Seth Anderson at EO Art Lab - Not to be Missed
Last night's opening of Twist and Turn, art by Seth Anderson, was a lovely affair. The show runs through July 30, 2008 at EO Art Lab in Chester, CT. EO has built a solid reputation by presenting some of the best works in contemporary and abstract art in a geographic arena where impressionist landscapes and still lifes are the art du jour. What a breath of fresh air EO brings to those who like to contemplate a bit harder for their art. Seth Anderson's works are some of the very best to date. Son of abstract artist Sally Anderson, Seth's palette is sophisticated and elegant, his line is fine and economical and the application unique. Yet there is more... An underlying sense of humor in his compositions will certainly bring a smile to the viewers face. This is art I...
Last night's opening of Twist and Turn, art by Seth Anderson, was a lovely affair. The show runs through July 30, 2008 at EO Art Lab in Chester, CT. EO has built a solid reputation by presenting some of the best works in contemporary and abstract art in a geographic arena where impressionist landscapes and still lifes are the art du jour. What a breath of fresh air EO brings to those who like to contemplate a bit harder for their art.
Seth Anderson's works are some of the very best to date. Son of abstract artist Sally Anderson, Seth's palette is sophisticated and elegant, his line is fine and economical and the application unique. Yet there is more... An underlying sense of humor in his compositions will certainly bring a smile to the viewers face. This is art I would buy. And evidently I'm not the only one as the cash register was ringing and sales were being made throughout the evening.
The artist gave a 40 minute presentation on his background and application, explaining how his first artistic attempts were the result of doodles made on the pages of his school notebooks. Those first doodles evolved into the looser present day works which recall the art of Klee and Miro. Anderson uses a variety of media from acrylics, oils, markers, pens, and pastels and covers the final piece with beeswax. Works range in size from 36x36" mounted on board to 10x10" on board or Plexiglas. Framed and unframed.
I highly recommend a visit to EO Art Lab where the art is exceptional and the owner and gallery director are warm and welcoming.
EO Art Lab hours are: Tuesday - Wednesday 10-6. Thu-Sat 10-9. Sun noon-6
69 Main Street
Chester, CT 06412
860-526-4833
www.eoartlab.com
Shown here:
the rooster & two eggs
mixed media on wood
36"h x 36"w (unframed)
Welcome Balam Soto
I'm happy to announce that I'll be working with the amazing artist and man, Balam Soto. I've written about Balam and his work before and I was thrilled when he and his wife, Shelli, phoned me to see about doing some art management and marketing work together. Stay tuned for updates regarding Balam, his upcoming shows and his progress both on canvas and with his explorations using computers and technology to express an interactive art form. Stop by Balam's Blog and visit his website for samples of his work. Thank you Balam and Shelli... I'm really looking forward to working to you.
I'm happy to announce that I'll be working with the amazing artist and man, Balam Soto. I've written about Balam and his work before and I was thrilled when he and his wife, Shelli, phoned me to see about doing some art management and marketing work together.
Stay tuned for updates regarding Balam, his upcoming shows and his progress both on canvas and with his explorations using computers and technology to express an interactive art form. Stop by Balam's Blog and visit his website for samples of his work. Thank you Balam and Shelli... I'm really looking forward to working to you.
BE@RBRICK
I’m a sucker for the Japaneses inspired toys, especially the vinyl figures that are aimed at the none kid audience. I’ll freely admit to owning a 20″ yellow Munny, and once a month I’ll buy my daughter one of the small Munny’s so she can color him/her in and stick eyes and things all [...]
I’m a sucker for the Japaneses inspired toys, especially the vinyl figures that are aimed at the none kid audience. I’ll freely admit to owning a 20″ yellow Munny, and once a month I’ll buy my daughter one of the small Munny’s so she can color him/her in and stick eyes and things all over.
Which is why when I saw BE@RBRICK over on Freshness I was VERY tempted. Of course once I checked out the 680€ (at the current exchange rate almost $1,000) I had a valid reason for not getting one. Don’t get me wrong it was a huge internal struggle.
json-schema.org
I just noticed that Kris and put up a more readable copy of the work draft for the JSON schema on json-schema.org. This is something I’ve been watching for a while, with relation to the Micro-JSON idea I had a while back (sorry the site is down at the moment, whilst I re evalute [...]
I just noticed that Kris and put up a more readable copy of the work draft for the JSON schema on json-schema.org. This is something I’ve been watching for a while, with relation to the Micro-JSON idea I had a while back (sorry the site is down at the moment, whilst I re evalute wiki options that won’t result in unmanageable amounts of SEO type spam).
The schema looks great, and although some people immediately balk at the idea of schema’s and JSON I can think of many applications where a handshake and validation of returned JSON data prior to acting on it will be worth it’s weight in gold.
Great work from Kris and all those who contribute to the very busy JSON Schema google boards.
The Importance of Living in The Moment
My mother passed away on August 5, 2008. Prior to her death, I was commuting about an hour 3-5 times a week to be with her in the hospital and as we got closer to the end, my days were often conducted from her room. I was never very good at the notion of living in the moment. In fact, I could hardly understand the concept. But these last weeks I've not only been forced to learn to live in the moment, but I've grown to appreciate the importance of it. While my mom was sick, and after her death there was much to do and my single number one priority was to be with her and later to ensure that her last wishes were carried out. Business deadlines came and went. Projects and potential new clients were put on...
My mother passed away on August 5, 2008. Prior to her death, I was commuting about an hour 3-5 times a week to be with her in the hospital and as we got closer to the end, my days were often conducted from her room. I was never very good at the notion of living in the moment. In fact, I could hardly understand the concept. But these last weeks I've not only been forced to learn to live in the moment, but I've grown to appreciate the importance of it.
While my mom was sick, and after her death there was much to do and my single number one priority was to be with her and later to ensure that her last wishes were carried out. Business deadlines came and went. Projects and potential new clients were put on hold. Emails and phone calls were not returned within the very same day. And in fact, this is the first post I've written here at ArtLOOK since my mom left us. Because the future was quite unknown, I was unable to make plans or commitments for the next hour let alone the next week.
Over the days, my thinking became increasingly focused. Thoughts and decisions were made thoughtfully and judiciously. Oddly I found myself very calm. There was a great deal of sadness in those days but there was also much less "hurry up" stress and much less the feeling of hectic living. Each task was singularly focused and I knew that what I was doing at any given time was "exactly what I needed to do." There wasn't the pressure of thinking ahead to the 20 other tasks that required tending. I KNEW those other tasks would get taken care of at the proper time.
My mom often said "Every cloud has a silver lining." It is my hope, that in some way, the lessons I learned from her passing will enable me to live a better life. A parent never stops teaching their child... right up and after they have left this world.
In der Anstallt gefickt
An dieser heißen Untersuchung haben die Ärzte großen Spaß. Das süsse Luder hier hat mit dem Schlund ganz schön was drauf und besorgt es denn beiden Lümmeln korrekt. Sie Vögeln das Luder in beide Löcher und jetzt fehlt nur noch eines, ein geiler Abgang für die Doktoren. Hier geht es zu mehr Bilder und Filme!
Latin Views 2008 at the Alexey Von Schlippe Gallery
The Latin Network for the Visual Arts and the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art present this major exhibition, marking the first time that the two organizations have co-curated a project from outset to realization. “Latin Views 2008” biennial exhibit is supported by The Bodenwein Public Benevolent Foundation; Bank of America, Trustee, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, and The Pfizer Foundation. Thirty-six artists from fifteen different countries were selected to participate in this next outstanding biennial art exhibit “Latin Views 2008”, which opens on September 19, at 6:00 pm at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point Campus, located in the Branford House Mansion. The “Latin Views 2008” will be an extraordinary international celebration of art that will be sure to excite and entertain any art lover. The exhibit will cover narrative,...
The Latin Network for the Visual Arts and the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art present this major exhibition, marking the first time that the two organizations have co-curated a project from outset to realization.
“Latin Views 2008” biennial exhibit is supported by The Bodenwein Public Benevolent Foundation; Bank of America, Trustee, Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, and The Pfizer Foundation.
Thirty-six artists from fifteen different countries were selected to participate in this next outstanding biennial art exhibit “Latin Views 2008”, which opens on September 19, at 6:00 pm at the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point Campus, located in the Branford House Mansion.
The “Latin Views 2008” will be an extraordinary international celebration of art that will be sure to excite and entertain any art lover. The exhibit will cover narrative, fantasy, myths, prophesies, spectacle, and the ambiguous territory between the real and unreal. This exhibit is an invitation to the viewer to enter, explore, and immerse himself in the imaginary world of contemporary Latin artists, which is filled with emotions and imagery.
The exhibition will occupy the entire gallery creating the ideal atmosphere to showcase these impressive works of art.
The “Latins Views 2008” was curated by the directors and advisors of the LNVA jointly with The Griffis Art Center Board of Trustees and overseen by Julia Pavone, Director of The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art. The artistic director of Latin Views 2008 is Sharon Griffis, who is also the Director of Griffis Art Center of New London CT and has extensive experience organizing exhibitions throughout Connecticut.
Highlighted among the special events of this exhibition is a Panel Discussion organized by the LNVA that will be presented in association with The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at the Marine Science Building, University of Connecticut at Avery Point on the following day of the opening reception, September 20, 2008 at 1:30 pm.
Since its inception in 2003, the Latin Views exhibits have greatly evolved and have become the leading medium offering international contemporary art to southeastern Connecticut.
The exhibit will run from September 19th to November 2nd, 2008. The opening reception will be on Friday September 19th, from 6.00 to 8.00 pm and the panel discussion will be on September 20th at 1:30 pm.
Ordentlicher Arschfick (30.09.2008)
Das süße Luder hier braucht einen Fick in den Hinterteil und er ist schon ganz hot auf ihre Rosette. Zuerst bekommt sie aber die Pussi gepopt und dann ab mit dem Lümmel in den Hintern. Seine heiße Ladung bekommt sie voll auf die…. Klicke hier für weitere Fotos und Filme!
9:57 PM | |
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Inspiration for Designers
Today marks the day of my first blog post. I have many excuses why I haven’t started blogging yet – but today is different because I don’t have an excuse to not write one. Instead my excuse is just the opposite… you know how it goes, everyone has been there… You get into the [...]
Today marks the day of my first blog post. I have many excuses why I haven’t started blogging yet – but today is different because I don’t have an excuse to not write one. Instead my excuse is just the opposite… you know how it goes, everyone has been there… You get into the office, turn on your computer and you’re just not “feeling it”. Well, that’s what happened to me on this Friday morning. And that is why I have dedicated my first blog post to my sources of inspiration. People think that designers always have ideas coming out the wazoo, but that’s not always true. “Designers-block” can get the best of us at times. So where do we so-called “creative people” go, when we are feeling, well, er… not so creative.
One of my favorite places to go is Smashing Magazine. It is a great resource for developers and designers. Daily posts include featured photographs, contests, freebies, design showcases, latest trends, and tutorials.
Done – Daily Design Workout is the personal blog of Jonas Buntenbruch. Each day his blog features a new workout – don’t start sweating yet – this is not the kind of workout that you might expect. His daily work out is “mini-design” that is created in 30 to 60 minutes as a challenge as a test to his design skills. This is by far one of my favorite places to visit, plus anyone can rise to the challenge of this workout – all you need is a fountain soda and deep bowl of buttery popcorn and your computer in order to participate.
Another web site that is a recent discovery of mine is Just Creative Design, which is a personal blog site written by Australian designer Jacob Cass.
Twitter is one of the latest trends in online communication – you can communicate and connect with people through the exchange of short messages. I like to check out web links that are posted by the people I am following. Inspiration comes in all forms.
Sometimes visiting blogs or web sites that have nothing to do with graphic design are helpful way to get new ideas, so long as they are visually interesting, that is. Two that I enjoy in particular are: Hostess with the Mostess and Design Sponge Online.
Of course there are millions and millions of sources for inspiration. This is a just a small sampling of sites that are old stand-bys for me. Good luck and get inspired!
9:56 PM | |
Tech Talk: SearchScanning With Yahoo and McAfee [del.icio.us]
Tech Talk: CustomGuide offers free "cheat sheets" [del.icio.us]
Tech Talk: Free Golf Lessons! (For Ten Minutes) [del.icio.us]
Tech Talk: Gas Milage Tool [del.icio.us]
Tech Talk: Gas Prices All Over The Map... Literally [del.icio.us]
ResearchBuzz Roundup 061308
New search engine available for Tanzania. California has developed a database of “green” buildings. Indiana History Magazine, 1905-2006, now available online. Because it’s the INTERNET, that’s why — a social media site for collecting information about zombies. The kind that shuffle around and aggressively request brains, not the computer kind. eBay ends Media Marketplace experiment. Del.icio.us [...]
ResearchBuzz Roundup 062408
Online Journalism Review goes away. Safari Books Online has upgraded. YouTube video for toddlers. Heh. GovGab has some more information about the tomato recall and food recalls in general. Gary got a hat tip! And well deserved too. It’s the Return of Google Code Jam! Good news for IE and del.icio.us. Not long until November: it’s [...]
Tech Talk: TVLand Launches Huge Movie Trailer Database [del.icio.us]
ResearchBuzz Roundup 053008
Coming this fall: The Blackfoot Digital Library. CNN and the NYT are Twittering. Google Book Search bibliography now available. FeedBurner talks about AdSense for feeds. Amazon and Borders, officially broke up. Interactive Web sites and shaping public perception. The Brooklyn Museum is now in the Flickr Commons! I was wondering if that was new. Google has [...]
Google Offering New Google Trends
Google has announced on its official page that there’s a new version of Google Trends available. If you have a Google Account you can now download trend information in CSV format. Very cool. You can trend multiple search terms. I was curious about a term that’s been bumping around my radar for the last couple [...]
9:51 PM | |
Yep... we still have a problem around Lilburn and Gwinnett County finding gas. In fact, the whole Atlanta area is facing the problem. I have been searching for ways to find gas for my readers. I have found a couple of ways to keep up to date on where there is gas...
The first way is Wright Express... Here is a link... Take a look at the right side, and you can see the date of the transaction. While I can't say for sure, it would seem that those with VERY recent transactions have gas. You can also see the price. This is also a good one to keep in mind later when looking for the best price nearby.
Another option is to use Twitter Search... Here is a link... This isn't well organized, but folks all over town are reporting what they see and marking it with a hashtag to make the search easier. #atlgas is the hashtag to look for.
Don't run out.
Don't freak out...
That is all...
via LaneBailey.com
Variety is the SPICE of LIFE!
We staged an adorable Victorian today, with a decided Bohemian flair. The homeowners were young with eclectic tastes. Their furnishings and accessories would have been right at home in a painted lady in San Francisco in the 60's.
Last week we staged a vacant where the homeowners had left behind some furnishings for us to work with. This included some southwest inspired upholstered pieces and a few contemporary styled pieces from the 80's.
Then there was the family of 5 homeschooled children whose basement classroom we accomodated in our staging. Of course we can't forget the purple room with the purple leather furniture, or the living room dedicated to the dogs, including babygates.
I am envious sometimes when I see the photos of "perfectly coifed and made-up" rooms that others post on their blogs. I realize they are often vacants filled with rental furniture, (a rarity for us), and that is why they are perfect.
Then I think about all of the folks that we meet. The families and individuals that we are helping to realize their dreams of moving out, moving up or moving on. We love to see the reactions when they see what we have done with THEIR things. They grab their faces, we sometimes see tears, we hear "it's beautiful!" and even, "I don't want to move now!", (Sorry Realtors!). Mostly, they are kidding, they still want to move, but for about 30 days they can enjoy their things displayed in a way that reminds them of why they loved them in the first place. Buyers come through and see what attracted the owners to the property originally. Thats why we love what we do. While I won't turn down a job that requires rental furniture, I don't plan to go looking for one.
Suggested Musical Selection : Our House, by Crosby Stills and Nash and Young
Minocqua Realtors-Lakefront Property-Homes-REMAX First LLC
Welcome to my site and I hope that you find it easy to use as well as useful. With that being said I specialize in lake front homes, waterfront properties and vacant land for sale in Northern Wisconsin. I provide professional service to buyers and sellers looking to purchase or sell property in Minocqua, Woodruff, Lake Tomahawk, Boulder Junction, Manitowish Waters, Hazelhurst, Eagle River, Three Lakes, Arbor Vitae and all communities in Oneida, Vilas, Iron, Price and Lincoln County Wisconsin. If you need additional information on any of the properties listed, please feel free to e-mail or call me at your convenience.
NEIL PLUISTER (715) 367-7270 NEIL@VACATIONLANDPROPERTY.COM
Real Estate Auction
Did anyone attend the Hudson Marshall auction event at Mclean. I was hoping to get there but was tied up.
Cheers!
Steve
Blessings, Oysters and Farms
Two of the many blessings that we can be thankful for in Maryland are the oyster industry and the farms that helped this state to become rich in many ways; from home-grown values to the very basic blessing of providing for our families. Southern Maryland will be celebrating and commemorating several events in the next few weeks.
This week-end (October 4th and 5th) Maryland will celebrate the "Blessing of the Fleet" which will be held at the St. Clement's Island Museum Grounds in Colton's Point. 2008 marks the 41st anniversary of this very gala affair. The Blessing of the Fleet is a dual fold event.
It is firstly, a religious observance that asks for God's blessing on the boats which will be going to sea in search of the nutritious and wonderful tasting oyster during the oyster harvesting season.
Secondly, the event celebrates and memorializes the birthplace of Maryland, St. Clement's Island.
The Blessing of the Fleet will begin on Saturday, at 7 p.m., followed by a spectacular fireworks display. There will be many fun-filled attractions for everyone of every age. Be sure to visit the newly reconstructed Cross on St. Clement's Island and the Blackistone Lighthouse.
The Fleet has been blessed and now the oyster industry needs to be celebrated. The celebration will be held on October 18th and 19th, the Annual Oyster Festival (St. Mary's Fairgrounds). There is lots of fun to be had at this event and, of course, there will be an oyster shucking contest as well as the National Oyster Cook-off. The shucking contest will be a free-for-all, followed by a men's contest and women's contest. The winners of the Men and Women's competition will challenge each other later in the day.
The Oyster Festival is truly family oriented with everything from musical entertainment (from Jazz to Celtic), pony rides, a carnival (for the child in all of us) and roving clowns. Of course, no festival is complete without great food. Hmm, wonder what's on the menu?
In keeping with the celebration of Maryland's beginning and its many blessings, the Parlett Family will be hosting its 11th annual Farm-Life Festival. On a few rare occasions a year, the Parlett Family opens its 60,000 farm-life museum to the public. October 11th and 12th will be one of those times.
John K. Parlett, Sr, was one of the rare individuals who wanted to share the American farmer's history with generations to come. With the help of his wife, Kitty, he collected many wonderful and some rare artifacts of Maryland and America's rural farming community. His collection is one of the finest in the country.
Whether you are city-bred or country-bred, whether you are young or old, the Farm-Life Festival is a place for everyone to enjoy another fun-filled day and to learn to appreciate the country farmer, who became a model for the world.
How much fun can you have in one month? Well, if you attend these three events you are sure to find out. Of course, the younger set will outdo us of the more mature types by topping off the month when they don the images of their favorite hero, villain or goblin with threats of Trick-o-Treat on Halloween night. Ohh, to be a kid again.
Note: The Blessing of the Fleet and the celebration of Maryland's beginnings was was founded by Father John J. Madigan of Holy Angels Church (Avenue, MD) and The 7th District Optimist Club.
Oyster Related Websites:
Oyster Cook Books
Maryland Oysters-Recipes
Oyster Restoration in Maryland
Sea Grant Maryland
Farming Relatd Websites:
Maryland Organic Food & Farming Association (MOFFA)
Keeping "Open Space" Open
Community/Agriculture, Farming, Produce, and ArgiTourism ...
Lake Mirror Classic Auto Festival 2008
As you will see with the current slate of events (and another REALLY BIG upcoming event that I have yet to tell you about) October is choc' full of fun & activities! The weekend of October 17th thru the 19th offers up the 2008 Mercedes-Benz Lake Mirror Classic Auto Festival. Festivities will be held in Historic Downtown Lakeland with picturesque Lake Mirror being the backdrop.
The annual event revs up with a festive opening on Friday night October 17th with the Budweiser Hot Rod Rendezvous, which benefits Junior Achievement of Polk County. This kick-off to the weekend's festivities is a FREE open-air concert and party held at the Lake Mirror Amphitheater. Typically well over 10,000 people attend enjoying good old' Rock & Roll tunes, great food, and fierce cars. The high point occurs when the band takes a breather, & all the hot rods rev up their engines & create some sweet music of their own!
The main signature car show is held on Saturday, October 18th at beautiful Lake Mirror Park and throughout Downtown Lakeland. The 9th annual Mercedes-Benz Lake Mirror Classic Auto Festival is one of the most scenic and popular classic car events in the southeastern United States. This event is expected to showcase over 500 automobiles and 35,000 spectators. Hundreds of classic and collectible vehicles including Street Rods & Custom cars will be displayed on the streets of Downtown Lakeland on Saturday. The cars are assembled in groups of similar makes and models in a 16-block area of downtown. This leg of the event is also FREE to the public. Registrants who arrive early on Saturday morning will be treated to complimentary breakfast. A full breakfast buffet will be served in the Magnolia Building overlooking Lake Mirror Park from 7:00am and 8:30am.
If you are hungry during the event, swing by The Lemon Street Promenade. This will be the main "Vendor Row." You'll find souveniers, displays, & food. Local car dealers will also be showcasing their newest models here. Live entertainment will be performed throughout the day at the Lake Mirror Amphitheater and at various locations in Downtown Lakeland.
