News About Internet New Media & Technology

MySpace Sucks for many reasons

2007-10-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

They have a crappy layout and the add placements are obsurd but the real reson MySpace sucks is because of spam.

I've been reading about how they have 200 million members, but I know for a fact that about 20 of those profiles have the same girls picture and now her name is Bob.

It is really, really stupid. Can MySpace do something about this, of course. But they won't until they have to.

MySpace is that girl in school that sleeps with everybody. Easily accessible, everybody likes her but she obviously has no self respect.

MySpace Sucks.

Radiohead Scoffs at Label Copyrights with Free Album!

2007-10-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

So, Radiohead isn't a very popular band, in fact, I bet most people haven't even heard of them. Wait, that's not true at all, Radiohead is HUGE! I love them, you love them, we all love Radiohead. From Pablo Honey to Kid A, they're eclectic crazy, sexy, modern and interesting.

Anyway, now that I got that out, let me tell you about Radiohead's Free Album! Their newest album, "In Rainbows" is available absolutely free on their website. As a downlaod of course, the actual box set will cost you $40. What's so interesting about this, is the recent activity and media surrounding copyright holders, record labels, and our dear old friends (Napster, Limwire, etc.)

Radiohead has slapped them in the face by offering their entire album, as a free download, available on the website In Rainbows

I know, you go to the website and it doesn't look like it's free. But add the album download to your shopping cart, go to check out and be surprised by the witty little form you're asked to fill out.

I'd tell you about it, but I don't want to spoil the fun! btw: click on the question mark link when you're in the shopping cart to get some cute dialogue going :)

Record Industry Assholes sue Jamie Thomas for $222,000

2007-10-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

Jamie Thomas, a middle income working woman recently lost a lawsuit to the record industry for over 200 grand. They alleged she shared 1,702 songs in all and focused on 24 songs in particular, with a $9,250 fine for each song.

I got one question for Jamie; that's all? You must be a slacker because EVERYONE I know that loves music and frequently goes to concerts has ripped off more music than that. The thing is, they are not ripping anyone off, instead, these thieves are spreading the message of their favorite music without any hint of attempting to profit.

Record industries who charge $20 for a cd are the criminals. The are greedy fucks who are not about integrity, rather, money.

The record companies accused Thomas of downloading the songs without permission and offering them online through a Kazaa file-sharing account. Thomas denied wrongdoing and testified that she didn't have a Kazaa account.

What's next?

More criminal behavior by corporate dickfucks.

What can be done?

I don't know but Radiohead figured out something cool; go independent. Their new album, "in Rainbows" is free. That's right, free to download and $40 to buy a hard copy. Now that is sweet and a much better reaction than Metallica and Dr. Dre had to Napster back in the day.

Music downloading is easy. So is online gambling. So is buying drugs. So is speeding. And on and on.

The fact is, 99.9% of musicians benefit off of free downloads because it's free publicity. The record industry does not care about the product or the fans, only the bottom dollar. Hopefully more musicians do what Radiohead did and I'll keep going to their shows. You better believe I'm not buy a freaking album from Wal-Mart. They stole enough of my money in the 90's and I don't think I'll ever be able to witn a lawsuit.

The Co-operativebank is a great place to find credit card

2007-09-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

The Co-operativebank is a great place to find new credit cards that are right for you.

Right now they are offering a Clear Credic Card, with 11.9% APR typical/variable

This applies to purchases, balance transfers and cash withdrawals.

Up to 59 days interest free credit if balance is paid in full by the due date

...plus much more.

They also offer a Flat Rate Platinum Card with 11.9% APR typical
This is variable after 5 years for purchases and balance transfers*

Up to 46 days interest free credit if balance is paid in full by the due date
Rate remains fixed for 5 years

You can apply for an Advantage credit card which is 0% fixed for six months on purchases and balance transfers.

You can earn travel rewards points.

Other card options include flat rate platimum, platinum base rate tracker, affinity cards, along with holiday options and much more

The Cooperative Bank has all your credit needs. It's a nice way to handle finances and make sure you know what your are doing.

Choosing your first credit card can be tough or learning how to rebound from bad credit. They cover everything with an ethical approach. Internet banking never has been so simple. There is not need to lose track of your finances. Get on top of it today.

**Sponsored by Co-operative Bank**

Google Pagerank Sucks

2007-09-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Check out this DigitalPoint thread about the next google pagerank. 331 pages of useless nonsense. Nobody seems to know when the next Google Page Rank update will occur except for Google Technology, herself.

According to the estimated Google Page Rank calendar cycle, the next update was to occur in late July but for whatever reason, nothing has happened yet for most people.

