that
can't boast of this 'simple' but positive mobile experience.
2. Saying something and doing it. Some sites only tell you of the
experience but fall short of meeting their own benchmark.

Drawback
After successfully signing up with ecrater.com from my handheld,
Iwanted to see if the 'living room' experience would be the same. That
is, if I can sign up from my handheld, can I load up images/products
from my handheld(I wanted to set up a store for digital 'products'that
I had already stored on my handheld). It didn't work as
smoothly......I met a dud tab.
After logging into my ecrater.com account, I was directed to set up at
least one 'category'(which I was eager to do). After filling the
necessary details on the set up page(name of the category/description
etc), all that was left was to click the 'ADD' tab for it to go live.
I clicked it. It was a dud tab.

Shock/wonder?
There was another tab beside the dud 'ADD' tab; the 'CANCEL' tab(maybe
it was placed there if you wanted to cancel or delete the category
later because one could easily have gone back to clear the form that
had just been filled or clicked the back tab on the browser). I
clicked on the 'CANCEL' tab. It worked.

Conclusion
Obviously, since the cancel tab worked then the add tab was meant
towork but it didn't. Something needs to be done by ecrater.com.
Unfortunately, I have never gone to a site and checked theirf
unctionality with my handheld before and went back to see that such
faults(such as dud tabs) had been corrected. They have never been
corrected.
It kind of leaves me with the impression that either they don't
really check to see that the user experience of their site is top draw
using any kind of device or they can't really do anything about it.
Still I still commend ecrater.com for having a site that gives a
hitchfree sign up experience from a handheld. If they can just correct
that tiny but very importan dud 'ADD' tab within their site and indeed
lookto see if there should be any other corrections, they would be
thefirst site I have seen in a long while that has an A-plus
mobilebrowsing experience.

--
Sent from my mobile device

cheap labor and exploitation at freelancer.com

2011-02-12T01:01:00.000-08:00

I have nothing against the idea of freelancer.com but there are somethings going on in the site that are not so pleasant. in the next couple of posts we will be highlighting some of these things. And if you want to use the site to either get jobs or outsource your work, you can go here and read this ebook that specifically gives deep insights detailing some of the things you should be cautious of before doing anything that will involve you giving out money or doing a job at freelancer.com.
But the thing we want to highlight today are those who use freelancer.com to exploit job seekers or freelancers who are looking for some honest work. to a certain degree, we have to say that freelancer.com has to be more proactive in this area....MORE

Make Easy Money On Triond.com With Article Rewriting

2011-02-12T00:44:00.000-08:00

This is a very easy way of making money online with article rewriting using some of these content publishing sites.
Your level of expertise does not need to be high on anything as such, the only thing you really need is to be very good with words. Since this is my site review blog, we will be looking at making money online through article rewriting using triond.com. There are other sites but this is the one we will be focussing on......MORE

How To Make 1000 Paybox Dollars In 4 Weeks

2011-02-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

I am still on my review of this site and like I promised, this is an update.
I just hit the $1000(one thousand paybox dollars) mark this week with paybox.me - in about 4 weeks of active participation. Below is a complete review of how I went about it.
NB( every thing we talked about earlier about paybox.me still holds. This is not a clear endorsement about their validity but like we said before at this juncture, you don't really have anything to loose if it's a hoax and every thing to gain if it's real. With this premise in mind and as an independent site reviewer, I would still say that it makes more sense to join now than not to)
To hit the $1000 paybox dollars mark, the first thing I did was to sign up and I will recommend that you do this first before we go on....sign up here, then let's take a step by step into how i made $1000......MORE

Scam Alert ebook on freelancer.com

2011-01-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

you can get to know some unique things about freelancer.com from this e-book. it talks about scams and how to avoid them. Another interesting thing it dwells on is on how to relate with potential clients in order to build trust and have repeat customers.....MORE

Online Money Making Secrets Of Some Platforms: Why Others Fail

2011-01-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

This write up takes a critical look at some online platforms and how they make money. we picked some online platforms and looked at what is making them tick or fail to tick when it comes to making money. Some are happy with what they are making, the point of this is to give insight to those who wish to create online money making platforms.....MORE