A popular feature at the Lake Mirror Classic is the distinguished group of classic wooden boats moored along the ornate 1920's-era seawall of Lake Mirror. The classic boats present a stunning display adjacent to hundreds of classic automobiles. Accompanying the wooden boats will be a group of Amphicars, which are planning an exciting 1:00 PM "splash-in." You really do not want to miss this, so plan on being there early!
Later Saturday evening, the Magnolia Building at Lake Mirror Park will host The Mercedes-Benz Banquet honoring stock car legend Bobby Allison. The catered dinner will be followed by an entertaining recounting of some of Bobby's greatest moments in motorsports. Tickets are $65 per person.
The Lake Mirror Classic will conclude on Sunday morning with a fun road rally over the back roads of central Florida. Brunch will be served and prizes distributed at the rally's conclusion.
See you there!
Don't forget to visit Central Florida's premier real estate website at www.GateArty.com for all your real estate needs!
Metro Brokers Office Owner Rob McClure is #1 team and #1 transactions for Denver Board Of Realtors
MetroBrokersTV: Hello and welcome to Metro Brokers TV. I am Scott Shields, Communications and Marketing Director for Metro Brokers. I am joined in the studio today with Rob McClure of McClure & Associates. Rob, thanks for coming down and joining us today.
Rob McClure: Thank you.
MetroBrokersTV: So, before we get started on the whole thing, let us get a little background. I heard that you have been with Metro Brokers for how long?
Rob McClure: I have been with them since I have been in real estate since 1987.
MetroBrokersTV: So, it was no other company. It was strictly Metro Brokers.
Rob McClure: Strictly Metro Brokers. I went under another Metro Brokers for a few years and when he moved to Parker, I stayed out west and opened my own office.
MetroBrokersTV: So, the fact that it was the independent, allowing you to do your own thing that really drew you to Metro Brokers.
Rob McClure: That and they had a big presence in the industry. I mean if you went down the street, you saw as many Metro Brokers signs as you saw anybody.
MetroBrokersTV: What has that Metro Brokers brand done for your business?
Rob McClure: Well, I think it has given us credibility in the market place. If we were going out for a listing or something or we are dealing with a buyer, I think that the Metro Broker sign and everything gives us credibility. People believe that we are in the marketplace. We are not a fly by night and we are doing certain amount of business. We make our living off selling real estate. We don't work at Wal-Mart for so many hours a day and then sell real estate on the weekends.
MetroBrokersTV: Now that we know that you are die hardcore Metro Broker, you just received couple of awards from the Denver Board of Realtors. Am I correct?
Rob McClure: Correct.
MetroBrokersTV: Can you tell us about those awards that you received?
Rob McClure: We were #1 for number of sales in the Denver market with the Denver Board board of Realtors Roundtable of Excellence. My son and I, we did 241 sales in 2007.
MetroBrokersTV: That is incredible.
Rob McClure: In 2008, we will do more. We are on a role... we are above that right now in the first half of the year.
MetroBrokersTV: Already? You have already topped what you have already done last year?
Rob McClure: Correct. Correct.
MetroBrokersTV: Wow. Wow.
Rob McClure: So...
MetroBrokersTV: And what do you attribute to that? What is helping you to be so successful?
Rob McClure: Well, we have a little niche. We do REOs. We sell bank owned properties and so, our office currently is in Jefferson County which is a fairly strong market. Most of the properties that we are finding are in Arapahoe County, Adams County, and Denver County, but as you well know, the Denver market has been #1 for probably four, the last five years for the number of foreclosures in the nation. So, that is kind of where our niche is right now, which is why we have so many properties.
MetroBrokersTV: So, to deal with all these listings, is there a tool or guidance or is there something out there that is helping you handle a sale [phonetic] on top of all this?
Rob McClure: Well, probably the MLS, the multi list. We would be... we would have to hire 10, 20 more people just to do the BPOs, basically the market analysis on these properties. We get so many properties in and we have to pull up so much information on it. It would be impossible if we went back to the old book and had to look through the book to find the properties to come up with comparables.
MetroBrokersTV: I don't think people want that book to come back. So, they definitely like MLS.
Rob McClure: No. No. No. It made great for fire, for fire starting.
MetroBrokersTV: Well, do you have any advice out there for people that are wanting to get in, working with the REOs[phonetic].
Rob McClure: You know if there is one thing and I don't know that it is with asset managers or banks or whoever, but communication is probably the, what will make you successful in this industry and the people that are very successful, if you really quiz them, they are going to tell you that it is their communication with their clients that has made them successful.
MetroBrokersTV: Thanks for coming down today and joining us in the studio. We really appreciate it. This has been another session at Metro Brokers TV. For more information, go to metrobrokertv.com.
Fairfax County page 2 listing updates 09/29/2008.
Here are the listings that were added or changed on 09-29-2008
Page 2 of 4
Jump to: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
Sorted by PRICE
Sort this list by: Last Update Type or City/Subdivision
| LastUpdateType | ListPrice | Street | City | ListingID | Subdivision |
| MEDIA | $143,900 | 3370 WOODBURN RD #22 | ANNANDALE | FX6885040 | WOODBURN VILLAGE |
| OTHER | $144,000 | 8039 CAPISTRANO PL #6A | ALEXANDRIA | FX6885714 | SEQUOYAH |
| OTHER | $149,000 | 1951 SAGEWOOD LN #308 | RESTON | FX6588240 | THOREAU PLACE |
| PARTY | $149,900 | 1193 AUTUMNHAZE CT | HERNDON | FX6768126 | FOUR SEASONS REGIME |
| PARTY | $150,000 | 8622 VILLAGE SQUARE DR #15/862 | ALEXANDRIA | FX6819858 | VILLAGES THE |
| PRICE | $150,000 | 6599 DEFENSE DR #0 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6728952 | HILLWOOD SQUARE MUTUAL ASSOCIATION |
| OTHER | $154,500 | 3708 N ROSSER ST #104 | ALEXANDRIA | FX6780228 | WESTBRIAR CONDO |
| OTHER | $154,900 | 10320 LURIA COMMONS CT #2F | BURKE | FX6880786 | BURKE CENTRE STATION COMMONS |
| OTHER | $154,900 | 307 RENEAU WAY | HERNDON | FX6812628 | CRESTVIEW |
| OTHER | $155,000 | 7362 LEE HWY #62/101 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6759965 | TIMBERLANE VILLAGE GDNS |
| PRICE | $155,705 | 7604 SAVANNAH ST #4/101 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6784849 | FALLS CHURCH GARDENS CON |
| OTHER | $156,500 | 18 CANTERBURY SQ #102 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6827084 | CANTERBURY SQUARE |
| OTHER | $159,900 | 1951 SAGEWOOD LN #330 | RESTON | FX6843538 | THOREAU PLACE |
| OTHER | $160,000 | 2215 CHRISTY PL | HERNDON | FX6880104 | REFLECTION LAKE |
| OTHER | $164,900 | 11801 COOPERS CT | RESTON | FX6879651 | RESTON |
| OTHER | $169,900 | 5340 HOLMES RUN PKWY #801 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6510805 | PAVILION ON THE PARK |
| MEDIA | $169,900 | 14903 RYDELL RD #204 | CENTREVILLE | FX6881124 | MADISON RIDGE |
| OTHER | $170,000 | 2303 SOUTHGATE SQ | RESTON | FX6877947 | RESTON |
| PRICE | $175,000 | 3100 S MANCHESTER ST #342 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6826851 | WOODLAKE TOWERS |
| PRICE | $179,900 | 3502 GROVETON ST | ALEXANDRIA | FX6880282 | KINGS HIGHWAY |
| PARTY | $179,990 | 5925 QUANTRELL AVE #303 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6656662 | MAYFLOWER SQUARE |
| PRICE | $180,000 | 6841 KENYON DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6870003 | BUCKNELL MANOR |
| OTHER | $180,000 | 9414 PACKARD WAY | BURKE | FX6882341 | BURKE MANOR |
| MEDIA | $184,900 | 6060 BILLINGSGATE LN | CENTREVILLE | FX6883583 | LONDON TOWNE |
| OTHER | $184,900 | 810 SYCAMORE CT | HERNDON | FX6691876 | COURTS OF CHANDON TOWN H |
| PARTY | $185,000 | 4241 AMERICANA DR #10 | ANNANDALE | FX6767538 | FAIRFAX HERITAGE |
| OTHER | $188,000 | 923 PARK AVE | HERNDON | FX6879460 | PARK AVENUE SQUARE |
| NEW | $189,900 | 3705 GEORGE MASON DR #1513S | FALLS CHURCH | FX6885144 | SKYLINE PLAZA |
| OTHER | $190,000 | 6641 WAKEFIELD DR #820 | ALEXANDRIA | FX6881470 | RIVER TOWERS |
| PARTY | $190,000 | 10350 LURIA COMMONS CT #2C | BURKE | FX6732941 | BURKE CENTRE STATION COMMONS |
| NEW | $192,000 | 3307 WYNDHAM #2164 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6885725 | POINT AT PARK |
| OTHER | $195,000 | 8329 BROCKHAM DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6610449 | GEORGELAND VILLAGE |
| OTHER | $195,000 | 14844 BASINGSTOKE LOOP | CENTREVILLE | FX6881900 | LONDON TOWNE WEST |
| PRICE | $195,000 | 6068 MEADOW CREST CT | CENTREVILLE | FX6671640 | SUNSET RIDGE |
| OTHER | $199,000 | 7344 LEE HWY #44/T2 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6881263 | TIMBERLANE VILLAGE GDNS |
| OTHER | $199,900 | 2912 GROVETON ST | ALEXANDRIA | FX6744543 | MEMORIAL HEIGHTS |
| PRICE | $199,900 | 3819 PERSIMMON CIR | FAIRFAX | FX6881939 | FAIRFAX PLAZA TOWNHOUSES |
| OTHER | $199,900 | 323 RENEAU WAY | HERNDON | FX6877142 | CRESTVIEW |
| MEDIA | $199,900 | 1118 FLOYD PL | HERNDON | FX6880275 | POTOMAC FAIRWAYS |
| OTHER | $199,990 | 205 MEETING HOUSE STATION SQ #106 | HERNDON | FX6818909 | FORTNIGHTLY SQUARE |
| OTHER | $200,000 | 6346 FENESTRA CT #127 | BURKE | FX6811066 | KEENE MILL WOODS |
| PARTY | $205,000 | 6344 PINE VIEW CT #65C | BURKE | FX6697490 | KEENE MILL WOODS |
| MEDIA | $205,000 | 2854 DOVER LN #303 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6882379 | FAIRFIELD COMMONS |
| OTHER | $205,000 | 2262 BERGER PL | HERNDON | FX6880515 | REFLECTION LAKE |
| OTHER | $205,900 | 751 CAMPBELL WAY | HERNDON | FX6640373 | COURTS OF CHANDON TOWN H |
| OTHER | $209,000 | 8514 HIGHLAND LN | ALEXANDRIA | FX6852359 | ENGLESIDE |
| NEW | $211,900 | 505 DAKOTA DR | HERNDON | FX6885130 | WATERFORD PARK |
| MEDIA | $215,000 | 525 DAKOTA DR | HERNDON | FX6881539 | WATERFORD PARK |
| PARTY | $215,000 | 8558 KOLUDER CT | LORTON | FX6767483 | NEWINGTON HEIGHTS |
| PRICE | $219,900 | 3702 ROXBURY LN | ALEXANDRIA | FX6857655 | ROXBURY OF MT VERNON |
| PRICE | $219,900 | 1419 BLUEMONT CT | HERNDON | FX6748862 | BLUEMONT |
| OTHER | $220,000 | 2227 SWEETBRIAR DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6723218 | BUCKNELL MANOR |
| MEDIA | $220,000 | 6300 STEVENSON AVE #307 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6878373 | SENTINEL OF LANDMARK |
| DOMP | $220,000 | 4105 DAWN VALLEY CT | CHANTILLY | FX6885365 | WINDING BROOK |
| OTHER | $220,000 | 2819 KALMIA LEE CT #A-201 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6711402 | KALMIA LEE |
| NEW | $222,500 | 5500 WOODLAWN MANOR CT | ALEXANDRIA | FX6885543 | WOODLAWN MEWS |
| OTHER | $224,900 | 1254 STERLING RD | HERNDON | FX6865994 | MOSBY HEIGHTS |
| NEW | $225,000 | 6903 VICTORIA DR #E | ALEXANDRIA | FX6885596 | SURREY AT MANCHESTER LAK |
| OTHER | $225,000 | 5563 PEPPERCORN DR | BURKE | FX6821309 | GREENFIELD FARM |
| OTHER | $229,900 | 6829 RADCLIFFE DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6805996 | BEACON MANOR |
| OTHER | $229,900 | 6301 STEVENSON AVE #805 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6867734 | OLYMPUS AT LANDMARK |
| OTHER | $229,900 | 8955 WAITES WAY | LORTON | FX6879417 | WASHINGTON SQUARE |
| OTHER | $230,000 | 8571 SOUTHLAWN CT | ALEXANDRIA | FX6884389 | WOODLAWN MEWS |
| MEDIA | $230,000 | 409 ARKANSAS AVE | HERNDON | FX6879398 | COURTS OF CHANDON TOWN H |
| OTHER | $235,950 | 2208 ROLLINS DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6513359 | BUCKNELL MANOR |
| OTHER | $239,900 | 5943 HERITAGE SQUARE DR | BURKE | FX6859174 | HERITAGE SQUARE NORTH |
| OTHER | $239,900 | 1681 SIERRA WOODS CT | RESTON | FX6834827 | RESTON |
| OTHER | $240,000 | 7240 BEVERLY PARK DR | SPRINGFIELD | FX6686096 | BEVERLY PARK |
| OTHER | $244,900 | 6602 10TH ST #A1 | ALEXANDRIA | FX6884027 | BELLE VIEW |
| OTHER | $244,999 | 12165 PENDERVIEW TER #1006 | FAIRFAX | FX6639071 | PENDERBROOK |
| PARTY | $245,000 | 4S VAN DORN ST S #406T | ALEXANDRIA | AX6868892 | EOS 21 |
| OTHER | $245,000 | 2618 GROVETON ST | ALEXANDRIA | FX6737395 | MEMORIAL HEIGHTS |
| MEDIA | $246,900 | 8529 ENOCHS DR | LORTON | FX6885557 | VILLAGE OF MOUNT AIR |
| MEDIA | $249,900 | 14772 GREEN PARK WAY | CENTREVILLE | FX6883288 | LONDON TOWNE WEST |
| PRICE | $249,900 | 3800 POWELL LN #904 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6850201 | LAKESIDE PLAZA |
| OTHER | $250,000 | 8133 KIDD ST | ALEXANDRIA | FX6416157 | MT VERNON VALLEY |
| NEW | $250,000 | 309 YOAKUM PKWY #1211 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6885381 | WATERGATE AT LANDMARK |
| OTHER | $250,000 | 7505 DEVRIES DR | LORTON | FX6774992 | POHICK ESTATES |
| PRICE | $254,000 | 12705101 FAIR CREST CT #101 | FAIRFAX | FX6849094 | FAIR LAKES |
| OTHER | $254,000 | 1524 LINCOLN WAY #139 | MCLEAN | FX6734917 | FOUNTAINS AT MCLEAN |
| OTHER | $254,000 | 5806 CHANNING RD | SPRINGFIELD | FX6758072 | LYNBROOK |
| PRICE | $255,000 | 4914 CASIMIR ST | ANNANDALE | FX6539419 | AMERICANA FAIRFAX |
| MEDIA | $256,900 | 6665 BARRETT RD | FALLS CHURCH | FX6885621 | BEL AIR |
| PARTY | $259,000 | 3916 DUKE ST | ALEXANDRIA | AX6752299 | CAMERON |
| PARTY | $259,000 | 8302 CRESTMONT CIR | SPRINGFIELD | FX6835242 | NEWINGTON FOREST |
| MEDIA | $259,900 | 4561 STRUTFIELD LN #3407 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6885168 | PALAZZO AT PARK CENTER |
| OTHER | $259,900 | 3332 WOODBURN VILLAGE DR #31 | ANNANDALE | FX6879980 | WOODBURN VILLAGE |
| MEDIA | $259,990 | 7902 FOREST PATH WAY | SPRINGFIELD | FX6885055 | WOODSTREAM |
| OTHER | $259,999 | 12108 GREEN LEDGE CT #301 | FAIRFAX | FX6769423 | PENDERBROOK |
| OTHER | $260,000 | 3709 SOUTH GEORGE MASON DR #1013E | FALLS CHURCH | FX6882054 | SKYLINE HOUSE |
| OTHER | $260,900 | 7203 NOLAND RD | FALLS CHURCH | FX6853245 | WOODLEY |
| NEW | $261,900 | 4743 KANDEL CT | ANNANDALE | FX6885593 | HERITAGE VILLAGE |
| OTHER | $262,900 | 7035 BRADLEY CIR | ANNANDALE | FX6882607 | BROYHILL CREST |
| PRICE | $264,900 | 10667 OAK THRUSH CT | BURKE | FX6845053 | BURKE CENTRE |
| NEW | $264,900 | 1625 INTERNATIONAL DR #208 | MC LEAN | FX6885781 | LILLIAN COURT AT TYSONS |
| OTHER | $265,000 | 5114 CASTLE HARBOR WAY #133 | CENTREVILLE | FX6757712 | LIFESTYLE AT SULLY STATN |
| PARTY | $265,000 | 2116 GREEN WATCH WAY #10/300 | RESTON | FX6655578 | RESTON |
| PRICE | $265,000 | 5931 AUGUSTA DR | SPRINGFIELD | FX6767502 | LYNBROOK |
| OTHER | $269,000 | 14106 ROCKY VALLEY DR | CENTREVILLE | FX6843727 | COMPTON VALLEY ESTATES |
| OTHER | $269,000 | 12103 GREEN LEDGE CT #201 | FAIRFAX | FX6843280 | PENDERBROOK |
| OTHER | $269,900 | 19 AUBURN CT #A | ALEXANDRIA | AX6868982 | AUBURN VILLAGE |
| PRICE | $269,900 | 2230 GEORGE C MARSHALL DR #627 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6832832 | RENAISSANCE |
| NEW | $270,000 | 5201 SAINT GENEVIEVE PL | ALEXANDRIA | FX6885431 | D EVEREUX WEST |
| MEDIA | $270,000 | 2230 GEORGE C MARSHALL DR #705 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6883491 | RENAISSANCE |
| OTHER | $270,940 | 5707 MASON BLUFF DR | BURKE | FX6882346 | BURKE VILLAGE |
| PARTY | $272,000 | 6001 BANGOR DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6833428 | FAIR HAVEN |
| NEW | $273,000 | 4113 USHER AVE | ALEXANDRIA | AX6885487 | DUKE GARDENS |
| PRICE | $274,900 | 3102 MONTROSE AVE | ALEXANDRIA | AX6831215 | LYNHAVEN |
| OTHER | $274,900 | 6805 BEECHVIEW DR | FALLS CHURCH | FX6884072 | JACOBS PARK |
| OTHER | $274,900 | 10200 BUSHMAN DR #123 | OAKTON | FX6881942 | VISTAS |
| MEDIA | $275,000 | 5235 MONTGOMERY ST. | SPRINGFIELD | FX6878919 | EDSALL PARK |
| MEDIA | $279,000 | 5501 SEMINARY RD #808S | FALLS CHURCH | FX6884601 | SKYLINE SQUARE |
| PARTY | $279,900 | 6004 OLD LANDING WAY #10 | BURKE | FX6844193 | WOODWALK |
| MEDIA | $279,900 | 1258 REDWOOD CT | HERNDON | FX6878964 | TREESIDE |
| PRICE | $279,900 | 9228 LORTON VALLEY RD | LORTON | FX6858367 | GUNSTON CORNER |
| OTHER | $279,999 | 3903 GOLF TEE CT #302 | FAIRFAX | FX6883121 | PENDERBROOK |
| PARTY | $280,000 | 5300 HOLMES RUN PKWY #618 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6867845 | GREENHOUSE |
| PARTY | $280,000 | 12917 CENTRE PARK CIR #315 | HERNDON | FX6664030 | BRYSON AT WOODLAND PARK |
| PARTY | $280,000 | 2220 COPPERSMITH SQ | RESTON | FX6873497 | RESTON |
| PRICE | $282,900 | 3741 ROXBURY LN | ALEXANDRIA | FX6831533 | ROXBURY OF MT VERNON |
| OTHER | $285,000 | 2485 WINDBREAK DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6757222 | MT VERNON SQUARE TOWNHOU |
| OTHER | $285,000 | 1266 MAGNOLIA LN | HERNDON | FX6858321 | DULLES PARK |
| OTHER | $289,000 | 1100 BELLE VIEW BLVD #A1 | ALEXANDRIA | FX6772813 | BELLE VIEW |
| OTHER | $289,000 | 11314 WESTBROOK MILL LN #302 | FAIRFAX | FX6877207 | WESTBROOK COURT |
| PARTY | $289,000 | 6719 NEW HOPE DR | SPRINGFIELD | FX6644747 | EDSALL PARK |
| OTHER | $289,900 | 12101 GREEN LEAF CT #302 | FAIRFAX | FX6864645 | PENDERBROOK |
| OTHER | $290,000 | 2506 MASSEY CT | ALEXANDRIA | FX6881728 | FAIR HAVEN |
| OTHER | $290,000 | 2837 CAMERON RD | FALLS CHURCH | FX6786371 | GREENWAY DOWNS |
| OTHER | $290,000 | 7600 SURRY GROVE CT | LORTON | FX6880575 | SUMMERHILL |
| OTHER | $294,900 | 8489 LAUREL OAK DR | SPRINGFIELD | FX6819258 | SPRINGFIELD OAKS |
| OTHER | $295,000 | 4130 MONUMENT CT #104 | FAIRFAX | FX6867815 | FAIRMONT |
| PARTY | $295,000 | 7215 KOUSA LN | SPRINGFIELD | FX6826437 | ROLLING FOREST |
| OTHER | $295,900 | 11310 WESTBROOK MILL LN #201 | FAIRFAX | FX6821011 | WESTBROOK COURT |
| OTHER | $297,280 | 1029 KINGS CT | HERNDON | FX6881570 | CAVALIER PARK |
| OTHER | $299,000 | 8114 MARTHA | ALEXANDRIA | FX6800710 | GUSTAFSON |
| PARTY | $299,000 | 4302 VERMONT AVE | ALEXANDRIA | AX6735698 | WAKEFIELD |
| OTHER | $299,000 | 11322 WESTBROOK MILL LN #304 | FAIRFAX | FX6884955 | WESTBROOK COURT |
| PARTY | $299,000 | 6908 KENFIG DR | FALLS CHURCH | FX6811421 | ANNALEE HEIGHTS |
| PARTY | $299,000 | 3208 ROLLIN RD | FALLS CHURCH | FX6687747 | WOODLEY WEST |
| PARTY | $299,000 | 7662 NORTHERN OAKS CT | SPRINGFIELD | FX6785286 | SPRINGFIELD OAKS |
| PRICE | $299,900 | 6910 DUKE DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6767901 | BUCKNELL MANOR |
| OTHER | $299,900 | 4551 STRUTFIELD LN #4113 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6885156 | PALAZZO AT PARK CENTER |
| PARTY | $299,900 | 1001 CHARLTON PL | HERNDON | FX6768046 | HALCYON OF HERNDON |
| PRICE | $299,900 | 5516 IVOR ST | SPRINGFIELD | FX6825147 | NORTH SPRINGFIELD |
| PRICE | $299,950 | 6935 MARY CAROLINE CIR #K | ALEXANDRIA | FX6854148 | MANCHESTER LAKES |
| MEDIA | $299,999 | 5142B BRITTNEY ELYSE CIR #5142 | CENTREVILLE | FX6881663 | STONEGATE AT FAIRCREST |
| NEW | $300,000 | 4994 CENTREVILLE RD | CENTREVILLE | FX6885780 | FAIRCREST |
| PRICE | $300,000 | 6826 DONAHUE CT | FALLS CHURCH | FX6746666 | BEL AIR |
| OTHER | $300,000 | 9177 SHEFFIELD HUNT CT | LORTON | FX6850264 | POHICK VILLAGE |
| OTHER | $300,442 | 3936 LINCOLNSHIRE ST | ANNANDALE | FX6694769 | KENWOOD |
| PARTY | $305,000 | 5518 PAXFORD CT | FAIRFAX | FX6845313 | THE VILLAGE PARK |
| PARTY | $305,000 | 6802 ROLLING RD | SPRINGFIELD | FX6687323 | WEST SPRINGFIELD VILLAGE |
| OTHER | $309,000 | 5831 KARA PL | BURKE | FX6882123 | BURKE STATION SQUARE |
| MEDIA | $309,900 | 3809 LARCHMONT DR | ANNANDALE | FX6885407 | BROYHILL CREST |
| OTHER | $309,900 | 6707 HOPEWELL AVE | SPRINGFIELD | FX6881507 | EDSALL PARK |
| OTHER | $315,000 | 6611 NETTIES LN #J | ALEXANDRIA | FX6885395 | CARRDINAL PLACE |
| MEDIA | $315,900 | 3119 BABASHAW CT | FAIRFAX | FX6881224 | COVINGTON |
| OTHER | $317,500 | 5565 SEMINARY RD #104 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6852896 | SAVOY PARK |
| PARTY | $319,000 | 4953 ORISKANY DR | ANNANDALE | FX6767421 | AMERICANA FAIRFAX |
| OTHER | $319,000 | 15116 KAMPUTA DR | CENTREVILLE | FX6859141 | CHALET WOODS |
| OTHER | $319,000 | 1636 WESTWIND WAY #164 | MCLEAN | FX6823804 | WESTERLIES THE |
| PRICE | $319,900 | 9927 HEMLOCK WOODS LN | BURKE | FX6775134 | BURKE CENTRE |
| OTHER | $319,900 | 3800 POWELL LN #1202 | FALLS CHURCH | FX6681238 | LAKESIDE PLAZA |
| OTHER | $319,999 | 5410 DUBLIN AVE | SPRINGFIELD | FX6883935 | EDSALL PARK |
| OTHER | $320,000 | 4103 DUVAWN ST | ALEXANDRIA | FX6884905 | RIDGE VIEW |
| OTHER | $320,000 | 8933 MILFORD HAVEN CT #33B | LORTON | FX6740636 | LORTON STATION NORTH CND |
| OTHER | $322,000 | 6000 CURTIER DR #B | ALEXANDRIA | FX6871900 | TIERS OF MANCHESTER LAKE |
| OTHER | $324,900 | 1855 STRATFORD PARK PL #410 | RESTON | FX6874061 | STRATFORD |
| OTHER | $325,000 | 801 PITT ST S #329 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6803216 | ST ASAPH SQUARE |