Apparently some have changed rank but the vast majority of us are left scratching our heads. Especially people who have sites with a ton of content, just waiting to get more advertising dollars.

Why the delay?

The hell if I know. This is google people, so everything is sworn to secrecy. Hell, the only reason I'm writing about this is because I've wasted too much time reading the above mentioned DigitalPoint thread. Now at least I'm being productive.

Seriously, the amount of time people waste on this stuff is dumb. But the reality is it does affect certain markets and perceptions, so we are all stuck to it, like it or not.

People are speculating that they are doing away with it or making big changes but I seriously doubt it. They are just delaying it and probably making little adjustments. It'll happen and they'll make us wait, laughing all the way to the bank.

Want to check your Google Page Rank? You should get the Google pagerank extension for FireFox.

Or, if you're gay and use IE go ahead and check your page rank online like a noob with the Google Pagerank Lookup Tool

Online Shopping Guide: The Best in Bedding and Home Fabrics

2007-09-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of online shopping, please take a look at this incredible new bedding, fabric and home design store offering more than just great products!

Terry's Fabrics is very interesting product line, design store and resource for the beginning of any new interior design project you have. While their name (Terry's Fabrics) might influence you to think their product is simply fabrics, they offer many other products through their beautifully designed (if I don't say so myself website.) They also have really great prices on their products, especially bed linen! As I went through the duvet covers I found some incredible deals on covers for my feather bedding. The fabrics are very unique as well, so you know you're not getting a generic Bed Bath and Beyond cover that everyone and their brother already has!

Before I get into the actual products that are available on their website I would like to commend the site for offering valuable information for consumers looking to redecorate and spruce up their house!

They have great measuring guides for your curtains, wraps and more
Interior Design Guides
Color Guides
Decorating Tips
Window Style Guides

And more!

Their products are separated into these extensive categories:

Massive Selection of Wholesale Fabrics!!
Curtain Fabrics
Curtain Poles
Curtain Tracks
Blinds
Cushions and Throws
Ready made Curtains
Ready made Voiles
Bedding
Lighting
Tapes & Haberdashery
Rugs
Hooks & Holdbacks
Tiebacks & Tassels

And much more!

Check it out at: http://www.terrysfabrics.co.uk

Find Coupon Codes Before You Buy!

2007-09-26T15:02:00.001-07:00

Are you looking for online coupons? Let me tell you a secret right now, ok? Ready?

Secret: If you're shopping online, at all, and you are researching for coupon codes before you make your purchases, you're losing tons of money!

There are tons of promotions, coupons and deals waiting for you online, and if you aren't looking for them, they're not going to chase you around until you decide to use them. You can find incredible, and almost unbelievable deals online through coupons, promotions and promo codes.
Coupon Chief is one of the best places to find deals for online shopping, and they pretty much lay it all out on a silver platter for you.

If you're going over the Home Depot and buying your spring gardening tools, equipment and supplies, you're spending way to much! Coupon Chief has great deals and coupons for Home Depot. Also, compare prices until you get an impossible deal with some of these other gardening store coupons:

Spring Hill Nursery Coupons

Gardens Alive Coupons!

Why are there are so many deals for online shopping?

Right now, in this age, you are absolutely losing money every day by not utilizing the benefits of price comparison and competition over the web. Every day, a new website arises offering price comparisons of various products. The reason why websites can offer discounts you wouldn't normally get by just calling, is that they negotiate terms with these "products" (computers, software, services, books, clothing) Terms that individuals, not purchasing in bulk amounts, would have no place negotiating.

CouponChief.com offers these coupons at many stores you probably already shop at, why not saving money shopping online?

Here are some of my favorite stores they offer coupons for.

Dell Small Business Coupons

Best Buy Coupons

Wi-Fi in Big Cities for Free is just a Dream

2007-09-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates wants free internet access across the globe, but we are currently having troubles getting Wi-Fi in America's cities. Several cities, including San Francisco and Chicago are abandoning Wi-Fi projects because of cost concerns.

The demand is not enough to make it worth it, essentially. Wi-Fi kind of sucks through walls anyways, so until that's improved, it may not be worth it anyways.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

I think a lot of the gadgets right now are too difficult and annoying because Wi-Fi is not as accessible. Expect this to really hurt the Wi-Fi market.

Should be interesting to see where this leads. There is a ton of money potential but little stability.

New Spin on Web 2.0 Bookmarking, Linkithere.com

2007-09-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Linkithere is a cool new spin on the typical social bookmarking websites. In fact, it really isn't a method for social bookmarking at all, but instead takes the idea of sharing ideas and experiences over the web and created a new "space" to share those ideas.