| OTHER | $327,500 | 3403 ELMWOOD DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6866006 | BURGUNDY VILLAGE |
| MEDIA | $327,500 | 4819 NASH DR | FAIRFAX | FX6884085 | TWINBROOK |
| PARTY | $329,900 | 6922 ESSEX AVE | SPRINGFIELD | FX6618585 | LYNBROOK |
| PARTY | $330,000 | 4304 JAVINS DR | ALEXANDRIA | FX6744242 | RIDGE VIEW |
| PARTY | $330,000 | 7808 BUTTERFIELD LN | ANNANDALE | FX6791933 | LAFAYETTE VILLAGE |
| NEW | $330,000 | 4942 CARRIAGEPARK RD | FAIRFAX | FX6885501 | KINGS PARK WEST |
| OTHER | $330,000 | 8901 GUTMAN CT | SPRINGFIELD | FX6878236 | GLENWOOD MANOR |
| NEW | $330,000 | 3011 SPICE CT | VIENNA | FX6885580 | CYRANDALL VALLEY NORTH |
| OTHER | $335,000 | 205 YOAKUM PKWY #712 | ALEXANDRIA | AX6885525 | WATERGATE AT LANDMARK |
| PRICE | $335,000 | 5716 OTTAWA RD | CENTREVILLE | FX6862091 | COUNTRY CLUB MANOR |
| OTHER | $335,000 | 11226 HARBOR CT #1226 | RESTON | FX6885658 | HARBOR POINT |
| OTHER | $337,900 | 5512 CALLANDER DR | SPRINGFIELD | FX6703353 | KINGS PARK |
| OTHER | $339,900 | 12458 LIBERTY BRIDGE ROAD #A | FAIRFAX | FX6820817 | EAST MARKET AT FAIR LAKES |
SHORT TERM LEASE AVAILABLE IN LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA
This three bedroom home is located on one acre in Lynchburg, Virginia. The main level includes:
-
Large family room with a gas log fireplace
-
Living room
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Eat in kitchen
-
Three bedrooms
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Laundry closet
Over two thousand square feet with a large deck off of the family room, full basement with another bedroom and a finished attic.
The owner will consider a short term lease. Rent of $900 per month, Security Deposit and references. No pets.
Call (434) 258-4567 for more information and showing appointment.
9:51 PM | |
InetSoft Innovates Operational Business Intelligence
Luke Liang, CEO for InetSoft, in an exclusive interview with Ron Powell and the Business Intelligence Network (www.BeyeNETWORK.com), talks about their operational business intelligence (BI) platform that allows business users and IT staff to explore, collaborate and integrate information without a long implementation cycle, and also describes the benefits of their patent-pending data block technology.
Because of InetSoft’s open-standards architecture and collaborative platform, companies can leverage their existing BI infrastructure, allowing them to save time and money.
“InetSoft’s unique platform and innovative operational approach to BI, empowers business users across the enterprise to proactively visualize, analyze, monitor, report, and explore vital business data,” said Luke Liang, CEO of InetSoft. “By visually exploring the combination of projected and actual data, input to operations and business managers can be immediate with a major impact to the bottom line.”
“InetSoft’s operational BI platform allows business users to easily create meaningful views of the data that are specific to their reporting needs,” says Ron Powell, Cofounder and Editorial Director of the Business Intelligence Network. “Because of InetSoft’s open-standards architecture and collaborative platform, companies can leverage their existing BI infrastructure, allowing them to save time and money.”
“The Business Intelligence Network Solution Spotlights are intuitive dialogues with innovative solution providers, and these spotlights provide a cutting-edge introduction to the new products and services we know are of interest to the business intelligence community,” says Powell. “The network publishes six newsletters serving more than 115,000 readers across a wide variety of industries, making us the largest newsletter-based information source for business intelligence, performance management, data warehousing, data integration and data quality.”
About InetSoft
InetSoft establishes a revolutionary new approach to business intelligence by incorporating the best practices of traditional BI with the fundamental principles of operational BI: real-time integration, collaboration, and exploration. This approach drives direct productivity gains throughout an organization and minimizes both the initial IT investment and on-going maintenance.
About Business Intelligence Network™
The Network’s flagship site BeyeNETWORK.com leads the industry with up-to-the-minute news, newsletters, articles, executive spotlights, podcasts, expert-hosted channels and blogs. Experts include Claudia Imhoff, Bill Inmon, Craig Schiff, Colin White, David Loshin, and others. BeyeRESEARCH.com provides research and case studies from leading authors and experts in business intelligence. BeyeBLOGS.com is a business intelligence-specific community blogging site which provides an open forum about industry issues and challenges. BeyeSEARCH.com offers the first and only editor-driven directory and search engine specially built to serve this industry.
NextEra Media Rolls Out Its Pay-Per-Click Video Network
NextEra Media is debuting its Pay-Per-Click Video Network after several months of beta-testing. NextEra CEO, Jaffer Ali said, "Since the beginning of the year we have aggregated 127 video sites into a network. Our goal was to offer a reasonably priced PPC program to advertisers and marketers. All clicks are generated in conjunction with video clips and the initial results have been extraordinary. All video sites are "safe-for-work" and currently serving over 300 million video views per month."
This is not the first time NextEra has created an advertising network. Back in 1999 NextEra aggregated content-based email publications into what became the largest e-zine network online. At its zenith NextEra controlled the advertising inventory of several hundred e-zines with over 63 million opt-in subscribers. Today's announcement marks the evolution from an email-centric model to a web-centric network utilizing state of the art streaming and licensed video content.
Ali continued, "The technological challenges are always a matter of development and tweaking, but getting licensed, fully legal content is what posed the major challenges. Fortunately our subsidiary video portal, EVTV1.com, has secured licenses with studios and producers which enables us to put our client's messages in and around thousands of professionally produced clips. Links to these content clips are placed on our network's video sites with the view either terminating on a special, branded landing page or the marketer's very own website. Our video player can be embedded anywhere so the client controls the environment in which their message is viewed."
It is estimated that 45% of all online advertising is spent via the PPC model. NextEra Media is marrying the most popular form of online advertising with the new Belle of the Ball -- online video.
Ali concluded: "Our Video PPC program addresses the two major concerns that clients have with online video advertising: the legality of the content used in their promotion, and the atmosphere that their message will be seen in. Our technology and fully legal content create a safe haven for marketers and advertisers alike. Quality video content will now be used to drive traffic."
Search Engine Sproose.com Launches New Self-Voting Platform For Web Search
Sproose, an upcoming search engine with technology allowing users to rank the index of results, launched today a new voting platform inteface so users can easily rank their favorite sites. Former Netzero Executive, Bob Pack who helped raise its initial funding in 1998, founded Sproose.
Users are given control over search listings. Search engine Sproose.com lets users rank the index. With its self voting platfom the more popular sites move up to the top of the index of search results.
Sproose uses a "human popularity voting" model where users can self- rank the index creating personalized search results. The more users that vote a site the further up in the ranking it goes.
"The new look is much more visual providing a total score of the voted sites and a ranking system that improves upon the algorithmic based order," says Bob Pack, CEO of Sproose. Users merely need to click on the "I like it" icon next to the search result and the index will refresh immediately moving that site up.
Registered users may also display their voted sites if they elect to. "This connects people in a social way to share knowledge through (search), states," CEO Bob Pack.
The Sproose website is at www.sproose.com
About Sproose
Sproose provides a consumer search engine whereby the users can influence the ranking of the index by voting on the results. Each user is able to create a different set of search results when searching under the same keyword. With its proprietary 'Knowledge Rank' moderated directory technologies, Sproose users can effectively categorize and index sites, tailored for personal or group usage. The rating of search results is done without downloading applications to ensure privacy.
Google Universal Search Confirms Information in Newly Released Book
Web sites who are constantly battling for Visibility are going to need to focus on external content such as link building and other media formats. This has been confirmed with the launch of Googles Universal Search.
Universal search integrates all formats of information from image, maps, to video into one, providing and over all search. Google is indeed looking to provide the ultimate searching mechanism, the best result possible across all formats.
"Google analyses over 200 different elements in its algorithm to provide accurate results. At the same time, external content such as link building, videos and social linking have had a major effect of top results" said Paul Easton, author of the newly released book, Link Traffic: A Plan for Free Web Traffic
"Many opinions have been formed as to what works in regard to how to get to the top of Googles results. I set out to provide proof that link building from external sources proves to be the most effective. From a results point of view, nothing is more convincing than the real facts, which I uncovered" said Paul Easton
Many web designers have claimed to SEO (search engine optimization) proficient, without the use of external content. In the New media world of the Internet, they are unlikely to achieve any success. This would result in low website traffic and a lack of belief the Internet as a marketing channel.
All web designers, web development and ecommerce managers looking to capitalise on more visitors to a website, at the lowest cost, need to be aware of the tactics and strategies that work. The ROI on free web promotion, done the right way can bring an endless source of targeted long term customers that can form the base of a reliable database.
The knowledge alone is not enough -- activation of the concepts, in the right way, will improve the reach of any reputable company online increasing market share and branding.
"Developments in the fast moving world of marketing on-line where competition is high, Link building and what others say about you will be around for many years to come as its an effective way for Google to provide the best results and keeping its market share"
Rustic area rug
Compare Prices Before You Buy A Rug - Eduardo Cini uses his creative skills daily in his job as a professional hair stylist. Off the job, the 47-year-old native of Malta employs that innate sense of design and color in his Baltimore County home. In August 2003 Cini purchased a two-story [...]
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This is only the start, whats to come in the next few months as the rug gets pulled out from under the financial system will be much worse. Those of you with mortgages and debt are all doomed . “The Council of Ministers will have far more power over Cheap Area Rug News
After a heated public hearing, the City Council unanimously approved a rezoning request for 27.71 acres at 16023 and 16097 Bandera Road from Residential 1 to Business 1 — paving the way for the development of office space and professional Cheap Area Rug News
Share ThisIntegrated Online Marketing Leader Oneupweb Publishes New Survival Guides for SEO and Social Media
Online marketing leader Oneupweb CEO, Lisa Wehr, today announced the release of two new resources for those interested in online marketing -SEO Survival Guide and a Social Media Survival Guide. The SEO Survival Guide is an update of Oneupweb's highly popular guide of the same name, while the Social Media Guide is the first, comprehensive listing made available in a similar format.
"The search marketing industry has a communication problem," notes Oneupweb CEO Lisa Wehr. "Many of the terms and acronyms we use daily did not exist a few years ago. It's hard for people to understand us. And with the recent explosion of social media popularity and outlets - from YouTube and MySpace to Second Life and LinkedIn -- new terms are born daily. This is our contribution to help the marketplace stay current and communicate."
Those familiar with Oneupweb's last SEO Survival Guide, will find considerable new information - nearly 100 more terms and definitions have been added since Oneupweb's last guide was published in 2005. The Social Media Survival Guide is a first of its kind - a literal pocket resource with approximately 125 terms unique to social media.
"We know this is just a starting place," notes Wehr. "New terms enter our language daily. These guides are simply a part of an ongoing educations process. Our intention is to give people an authoritative reference point for further dialog and discovery."
To get a printed pocket version of either of Oneupweb's Survival Guides contact info @ oneupweb.com or call toll free at 877-568-7477. Those looking for an online version of both Survival Guides can access PDF files off of the OneUpWeb.com homepage.
About Oneupweb
Oneupweb has been an innovator in online marketing for more than a decade, creating integrated online marketing plans that include natural search engine optimization, paid search marketing, podcast production, social media marketing, online market research and analytics. An award-winning firm, Oneupweb was named a 2006 Michigan Top 50 Company to Watch and is the only three-time winner of the prestigious ClickZ Best Search Engine Marketing Vendor Award. CEO, Lisa Wehr, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, has been named to BtoB Magazine's Who's Who List three years and is recognized as a Leader & Innovator by Lawrence Technological University. The company publishes a blog named StraightUpSearch.com.and produces One for the Money, an informative podcast series available on iTunes and Oneupweb.com. Oneupweb is a privately held company located in Michigan. For more information on Oneupweb, please contact 231.256.9811 or visit OneUpWeb.com.
Apple iPhone Talk with Mobile Search Expert Gregory Markel
Mobile search engine marketing expert Gregory Markel, Founder/President of www.InfuseCreative.com , discusses the Apple iPhone's impact on the mobile browser's experience and mobile search engine marketing in both Investor's Business Daily and CNN articles and downloadable PRWEB Podcast this week.
"The iPhone browser is among the first true Web browsers," Markel said. "As a mobile search services provider, we, (Infuse Creative), need to become intimately acquainted with the iPhone browser, search and Web user experience."
Markel discusses the reasons why the Apple iPhone browser will serve to dramatically upgrade the mobile search engine user and browser experience.
Along with Nokia's S60 and Opera's mobile browsers, the iPhone browser takes mobile users into a new era of a more desktop browser like experience, with combined usability of the three browsers including:
Web 2.0 rendering including Ajax., (Though Flash rendering and Java support remains MIA. Adobe is rumored to be providing a version of Flash for the iPhone within 60 days.), Multiple rendering modes, Improved user interfaces, Keyboard shortcuts, Open second window, Memory manager, designed specifically to handle out-of-memory situations on the device; Mouse Pointer, delivering a desktop-like navigation experience, Web address auto-complete, Password manager, Find in page, Frames rendered as tables, Full support for "Text Search" capabilities, Reference UI, a reference implementation of standard browser user-interface features; Full mobility support for dynamic HTML and the scripting language that enables it, Preservation on mobile screens of original designer-intended web page layouts, with text custom-fitted to the mobile display width, Overview mode, Intelligent zoom, Opera Widgets and Greater security.
A helpful site that provides software that will allow users and developers to simulate the iPhone's mobile browser experience can be found at: http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/
Markel goes on to say, "One simple example of how the mobile search engine marketing experience has been changed by the iPhone can be found by simply loading Google.com. The user gets the normal, desktop version of Google.com rather than the default mobile version of Google.com, which is currently the case on my Treo, for example.
However, one obvious shortcoming remains, the inability to render Flash, which is a shortcoming for many sites, our client, New Line Cinema's hairspraymovie.com being an example. There may be good news on the horizon about this. My sources indicate that Adobe may be releasing a version of Flash for iPhone within the next 60 days."
Gregory Markel will be speaking publicly about the iPhone and mobile search engine marketing at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, August 20th, 2007.
CNN Article
Investors Business Daily Article
Apple iPhone
About Gregory Markel and infusecreative.com:
Gregory Markel, recognized as one of the early "pioneers of search" and his Infuse Creative search engine marketing company, are internationally regarded as one of the premiere tech driven lead generation, ecommerce, branding/awareness and entertainment focused search engine marketing companies in the world with clients that include; Mazda, Pacificare, Secure Horizons, United Health Group, Realty Executives, Natrol, National Geographic Channel, Kazoo Toys, The Venetian Resort, John Robert Powers, Prudential, Universal, CBS, EA Sports, FOX Network, New Line Cinema, Sony, Time Warner, Warner Bros, and many others representing dramatically varying client types. Infuse Creative was a 2006 Los Angeles Business Journal nominee for it's "Excellence in Business" award along side companies including Mattel, Inc.
The Corporate Blog Emerges as a Powerful Way to Influence the Media
Journalists are increasingly relying on blog content as they write stories and corporate blogs are now an important way for businesses to reach members of the media, says David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing & online media to reach your buyers directly.
"Until very recently, the only way to influence journalists was to have a direct personal relationship with them or to send out a generic press release and hope for the best," says Scott. "But today, blogs allow organizations of all kinds to tell authentic stories directly to the market. Journalists increasingly rely on blog content when they are researching stories."
Over the course of more than a year of research for his upcoming book, Scott reviewed hundreds of blogs and interviewed dozens of bloggers who have found success. He also spoke with journalists to understand how the put their stories together. The book includes dozens of case studies of organizations that use blogs, podcasts, online media, and viral marketing.
"Smart marketing and public relations professionals understand that corporate blogs are one of the best ways to deliver their story and influence journalists, but press releases and personal relationships are still part of the overall mix," Scott says. "Business blogs make it easy to deliver a viewpoint into the sprawling marketplace of ideas. When the posts are indexed by search engines and delivered via RSS feeds, journalists all over the world will see the thoughts and ideas and they will command attention. If the posts are compelling, stories will be written."
Scott's book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use news releases, blogs, podcasts, viral marketing & online media to reach your buyers directly" is available wherever business books are sold. The book features a foreword by Robert Scoble, Vice President Media Development, PodTech.net, co-author Naked Conversations, and blogger at Scobleizer.com. ISBN: 0-470-11345-6
David Meerman Scott is an online thought leadership and viral marketing strategist. The programs he has developed have won numerous awards and are responsible for selling over one billion dollars in products and services worldwide. He is also an instructor for Pragmatic Marketing and he has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, Boston, and Hong Kong and has presented at industry conferences and events in over twenty countries on four continents. Check out Scott's ideas on his own popular marketing blog.
Leading Google Search Expert Offers Five Free 30-Minute Sessions
As website owners know, obtaining a top 10 ranking at the search engines where an online storefront can be quickly spotted by a target audience that is ready to buy can be a daunting task, especially without firsthand knowledge of how the search engine works, which is why natural search expert James Martell has just released a series of free informative sessions from his sold-out Backlinks Workshop.
"Most site owners remain confused about legitimate, 'non-spammy' techniques that can be used to drive free from the search engines to their websites because they simply but lack the understanding of what it takes to obtain top rankings," Martell explains. "They don't realize that the search engines, especially Google, determine where a page is listed in the search results by analyzing others pages on the Internet that are linking to it," Martell, successful publisher, speaker and author of the Affiliate Marketers Handbook - '2006' (THIRD EDITION)," adds.
As he explains in the Backlinks Workshop sessions, the search engines use these "incoming links" (also known as "backlinks") from other sites as "votes" to determine where a website page should reside in the search results.
This explains why if a Webmaster wants a site to rank highly in the natural search results, with Google and other search engines alike, they need other search engine trusted websites linking to the site.
"In short," as Martell says, "There's just no other way."
Aside from releasing the free five 30-minute sessions for Webmasters of every level, Martell has also just announced his next live Backlinks Workshop, right on the heels of the first Backlinks Workshop, which boasted record attendance and sold out in a matter of days.
Slated to begin July 17, the engaging workshop will be delivered to participants desktops via Martell's online conference room technology, providing live, media-rich instruction of every step of Martell's proven inbound link campaign process.
This allows participating Webmasters to learn by watching then by doing, having questions answered by Martell as they go, ultimately providing Webmasters with the tools needed to develop their own links, and a thorough backlinks campaign that gets results.
The night-school style classes will be held every Tuesday, starting at 6 pm (Pacific Time) and last for approximately 90 minutes. Each session is broken into two parts: During the first part, Martell provides live instruction, followed by the second part, which includes an important interactive question and answer period with Martell and participating site owners.
Additionally, the Backlinks Workshop sessions can be reviewed at any time online or through downloadable video, MP3 audio files or written transcripts, providing participants with both the flexibility and ongoing support needed to achieve the strong results desired.
As attendees of the previous sold-out Backlinks Workshop know, website owners will learn the same techniques and strategies Martell has relied on to achieve and maintain his own online success for more than seven years now.
"The inbound link workshop is straight-forward, detailed and systematic," says student Jim Stenson. "James Martell has done it again! I know when I fully implement the system I will finally be ranking in the search engines at a level that will generate the traffic needed for my success."
Fellow student David Caban concurs.
"Martell's backlinks workshop opened my eyes to the true "secret" of getting my sites to rank highly in the search engines," he says. "I loved the week-by-week approach to learning the material and thought it was highly effective. The best part for me was that each session was recorded. Since I wasn't able to make each week's meeting, I was so relieved to know I could watch the video at a later date and still get the information I needed!"
According to both Stenson and Caban, by following along, participating Webmasters will create inbound links to their website, as well as develop a comprehensive system that provides ongoing links, with the cutting through the clutter and delivering real long-term results.
To learn more about James Martell's Backlinks Workshop, and to download five FREE 30 minute sessions loaded with spam-free strategies, tips and techniques for gaining higher rankings at the search engines, go to: http://www.BacklinksWorkshop.com.
About James Martell (http://www.jamesmartell.com)
James Martell resides with his wife Arlene and four children Adam, Justin, Shelby and Victoria in little seaside community (White Rock, British Columbia). Although a carpenter by trade, James is a self-taught entrepreneur who has been a recognized expert of natural search techniques since 1999.
James is the author of the best-selling downloadable Affiliate Marketers Handbook 2006, which now, five years later, has been revised and updated to become the most comprehensive affiliate marketer's handbook available today.
This 389-page training manual and companion video series are continually relied on by people worldwide who, using James' teachings as a roadmap, have guided themselves and their families to home-based business success.
James is also well known through the affiliate marketing industry for his legendary live Coffee Talk interviews, which include candid discussions with some of the top professionals in this field, and his Affiliate Buzz audio newsletters, both of which provide website owners new and old alike with information, resources, tips, tools and techniques on online publishing that website owners can use to achieve their own online success.
8:46 PM | |
Mobile Social Communities - Business Conference Will Be Held July 26-27 in San Francisco
Ticonderoga Ventures, Inc. announces that the next generation of the social networking business: Mobile Social Networking and Wireless Social Communities will be discussed at the July 26-27, 2007 Mobile Social Networking Conference, held in San Francisco.
Speakers at this event include executives from the most respected and largest industry organizations, which include: MySpace, Nokia, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Jangl, Bebo, FAS Research, TNS Media, Tickle, Norwest Venture Partners, ClicMobile, Vumber, Juice Wireless, Sinofriends / 96333.com (China), Sonopia, AirG, EQO, Dogster, .Mobi, Mozes, Social Networking Watch, New Enterprise Associates, Plutolife and Rate.ee (Estonia).
Mobile Social Communities and Mobile Social Media services are currently being developed by online social networking firms. In addition, start up companies have also entered this new market with unique solutions.
Attending the event will be senior executives from all aspects of the social networking industry and online personals industry, as well as executives from wireless telecommunication firms, cell phone and PDA manufacturers, software companies, venture capitalists, marketing firms and entrepreneurs.
The Mobile Social Networking Business Conference taking place in San Francisco will be the venue for both large and small firms to learn, share ideas and explore business opportunities in this emerging market.
The event is scheduled to be at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown San Francisco Hotel for two full days (July 26 and 27, 2007).
For more information on the Mobile and Wireless Social Networking Conference, please visit the website (www.SocialNetworkingConference.com) or contact:
8:46 PM | |
Snakes on a ROFLCon? Yes.
Sometimes whining can pay off.
Sometimes whining can pay off.
Snakes on a Musical?
From Final Curtain by R.T. Jordan, page 2: “All I know is the new Sondheim musical is apparently so depressing it’s actually scaring away the Broadway tourist trade. They need a fun and familiar placeholder at the Palace Theatre until Snakes on a Plane: The Musical opens in February. The producers are looking at [...]
From Final Curtain by R.T. Jordan, page 2:
“All I know is the new Sondheim musical is apparently so depressing it’s actually scaring away the Broadway tourist trade. They need a fun and familiar placeholder at the Palace Theatre until Snakes on a Plane: The Musical opens in February. The producers are looking at Mame.”
Am I the only one who thinks this isn’t a terrible idea?
Thanks Seth.
Snakes on a Vietnamese Plane
This is probably the norm on Vietnam Airlines: Vietnam has seized more than a ton of ratsnakes found aboard a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok, the second time in about a month such snakes were found in air cargo to Vietnam, state media said on Friday.
This is probably the norm on Vietnam Airlines:
Vietnam has seized more than a ton of ratsnakes found aboard a Vietnam Airlines flight from Bangkok, the second time in about a month such snakes were found in air cargo to Vietnam, state media said on Friday.
8:44 PM | |
Hello world!
Welcome to Bloxi.jp. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging! Welcome to Bloxi.jp. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Three ECMTA Announcements In One
Trade association for small and medium sized ecommerce businesses ECMTA (eCommerce Merchants) announced three partnerships today. - The association entered into a 2-year partnership with comGateway which enables merchants to sell to Visa and American Express card holders in the Asia Pacific region who shop from US Internet Retailers on www.onenow.com and www.globaleshop.com. ECMTA members will have the set up fee of $2,500 and the yearly fees waved for two years. - eCommerce Merchants...
Short URLs With Analytics
The problem with using short URL services such as TinyURL is that you can't really tell how effective they are (how many people click on them) much less where they have been seen on the wider Web. In a time when analytics is so important, I believe that services such as Cli.gs (which offers short URLs with traffic statistics) will eventually become the norm. Cli.gs enables anyone to create a short URL from a longer one. Web pro's can create will not be able to see keep the...
Show Dynamic Data In Flash
Static charts just don't impress users like they used to (if they ever did). Savvy Web users want interactivity and they want it on the fly. Here are three exceptional chart scripts to help you display dynamic data in Flash. Read more about three chart scripts to show dynamic data in Flash.
FastHost Reseller - One Year Free
So you want to be a web hosting reseller? FastHosts, a reseller web host provider popular in the UK has launched in the US and is offering an aggressive offer for resellers - one year free unlimited reseller web hosting ($50.00/month thereafter). If you want to sell web hosting and domains under your own brand, it's definitely something to consider. Fasthosts provides both Linux and MS web hosting, domain name registrations and MS Exchange email packages. But that's not all. Fasthost...
Green Technology for Sustainability
According to the results of a recent Microsoft survey, small businesses increasingly rely on technology to help the environment and save money. In fact, 60 percent of small biz decision-makers save money by using sustainable technologies. Thirty-eight percent of respondents reported that their companies are more focused on being environmentally friendly than they were one year ago. 69 percent of respondents reported that environmentally friendly practices are important for their...
at the delray beach wii tennis tournament
Posted by mobile phone:Just met gil mayron, nice set up. Looking forward to kicking some ass. Sponsored by prince. Will keep you updated.
Posted by mobile phone:
Just met gil mayron, nice set up. Looking forward to kicking some ass.
Sponsored by prince.
Will keep you updated.
Ecommerce Seals From buySAFE at Flashecom
buySAFE announced that it has partnered with Flashecom to make buySAFE available to merchants using the Flashecom eCommerce platform. Merchants using Flashecom are now pre-approved for buySAFE's Bonding Solution, which is available as an embedded feature of the Flashecom platform and can be activated by Flashecom customers from their Flashecom Special Services configuration screen. The buySAFE Seal, displayed on Bonded Merchant websites, provides a third-party endorsement of a...
Dynamic Pricing Model for Behavioral Targeting
Online advertising network Turn announced last week the release of a dynamic pricing solution for behaviorally targeted advertising. Most networks currently price behavioral offerings as a premium above a fixed CPM (cost per thousand impressions) price for standard inventory on the promise of performance. The problem is that this method does not account for recency of behavior or relevance of users to the advertisers message. Turn's solution prices inventory based on value to the...
8:44 PM | |
On replacing the right light bulb.
A few days ago, the front left turn signal in my wife’s Geo Metro stopped working, and so one of my chores today was to replace it. I went down to the garage with a pair of screwdrivers and the new bulb, expecting that it would be a pretty simple repair. A 1997 Geo Metro [...]
A few days ago, the front left turn signal in my wife’s Geo Metro stopped working, and so one of my chores today was to replace it. I went down to the garage with a pair of screwdrivers and the new bulb, expecting that it would be a pretty simple repair.
A 1997 Geo Metro is one of the cars with an integrated headlight-and-signal-light unit that’s accessed from the front corner of the engine compartment, so I popped the hood and went to work. The lens is held on by a couple of obvious clips, so I removed those. No luck; obviously there was something else that needed to be unfastened on the bottom, too. The next obvious thing to undo were a couple of large screws holding the entire light unit on. I removed those, and still no luck — there was something holding it on the outside bottom corner, which I couldn’t figure out how to get to.
This, I concluded, was the appropriate time to read the documentation, in the form of the owner’s manual. The owners manual explained that one didn’t actually remove the lens or the housing at all, but replaced the bulbs by reaching in behind the light housing, unfastening the socket, and pulling it out. It went on to say — and this is only a mild paraphrase — “Reaching the socket to unfasten it is actually physically impossible unless you are a leprechaun. You will want to take your car to the dealer and let them do it.” Back to plan A.
Some more investigation found the third screw holding the headlight unit in place, hidden in a cavity behind the bumper that I could either look into or reach into at any given time, but not both. So I removed that while contemplating the pipes running across the ceiling, and pulled out the headlight unit, and pulled the socket out of the now-accessible back of it, and discovered a small light bulb entirely unlike the one that the parts store had sold me to replace it.
A small light bulb which, to all appearances, seemed perfectly intact and functional.
Some further testing of the corresponding lights on the other side of the car informed me that what I had just gone to all of that effort to access was not, in fact, the turn signal light at all, but merely the parking light, which was just as functional as it appeared.
So, thus enlightened, I reassembled the headlight unit with only slightly less effort than had been required to disassemble it, and then replaced the actual turn signal bulb, which is in the middle of the front bumper behind a lens that’s held in place by two quite obvious and quite visible screws that are, as it turns out, entirely trivial to remove and replace.
Audio Interview, Dan Neely, Roundtable presenter, Cracking the social commerce code
Dan Neely is the CEO of Networked Insights, a Madison, WI firm that plays in the social commerce space. Using a somewhat random approach, I looked for a roundtable that seemed to be energized and conducted the following interview after Dan’s roundtable talk on Tuesday afternoon. The duration of my friendly interrogation is around 13 [...]
Dan Neely is the CEO of Networked Insights, a Madison, WI firm that plays in the social commerce space. Using a somewhat random approach, I looked for a roundtable that seemed to be energized and conducted the following interview after Dan’s roundtable talk on Tuesday afternoon. The duration of my friendly interrogation is around 13 minutes where we discuss some of the following areas:
- A walk-thru of a community scenario using one of their clients, Net Shops, as an example.
- Back office activities regarding the management, creation and seeding of social media
- Discussion on outreach to existing social media content creators
- The methods and role of analytics and knowing where to look for the correct conversations
- Mining for sentiment in textual posts, the methods around contextualization
- Brief discussion on algorithms used and the importance of influencer conversations
- Tracking blogs vs. social media - why social media may have an edge
- Dan’s background (that included founding team at Essurance and head of strategy at Scient)
- Various statistics on social networking
- Some words on cognitive mapping, AI and dealing with the loudest person in the room (on the Net)
Gap.com CEO Discusses International Strategy, Free Shipping, and Trading Down in Candid Q&A
At the end of his session, which Linda Bustos already covered very well, Gap.com CEO Toby Lenk had about 20 minutes left in his time slot and opened the floor up for questions. People were almost jumping out of their seats to get to the microphones first. Here were some of the most interesting components of [...]
At the end of his session, which Linda Bustos already covered very well, Gap.com CEO Toby Lenk had about 20 minutes left in his time slot and opened the floor up for questions. People were almost jumping out of their seats to get to the microphones first. Here were some of the most interesting components of the lively Q&A:
On an international plan: Lenk mentioned that Gap already has stores in many international markets and that the company was “actively evaluating when to support those markets with ecommerce,” he said. “Don’t be surprised if you start to see us do some things there.” He also mentioned that “the UK is a fantastic market and is growing like crazy.” Read: Gap hasn’t announced an international ecommerce plan yet, but you could hear about one soon.
On the phrase that the “web is a company’s biggest store:” Lenk seemed put-off by this common analogy because he said that thinking ”degrades the importance of the web.” In addition to using the internet as a sales channel, he said, it is also the best marketing program that a company has. And, unlike print and television advertising, it’s marketing that actually makes money, instead of costs money.
On cross-channel sales attribution: While the company does not reward store associates for online performance or online staff for store performance, the conversation is being had among executives.
On how to “break the rules” if you’re only in middle management: Lenk suggested that those in ecommerce who might not yet be the big decisionmakers “find an evangelist” within the company, like a CIO or CFO, that will help sell new ideas to company executives. However, he said, it’s nearly impossible to be innovative if upper management does not want to invest in new ideas. “If the top people don’t want to hear it, you may stall,” he said. “Start hoping for a new CEO.”
On the possibility of the website’s universitality (having all Gap’s websites under one roof) causing cannibalization among Gap brands: In today’s economy, Lenk acknowledged that some of Gap.com’s customers may want to “trade down” to Old Navy. However, he said, that’s no reason not to combine all brands into an easy format for customers to access. “Don’t get hung up on the idea of customers trading down within your brands,” he said. Besides, if the customer can’t find something at Gap.com, the company would much rather that customer visit another one of its brands than a competitor’s site.
Lenk also provided a more optimstic perspective on the “trading down” concept. “Customers are aspirational,” he said. “They really like to think about trading up.” In fact, Lenk said, since combining Gap.com, OldNavy.com, BananaRepublic.com and Piperlime.com, the biggest winners have been Banana Republic and Piper Lime: the brands with the highest price points.
On social media: Lenk acknowledged that the company has experimented in the social networking world. Saying that some in the company have “skepticism” while others have “hope,” Lenk admitted that he isn’t sure how powerful social media will be for Gap. But he did say that the company was learning and testing to understand the value of sites like Facebook.
On customer feedback: The company has not yet integrated customer feedback on its site. Unlike other companies that sell merchandise from many manufacturers, Gap’s merchandise is its own. Lenk said that selling executives on the idea of putting both positive and negative feedback on the site is “a harder sell because, emotionally, it’s a bit of a hurdle,” but he acknowledged that customer feedback is very important and that it could help the company “do what we do.”
On free shipping: Shop.org members have been talking about the value of free shipping for weeks, so it was no surprise when this question was raised by an audience member. When asked his perspective of free shipping, Lenk smiled, then remarked that talking about free shipping was “always a painful discussion.” He conceded that Gap falls in the middle of the pack on the free shipping debate, offering free shipping on occasion but relying primarily on its flat rate shipping, offering to ship any order from one or multiple Gap websites for a flat $7. He said that customer feedback on the flat shipping rate has been strong and that they’re willing to pay it.
On loyalty programs: An attendee asked if combining the brand’s websites also meant that loyalty programs were combined. In fact, Lenk said, the company integrated the Banana Republic credit card into all of its brands several years ago. Customers can use the card at any Gap website to pay for merchandise and earn and redeem points. he said that integrating the Banana Republic credit card into all of the brands was the company’s “first step in breaking the rules” and that the process was hard but worthwhile.
On technology: “If you’re going to be an ecommerce leader, you have to be willing to invest in technology,” Lenk said. “And you have to be willing to invest in it every year.”
International Travel with the iPhone
A description of my experience traveling with the iPhone, tips for reducing international charges, and recommendations for using your American iPhone in Europe. At the beginning of September I visited Germany for a couple of weeks. As I don’t speak German and it had been over a decade since I was there last, I was [...]
A description of my experience traveling with the iPhone, tips for reducing international charges, and recommendations for using your American iPhone in Europe.
At the beginning of September I visited Germany for a couple of weeks. As I don’t speak German and it had been over a decade since I was there last, I was excited about the prospect of taking my iPhone. I figured that quick access to maps and tools like Google Translate would smooth over any inevitable bumps along the road. I wasn’t, however, excited about paying exorbitant data usage fees ??? AT&T calling and unlimited data plans don’t cover usage outside of the US.
CALLING PLANS
The first thing I did was sign up for the AT&T World Traveler plan ($5.99 per month) to reduce any fees I might incur from calls. The World Traveler plan basically saves you 30?? a minute for calls that would normally be charged at international roaming charges (so in Germany I paid 99??/minute instead of the normal $1.29/minute).
DATA PLANS
Now, unfortunately the World Traveler plan DOES NOT cover data usage, so I had a choice, hope that I could find unprotected WIFI networks and pay the $.0195/KB (or, $19.50/MB) data charge when I couldn’t, or sign up for one of AT&T’s Data Global packages. The data add-ons come in four options:
- 20MB ($24.99)
- 50MB ($59.99)
- 100MB ($119.99)
- 200MB ($199.99)
I looked at my bills from the past few months, and since I generally use about 120MB a month, I figured I’d be fine with the 50MB package. After all, I was only planing on being gone 2 weeks and restricting my data usage to the map application, some light email, and Google Translate. AT&T prorates these data plans, so if you don’t use every last megabyte, they’ll credit you back what you didn’t use. Since I opted for the 50MB plan, that I meant I was paying about $1.20/MB.
TIPS
In order to make sure I didn’t go over my data limit when traveling, I took a number of steps to ensure that I wasn’t unnecessarily downloading/uploading information.
- Turn Fetch New Data OFF. On your iPhone select Settings>Fetch New Data and set to OFF. This will ensure that your iPhone won’t keep trying to update your email, applications that need updating, etc. every time it’s got a signal.
- Reset Data usage. Go to Settings>General>Usage and select Reset Statistics at the bottom. This will help you keep track of how much information you are sending/receiving.
- When you aren’t using your iPhone to do anything besides call people, turn Data Roaming OFF. On your iPhone select Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming and turn it OFF. Just another precaution to make sure you aren’t downloading the entire Internet when you aren’t using your phone.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
Just like the American dollar, 50MB doesn’t seem to go as far in Europe. At times I wondered whether I was using Metric megabytes. And, unlike most Americans, most Germans seem obsessive-compulsive about protecting their wireless network. I found very few “free” WIFI networks and those that I could access where generally owned by T-Mobile, O2, or some other network provider that wanted me to pay ???7.95 for a day of access.
Even though I was only using Internet access for maps and Google Translate, after 3 days in Germany I was starting to worry about my data usage. My phone said that I had only sent 1 MB and received 13 MB, but when I logged into my account online, it said that I had used 35MB! I hastily called AT&T’s international assistance and they explained that I had only used 11MB. So I had three different measures of how much data I was using, and apparently the only accurate one could be found by calling AT&T.
At the end of 10 days, I was getting ready to head back to the United States, but decided to switch phones with my wife who was planning on continuing on to Italy with her sister and mother. As she was going to travel with my iPhone, I wanted to make sure she was going to be OK on data. I again called AT&T and this time they told me that I had used almost 63MB!
The operator explained, however, that the person who had set up my Global Data plan had not backdated it to my billing cycle date. Once she did that, it lowered my usage, but I immediately upgraded to the 100MB plan just to be safe.
SPEED
Most of the time I was connected to either the O2 or Vodafone networks, which are both GSM/GPRS 1800 and equivalent to the EDGE network on AT&T (as much as 600kbps). Some metro areas had UMTS 2100, equivalent to 3G, but I didn’t come across it much. As I mentioned earlier, “free” WIFI was virtually non-existent.