Have you ever been to a website and wanted to share ideas, questions, comments about that website with other people? Linkithere allows you to do that!

One of the coolest things about it is that you don't have to download any software. You just add it to your favorites and you now have a brand new web portal to view websites and user feedback from!

Read the Linkithere Frequently Asked Questions

What is Linkithere?

It's a new layer of the web and your web browser. It can be displayed in the left side of your screen while you're browsing different websites. In that "layer" you can view and add to comments about each website you are browsing.

Get LinkitHere Now!

External Link Resources

Electronics and LCD Digito Photo frames.

2007-09-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

The options for digital photo frames are always growing and this digital photo frame center always shows the latest and greatest.

You can find digital frames from 7 inches to 10 inches, with a 256 mb memory card free with every purchase. You can easily shuffle through photos with a remote control, giving ultimate presentation options.

The future is now. For every short movie clip you take, you can have sound independent of your computer. These are all as easy to use as you can get.

Digital picture frames are clearly the way to go. It is also a good idea to scan your old photos and display all of your old favorites digitally. It's a great way to entertain guests and brighten up your day.

Scanners are pretty cheap these days, if you don't need the best of the best. We set our old scanner out in the driveway during our latest garage sale. We did not have takers and only had a $20 sticker on it, so, you might as well get one and preserve the old photos.

Hotels in Australia

2007-09-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Cheaperthanhotels.com.au offers great deals for Syndey Hotels, Melbourne Hotels and Brisbane Hotels.

Most of us have a hard time paying for a plane ticket to Australia, let alone finding a nice place to crash it. Follow the above links to your desired city and you'll see it's possible.

Cheaperthanhotels.com.au has last minute deals, year round prices and you can receive travel deals by email so you are never missing out. They promise two things; lowest rates guaranteed and pay on arrival. Find the all year deals and catch the last minute deals that are always changing.

Australia is a great place to vacation. The people are great, the food is great and the beverages are pretty good too.

Media Defender Leaked Emails

2007-09-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Media Defender, the leading company in anti-piracy initiatives, had over 600 emails leaked, revealing their failing efforts in order to stop illegal file sharing. Just like the Lindsay Lohan text message leaks, this is one of those goodies good for no one but the nerds (ahem...us?) The emails were confirmed as legitimate, and reveal some interesting information regarding Media Defender's relationship with the other media conglomerates employing them.

Going back to Napster, LimeWire and the other file sharing networks, that do technically distribute illegal software, music and video downloads....Media Defender monopolized the industry of stopping it.

Now, it seems, that technology cannot stop the anti-consumer, hacker or Highschool student for that matter from downloading their favorite pop tunes illegally and well, free!

Taken From CNET News:

"Besides casting light on controversial tactics employed by MediaDefender, the company's correspondence also show it was buckling under the weight of a mushrooming file-swapping community and growing skepticism from entertainment executives about the effectiveness of antipiracy services.

'We're still not seeing you guys perform well on Soulseek (peer-to-peer file-sharing community),' a Sony executive said in an e-mail that was viewed by CNET News.com. 'Can you please investigate the problem and actually solve it (going on months now). In my most recent search I selected Beyonce('s) "Beautiful Liar" and was able to download almost everything.

"I think that one of the problems in general is that you can't put a $100 piece of security on something that sells for 99 cents."

--Chris Castle
longtime music industry attorney and executive

'If you can't provide a good solution," continued the Sony executive, 'we will either have to request serious credits or pull this network from your services. As it stands right now it's a waste of our resources at this level of protection.'"

Read the rest at Media Defender's Leaked Emails

Restore Windows Vista Extract Function

2007-09-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

**This is a helpful fix for Windows Vista users.

In order to drag this little tip out, and make it somewhat interesting, I'll start straight from the beginning...
I was browsing online the other day, and came across some great templates for web designers. They were all in the "Stuffit" format, and for those of you who don't know that means they had an .sit extension and are typically used on MACs. But, there's a free utility out there that will help you unload the stuffit files on a PC as well. The software is free and can be downloaded online at Stuffit Expander unless you need the Deluxe version.

Anyway, so I very effortlessly download the software and use it to unload the stuffit files I found online that I needed. No problems, no hassles. The next day I downloaded some other .zip files from the web, which is something I do almost every day. Windows Vista and XP have a great little utility built in, where all you have to do is right-click and you can choose to "extract all" to compress and Uncompress Zip Files. The only problem is, when I went to extract these files, Windows no longer recognized the "zip" extension, and actually didn't even know how to handle the files. AHHH!!!