RECOMMENDATIONS
While my iPhone did help overcome some of the initial culture shock, ultimately I was paying $119.99 for a crutch to lean on more than anything else. The iPhone is a nice tool/toy to quickly access information and entertainment, but while traveling in another country it was mostly an added distraction that I didn’t need.
Google Maps for Europe are excellent, but many of the directions are just as flawed as some of those I have stumbled across here in the states. At one point Google had me driving down a narrow street in Baden-Baden meant only for pedestrians. Talk about stress. I could feel the “stupid American” glares punching holes in the windshield of my SmartCar. 
By the end of the trip, I had completely abandoned using the iPhone’s map function in favor of watching where I was going, following road signs, and occasionally looking at a roadmap.
Google Translate and some of the other tools I used were also helpful, but at the end of the day, they didn’t help me learn a new language. Actually talking and listening to people, however, did. What a novel concept.
If you are planning a trip to Europe and want to take your iPhone, I recommend following the steps above to limit your costs, but at the end of the day remember that you are visiting another country to experience their culture. It’s kind of hard to do that when you have your face buried in your iPhone all the time.
To signup or learn more about AT&T’s International calling plans, visit their website or dial 1-800-331-0500 or 611 from your iPhone.
Marketing ideas you wish you had thought of
Have you ever stumbled upon a marketing message that makes you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Pinny Gniwisch of ice.com calls those “A-Ha Moments.” These Eureka! moments bring you — and consumers — out of the lull of a steady stream of marketing messages. They make you stop in your tracks. They surprise you. [...]
Have you ever stumbled upon a marketing message that makes you think, “Why didn’t I think of that?!” Pinny Gniwisch of ice.com calls those “A-Ha Moments.” These Eureka! moments bring you — and consumers — out of the lull of a steady stream of marketing messages. They make you stop in your tracks. They surprise you. These moments were the focus of “The A-Ha Moment: Creative, Out-of-the-Box Marketing Concepts by Retailers,” a lively, interactive session that rounded out Tuesday’s Critics’ Corner sessions.
Gniwisch and Jacob Hawkins of Overstock.com took a look at some of their favorite “A-Ha Moments” using a classic ranking scale of 1 to 5 stars. Here were a few of them:
- The next time you’re standing in line at airport security, take a moment to examine the security buckets. Zappos is putting marketing messages in the buckets that you deposit your shoes and bags in for the X-ray machine. While the idea is innovative and new, one session participant noted that she would probably forget to order shoes once she reached her destination and got on a computer.
- Southwest Airlines held a contest called “Are you Nutty Enough to be Southwest’s Next Blog Star?” Gniwisch thought that the blogging medium is well-suited to the personality-filled, casual brand, but Jacobs was curious about the ROI on blogging.
- Green done right. Patagonia let users explore the roots of its products virtually. The company knows it has passionate customers who care about the environment, and it allowed them to trace the origins of a shirt from the cotton sourced abroad to the finished product.
One “A-Ha Moment” that didn’t fare so well in today’s ranking systems? Putting a variety of logos and brand messages on eggs in a carton. The main complaint from Jacobs? “You don’t want people smashing your brand!”
What ads have stopped you in your tracks lately?
Penny Smith’s Proof on the Navier-Stokes Equations
This week’s big news in fluid flow simulation is Penny Smith’s existence proof for smooth solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. (See also this in-depth explanation of the proof, and various other mentions of it here, here, and here.) (Update: Regrettably, the article has been withdrawn due to a “serious flaw”. The piece described below [...]
This week’s big news in fluid flow simulation is Penny Smith’s existence proof for smooth solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. (See also this in-depth explanation of the proof, and various other mentions of it here, here, and here.)
(Update: Regrettably, the article has been withdrawn due to a “serious flaw”. The piece described below is still interesting, however.)
The question that she’s solving is this: Given an infinite three-dimensional domain with arbitrary initial conditions, does a smooth solution to the Navier-Stokes equations (which are the equations describing the flow of water, air, or other fluids) exist on that domain for all future time? This problem was considered one of the most important open questions in mathematics by the Clay Institute, who are offering a one million dollar prize for a solution. It’s of some physical relevance directly, since if it’s not true then either there are cases where the Navier-Stokes equations don’t describe physical reality or else physical reality can behave in surprising ways. The greater significance, though, is that it and the methods that are used to prove it will be useful in further mathematical understanding of this particularly difficult problem.
Even though this is an existence proof and not a constructive one — which means that it proves that a solution exists, but does not provide an analytical method for finding one — there are some interesting construtive portions to the proof. Specifically, she shows that the solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations can be expressed as the limit of a set of hyperbolic equations. There is some interesting physical and computational relevance to how that works, which I thought would be interesting to more mathematically-inclined readers.
To start with, the Navier-Stokes equations are differential equations in four variables — pressure (p) and three directional components of velocity (ui, for i=1, 2, or 3). They look like this:
There are some interesting features of this set of equations. First, there are four equations and four unknown variables, so it’s a closed set. However, if we start matching up variables with equations on a one-to-one basis, we find that the first three equations match up neatly with the three components of velocity, leaving the last for the pressure — even though it doesn’t actually have pressure in it (much less a time-derivative of pressure)!
What happens, then, is that at any point in time, the first three equations describe the time derivative of the velocity, as a function only of the local field at the current time (that is, they’re hyperbolic). This means that in these equations information travels across the domain at a finite rate, which is a very nice feature computationally; one can compute a solution at each grid point without needing to know the solution everywhere else. It’s also handy mathematically.
The fourth equation, though, messes all of this up. What it says is that the pressure needs to be chosen such that this velocity condition is satisfied everywhere. Physically speaking, if the velocities would be trying to compress a certain spot, the pressure there gets increased to counteract that, so it doesn’t compress. This isn’t a local constraint, because it’s the derivative of the pressure that affects the velocities, and so a change in pressure in one place causes immediate changes throughout the whole domain — essentially, the speed of information transfer is infinite. In a computational simulation, the vast bulk of the time is usually spent taking care of the pressure.
So, how does Penny Smith’s analysis approximate this by a set of hyperbolic equations? There are two parts to that. The first part is that she needs a set of first-order equations for her analysis, and this contains a second order term. Fixing that is straightforward, we simply introduce more variables, and a mathematical identity. The (nine) new variables are the components of a “viscous stress tensor”, defined as:
This suggests a rather simple computational method: solve the problem with a small but non-zero value of ?, and thereby obtain a solution that’s close to the desired one. This used to be a fairly common method, because hyperbolic problems are relatively easy to solve, and it’s called “artificial compressiblity”. It works reasonably well in some cases, although as ? gets closer to zero, the rates of information transfer around the domain get faster, and so the equations take more work to solve computationally. And, of course, if you use a larger ?, the rates of information transfer get slower, and so the solutions aren’t as close to the real solution. But it’s reasonably good for some problems.
Now, in Penny Smith’s case with everything in first-order equations, there are some additional equations that aren’t in hyperbolic form, so she does exactly the same thing to those equations, adding a time-derivative term to those as well:
(Note: Equations in this article were typeset with MimeTeX.)
Daylight Saving Time updates for Windows 2000 and 98
I just found out today, when I turned my laptop on, that Microsoft’s “Windows Update” updates for Windows 2000 do not include a fix to make it compatible with the new version of Daylight Saving Time. (And, yes, apparently “Saving” is correct and “Savings” incorrect. I didn’t know that before.) Apparently since [...]
I just found out today, when I turned my laptop on, that Microsoft’s “Windows Update” updates for Windows 2000 do not include a fix to make it compatible with the new version of Daylight Saving Time. (And, yes, apparently “Saving” is correct and “Savings” incorrect. I didn’t know that before.) Apparently since it’s not a security issue, they feel no need to actually do anything much about it.
There are, however, solutions. First, there’s the semi-official Microsoft solution, which involves some really hairy poking around in the system registry. (And, by “really hairy”, I mean that it looks signficantly more so than poking around in the system registry usually is.)
There’s also a handy little freeware utility that does those changes for you automatically, created by the fellow who runs IntelliAdmin.com. His blog post describing it is here, and the actual download is here. I tried it out, and as far as I can tell it worked perfectly (aside from not actually closing the window when done). He suggests setting your clock ahead to November to watch the time flip over to see if it worked, but it’s easier just to go into the “Time” control panel that you get from right-clicking on the clock and selecting “Adjust Date/Time”, and looking at the “Time Zone” panel to make sure it says “Pacific Daylight Time” (or whatever) rather than “Pacific Standard Time” for the time zone.
For those of you still running Windows 98, he also wrote a fix for that, even though there isn’t an official Microsoft solution at all. The blog post about that one is here, and the download is here.
It’s an interesting observation on advertising, too. It probably took him a day or so to code up this program and test it, and he’s now got a first-page Google hit for people looking for a solution to one of the bigger problems of the month — and people like me are passing around links to his blog, too. You just can’t buy advertising that good.
(The rest of his blog looks fairly interesting, too, if you’re doing Windows administration. This little trick for automatically putting the current date in a filename is particularly neat, for instance.)
Customer Support Fun with Academic Journals
I’ve been spending most of today catching up on a huge backlog of journal citation alerts and downloading the relevant articles to read before I start writing the “other work” section of my dissertation in the next week or two. So I’ve been noticing a few things about the websites of various journal publishers. One [...]
I’ve been spending most of today catching up on a huge backlog of journal citation alerts and downloading the relevant articles to read before I start writing the “other work” section of my dissertation in the next week or two. So I’ve been noticing a few things about the websites of various journal publishers.
One of the things that I’ve noticed is how different websites handle feedback from their customers—and, in particular, bug reports (and feature requests).
For example, the American Institute of Physics has direct links to an online “submit query” form directly off their help page, and also has a prominently-featured email address—which was quite useful, since I got a server error when I tried to use the online form. We’ll see how quickly they reply (if they do; bug reports don’t really need replies), but in my opinion, that page is pretty much how things should be. It would be nice if they had an explicit mention of “bug reports go here”, but “Technical Support Query Form” is close enough.
Contrast this with the Wiley “Contact Us” page, which I’ve been dealing with for the past fifteen minutes or so. Why have I been dealing with it for fifteen minutes, for what started out as a trivial feature request? Well, first off, at the bottom of the How To Contact Customer Support page (yes, that’s a different page, which you get to by clicking a link on the “Contact Us” page), it says, “We regret that Wiley InterScience Customer Support does not accept queries by email.” That, of course, means that the only option to actually say anything to them is through their web system, regardless of whether or not it happens to be broken.
So, consider the web form. That “Contact Us” page has a couple of links to customer support: one labeled “Online Customer Support” promising FAQs and so forth, and one labeled “Contact Customer Support” and noting that one should use it if “unable to log in”. Despite the appearance of being different things, they both go to the same page, which is a login form, with a place to register an account in the fine print at the bottom. Now, I don’t have a personal account here, since I’m using a university site license for the content, so it looks like they’re asking me to go through the whole process of creating an account on the site just to file a simple bug report.
Eventually I noticed, down at the fine print on the bottom of that page, the link for “if you don’t want to register, click here”. Good. No, I don’t want to register; I want to file a bug report and be done with that.
That gets me to the main customer service web page, which then has a link to “Ask A Question”. It does not have a link to “File a Bug Report”, or to “Make a Feature Request”, or to anything at all which would be an appropriate phrasing for any problem that would require them to do anything whatsoever about it, but that sort of implicit assumption that it’s the customer’s problem seems to be the style these days, so I dutifully clicked on the “Ask A Question” link, and got presented with a web form.
This web form has a fair bit of clever Javascript to make my life “easier”, so that depending on which options I click for my problem, different subcategory boxes appear. Once I’ve got them all filled in, a box pops up for me to select my regional location and enter my institution. (Apparently it’s a barter system; I have to trade demographic information to them before they’ll answer my “question”.) Except that this doesn’t actually work in the version of Opera that I use, so the “Location” box never appears, which means that the “Error: You didn’t enter a location” message that I got when I tried to submit the form was really quite cryptic. And rather hard to work around, too, until I decoded it to “Error: We don’t support your browser,” and tried Mozilla, in which the Javascript works a little better.
Once I entered the question and clicked submit, I still wasn’t done. First, there was the little matter that since I hadn’t registered before, they wanted me to do so now, and were presenting me with the registration form to fill out. I gave in and gave them a password to associate with my email address and the other information they wanted, and again clicked submit.
And, again, I still wasn’t done, because that gave me a page along the lines of “We’ve selected five answers from our FAQ that our pigeons think may have something to do with your question. Do any of them answer it? If not, please scroll down a screen and click the ‘No, these don’t answer my question’ link at the bottom of the page.” Of course the FAQ answers don’t answer my question; it’s a bug report, and it needs someone on your end to do something about it. (This is why I am annoyed with customer service websites that phrase things as “ask a question” rather than “contact customer support”; it seems that it’s a short jump from there to setting up the whole process as if the only things the site has to deal with are questions.)
At this point, it finally accepted the question, gave me a tracking number, and told me that I should expect a reply in 24 hours. We shall see.
So, let’s recap on why this matters (beyond the obvious bug report). A good-sized chunk of my dissertation is going to get reworked into a journal paper or two, and both AIP and Wiley publish journals that would be good places to submit it. One publisher’s customer-service site is a clear, simple, single-page website with a no-javascript online form and a prominently-placed email address. The other publisher’s customer service site comes with its own 650kb(!) user manual in PDF form and makes it a 15-minute complicated web maze to file a trivial bug report. So, whose paper-submission process would I be likely to want to deal with?
Edited to add: I got an emailed reply to all three messages to Wiley, within four hours of submitting the questions. It was polite and clearly from a human being, and made it clear that my initial feature request was noted and relates to things they are currently working on. It was slightly off-putting that the response to my bug report about the web form was essentially “We’ve tested this on all current browser versions, and recommend upgrading your browser” (rather than something like “Sorry about that; I’ll let our web team know, though it may be low-priority for them since it’s not an up-to-date browser”), but other than that, the message was responsive and prompt, and seemed to involve at least as much thought and consideration as I’d put into the messages I’d sent. There’s more to customer service than just the website!
Fixing AC power plugs in various HP and Compaq laptops
(This is a slightly-edited repost of an article I wrote elsewhere, back in 2004.) Some time ago, I posted a comment on This Is Broken, noting my frustration with motherboard-mounted AC power jacks on laptops, and noting that I had fixed a couple of them by following some online directions. Several people asked me to [...]
(This is a slightly-edited repost of an article I wrote elsewhere, back in 2004.)
Some time ago, I posted a comment on This Is Broken, noting my frustration with motherboard-mounted AC power jacks on laptops, and noting that I had fixed a couple of them by following some online directions. Several people asked me to explain further, and I decided it would be useful to write up a more detailed explanation of how I did it.
First, the keywords: My experience is with a Compaq Presario 1210 laptop (which is very similar to the Compaq 1600 series), and a pair of HP Pavilion xf235 laptops, but this should apply to most similar laptops; the advice is mostly generic.
The problem, in short, is that most laptops have their AC power jacks hard-mounted to the motherboard just like any other soldered-on component, and for many of them this is the only structural connection. Unlike most other components, though, power jacks regularly get yanked on when someone steps on the power cord or such, and the solder joints (or the mounting tabs, which after all are pretty thin metal) start to fatigue, and eventually they crack. At this point, the laptop will only charge if the plug is twiddled “just so” (if at all), and doesn’t work reliably.
The official solution, of course, is to replace the motherboard — which fixes the symptom, but not the overall design problem. On a laptop with a street value of $300, this is also not an economical solution. But it does mean that you don’t really have anything to lose if you toast the motherboard trying to fix it yourself.
So. Enough preamble. Here’s how I fixed the problem.
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A DESCRIPTION OF HOW I DID THIS REPAIR. FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT; I MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT YOU WILL HAVE A WORKING LAPTOP WHEN YOU FINISH. SOME MINOR STEPS HAVE BEEN OMITTED.
On the Compaq, I used the solution that I found on http://www.delanoscientific.com/cpq1675.html. Essentially, you take a three-inch strand of some form of heavy-but-flexible two-conductor wire — that site recommends a good grade of speaker wire, but I happened to have a dead iBook power supply that I salvaged some wire from — and solder a socket on the end of it that matches the plug on the power cord, feed it through the original power jack hole in the case, and solder the other end to the motherboard where the original power jack used to be. One trick is to tie a knot in this new pigtail just inside the case, so that pulling on it only pulls on the knot, rather than pulling on the solder connections.
On the two HP Pavilion computers, I found a better solution. There is a hole in the case, right next to where the power jack goes, that’s intended for a PS/2 keyboard or mouse plug on other versions of the laptop. However, it’s unused and blanked off, which makes it a great place to put a case-mounted power jack — and it turns out that a standard 1/2″-diameter panel-mount jack fits perfectly. I used a Philmore No. 248 “DC Power Jack”, which has 2.5mm x 5.5mm pin and socket diameters, thereby matching the original plug. While you’re at the electronics shop, get a decent soldering iron and a power supply for it that lets you control the temperature. If you haven’t done much soldering before, find some sort of discarded computer-board junk that you can practice on.
Here’s what the new case-mounted jack looks like when it’s installed; the original power jack hole is just to the left of it:
Actually doing the replacement took me about two hours, on the last one I did. The time-consuming part is that you need to completely disassemble the laptop to remove the motherboard. This starts (on the HP Pavilion computers) with gently popping out the panel above the keyboard that has the CD playback and volume controls on it, and continuing by removing every screw you come across. A digital camera is a very useful timesaver here; photograph the screwdriver pointing to every screw you remove, put the screw next to a number on a numbered piece of paper, and photograph it there — then, go through the photos backwards and you have a detailed set of reassembly instructions.
When you have the motherboard all the way out, the next step is to remove the remnants of the old power jack, and solder on some one-inch-long wires (or the pigtail, if you’re not using a case-mounted jack; remember to feed it through the case first!) in its place.
Here, it’s worth noting that the original power jack has three pins, and acts somewhat like a switch. One pin goes to the ground, and becomes connected to the power-adaptor ground when the adaptor is plugged in to the laptop. The second pin is the +19.5V (or whatever the power voltage is) line; when the adaptor is not plugged in, it becomes connected to the ground pin. The third pin is a logic pin for determining when the adaptor is connected; it is open-circuit when the adaptor is not plugged in, and connected to the ground pin when it is. (Unfortunately, I didn’t keep a record of which pin goes with which connection to post here; sorry.)
This could theoretically be problematic with the pigtail-mounted socket, as that socket only has two connections — the logic line for sensing whether the adaptor is connected does not exist. I simply ignored this problem on the Compaq laptop, and the computer seemed to work fine; it may or may not work properly on other computers. On the case-mounted jack, there are three lines, so this is not an issue.
Meanwhile, speaking of the case-mounted jack for the HP Pavilion laptops, there’s the issue of attaching it in the case. Remove the blanking plate from the case by appropriate means (I did this by grinding off the heat-swaged mounting pins), and install the jack in the hole that this leaves. You’ll need to remove a bit of material from the inside top of the jack to prevent interference with the top half of the case later; now is a good time to do that. Also, if you want to be fancy, you can cut a small rectangle out of the blanking plate and superglue it in place to cover the old power-jack hole.
Anyhow, you then reinstall the motherboard (with its new wiring) in the case, and — if using the case-mounted jack — connect the wires to the jack. On the HP Pavilions, make sure the wires aren’t over the LEDS immediately behind it on the motherboard; there are clear-plastic “light pipes” that have to go on top of those, and the wires can easily get in the way. Then reassamble the laptop, and that’s “all there is to it”.
In comments on the original version, someone mentioned that http://www.laptopjacks.com sells exact replacements for the original laptop power jacks, if you want to go that route, though they’re rather more expensive than the generic parts. Other people mentioned repairing the following laptops (which I’ll list for the sake of Google) with this advice: HP Pavillion 1150, Compaq Presario 1685, HP ze1115, HP xt412, HP Pavilion ZE43xx series, Compaq 2195US, and a Compaq 2100. I’m particularly entertained by the fellow from Montana with the Compaq 2100; he couldn’t find the right replacement fitting, and so ended up using a trailer-hitch plug set from the local truck stop.
Conversations at LAX - Kelly Mooney & the challenges of customer centricity
Kelly Mooney, a member of Shop.org’s Board of Directors and President of Resource Interactive, a firm with deep roots in qualitative methods used to study consumer behavior (among other things), was kind enough to let me hit the record key during last night’s reception at LAX. I hit the record key after asking the question: “why [...]
Kelly Mooney, a member of Shop.org’s Board of Directors and President of Resource Interactive, a firm with deep roots in qualitative methods used to study consumer behavior (among other things), was kind enough to let me hit the record key during last night’s reception at LAX.
I hit the record key after asking the question: “why are retailers slow to embrace qualitative and observational research when the insights delivered by these methods can inform all aspects of the customer experience.”
Here are some topics she covered during our nearly five-minute talk:
- Why customer focus is a strategic issue and some expansion on the challenges
- The role of the CEO as the customer experience officer
- Comments on the impact of having a product centric legacy culture
- Comments on Borders CEO George Jones’ keynote with specifics on cross channel vs. multichannel
7:23 PM | |
Linux TrueType Fonts
Guide to installing Windows fonts on Linux.
Customised command prompt fonts
Step by step guide to customising the font used by the Windows command prompt.
How to increase size of virtual drive
How to increase size of virtual drive
Install Microsoft Loopback Adapter
Guide to installing Microsoft Loopback Adapter.
Oracle Login Script
Customise the Oracle SQL*Plus environment.
Sitemap
Sitemap for Discombobulator.net
Adding images to XHTML buttons
Walk through for adding images to XHTML buttons using CSS.
How to clone a virtual machine
Guide to cloning a VMWare virtual machine.
SSRS report with nullable parameter from drop down list
Walk through of defining SSRS report with an optional drop down list parameter.
7:23 PM | |
6th grade
pptDownload ch04_win.ppt
6th grade
Download rock_stydy_guide_key.doc Here is your key Study for your test on Monday Ms s
Download rock_stydy_guide_key.doc
Here is your key Study for your test on Monday Ms s
6th grade
Today was awesome with our metamorphic sandwiches. Remember all your work on rocks is due Monday. Study for your test on rocks. Ms s
Today was awesome with our metamorphic sandwiches. Remember all your work on rocks is due Monday.
Study for your test on rocks. Ms s
Is This The World We Created?
If you follow my delicious bookmarks at all, you will have noticed that I’ve developed a bit of a macabre fascination with articles about the events that have come to be known as America’s Current Financial Crisis. Here’s the full list of those that I’ve considered significant for one reason or another over the past [...]
If you follow my delicious bookmarks at all, you will have noticed that I’ve developed a bit of a macabre fascination with articles about the events that have come to be known as America’s Current Financial Crisis. Here’s the full list of those that I’ve considered significant for one reason or another over the past few days. They’re in no order, at this point, as I’m in a bit of an “information gathering” phase, reading through all these articles repeatedly to try and tease out the unifying threads.
I’ve quoted what I thought was a critical or key point in each article, though I change my mind as all this churns around in my head. As a teaser, you might pay particular attention to the articles from Open Secrets — that is, The Center for Responsive Politics — which will figure prominently in what I have to say. Open Secrets provides a look at the intersection of economics and politics that, as far as I know, is unlike any you’ll find anywhere else on the web.
- Bloomberg.com: Worldwide - “The market storm that brought down Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc. and other pillars of U.S. finance may have also blown holes in the portfolios of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator John Kerry and more than 50 other members of Congress…. Altogether, 56 senators and representatives had stakes in AIG, Lehman, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns Cos. or IndyMac Bancorp Inc. — some of the biggest casualties of the market bloodbath — according to the Center for Responsive Politics….”
- Abroad, Bailout Is Seen as a Free Market Detour - NYTimes.com - “Is the United States no longer the global beacon of unfettered, free-market capitalism? In extending a last-minute $85 billion lifeline to American International Group, the troubled insurer, Washington has not only turned away from decades of rhetoric about the virtues of the free market and the dangers of government intervention, but it has also probably undercut future American efforts to promote such policies abroad…. ‘I fear the government has passed the point of no return,’ said Ron Chernow, a leading American financial historian. ‘We have the irony of a free-market administration doing things that the most liberal Democratic administration would never have been doing in it’s wildest dreams.’”
- Organic Market - Forbes.com - “The consensus is that Something Must Be Done to rein in financial markets. This consensus is part of a general theme among some pundits and economists that it’s time to give up the naïve faith that markets can solve every problem. We are told that markets have failed…. Yet much of the current chaos is the result of attempts to steer or control markets rather than let them be. Much of the chaos is the result of political failure.”
- Free Market To The Rescue - Forbes.com - “Although market ideas are today taking something of a beating, nothing like the 1930s fervor for central planning is in the air. For this reason alone, I am optimistic that we are not on the verge of a second Great Depression….. But in this optimistic account there’s a warning. If our confidence in free markets does come to be overwhelmed by a renewed, if utterly baseless, confidence in the central direction of the economy, then our economic prospects will once again truly be in a great depression.”
- Optimism Quickly Fading - “To ban short-selling of stocks is to short-circuit an important mechanism through which people share their knowledge and expectations with others. Banning a mechanism that better allows share prices to reflect the expectation that the underlying assets are not worth as much as current market prices suggest does nothing to change the underlying reality. Such a ban merely distorts knowledge of this reality.”
- SEC bans short-selling - Yahoo! News - “The Securities and Exchange Commission took the dramatic step early Friday of temporarily banning the routine practice of betting against company stocks…. The move, announced on the agency’s Web site, may well be unprecedented and a reflection of regulators’ concern about the widening scope of the financial crisis as entreaties come from all quarters to stem a swarm of short-selling.”
- Vast Bailout by U.S. Proposed in Bid to Stem Financial Crisis - NYTimes.com - “The head of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve began discussions on Thursday with Congressional leaders on what could become the biggest bailout in United States history….”
- Regulating away improvement - “The bailouts are getting bigger. The rescue of US mortgage giants Freddie-Mac and Fannie-Mae is hailed as the largest bailout in history. On our side of the Atlantic we saw the similar, but smaller, rescue of Northern Rock. All of these have common features. The companies concerned were nationalized, and their losses are now underwritten by taxpayers. Between them their rescues have engendered a culture of bailout,which says that the public has to be protected at all costs from the consequences of failure. It is almost as if there has been a collective loss of faith in capitalism and in its ability to take failures in its stride.”
- The Austrian Economists: Who Can Fix This? - “Government is NOT a corrective. More often than not, it is the source (as in this case) of our economic difficulties. No bailouts, eliminate regulations, certainly no nationalizations, no priming of the pump with easy money, just allow firms to be weeded out that made imprudent decisions, allow capital to be reallocated, and permit prices to adjust to the new market realities.”
- Economic View - Too Few Regulations? No, Just Ineffective Ones - NYTimes.com - “There is a misconception that President Bush’s years in office have been characterized by a hands-off approach to regulation. In large part, this myth stems from the rhetoric of the president and his appointees, who have emphasized the costly burdens that regulation places on business…. But the reality has been very different: continuing heavy regulation, with a growing loss of accountability and effectiveness. That’s dysfunctional governance, not laissez-faire…. In the meantime, if you hear a call for more regulation, without a clear explanation of why regulation failed in the past, beware. The odds are that we’ll get additional regulation but with even less accountability and even less focus on solving our very real economic problems.”
- OpenSecrets | Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Bailed Out After Buying In - Capital Eye - “As economists and analysts try to sort out how giant mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended up needing to be bailed out by the federal government this past weekend, here at CRP we can see part of the picture of why that solution won out over others. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are prolific political players, pouring millions of dollars into campaign contributions and lobbying, efforts that have resulted in keeping the two companies afloat as more Americans have defaulted on their mortgages.”
- Commentary: How to prevent the next Wall Street crisis - CNN.com - The author writes about several causes of the current U.S. financial crisis, concluding with: “The coup d’grace was the Iraq War, which contributed to soaring oil prices. Money that used to be spent on American goods now got diverted abroad. The Fed took seriously its responsibility to keep the economy going…. It did this by replacing the tech bubble with a new bubble, a housing bubble. Household savings plummeted to zero, to the lowest level since the Great Depression. It managed to sustain the economy, but the way it did it was shortsighted: America was living on borrowed money and borrowed time.”
- How Paulson Would Save Fannie Mae - WSJ.com - “Recent statements by Barney Frank (D., Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), a powerful member of the Senate Banking Committee, make clear that Congress will never let them be privatized, broken up, slimmed down, nationalized or any of the other options hopeful reformers are putting forth today. Fannie and Freddie in their current form are just what Congress wants: an inexhaustible source of campaign contributions and funds for favored groups.”
- OpenSecrets | Wall Street Shake-up Connects to Washington Through Contributions, Personal Investments - Capital Eye - “Wall Street’s grim news has plenty of people worried about their pocketbooks. Lawmakers are among them, not only concerned with how to boost the economy but with their own personal finances tied to companies that are struggling. The richest members of Congress seem to be the most invested in the companies at the center of the Wall Street shake-up…. Of all of the companies facing major transitions, lawmakers owned the most stock in American International Group (AIG), the nation’s largest insurer, which has asked the Federal Reserve for emergency funding as it faces financial hardships. Twenty-seven lawmakers owned stock in AIG last year, worth between $6.4 million and $20 million…..”
I’ll have more on all this shortly, with a longish-post (more like a small book) where I try to make some sense out of what I’ve read in these articles. Until then, as a thought for today, listen to the lyrics of this 1986 performance of “Is This the World We Created,” by Freddie Mercury and Queen.
- Is this the world we created?
We made it on or own.
Is this the world we devastated
Right to the bone.
If there’s a god up in the sky
Looking down
What must he think of what we’ve done
To all that he created….
links for 2008-09-03 [delicious.com]
Dictionary of the History of Ideas - "The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, edited by Philip P. Wiener, was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1973-74…. [The] DHI has been out of print for many years. Aware of the new potential offered by electronic access to texts, [...]
- Dictionary of the History of Ideas - "The Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Studies of Selected Pivotal Ideas, edited by Philip P. Wiener, was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, in 1973-74…. [The] DHI has been out of print for many years. Aware of the new potential offered by electronic access to texts, the Directors and Board of Editors of the Journal of the History of Ideas authorized a grant to support digitization of the DHI….”
- Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web - "This book provides a plainspoken and thorough introduction to the web for historians—teachers and students, archivists and museum curators, professors as well as amateur enthusiasts—who wish to produce online historical work, or to build upon and improve the projects they have already started in this important new medium. "
- The Heritage of the Great War / First World War 1914-1918. Graphic color photos, pictures and music - "This website is dedicated to the events and consequences of World War One. We put some emphasis on unorthodox and thought-provoking points of view. We are averse to historicism and military fetishism. And we show people rather than strategic plans or statistics…. To this end this website features one of the most extensive and explicit WW-1 photo collections on the Internet."
- Top 30 Social Bookmarking Sites | eBizMBA - "Here are the 30 Largest Social Bookmarking Sites ranked by a combination of Inbound Links, Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast. "
6:32 PM | |
Mint.com Review: Beautiful Money Management Tool
Overall, I was very impressed with both the feature set and beauty of Mint.com. While aesthetics isn’t the reason why you use a tool like Mint, having a smooth interface certain improves the user experience and I, for one, appreciated how responsive the site was. It makes heavy use of AJAX, which allows you to [...]
Overall, I was very impressed with both the feature set and beauty of Mint.com. While aesthetics isn’t the reason why you use a tool like Mint, having a smooth interface certain improves the user experience and I, for one, appreciated how responsive the site was. It makes heavy use of AJAX, which allows you to navigate the site while the back-end does its information gathering.
Security
I’m going to hit this topic first, before all others, because this was the main reason why I waited so long before opening an account at Mint. I’m usually the first to sign up for these things but the thought of having all of my account information in one place scared me.
The biggest reason why you don’t have to worry about fraud or identity theft is that they don’t ask for or store any of that information. You never provide your name, address, date of birth, social security number or other personal information. So how do they get your data to aggregate? They encrypt it and send it along to Yodlee, who stores it on their servers. As data moves around, it’s 128-bit SSL encrypted.
Here’s more about Mint’s security protocols.
Sign Up & Account Setup
The initial sign up process literally takes only a few seconds (that first screen asking for an email, zip code, and password is all there is) but the setup process takes a little while longer. The setup process is the process of entering all the account information for Mint to aggregate. It’s where you let Mint know which credit card, banks, loan and investment accounts are yours.
The Setup Process:
After entering your email, zip code and password, you are presented with this screen:
Click one of the new account boxes and you’ll be presented with this popup to select your financial institution:
Next you’ll be presented with a form requesting login credentials (in this example, I chose Citi Credit Cards):
Once you enter in the information, it tries to authenticate and download the most recent data:
Once it’s complete, you’ll see the account sitting there nicely with all its downloaded data:
As you can see, I have three Citi cards but I use only one of them, my Citi mtvU card and it has a balance of a little under $900.
Overview
You can start playing around with Mint even if you’ve only added one active credit card account. Here’s a shot of my overview screen:
There is a ton of information on that screen. In the upper left, there is a summary of all your linked accounts. Right now it’s bare because it only has my Citi credit cards listed (and only the ones linked to that one login, though I don’t have any other login) but you can enter you checking accounts, savings accounts, investment accounts, mortgage and student loans. After all that, they add it all up and give you a Net Worth figure that you can track.
Below the summary list is a cash flow tracker. If you link up a checking account, Mint can recognize direct deposits as income (with some help) so that the cash flow won’t look as red as it does on mine. It’s a good way to figure out if you’re spending more than you’re taking in. In this particular case, since I have no income (no linked bank accounts), the cashflow is negative.
If you return to the top of the screen and look at the fatter column on the right, you’ll see a “Your Alerts” section. That’s where Mint takes a look at your historical data, your own settings, and alerts you of abnormal behavior. Right now the alert says “This month, you spent $22 on Gas / Fuel. This exceeds your budget of $10 by $12.” That’s because Mint saw $22 in charges on my mtvU card under Gas / Fuel and my default budget for that is only $10.
Below that you can see your budget and how faithfully you’ve stuck with it. If you’ve exceeded it, it’ll appear as an alert and the bar will be really far on the meter. You can adjust your budget, adding and removing categories, with the Add Budget and Spending TRends buttons.
Finally, below all that is a “Ways to Save” section. This is where Mint makes its money, by finding offers that can save you money. Since I’ve only entered in a credit card, the only offer available to me is in the credit card group. They also have checking and savings offers, comparing your bank’s listed APY versus their affiliates. There currently is no support for investment accounts but I can’t imagine that’s too far away. If I click on the credit card group, a pop up appears asking me for my credit worthiness (pick from Excellent, Good, Medium/Some Problems, Poor, and Limited/None plus two credit score service offers - one from FreeCreditReport.com and one from myFICO). I say I’m Excellent and they offer me the Chase Freedom card based on its cashback offer which could save me $161 over the next twelve months.
Trends
While the power of Mint is in its ability to aggregate all of your data and give you a pretty dashboard to view it all in, the second coolest feature is the trending data it can provide. Not only will it tell you about how your current spending compares against your history, it can also compare it with spenders in a select group of cities, states, or the whole of the United States. The shot to the right is a thumbnail of my own spending, with the large section listed as No Category.
When you first start using Mint, there’s a transaction register associated with everything. Each line item from my credit card is tagged with a category and in the beginning Mint will attempt to guess the correct category. If it can’t guess, it just marks it as No Category and moves on. As you change them, you can tell Mint that transactions of a certain name or from a certain vendor should always be a certain category.
Reminders
One feature that I’ve seen but never used was notifications. You can get email summaries weekly (every Friday) or monthly (1st of each month) of all your account activity. You can also get text message (SMS) summaries every Friday. All of these are managed in your profile. (You can also change those alerts you see on your Overview through the Alerts section)
Summary
In Summary, I think Mint is a pretty slick tool (after looking at the screenshots, I think you have to agree with me there). Can you live without it? Of course you can. Will you likely learn more about your spending if you use it? Definitely. Is it worth the security risk? That depends on your level of risk aversion and how well you trust the securities measures they’ve taken with your data. I personally don’t see it as a risk (I’m currently using it so I’ve already bought into it) but I’ve also been lucky with regards to both my identity and financial data, so to each their own. But you do have to admit, it sure is pretty for something that’s free (Quicken isn’t free!).
Your Take: What The Heck Happened These Last Two Weeks!?!?!?!
Last week, the stock indices had both their single greatest losses and single greatest gains in the last six years. Despite all the insanity, the market as a whole lost little from Friday the 12th to Friday the 19th. We were short a few companies as Lehman collapsed and 80% of AIG went to the [...]
Last week, the stock indices had both their single greatest losses and single greatest gains in the last six years. Despite all the insanity, the market as a whole lost little from Friday the 12th to Friday the 19th. We were short a few companies as Lehman collapsed and 80% of AIG went to the Feds but despite all that turmoil, the various market indices were OK. We also lost the last of the investment firms as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley became bank holding companies. Oh, and did you hear? JP Morgan Chase is picking up a few pieces of WaMu yesterday.
A heck of a week huh?
What I’d like to know is what do you think about the last two weeks, what do you think about this $700B bailout bill (yeah, the one where one second there’s agreement and the next there isn’t?) and what have you been doing with your finances as a result of all this craziness?
Me? I haven’t touched a thing, fortunately I’m far enough away from retirement that I believe we can weather it. I don’t think we’re going into a Great Depression or anything like that (the central bank understands monetary policy and economics well enough to prevent that) but I wouldn’t be surprised if things were slow for a few years as a result.
As for that bailout bill? I only have eight classes of economics (that’s all I needed for that Econ double major, w00t w00t) and I am wholly unqualified to either justify or tear down the bailout bill. I understand the reasoning behind it but I don’t know if we’re going down the right path or whether we’re just signing yet another IOU. All I know is that the provision to snip the golden parachutes of executives at bail out firms better make it into the final draft. TGIF.
6:32 PM | |
Website Traffic Series Part 13: Faking a Hacker Attack
As we said before, on this “Website Traffic Series” we are going to cover ALL the traffic generation tactics and strategies out there, even the weird and the blackhat ones!
As we said before, on this “Website Traffic Series” we are going to cover ALL the traffic generation tactics and strategies out there, even the weird and the blackhat ones!
Tool Time Friday | Ever had an ‘All-in-One’?
Well, you’re about to have a chance. All-in-One Sidebar (AiOS) is an award-winning sidebar control, inspired by Opera’s. It lets you quickly switch between sidebar panels, view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and more in the sidebar, or view source or websites in the sidebar. Click on the left edge of your browser window to open [...]
Well, you’re about to have a chance.
All-in-One Sidebar (AiOS) is an award-winning sidebar control, inspired by Opera’s. It lets you quickly switch between sidebar panels, view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and more in the sidebar, or view source or websites in the sidebar.
Click on the left edge of your browser window to open the sidebar and get easy access to all your panels.
You can set the orientation to left or right, set the minimum, default and maximum width and the behavior on browser startup. Furthermore AiOS provides enhancements for many built-in features.
AiOS includes a slide-out button and a toolbar, all of which can be extensively customized.
Enjoy a clear browser window, more toolbar space and much more…
Now, who’s your daddy!?
MorganLighter
Blogging Questions & Answers 18
Another set of answers is live. Thanks for everyone that is leaving the questions, it is becoming a really pleasant activity to take on every Friday. The current questions were left on the Questions & Answers 14, so if you left a question on edition 15, 16 or 17, just hold tight, we will arrive at [...]
Another set of answers is live. Thanks for everyone that is leaving the questions, it is becoming a really pleasant activity to take on every Friday.
The current questions were left on the Questions & Answers 14, so if you left a question on edition 15, 16 or 17, just hold tight, we will arrive at yours.
1. Destination Infinity asks:
How do people put Digg it! Stumble it! etc after every post of theirs?
Let it be Autumn
It’s just one of those days where I’m lacking inspiration. Overall it’s been a relatively good day.� Sunnier than has been the normal, a nice change for the first day of Autumn, and other than the usual Monday morning gym session, it’s been a relaxing day. The best part about today is that all the good television [...]
It’s just one of those days where I’m lacking inspiration.
Overall it’s been a relatively good day.� Sunnier than has been the normal, a nice change for the first day of Autumn, and other than the usual Monday morning gym session, it’s been a relaxing day.
The best part about today is that all the good television programs start again tonight; Heroes being the most important one.� So I’ll be settling down on the couch with a big bottle of water and a bowl of sugar snap peas living the high life. ;)� Ha!
Hooroo!
������
4:25 PM | |
Latest Immigration and Assimilation Research
As mentioned on the Contexts Crawler blog, National Public Radio (NPR) recently did a podcast that discussed the results of a comprehensive study by some of the best-known and most-respected sociologists in the field on the question of whether contemporary immigrants are immigrating into the American mainstream as easily as previous streams of immigrants: The “second [...]
As mentioned on the Contexts Crawler blog, National Public Radio (NPR) recently did a podcast that discussed the results of a comprehensive study by some of the best-known and most-respected sociologists in the field on the question of whether contemporary immigrants are immigrating into the American mainstream as easily as previous streams of immigrants:
The “second generation” project looked at five groups [in the NYC metro area] — Russians, Dominicans, South Americans, Chinese and West Indians — and compared them with U.S.-born whites, Puerto Ricans and African-Americans. Researchers found that most in the second generation were fluent in English and working in the mainstream economy.
When they looked at economic and educational achievement, they found that West Indians were doing better, in general, than African-Americans; Dominicans were doing better than Puerto Ricans; and the Chinese and the Russians were doing as well as or better than native-born whites. . . .
Legal immigration is more difficult today, and researchers note that this may well change the rate of assimilation. But for these five groups, “what we really find is a very rapid assimilation and becoming American,” says Mary Waters of Harvard University, another author of the study, titled Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants Come of Age. . . .
Although Inheriting the City paints an optimistic portrait of this second generation, it has some warnings about the situation facing native-born minorities. The researchers also say the children of undocumented immigrants tend to do worse and have a tougher time assimilating. Because legal immigration is tougher to come by today, researchers say they wonder whether the path for the next “second generation” will be as smooth.
Although I have not read the Inheriting the City book, given my high regard for the expertise of the book’s authors, I have no doubt that it is a very informative and interesting look at this ongoing issue of assimilation among contemporary immigrants.
I look forward to checking it out soon.
The Beginning of a Post-America World
For some time now, I’ve written about how, on the international stage, countries such as China and India are emerging as economic, political, and cultural superpowers in the 21st century and domestically, how American society is becoming more and more diverse and globalized as a result. So what does the future hold for the [...]
For some time now, I’ve written about how, on the international stage, countries such as China and India are emerging as economic, political, and cultural superpowers in the 21st century and domestically, how American society is becoming more and more diverse and globalized as a result. So what does the future hold for the U.S. as these trends become more institutionalized?
That’s the question that CBS News asks in a very interesting article entitled “Coming Soon: A Post-American World:
With The Rise Of China And Other Economies, The ‘Golden Age’ Of American Influence May Be Coming To An End.” Some excerpts:
“We can model the economy and show that by 2035, it will be as big, if not bigger than the United States’ economy will be at that time, and by the middle of the century it will be twice the size of the U.S. economy at that time,” [China expert Albert] Keidel said. . . .
In case you missed that - within the next 50 years China’s economy will double the size of the United States’ economy. Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, said, “What’s happening right now is, the world is moving beyond America. The future is, in many ways, being shaped in distant places by foreign people.” . . .