So, I try and find a solution, to no luck whatsoever. In fact, after reading this quote from MSFN.org forum:

"Theres a huge blunder here it seems, the ZIP file association is non-existent in Vistas default programs panel. The list of file associations does not include ZIP (at least with my V.Ultimate installation). And watch out if you associate a ZIP file thru a 3rd party compression app, i.e., WinRAR, IZarc, etc, theres no way to get back Windows default compression function (thru conventional means)! You cant use the 'open with' command because the compressed folder function in Vista is not thru some executable file that you can browse to to associate with!"

I was beginning to get scared! Luckily I found this great little tool for Windows Vista that restores some of these natural windows function using regedit. Even your avi, ico, bmp, jpg, basically all file extension fixes. I used the zip download and everything was fixed and back to normal! Check it out here: http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/

Anyway, Vista obviously has a problem here, and I was truly pissed off when I thought for a second there may not be an easy fix. Well, hope I helped someone out!

External Link Resources

Newsforweb free website directory

Sports Community Sites Suck!

2007-09-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

Are you tired of sports community websites?

Hey! Thumbs up to your **Fave** Team! Yeah, Hooray!

Sports community websites, that look more like MySpace than anything and are headed in San Francisco. Yet, they claim they're owned by a disgruntled sports fan wanting more involvement in the sports community. Ummm....Bull shit? YES.

Within the last year, heading the community website phenomena and MySpace splooge all over your face phase, community websites are popping up all over the web. Spamming you daily in your email, inviting you by the second to join and talk to Casandra the sexy bartender from L.A. F**** community websites, F**** MySpace!

If you have any connection to your hobby and want true, personal, real interaction and involvement, seek out true private community sites. Stop feeding the monster that is the Corny ass hole "community" website, paying millions of dollars to advertise in your face everyday and fill you full of ridiculous gimmicks.

With that said, thank God or whoever you believe to be your "God" for http://www.deathrattlesports.com/. It's funny, it's honest, it's truly community driven and with but a few dedicated writers who are actually interested and intelligent about what they're writing about, they're still getting tons of traffic.

Don't settle for less, check out DeathRattleSports.com! KILL THE MESSENGER!!!

External Link Resources

Visual Web Developer and ASP.NET 2.0 Best Books

2007-09-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 Hours, Complete Starter Kit (Sams Teach Yourself)

This was my absolute favorite because it started from the very beginning and explained everything thoroughly. While, I did have to skip the first 4 chapters, I still liked the way everything was explained. That's because I'm the type of person who does not skim, normally, I read programming books from top to bottom, so I don't miss anything and so I don't have to get confused later and come back.
--Who's it for?
You know PHP a bit, and understand MySQL Databases. Never used Visual Web Developer before, but want to get started, head first, right now. You may need a little explanation of the whole concept behind the languages, and want to be walked through the process of creating your first ASP.NET 2.0 website app. from beginning to end.

Beginning ASP.NET 2.0 Databases: From Novice to Professional

This made my second pick for books because it covered the database concept for ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Web Developer, from top to bottom. If you're building web applications with ASP.NET, than the database part is probably the most important concept to grasp completely. You'll build databases starting in the 2nd chapter, and start to understand everything about them by the end of the book.

--Who's it for?
From novice-pro Visual Web Developer people. From Novice-Medium ASP.NET 2.0 people. From Novice-Medium MySQL people will ALL find this reference helpful.

ASP.NET 2.0 Illustrated (Microsoft .NET Development Series)

Ok, this one is alright for beginners. Even better for someone who knows ASP.NET 2.0 a little and wants to REALLY put their minds around it and master it. I'll tell you right now, I had to put this book down and finish the "Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 Hours" before I could come back to it, it was very extensive and assumed you know a bit more than I do. It's by Microsoft, so you know they won't steer you wrong in any way.

--Who's it for?
People who know about web programming, understand the concept and have used ASP.NET 2.0 a little bit before. Now, you want to start building complex, properly formatted and the best possible ASP.NET web pages that you can.

ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution (Programmer to Programmer)

Umm....I'm not sure where to begin with this one. You truly do, build an E-Commerce ASP.NET website application from beginning to end. But, it is for someone who already knows some about ASP.NET 2.0 and has used it before. What I don't really get about this book, is that it is written like you already know ASP.NET 2.0, so above my head already.

But, they try and go over CSS in the first couple chapters...Hmm....Maybe they didn't have a very good editor. It's one of those books you know was written by programmer, edited by a programmer, and never really fine tuned to communicate the message right. On the up side, it does cover almost everything you will want to do with ASP.NET 2.0, including E-Commerce, user roles, sessions, complex databases etc.