“That’s a big shift from a world in which America was at the center economically, financially, culturally, militarily, politically, to a world in which there are more centers and many forces, from India to China to Brazil to South Africa that have to be taken into account,” Zakaria said. . . .
“This is not happening because America is failing or declining,” Zakaria said. “It’s happening because the rest are rising, and it’s happening because the natives have gotten good at capitalism.”
The article goes on to discuss what the U.S. can do to retain its economic and political superiority in the face of these momentous changes:
[Alan Wolff, former U.S. trade negotiator:] “We need to change our tax policies, change our immigration policy. We made the U.S. a magnet, an attractive place for the best and the brightest in the world, and we frustrate that by saying, ‘You get a Ph.D. here and that doesn’t matter. Right now, we’re throwing you out.’ That’s very self-destructive behavior.”
“We save too little, we consume too much, we borrow too much from the rest of the world, we use energy in a profligate and wasteful fashion,” said Zakaria.
So is the decline of the American economic empire inevitable? That’s a very complicated question and one that I will continue to explore in this blog, but for now, I would love to hear from you, my readers, on what you think the future holds for the U.S. in terms of keeping its status as the most powerful nation in the world.
Feel free to add your comments and let me know what you think.
What is China’s Post-Olympic Future?
Now that the 2008 Summer Olympics have ended, we all know that China has received plenty of criticism and accolades before and during the Olympic games. Rather than rehashing that chronology, I want to focus on the question of where does China go from here? The Christian Science Monitor offers some interesting observations: The [...]
Now that the 2008 Summer Olympics have ended, we all know that China has received plenty of criticism and accolades before and during the Olympic games. Rather than rehashing that chronology, I want to focus on the question of where does China go from here? The Christian Science Monitor offers some interesting observations:
The striking success of the Olympics – burnishing China’s prestige as the world admired its sporting prowess, organizational skills, and dramatically modern urban landscapes – could encourage profound changes in the country, say a range of Chinese and foreign analysts. . . .
One profound change that a number of China-watchers predict, in light of the international respect China has earned: that its leaders and people will trust the rest of the world more readily, and tone down an often aggrieved nationalism. . . .
For more than a hundred years, China’s leaders have set themselves the goal of recovering international respect after humiliation at the hands of Europe and the United States in the 19th century. For more than half a century the ruling Communist party has made “standing up to the world” a key plank in its platform. . . .
If China’s leaders decide that their management of the Olympics has earned the country respect, that “offers an opportunity for the Chinese state and the Chinese people to ditch the nationalist narrative of their identity based on shame and humiliation,” says Professor Shambaugh. “Hopefully they can throw all their aggrieved nationalist baggage away and move on like a normal country.”
It is certainly true that ever since the communists came to power, China has had a “chip on its shoulder+ in terms of proving to the rest of the world that they could overcome their “sick man of Asia” image and instead, use their own brand of communism to once again propel China into the rank of international superpower.
Along the way, one of the tactics used by the Chinese has been an intense and often fierce sense of nationalism — reacting defensively to any perceived slight against their country’s image or policies.
As I’ve written about before, perhaps the most recent and prominent example of this nationalism inside the U.S. was the backlash of Chinese students against “anti-Chinese” media portrayals regarding the Olympic torch relay and pro-Tibet demonstrations.
But now that many people from around the world have seen a brighter and more positive side of China, does it mean that the Chinese can let their defenses down somewhat and capitalize on their “softer” image? We’ll have to wait to see how China handles the issues and criticisms that still exist against it, such as human rights and individual freedoms, environmental conservation, and consumer product safety.
Despite their Olympics success, these criticisms will continue to come China’s way, so the ultimate test will be whether China reverts to reacting defensively and nationalistically — or whether they can build on their newfound confidence and status and react in a more gracious and balanced way.
I sincerely hope that it will be the latter — China has many positives going for it now, and it would be a shame if it squanders this newly-earned goodwill by going back to the same authoritarian ways.
The Presidential Campaign and White Privilege
The presidential campaign is in full swing, but as I’ve written about before, the question of race has been bubbling slightly beneath the public surface for about a year and a half now, ever since Barack Obama first announced his candidacy to be our next President. For example, there have been blatant examples of [...]
The presidential campaign is in full swing, but as I’ve written about before, the question of race has been bubbling slightly beneath the public surface for about a year and a half now, ever since Barack Obama first announced his candidacy to be our next President.
For example, there have been blatant examples of the influence of race — several incidents in which racism has reared its ugly head in regards to his campaign, but also more subtle ones — a recent CBS News article notes that “Obama’s support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice.”
But one particular aspect of this issue that hasn’t really gotten much attention is the topic of White Privilege. For those who aren’t familiar, White privilege is basically the idea that Whites have an invisible and taken-for-granted set of advantages and rights that no other racial/ethnic group has. It’s also a touchy subject because for someone who’s White, it’s very hard to recognize but easy to deny.
To try to illustrate this concept as it applies to the presidential campaign, writer and activist Tim Wise has written an absolutely brilliant post at the Red Room blog that must be read in its entirety to be fully appreciated. Nonetheless, here are some excerpts:
For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll “kick their fuckin’ ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.
White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.” . . .
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you’re black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do–like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor–and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college–you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist. . . .
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government . . . and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re Black and friends with a Black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.
Yes, Tim’s post is very liberal and very partisan. But in my humble opinion, also absolutely right on the money.
It finally exposes this uneasy social undercurrent that people of color have known about for a while, but that most Whites will not acknowledge even exists — why some acts, when committed by high-profile Whites, get excused and even praised, but when similar acts are committed by people of color, get criticized and ridiculed.
In other words, Tim Wise’s piece lays out the fundamental reality of the American racial landscape — much of the U.S., its people, and its social institutions, are still in deep denial about how insidious racism still is today and how it continues to be firmly but quietly embedded in how we as Americans live our lives on an everyday basis.
And in November, it will play a subtle but significant role in influencing who many of us will choose to be our next President.
Congratulations to Anthony Kim & U.S. Ryder Cup Team
I’m not a huge golf fan, but I have to admit that I sat glued to my TV yesterday as I watched the final round of the biennial Ryder Cup tournament between the U.S. and Europe. As you probably know already, the U.S. team shocked the Europeans by recapturing the Ryder Cup, only the [...]
I’m not a huge golf fan, but I have to admit that I sat glued to my TV yesterday as I watched the final round of the biennial Ryder Cup tournament between the U.S. and Europe. As you probably know already, the U.S. team shocked the Europeans by recapturing the Ryder Cup, only the second time they’ve won it in the past 13 years.
One of the big reasons for their success was the play of 23 year old Korean American Anthony Kim. I have to admit that I had never heard of Anthony Kim before, let alone knew that he’s currently #6 on the PGA’s money list this season, but as as ESPN reports, Kim made a huge contribution to the U.S. team’s success:
“We had a lot of fun today,” Mickelson said after twice coming from 3 down with Kim, earning a half point in their morning foursomes match and a full point in their afternoon four-ball. “I love playing with this guy. He has a lot of talent, a lot of game. It was fun for me to be with that youthful exuberance today. It’s infectious.
We played with a lot of heart and emotion. We were down in both matches and came back to win one and tied the other. It was a hard, fun day.” “This day, by far, was the best he’s ever played in the Ryder Cup,” said Jim “Bones” Mackay, Mickelson’s longtime caddie.
So that’s what it takes? Some youthful exuberance? Mickelson truly is the grizzled veteran to Kim’s wide-eyed rookie. They are 15 years apart in age, and when Mickelson played in his first Ryder Cup in 1995 (and went 3-0, by the way), Kim was a mere 10 years old.
“He’s always been an idol of mine, someone I wanted to emulate,” Kim said. Who’d have thought it would take a 23-year-old to bring out the best in Mickelson?
In the final sets of individual matches on Sunday, it was truly impressive to see Kim completely dominate Sergio Garcia, one of the top PGA players in the world. (May I also add that Kim was riding around the course with a rather attractive blond woman sitting next to him, who frequently patted him on the back — his girlfriend?).
At any rate, I already knew that there are many Asian and Asian American women professional golfers, but aside from Tiger Woods who’s half Asian American, I did not know of any other high-profile Asian American male professional golfer. I am delighted to finally hear about Anthony Kim and as one of his new fans, I look forward to following his career for a long time.
Addressing Depression and Mental Illness Among Students
As we prepare to start another academic year, it’s important to remember that for many Asian American students at all levels, the flip side of being thought of as the “model minority” or “super-students” is the pressure of living up to those lofty expectations. If and when those unrealistic expectations are not met, many [...]
As we prepare to start another academic year, it’s important to remember that for many Asian American students at all levels, the flip side of being thought of as the “model minority” or “super-students” is the pressure of living up to those lofty expectations. If and when those unrealistic expectations are not met, many encounter various forms of depression, mental illness, thoughts of suicide, and — in the case of Seung Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman — psychopathic violence.
Slowly, school officials are waking up to this reality and unfortunately, have begun addressing this phenomenon head-on. As Diverse Issues in Education reports, many colleges with large numbers of Asian American students have implemented programs that proactively seeks out and helps Asian American students who may be at risk:
College can be a tough time for any student, regardless of ethnicity. But many Asians face particular stresses as they are caught between two cultures, according to Dr. Nolan Zane, director of the UC-Davis center. Asians are expected by mainstream society to do well. And if they’re from an immigrant family, the expectations are even higher. Students may feel pressured into “safe” career paths like medicine or law.
When problems such as social anxiety and depression arise, cultural barriers prevent many from seeking help. Talking about problems to outsiders is considered taboo and shameful. Getting help from family often isn’t an option either. Many Asians attach a strong stigma to mental health problems or simply deny their existence.
Zane recalls that the parents of a Chinese American student couldn’t understand why he recommended that their son get counseling. The parents thought their distraught son, whose grades were slipping, just needed to study harder. . . .
White students may wrestle with the same problems, but tend to get help or be helped sooner, says Dr. Wai-Kwong Wong, a counselor at Cornell’s Gannett Health Services. . . . Cornell officials were jolted into action after a university-sponsored report in 2004 detailed the sense of isolation and dissatisfaction among Asian American and international Asian students. . . .
At Cornell, the efforts that started four years ago are starting to yield results. From the time he was a freshman until he graduated in May, Timothy Chow witnessed a dramatic change in awareness about mental health issues among his fellow Asian classmates.
In response to the university report on Asian students, Chow and several friends organized a group to advocate for changes. At the initial meetings, fewer than 10 students expressed interest. Chow says that many students likely shied away because they didn’t want to be associated with mental health issues.
But this past school year, two events on stress relief sponsored by the Asian/Asian-American Forum attracted more than 100 people each. The fairs featured massage therapists, yoga sessions and presentations from a nutritionist and counselors.
The article goes on to mention that one potential drawback of such intensified efforts to address mental health issues among Asian American students is that it may lead to the perception that being an Asian American students means that you are automatically at risk for mental health issues.
That’s a fair and very insightful observation and one that I had not thought of. Nonetheless, I think that is still less of a danger than the other way around — ignoring Asian American students who may be suffering in silence and isolation.
The statistics from studies such as that from Cornell tell a very compelling picture — Asian American students face unique pressures and challenges that other students do not. Yes, there is a danger of using data like this to “essentialize” Asian American students in the same way of thinking that we’re all good at math.
But in today’s globalized and multicultural racial/ethnic landscape, I think most Americans are sophisticated enough to know that the Asian American community is more complex than that. Besides, I’d rather take that risk than one that sets the stage for another Seung-Hui Cho to emerge.
4:25 PM | |
How Microsoft Can Win The PC/Mac Campaign
For the last few months, er years, Microsoft has been getting their assets handed to them as Apple tears into their brand with the “PC vs Mac” clever ads. Microsoft has launched a new campaign with at least two phases, the first one showing Seinfeld and Gates acting as “normal guys” at the mall, [...]
For the last few months, er years, Microsoft has been getting their assets handed to them as Apple tears into their brand with the “PC vs Mac” clever ads.
Microsoft has launched a new campaign with at least two phases, the first one showing Seinfeld and Gates acting as “normal guys” at the mall, at home, on the road. Most tech heads didn’t get it, but for the mainstream everybodies, it may have resonated. The ads may have been stalled, the reports contradict.
The second phase, which launched last night, extends the “everybody is a PC” theme shows some highly structured actors (including the lovely Eva Longoria) showing how they’re a PC.
I figured out that the theme was “everyone is a PC” which is a differentiator from the elite feeling of Mac for young urban 20 something year olds, to the rest of the business and work world.
So what could Microsoft (And their agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky) do to resonate and win this campaign? Allow anyone to publish their photos, videos how they are a PC. They currently have these features in their campaign site, (link via Andrew Finkle) but they are buried a few clicks away, and they even require a fan to submit their age.
What should Microsoft do?
Create YouTube Video Templates that have the same video start and end (called bumpers) and have a seperate MP3 track that can be added in the background Create a set of tags “ImaPC” or “PCpride” or “everyonePC” that makes the videos easy to find Next, aggregate the videos onto one page, making them easy for folks to find. Create a voting campaign allowing users to add points to the videos they enjoy the most Use these user created videos in actual TV and web advertising Allow negative videos to be included, and showcase these on the web Elevate these social features right on the campaign page, expand to Facebook, LinkedIn, and where else creators and joiners exist.
To take the win, Microsoft should let the people lead, create, and own the campaign, Jerry and Bill can share the spotlight, reframe the campaign on creators. I see there site is hinting at this, and it maybe in their plans, but I’d expect them to crank this user created feature up.
If you agree that Microsoft should elevate the opportunity for everyone to show how they are a PC, leave comment below, maybe, just maybe, they’re watching.
Update: Microsoft is putting the ads on Times Square in NYC, a good start –but don’t forget to republish across the web. (link via Paisano)
Update 2: Dennis McDonald did a “Worldle” analysis (Tag cloud) of all the words used in the following comments. What’s being screamed? “Campaign, people, PC, microsoft, pc, mac”
Monitoring and Managing a Brand
With your brand being mentioned so many places online, it’s a difficult task to manage how it’s positioned and where it appears –in fact, in many ways, you can’t control the brand, as it’s now ‘owned’ by those who talk about it (or always has been). Now, if your job is to be the caretaker of [...]
With your brand being mentioned so many places online, it’s a difficult task to manage how it’s positioned and where it appears –in fact, in many ways, you can’t control the brand, as it’s now ‘owned’ by those who talk about it (or always has been).
Now, if your job is to be the caretaker of your company’s brand, or you’ve been hired to do so as a PR firm, you should keep on eye on how it’s positioned on Wikipedia (and follow these rules on how to update it), if you’re in the social media space, also monitor and manage Tradevibes, Crunchbase, and now Appappeal.
With the recent concerns about brandjacking, or getting your brand punk’d, this helpful tool user name check can quickly scan the popular (and not so popular social networks to find if your company’s name (or personal) has been taken. The service sometimes goes down, so be patient with it.
On a related note, Mukund suggests here’s some targets PR folks should look at when pitching social media companies, I left a comment suggesting a few others, maybe you can help him round it out. Targeting team blogs like centernetworks, or other influentials may yield a better spend on time and effort –I’m nearly tapped out in time reviewing products.
Do I need a blog redesign?
I’ve had this blog redesign for a few years now, and it may start to show its cracks. For some, they like the simple layout and design, easy to scroll, for others, they may want a more updated look and feel. I’ve noticed quite a few blogs have been changing their designs lately, they are [...]
I’ve had this blog redesign for a few years now, and it may start to show its cracks. For some, they like the simple layout and design, easy to scroll, for others, they may want a more updated look and feel.
I’ve noticed quite a few blogs have been changing their designs lately, they are more media centric, have more of a front page newspaper look, esp for high volume blogs. Who’s done it? Techcrunch, Scoble, Teresa Valdez Klein, Shel Israel, I think I first noticed this a few months ago from Ars Technica. In fact last night I was evaluating quite a few premium wordpress themes that are available for purchase.
Curt Monash of Network World reviewed a few blogs, and gave me some feedback when I asked how I can improve, (read comments) then extended it to his own personal blog with practical recommendations. He gives me and other bloggers some food for thought on effective blog design for 2008.
I believe in full feedback loop (part of the reason I ask so many questions), and in fact have done surveys’ before to find out what folks want (I now know the majority of my readers are interactive marketers). I keep in mind that I write for a business audience, often a corporate, that’s making decisions about how to use web tools.
Perhaps one of the most important thing about user experience is to remember the users, so I’d like to turn it over to you:
Do you think I need a redesign? If so, what should change? Any examples of blogs that you like?
Why ‘Friending’ Will Be Obsolete
Every few days, (or hours) you probably get a friend request of some sort, the good news is, someday, this will not be relevant. I just got finished watching this video of Renato of “E”, a device and software platform that allows you to phsyically gesture in the real world with people you meet that you [...]
Every few days, (or hours) you probably get a friend request of some sort, the good news is, someday, this will not be relevant.
I just got finished watching this video of Renato of “E”, a device and software platform that allows you to phsyically gesture in the real world with people you meet that you are friends. Remember palm pilot back in 2001 that let you ‘beam’ contact info to each other? Similiar to that, but now with more ’social’ context.
Thinking forward a few years, “friending people” whether in Facebook, Plaxo, or will no longer be an activity that we’ll have to do. Intelligent websites (and their data) will be able to determine who our friends are from our behaviors, context, and preferences, without us verbally (or physically) having to indicate so.
Those ‘bacn’ messages make it painfully obvious that the ’system’ (the web, data, and beyond) isn’t quite intelligent, as it can’t determine who our own social contacts are yet.
Like a baby, we’re teaching the ’system’ our language, how to walk, how to coexist in our real flesh and blood world, the ’system’ is just starting to show intelligence. One primary example of this is the use of hashtags in Twitter. We use the # sign to tag content so it’s easily to organize and find. That one # character isn’t native to our tongue (unless when you recite your grocery list and say “hashtag”) it’s another example of us speaking machine language in order to teach the system.
For example, I started a social experiment on Sunday, where I encouraged folks to tweet related music artists using the tag “#relatedmusic” you can see the database form when you search for that term –If we had enough people do this in my –and your– network we’d be able to build a reference engine that other music reccomendations services could pull from.
Saturday, I posted my thoughts about what’s next after the social web, and some interesting comments are coming in, take the time to read about it. For now, I’m tagging these posts the ‘Intelligent Web” as I don’t really think we’re there yet, we’re having to input too much to teach the machine right now.
If you can’t see where this is headed, I’ll tell you: all of what we’re doing from our clicks, queries, wall posts and tweets is teaching the ’system’. In the long run we’re creating a massive global computer, an artificial intelligence, and someday, a thinking being.
Therefore, when the ’system’ is more mature, we won’t have to explicitly state who we’re friends with anyone –it’ll have learned and already know.
Phrases to know:
I’ll refine these over time, but for now, here’s some early stakes in the ground.
The System: The system is the combination of all websites combined, it’s a massive data base of content, clicks, search terms, time on site, shared posts, wall posts, links, and tweets.
Teaching the System: Humans are constantly speaking in machine language, from use of hashtags in twitter, or boolean searches in Google, or even from the act of friending folks in your social network. All of these behaviors are humans teaching the system how to understand us, so it can better serve us.
The Intelligent Web: Software that is able to collect and make sense of all the data in the system and is able to deliver meaningful content back to people in context –often without us saying or gesturing that we need it.
Quantity and Quality
Fellow Nestortonians, in your internet wanderings you may have come across long-time property industry expert Bob North’s recent post over at Estate Agency News discussing the comprehensiveness of various property websites (portals and search engines). Bob’s monthly analysis is always interesting, if you’re not a subscriber I recommend you become one. It’s a must read here [...]
Fellow Nestortonians,
in your internet wanderings you may have come across long-time property industry expert Bob North’s recent post over at Estate Agency News discussing the comprehensiveness of various property websites (portals and search engines). Bob’s monthly analysis is always interesting, if you’re not a subscriber I recommend you become one. It’s a must read here at Nestoria HQ. His attention this month focuses on a seemingly simple question: “How many property listings do the various players have?”. We get asked about this all the time. As we’ve always tried to stress here on the blog in our occasional discussions of Nestoria Rank, comprehensiveness is an important metric, but only one of several, the others being usability, freshness, and of course relevancy. Nevertheless, probably because it seems so easy to measure, comprehensiveness seems to be the metric people fixate on. We think it is given far too much importance, despite having some major weaknesses. First of all, which listings get counted? We believe users are interested only in relevant results. So, should we count listings that are sold or “sold subject to contract”. Given that we focus on helping individuals find a place to live, should we include commercial properties? We think not, and do our best to exclude such listings from our index. As another example, we often see things like parking spaces listed. Of course people need parking spaces for their cars, we just don’t think they belong in a residential property search engine. Secondly there’s the question of duplication. Often we have the same listing from multiple sources. Is that one listing or multiple? Another good example is when we see very similar units all in the same building or development. Sure different flats may have slightly different dimensions or prices depending on the view and such, but is a user really seeing many different listings? Or are they seeing one option in their choice of where to live? Next, there’s the issue of sampling bias. When comparing only one or to areas it’s easy to (knowingly or unknowingly) skew the results. Finally, of course, comparing search engines and portals is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. The two provide very different user experiences with only marginal overlap. So in conclusion, yes, as Lenin once said “Quantity has a quality of its own”, and of course having a comprehensive offering is critical. But, as with almost every web metric it’s important to understand the meaning behind the number. Comprehensiveness is easy to misinterpret and even then it’s only one ingredient in the property search recipe. Rest assured dear reader we’ll keep our attention on all aspects of creating a compelling service. Please let us know what you think of our efforts and how we could do better.3:38 PM | |
Scripts - Amarok Wiki
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The Almost-Averted Crisis
A 2003 NY Times article gives us insights into our current financial crisis. Source [blownmortgage] Share This
A 2003 NY Times article gives us insights into our current financial crisis.