--Who's it for?
Someone who knows ASP.NET 2.0, has built websites with it before, and needs a reference for some of the complex aspects of a website. This will be a great book for a programmer who needs to build something like a content management system, and wants a reference while creating it to steer them in the right direction.

ASP.NET 2.0 Instant Results (Programmer to Programmer)

This was the first book I bought, very excited and thinking I would create a blog application in two hours. First of all, this book is by the same people who wrote the book above, "
ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming: Problem-Design-Solution"
It gives you a CD with projects already pre-built including: CMS Application, Photo Gallery, Opinion Polls, Newsletter Mailing Systems, and a couple more.
The applications do work, and then the book basically explains everything for you. Great if you want to use the applications right away and want to use them. Bad if you're interested in learning ASP.NET 2.0 from the ground up, like I was.

--Who's it for?
Someone who wants to look at already created ASP.NET 2.0 website applications, learn how to deploy and use them. If you are a newbie, or experienced web developer and want to see how some complex ASP.NET web applications work, or want to use them right away, this is a pretty good book for you.

External Link Resources

ASP.NET 2.0 Vs. Everything Else

2007-09-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I began learning ASP.NET using Visual Web Developer and the tools that come with it. ASP.NET 2.0 is a web application frame work, created by Microsoft and used to develop dynamic website applications. This language is the alternative to PHP for website development.

As far as hosting goes, ASP.NET 2.0 will need to use a Windows server ,while PHP can use a Linux.

As a semi-Noob web developer, I had only been using PHP for website development, while of course utilize MySQL for database applications. The programs I used to develop websites with PHP and MySQL was Dreamweaver. While, I coded most of the websites by hand, Dreamweaver helped me to organize my sites and the CSS files I was using.

ASP.NET 2.0 on the other hand, is typically used with the Microsoft web editing program, "Visual Web Developer." The Visual Web Developer Express version is absolutely free, and even comes with a free small server to test out your applications.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

The reason I'm even talking about this right now, is because I was baffled, amazed, star struck and excited when I first decided to take the plunge and begin using Visual Web Developer and ASP.NET 2.0. I'm sure there are others out there who are thinking, "....Noob..." But, still, there may be others thinking, "Really? I should try it!" Yes...YOU SHOULD! The language is far more intuitive than PHP, Visual web developer is all around BETTER (for lack of a better word) than Dreamweaver, and you can begin creating dynamic websites and database driven applications in no time at all.

I'm officially in love, and will never go back to using PHP unless I want to play with my favorite CMS programs I have spent so much time learning, like the Open Source Software Joomla.

I also wanted to help anyone out there, who may have a similar skill set, find quality books to guide you on your way to learning ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Web developer. When I first fell in love, I bought 5 ASP.NET books. Yep, count em' 5! That's because I'm crazy like that. Now, to help you avoid making any mistakes like I did, and purchasing 5 very expensive programming books, here's the run down on the books I bought and who they're for, in order of **My favorites!*** to ***My least Favorites***. Now, my favorites may not necessarily be your favorites.

Check out the list at my latest post:

Visual Web Developer and ASP.NET 2.0 Best Books

Book Hotel Reservations Online

2007-09-15T15:14:00.000-07:00

If you're booking hotels, plan flights, rental cars, etc. you know that the best way to find and compare prices is to use the web. You know that, right? Well, if you don't know that I'm here to tell you! Right now, in this age, you are absolutely losing money every day by not utilizing the benefits of price comparison and competition over the web. Every day, a new website arises offering price comparisons of various products. The reason why websites can offer discounts you wouldn't normally get by just calling, is that they negotiate terms with these "products" (hotels, flights, motels, cell phones, etc.) Terms that individuals, not purchasing in bulk amounts, would have no place negotiating.

Ok, now that I've explained the benefits of booking reservations online, benefits you probably should already be aware of, let me tell you about a comprehensive database of reservations online. HotelReservations.com has hotels, vacation rentals, rental cars and flights available all over the world!

You can create very specific searches for Hotel Reservations and find exactly what you're looking for. Every search includes multiple hotels, prices and accommodations according to your search. What does this mean? You're getting price comparisons that are competition with each other for YOUR business.

HotelReservations.com also has other services that offer booking for vacations, business trips and other planned get aways easier and cheaper. Some other services they offer for booking trips are:

Book cruises online
Group booking services
Book flights
Reserve car rentals to your destination
Believe it or not, and more!

Also, check out their planning guide for more information on destinations you're thinking about visiting. All in all, you can find valuable information and services on their site from the beginning to the end of any trip.
Next time you are planning a business trip, vacation or family visit, check out HotelReservations.com and let the hotels compete for your business. The prices are going to be lower, the quality higher and the convenience unbeatable!

Microsoft Vista does not blow....it sucks.

2007-08-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Check out the comments from Jim Louderback, a former PC Magazine editor, on why he said he's going back to Windows XP, "Now that I’m no longer working at PC Mag, I can finally tell you the truth. Vista blows. Vista is a boat anchor. Vista paid my salary for the past few years, but now that I’m no longer sucking on the Redmond teat I’m going to play hero and tell you what I didn’t dare tell you before."

First, this does not say much for PC Magazine. His statement pretty much ruins my odds of spending time on the site. Seriously, fool me once....

But something I noticed on a friends computer is that if you like Mozilla Firefox, be warned, Vista dummies it down. Now, maybe there is a way to work around it but if there is we could not figure it out.

Basically, you still get to use Firefox, but it strips it of all cool features. This, in my opinion, is raging b.s.

Seriously, what is Microsoft afraid of. IE7 dramatically improved from IE6 and it still is lagging behind Firefox.

The strong arm tactics are criminal and I think Bill Gates should give me a few thousand bucks from my displeasure.

Stylistically, Vista is better, I suppose. There are a few gimmicks that would appeal to a little kid or someone who want to sqeeze a few shower babies over all the lastest and greatest what-have-you's....but overall.....beyond sucky for the wait.

I have very little experience with the MAC but am thinking in another year or so when I'm aiming towards another computer, I'm finally going to rid myself of the Microsoft filth.

It's criminal, nothing less, nothing more.

Great Business and Technology Resource: Fresh New Blogger Brain to Pick!

2007-08-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, while sifting through the congested amount of blogs on technology (ahem…this blog for example) it’s difficult to find quality, fresh, innovative information and guides to the ever growing industry. In particular, I find it very difficult to find quality information and view points on business and internet marketing. If you’re looking for a new perspective and some invaluable information, check out The BizMark Tech Blog.

BizMark Tech is owned and operated by “Deb” who’s website goal and motto is

Highlighting some interesting information on business, marketing and technology in a ‘non-technical’ manner. In other words, in basic context that everyone can understand…not so many details that the information becomes overwhelming to the regular non-technical person.

She does just this, in all the facets of internet, technology, advertising, internet business and marketing that anyone involved in the industry should stay up to date on. What I like best about her blog is that every post, within every category, realizes an ultimate goal of communicating a centralized idea, tip, tool or resource. Also, staying true to her goal of communicating in a non-technical manner that is easy to understand, she uses real world examples and possible scenarios that better serve her points.

Her entries are not fluff; they are packed to the brim with to the point internet and business trends analysis, tutorials, guides and more.

To highlight one of her latest posts, titled, “Keeping Your Brand on a Customer’s Mind.” In it, she discusses the concept of pushing your sales and client base through branding. But, instead of giving the reader mind numbing statistics and dictionary definitions, she focuses on a company she recently encountered that happened to stick strong in her mind and make a positive impression. What better way to begin to understand branding then by understanding other brands that make consumers tick?

You can check out her blog at http://www.bizmarktech.com/. don’t forget to go through her categories on the right, they’re packed full of more information!

E-Mail Scams: Tips and Awareness

2007-08-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

After watching Oprah, yes I happen to watch an episode of Oprah, I realized that many people are falling for e-mail scams, and how clever these "scammers" are. In fact, I almost fell for a scam E-mail I recieved regarding my PayPal account, if it hadn't been for my internet savvy father warning me before hand. Primarily, I just want to help you to know if you recieve a scam e-mail, and how to avoid making yourself known.

First of all, the scam e-mails are generally related to any type of account with your personal information on the web.

This includes:

Amazon Accounts
E-Bay Accounts
PayPal Accounts

Etc, Etc.

On Oprah, a woman had been bidding on a wedding dress that she couldn't otherwise afford from the store. She won the bid, and followed through with purchasing until she reached a hault due to the fact that she had not met the reserve price. She was very dissapointed, but soon after recieved a professional looking Ebay e-mail saying that though she hadn't met the reserve price, the seller was willing to give her the dress at the price she bid.

Ecstatic, she responded right away asking the seller how she could proceed. In a very friendly way, they asked her to transfer the money into their Western Union account, at which time they would contact her with the shipping details. Hazed with wedding fever, she immediately did so and never once heard back from the recipient of her transfered $2,400.00

What happened here?

Even I was surprised to hear that it wasn't the seller who tricked her, it was someone closely watching the bidding price, and once they realized she had not met the reserve price and saw th auction go back up, contacted her directly using the E-Bay e-mail and ploying on her desperate, vulnerable bride-to-be state.

The moral of the story is it isn't hard to know if an e-mail is a scam. The first tip when diagnosing an e-mail as a possible scam:

1. If you have to think about it, IT PROBABLY IS!
Why? Because professional online account service companies NEVER request personal information, NEVER send account details involving money over e-mail and NEVER navigate you away from their site. All transactions are done through their website, so you know it is legit.

2. DO NOT for even one second, assume it isn't a scam because the company logo, graphics, fonts, etc. are in the e-mail. It is beyond easy to create an e-mail that looks like any one elses.

3. Legitimate online companies NEVER send you a specific link to a portion of their site that asks you to fill in delicate information. They will always ask you to log into your existing account and make changes.

That is pretty much my 2 cents worth of advice, if followed, you will never fall for an e-mail scam. Before I leave you, let me tell you about a common scam with many online account holders...The one I recieved regarding e-bay.

They tell you that they're going to cancel your account, and you need to click a link and fill in your account information otherwise your account will be void.

External Link Resources

User-Generated sites to explode in next 5 years

2007-07-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

According to a recent study by emarketer.com, the user-generated content/ web 2.0 era is yet to hit full stride.

Currently 70 million internet users will create some form of online content this year.

In 2006, user-generated sites earned $450 million. By 2011 that number will be an estimated $4.3 billion.

What does this mean?

There are going to be even more web start-up social communities.

Most are going to be gimmicky and bland.

Some will be gimmicky and bland, but find the right gimmick to reach a bunch of people.

A few will provide a nice service and fail.

Some will provide a nice service and flourish.

A couple will seperate themselves from the pack.

Who?

Hopefully those that bring a little bit of originality. Provide freelancers with an opportunity to make cash. So many of the social communities are headed by business moneys that only care about cash.

Hopefully a few sites with creative, innovative inspiration will make it; inspiring others.

External Link Resources

emarketer.com article

Sports Sites look for fresh ground to plow

2007-07-16T17:10:00.001-07:00

Rivals.com was recently bought out by Yahoo.com. Rivals is a college football/high school recruiting site that has a bunch of affiliated team sites. The purchase was for around $100 million.

News Corp. owns Scout.com, Rivals.com main competitor. Interestingly, NewsCorp. reportedly offered to swap MySpace.com for roughly 25% of Yahoo.

So, in essence, these companies would be partly owned by the same company. What they want is a younger audience. Here's an idea, "lower the subscription fees!"

External Link Resources

Killer Startups Rank Best Sports Community!

The Future of Video Sharing Research and Study

2007-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

If you're in the business of technology and the internet, you may be interested in some true blue research results conducted comScore on the future of video sharing and streaming media. With the influx of web advertising, there has also been an influx of (much needed) high quality internet research and study. If you want to stay on the top of this ever changing industry, you should stay on top of what the people (your potential audience, traffic, clients) are doing with

The studycomScore conducted was the Video Metrix service of U.S. video streaming activity of up-and-coming video-sharing sites. The study examined six video-sharing sites that did not make the top 10 U.S. video properties for the month, but reveals that French site Dailymotion.com had a particularly strong position in the U.S. video-sharing market in April 2007

Wondering what the next big company will be in the industry of web video sharing? Well, according to Eric Hunter, comScore's executive vice president,

"There's been a great deal of speculation in the marketplace about which site is the next YouTube, and each of these next-tier sites has a particular draw... Dailymotion.com is stating the strongest case at the moment, both domestically and internationally."

Here's some details on the report

Selected Video-Sharing Sites (Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations April 2007)
*Property*	*Unique Video Streamers (000)*	*Video Streams Initiated (000)*	*Minutes Per Streamer*
Dailymotion.com	4,729	49,335	59.7
Metacafe.com	3,738	33,183	15.1
Break.com	3,138	32,164	16.8
Heavy Networks	2,619	5,964	3.2
Revver.com	2,607	8,719	5.4
Veoh.com	1,847	14,554	104.2
Source: comScore Video Metrix

I have personally come across an interesting video and media sharing website, called The News Room. It's too much to describe here, check it out for yourself: The News Room Video Sharing

For more information on the study conducted, statistics and more quotes from Eric Hunter, visit the Research Brief Blog

External Link Resources

thenewsroom.com
www.blogs.mediapost.com/research_brief/

Why is Google Adsense Important for Bloggers

2007-07-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

To know why Adsense is essential for your content sites is to know first how this works.

The concept is really simple, if you think about it. The publisher or the webmaster inserts a java script into a certain website. Each time the page is accessed, the java script will pull advertisements from the Adsense program. The ads that are targeted should therefore be related to the content that is contained on the web page serving the ad. If a visitor clicks on an advertisement, the webmaster serving the ad earns a portion of the money that the advertiser is paying the search engine for the click.

The search engine is the one handling all the tracking and payments, providing an easy way for webmasters to display content-sensitive and targeted ads without having the hassle to solicit advertisers, collect funds, monitor the clicks and statistics which could be a time-consuming task in itself. It seems that there is never a shortage of advertisers in the program from which the search engine pulls the Adsense ads. Also webmasters are less concerned by the lack of information search engines are providing and are more focused in making cash from these search engines.

The first reason why Adsense is essential for content sites is because it already has come a long way in understanding the needs of publishers and webmasters. Together with its continuous progression is the appearance of more advanced system that allows full ad customization. Webmasters are given the chance to choose from many different types of text ad formats to better complement their website and fit their webpage layout.

The different formatting enables the site owners the possibility of more click through from visitors who may or may not be aware of what they are clicking on. It can also appeal to the people visiting thus make them take that next step of looking up what it is all about. This way the people behind the Adsense will get their content read and making profit in the process.

The second reason is the ability of the Adsense publishers to track not only how their sites are progressing but also the earnings based on the webmaster-defined channels. The recent improvements in the search engines gives webmasters the capability to monitor how their ads are performing using customizable reports that has the capacity to detail page impressions, clicks and click-through rates. Webmasters and publishers can now track specific ad formats, colors and pages within a website. Trends are also easily spotted.

With the real-time reporting at hand, the effectiveness of the changes made will be assessed quickly. There would be time to sort out the contents that people are making the most clicks on. The ever-changing demands would be met while generating cash for the webmasters and publishers. The more flexible tools are also allowing webmasters to group web pages by URL, domain, ad type or category, which will provide them some accurate insight on which pages, ads and domains are performing best.

The last and final reason is that the advertisers have realized the benefits associated having their ads served on targeted websites. Thus increasing the possibility that a prospective web surfer will have an interest in their product and services. All because of the content and its constant maintenance. As opposed to those who are no using Adsense in their sites, they are given the option of having other people do their content for them, giving them the benefit of having successful and money-generating web sites.

Adsense is all about targeted content, the more targeted your content is, the more target the search engines’ ads will be. There are some web masters and publishers who are focused more on their site contents and how best to maintain them rather than the cash that the ads will generate for them. This is the part where the effectiveness is working its best.

There was a time when people were not yet aware of the money to be achieved from advertisements. The cash generated only came into existence when the webmasters and publishers realized how they can make Adsense be that generator. In those days, the content were the most important factors that is taken quite seriously. It still is. With the allure of money, of course.

Killer Startups Rank Best Sports Community!

2007-06-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Killerstartups.com is a great website, and really has made a lasting impact on the web community. Not only do they point on already thriving websites, who are offering online users great resources and just plain fun, they also help us find new websites ready to make the big jump from small and obscure to large and in charge! (cute, huh?)

They recently wrote an article on a new sports site, deathrattlesports.com, that is sure to rise to the top of all sports websites and communities. For some reason, websites dedicated to sports and the sports fans are difficult to navigate through, full of advertising and often left with little to no maintenance. They are certainly lacking in a full featured, web 2.0 feel and function like the rest of the world has adapted to.

If you're interested in college sports: football, basketball even some baseball you should check out this new site and see if it fits your bill. Greatest thing about the new deathrattlesports.com?

They have become the FIRST sports community website to feature revenue sharing and integrated user community and content contributions. Why leave the sports fans out of the loop when it comes to Web 2.0 and community driven websites? Why hasn't this type of innovation made it to the forefront of the web yet? DUNNO!

But, deathrattlesports.com is an inspiring sports dedicated websites, with hilarious articles, up to the date news regarding sports and the world of sports journalism, while letting users/readers contribute to the community through their blog, comments, forum and articles while earning 50% Adsense revenue sharing on all their articles!

It's somewhat in beta mode right now, but works as a completely functional site and is definitely work writing for if you're a sports nut who likes to write, read and laugh your butt off while earning money at the same time.

The site is sure to grow by leaps and bounds as it is fairly new right now, so get in on it, get involved and sign up now if you're interested.

Just as in the spirit of Web 2.0 and community websites, it's absolutely free to sign up and contribute, you can register here: Sign up page

Or visit their main site and click, "member area" at the top.

have fun!

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