Autoconf - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
Mr. Greenspan, please shut up
This guest post is from: Constantine von Hoffman, a veteran business journalist who writes the blog CollateralDamage.biz, a humorous look at marketing, business and his dog. If you’d like to submit a guest post drop me an email. From his lips… “There’s no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I’ve seen, and [...]
This guest post is from: Constantine von Hoffman, a veteran business journalist who writes the blog CollateralDamage.biz, a humorous look at marketing, business and his dog. If you’d like to submit a guest post drop me an email.
“There’s no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I’ve seen, and it still is not resolved and it still has a way to go,” Alan Greenspan said last Sunday. This sentence can be applied equally to both the sub-prime/credit-crunch/what-have-you mess and the destruction of Greenspan’s reputation as a financial genius.
Each passing bankruptcy makes it clearer that Mr. Irrational Exuberance is responsible for the two things at the heart of this entire thing: Easy credit and minimal oversight.
His constant refusal to raise interest rates meant that more money was always available for any thing – whether or not that thing was actually economically sustainable. At the time most said this was “finessing” the problem. Now it is clear to all of us – just as it was to some at the time – that finesse is another word for delay. And with each delay, the size of the problem compounded.
To make it worse, Greenspan and the Fed did nothing to see if these loans were actually any good.
(more…)
100 Year Crash: How did our system get to this point?
Filed under: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Merrill Lynch (MER), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Washington Mutual (WM), Financial Crisis It seems that there is a problem with our financial system. That could be why Bear Stearns collapsed, the government took over Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and American International Group (NYSE: [...]
Filed under: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Merrill Lynch (MER), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Washington Mutual (WM), Financial Crisis
It seems that there is a problem with our financial system. That could be why Bear Stearns collapsed, the government took over Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM), Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) and American International Group (NYSE: AIG). This problem could also explain why Merrill Lynch sold out to Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), why Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and why JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) bought Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM). Problems with our financial system could also explain why the Commercial Paper market is freezing up — making it harder for companies to come up with the short-term cash to pay employees and buy inventory.
But how did our system get to this point? There are five key principles of our current financial architecture that brought us here:
- Securitization. Up until about 30 years ago, people took out mortgages from an S&L and paid their loan officer every month until they owned their house. In the 1980s, Wall Street invented securitization — the process of buying up, say, 1,000 mortgages from mortgage companies, creating a security based on those mortgages, paying for a AAA rating, and selling the securities to investors worldwide. Securitization is a problem for reasons I’ll describe below.
- Too much borrowing. Over the last several years, Financial Institutions (FI) have made some $2 trillion in fees from securitization, according to DealBreaker. One reason for this is that they have been able to buy these securities — of which there are $13 trillion on the market between Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBSs) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) — with a sliver of capital, roughly $340 billion. The typical FI had a ratio of assets to capital of 30:1. This meant that a mere 3% decline in the value of these securities would wipe out all the capital.
Continue reading 100 Year Crash: How did our system get to this point?
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5:38 AM | |
We've been had.
from queen hecuba <queenhecuba@gmail.com>
to rfjason@yahoo.com
cc rfjason@gmail.com
date Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 7:45 PM
subject in a ken nordeen (sp?) whisper-voice
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 7:45 PM (17 minutes ago)
Reply
i love you, jason. you are the best of the bestest, EVER!!!
This is very much falling into bad trolling territory.
from queen hecuba <queenhecuba@gmail.com>
to rfjason@yahoo.com
cc rfjason@gmail.com
date Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 3:33 PM
subject FORMER chew toy then
mailed-by gmail.com
hide details 3:33 PM (6 minutes ago)
Reply
so be it.
I know what you are trying to make me believe. i also know that you have been attempting to orchestrate my life with posts both from and to various people that I know, or am acqainted with, or work/have worked with for some time now.
you are clever and talented. you are gifted. where did you go to school? you must have had a really good teacher, at some point. i wish i could have met him or her. or at least sung him or her a song to express my appreciation - maybe "blow the man down"...sea chantys always get people feeling happy, don't they?
anyway, jason my most wonderful of pals, whom i adore (and you know i do), let me state again: i am not buying it. i have told you before, your clues are all wrong. you have not done your homework well enough. you would have to live and breathe my own life in order to get all of the nuances, and, *apparently*, you haven't really gone to the lengths and depths that you could or should have. even your friend "bug", and your other friend "ghost", and your other helpful electronic and human eyes and ears don't know everything. there are some things that have gone unspoken, and uncaptured, and exist only in the spiritual realm, a place where i go quite frequently...and i am quite aware of any intrusions on that level, though i may not always be aware as i could be in others. i have friends there who help me out, and who give me the low-down. you, despite your tremendous gifts, and especially your poetic ones, are not in contact with these friends of mine. they would tell me if you were. i would have received a sign.
now, i'm not saying that you're not at the top of the class, and you haven't gotten all "A"'s (heh), or that you are not going to be put into the gifted and talented class again next year....because you are. HOWEVER, there are some things that i simply refuse to swallow. and your fevered imaginings (on my part) are among those things.
my feelings, as they have existed, and currently exist, are well known to the people who currently matter, or who have ever mattered, to me. i make no secret of my feelings in person, even if i do not verbalize them entirely, despite my silly little scratchings and scrawlings, some of which are public, and some of which are also public....
the person who you are aluding to is already aware of how i feel. there is no doubt in that person's mind. there has never been... - unless of course you planted doubt there....and, judging by certain events i have witnessed, i am quite certain that you did. bravo! top of your class, again. you have a green thumb, jason. everything you plant, grows with wild abandon. including the weeds.
(note: my feelings are still strong for you, jason - in a good way. they always will be. i just want you to know that. for some reason i feel compelled to mention that here.)
i know what you want from me, and i know what you are planning. lulz to beat all lulz! yes, i am sure. you know i would give you anything you asked for...but i cannot give you something that does not exist. as much as i would like to think it still does, i know that it doesn't. that has been made plainly obvious to me, in no uncertain terms. some of which you know i know, and some of which you don't know i know. you may be the puppet master, but some puppets just aren't worth playing any more. their strings have broken. their limbs have fallen off. their features have faded. they have gone limp with overuse, and their little puppet lives are now lackluster. sadly, this is the way it is with me. but don't worry, jason. i shall power through, as i always have, knowing that someday i will have relief from my woes, some of which are self -inflicted, and some of which aren't, and some of which are both.
fondly,
alexis
Dear Internal Revenue "Service",
So I did that $600 tax rebate thing, which went fine. I filed electronically. Thanks for that. However, I'm a little puzzled at your latest letter to me in which you say that you didn't receive my Form 8453-OL.
Fortunyately™ I still have my PDF copy (from when I electronically filed) of my IRS-generated 8453-OL with a giant watermark on it that says "DO NOT FILE". Would you like me to send that to you?
No? You say I have to fill out the blank copy of the form using information from my W-2 forms and then mail it to you? You also say that if I don't have copies of my W-2, I can call you to get copies of them?
So let me get this straight: you want me to send you a form containing information that you apparently already have in your possession that you previously didn't want me to file. Gotcha.
Sincerely,
al;sjfkljasdflkjaslkdjfkl;jasdflkj
So, after my fairytale marriage to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
jameth fell apart, I ran off with girlpirate and we lived happily ever after.
Now, as I look through my most-often contacted IM buddies, I realize it's time for girlpirate and I to have a blessed love child.
Uh, now, I guess?
5:38 AM | |
The same procedure as last year …
… the same procedure as every year. Ein gewisser Herr muss nun nicht nur wieder das Essen – ukrainische Quarkpfannkuchen (Sirniki * Сырники), Tomaten und Gurken aus Mamotschkas Gemüsegarten (Дача * Datscha), Geflügel (Hühnchen Kiew * Котлетка по киевски) und Teigwaren (Lapscha * Лапша) – vorkauen, sondern auch der wohlgesonnenen Jury die jeweils passenden Getränke (Wodka, Weiß-russischen-wein, Krimsekt und Wasser aus dem [...]
4:12 AM | |
busy busy like always
I guess some things never change. Last year at the end of summer and during fall, for the first time in my life, I felt like I had caught up with my personal goals. Recently over the past three months, I've felt like I've fallen behind again. I am ambitious, yes, but I also procrastinate with important matters like learning about how to manage my finances.
For the past two weeks, I have gone out literally every night. It doesn't mean partying every night. It means a few parties here and there, and dinners with different friends every other night.
I wish I had more time; we all wish we had more time. I can't remember the last time I was bored. At one point, I had the potential to be juggling two jobs and three serious hobbies, but I decided avoid spreading myself too thin and chose to focus on just three activities total - my career in advertising, my goal to DJ, and my style blog.
Yes, that's right. I have another blog. I miss writing for an audience and sharing my favorite things, be it music or clothes. If you have some time, please check it out - sugarrockcatwalk.com.
4:12 AM | |
Glitchy Links
ILLUSTRATION ART David Apatoff really likes great pictures. (tags: reference news images history graphics design culture painting) iFundVC new mobile investing blog from kleiner perkin (tags: mobile investing blog) None
- David Apatoff really likes great pictures.
- new mobile investing blog from kleiner perkin
Glitchy Links
empirewithoutanemperor.pdf (application/pdf Object) empire without an emperor None
- empire without an emperor
Glitchy Links
Amazon.com: Asmodeus - The Book Of Angels Volume 7: MP3 Downloads: Marc Ribot "Asmodeus" is the seventh installment in John Zorn's Masada Book II. (tags: music masada johnzorn marcribot) None
- "Asmodeus" is the seventh installment in John Zorn's Masada Book II.
Quick reminder to unsuspected Paypal users
Glitchy Links
Neave.com …the interactive playground of Paul Neave paul neave does some good work (see Television) (tags: visualization web programming portfolio) None
- paul neave does some good work (see Television)
PR0 to PR4 in 4 easy weeks
Make money with Auctions: site review
Make money with domains
Create a game site
3:00 AM | |
Digital Editors' Network - legal briefing
THE next Digital Editors' Network meeting will be looking at the legal risks newspapers and media organisations face as they expand into an ever increasing array of new media platforms. Blogs, comment boards, forums, digital archives, links to third party...
THE next Digital Editors' Network meeting will be looking at the legal risks newspapers and media organisations face as they expand into an ever increasing array of new media platforms.
Blogs, comment boards, forums, digital archives, links to third party content and the speed of breaking news online are all providing us with fresh legal challenges as we straddle the divide between traditional media and online communities.
The meeting will welcome some high profile speakers from media law experts Wiggin LLP at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, on October 7 where we will look at some of these issues.
Caroline Kean, Wiggin’s head of litigation, will lead the discussion at the Digital Editors’ Network meeting and draw on her experience of media lawyer, as her work has seen her act for national and regional newspapers, magazines, book publishers, television and film companies.
Caroline has been acclaimed as one of the UK's top female solicitors and is vice president of the Media Society and legal advisor to Women in Journalism.
Joining her will bysPhil Gorski, from Wiggin’s litigation team, who has extensive experience in advising on pre-publication and compliance matters and is part of the training team
The Digital Editors’ Network will also include a showcase of new ideas from around the regional media, more details on that to follow.
For more details and to book a place email nturner@cngroup.co.uk
The Digital Editors’ Network is a free event supported by the journalism department at UCLan, Preston.
Manchester bloggers meet-up at MEN
THE Manchester Evening News (MEN), and in particular Sarah Hartley, is to open its doors for the get together of Manchester bloggers on Wednesday, September 17. People will be able to get an inside look of the MEN's multi-media newsroom,...
THE Manchester Evening News (MEN), and in particular Sarah Hartley, is to open its doors for the get together of Manchester bloggers on Wednesday, September 17.
People will be able to get an inside look of the MEN's multi-media newsroom, as well as the chance to chat to one of the paper's senior editors, and then afterwards it's off to the pub where there is sure to be plenty of blogging goodness to discuss.
But the visit to the MEN is on first come, first served basis, so drop in on Sarah's website for more.
And don't forget to follow the Manchester Bloggers Group, set up by Julia, for more on the get-together.
Pointing out some articles
JUST a quick collection of links featuring interesting posts dotted around the internet, and if you have a few hours spare this weekend a chance to listen to some music in Manchester. Hal Varian: 14 Free business models - The...
JUST a quick collection of links featuring interesting posts dotted around the internet, and if you have a few hours spare this weekend a chance to listen to some music in Manchester.
Hal Varian: 14 Free business models - The Long Tail
A piece on Chris Anderson's blog, who is the man behind the Long Tail and he is currently working on a book titled Free that looks at alternative methods of generating revenue through the web.
Rue89: "Advertising is out of reach" - Journalism Enterprise
A look behind the scenes of one of the French language news websites I have been reading since it first came online, highlights the difficulties facing any internet publication.
The lifecycle of a news story - Alison Gow
A very interesting piece about how news stories could be compiled, written, commented upon, progressed and taken in so many directions with the tools out there today.
Breaking the email compulsion - The Guardian
Remember life before email? Well Suw Charman-Anderson looks at the world of email and the terrible stress and strain it has on people, "email is as addictive as a slot machine".
How to get noticed (the art of positioning) - ProBlogger
If there is one thing blogs and all the related tools of the internet let you do it is create and appeal to an audience, without requiring millions of pounds behind you.
The New Islington Festival - Manchester
If after following all these links you have a little time on your hands this weekend, then take up the chance to enjoy some free folk art, music, dance, film and some very special events.
Congestion charge goes Dipity
A VERY smart use of the Dipity timeline service from the Manchester Evening News as it tracks the evolving congestion charge story. It is a great way for people to visualise and track a story over long periods of time,...
A VERY smart use of the Dipity timeline service from the Manchester Evening News as it tracks the evolving congestion charge story.
It is a great way for people to visualise and track a story over long periods of time, as well as a way for a publisher to draw articles out of the archive.
Straight off the top of my head I could see this being used to track sports reports over a season, as well as things like theatre and gig reviews.
And as Dipity timelines can be shared across the web with the insertion of a short line of code it is a simple way to get your work in front of new readers.
To see a full size version of the timeline check out the MEN's Congestion charge: The story so far.
How PR people can use social media
I KNOW a few PR pals follow the site so I thought I'd point you to Robin Hamman's presentation and notes on learning to listen to the conversations taking place online.
I KNOW a few PR pals follow the site so I thought I'd point you to Robin Hamman's presentation and notes on learning to listen to the conversations taking place online.
thebusinessdesk.com launches in North West
I AM sure a few people will be interested to click around the newly launched thebusinessdesk.com website which has opened up a North West based service alongside its existing Yorkshire site. How-Do has a bit of background on the people...
I AM sure a few people will be interested to click around the newly launched thebusinessdesk.com website which has opened up a North West based service alongside its existing Yorkshire site.
How-Do has a bit of background on the people behind the site and it offers a clean and crisp design, with some interesting news articles running through it.
Not too sure the request to register for a free account to read the full story is very user friendly, I think such a step dramatically reduces the chances of other sites and blogs linking to you.
Personally I wouldn't be happy sending people to a site where they were being asked to register details to read a story, the connection I have with readers is too valuable for that.
What journalists look for in a website
IF you are looking to increase your online presence and be followed, as well as quoted, by journalists, what are the key elements your website needs to offer? E-Consultancy say sites need an About Us page, a Press area and...
IF you are looking to increase your online presence and be followed, as well as quoted, by journalists, what are the key elements your website needs to offer?
E-Consultancy say sites need an About Us page, a Press area and a blog - not too difficult really.
What do journalists want from your website? E-Consultancy
Post-industrial newspapers and the challenges they face
A VERY thorough, insightful and thought provoking series of articles about why newspapers in the US, as well as those in other post-industrial countries, are struggling. Transforming American Newspapers (Part 1): Digital Deliverance via Kevin Anderson
A VERY thorough, insightful and thought provoking series of articles about why newspapers in the US, as well as those in other post-industrial countries, are struggling.
Transforming American Newspapers (Part 1): Digital Deliverance
via Kevin Anderson
The importance of time, your time
I WAS recently tagged by Louise Bolotin who wrote an interesting piece about the 'embarrassing' products she uses, despite having a keen eye on the environmental side of things. I must admit that I don't use a great deal of...
I WAS recently tagged by Louise Bolotin who wrote an interesting piece about the 'embarrassing' products she uses, despite having a keen eye on the environmental side of things.
I must admit that I don't use a great deal of stuff that might be considered dangerous in an environmental way, I'm a fan of bicarbonate of soda and the various recipes you can create with it, especially after reading my pal Tracey's writing in The Book of Rubbish Ideas.
The one thing that really annoys me, and I've no idea how to recycle them, are razor blade cartridges - I even called up Gillette and asked them if they could be recycled, they said they can't, now that shouldn't be allowed.
But if there is one thing I am 'embarrassed' about from a wasteful perspective, it is the lack of respect I give to time.
There are only so many minutes in the day and I've come to realise that I am terrible for following the next link, refreshing my feedreader or getting involved in Twitter conversations.
So I've been taking some time out, only ten or fifteen minutes, to try and free up the mental clicks and links sitting at your computer generates to try and focus on the job at hand.
The video clip at the top of the page is a presentation in Google's offices about how being too busy can leave you with no time to think, especially important if you are in a creative environment.
I have also read a couple of times now a piece by author Paulo Coelho which looks at the importance of meditation, not in a religious or spiritual way but more as a technique to help generate new ideas and get things done.
Do not try to force one’s concentration, that will only cause anxiety; when we meditate properly, true concentration emerges.
I hope Andrea, Phil and Working Mum may offer a few thoughts.
2:59 AM | |
Tick… Tick… Tick… For Us All
Hear, Hear Americans should not fear talking–and listening–to those whose views we loathe. [T]his has been our history: to let all speak and to fear no one. That’s a good history to continue. This is brilliant.
Hear, Hear
Americans should not fear talking–and listening–to those whose views we loathe.
[T]his has been our history: to let all speak and to fear no one. That’s a good history to continue.
This is brilliant.
10:40 PM | |
Startup Camp coming to Melbourne
Sign up here. This was run in Sydney recently, and looks like a great event. Dates are 3-5 October.
Sign up here.
This was run in Sydney recently, and looks like a great event. Dates are 3-5 October.
Shhh, MP’s are pissheads + why we need bloggers
New South Wales is the political gift state that keeps on giving, this time with the newly sworn in Police Minister (3 days into the job) being forced to resign for dancing semi-naked in (the NSW) Parliament House and simulating a sex act on a female MP. Just for an extra touch of class, Matt [...]
New South Wales is the political gift state that keeps on giving, this time with the newly sworn in Police Minister (3 days into the job) being forced to resign for dancing semi-naked in (the NSW) Parliament House and simulating a sex act on a female MP. Just for an extra touch of class, Matt Brown is said to have yelled out to the daughter of the MP he was on top of “Look at this, I’m titty f&^king your mother.”
Let’s just say I’ve seen worse from elected representatives 
Here’s the little secret though you won’t read in the press: most MP’s are pissheads. Maybe not all, because you do get your occasional teetotaler who takes the job very seriously, or the god botherer who has decided that gods will doesn’t involve a $40 bottle of red, or if you’re in the ALP, a cartoon of beer. But a significant portion of them are, and probably a majority.
It could be the Australian culture of drinking on speed, a casual drink turning into more under the pressure cooker of politics. No matter what you may think of politicians, there is one given that should never be in dispute: they work extremely long hours, and rarely get a proper break. That they can kick back with some staffers or fellow MPs at the end of a day in their Parliamentary offices in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth or which ever state they are in may be their only escape.
Side note: in the last Federal Parliament, two WA Liberal MP’s owned vineyards. Mal Washer knows how to make a decent wine, Prosser’s wine was like vinegar, at least for the first two vintages. But I digress.
There is a serious drinking culture in politics, not just at the branch level. Parties such as the one that has surfaced today are legend among Canberra staffers in particular (I only did a few Canberra trips when I was working for Slippery Pete in the late 90s), although 99% of them will never surface in the press.
Let me tell you why these stories rarely surface: because it’s not uncommon for the journalists to be joining in the fun. If MP’s are pissheads, a good portion of the older members of the Australian press pack are permanently fortified. And lets face it, you don’t rat on your mates, do you?
Does anyone really believe that no one in the press knew of the Matt Brown story before today?
Talking of damaged brain cells, Mark Day has gone on an anti-blog rant in The Oz today. According to Day, journalism can only be practiced by journalists working for private companies that are profitable, because apparently blogs don’t make money and don’t employ journalists. Better still: all blogs are bad because (OMG) commenters on blogs can be nasty. Where do you start on that logic?
Better still, given the only news being created is from newspapers, it shouldn’t go online until later
Branded newspaper sites will hold an advantage over others, such as telcos and search engines, because they generate news. It makes sense to me that more newspapers will follow the lead of The Philadelphia Inquirer by reverting to a model where the news stories it breaks appear first in print. Why, if there is value attached to revealing these stories, should they be given away firston the net? They’ll find their way there soon enough.
And of course, the decline in newspaper circulations is our fault, not the fault on the newspapers themselves…
If not enough of us are willing to support the costly process of maintaining a vibrant, democracy-enhancing fourth estate, whose fault is that?
Let me answer that Mark: it’s your fault.
You can read any of the various other pieces I’ve written in relation to this debate, so I won’t repeat the arguments again now, but I will say this: the notion of heritage media being the last vestige of virtue in a sea of swill is complete and utter bollocks. The difference between a blogger and journalist is that a blogger knows he is biased, a journalist pretends that they’re not. Journalism in this country, particularly political coverage, has long since been the play thing of factions and power brokers, and we never see the full picture in a story. The drunk journalist filling his glass from the drunk MP is more compromised than 99% of all bloggers on the planet. We need bloggers to keep journalism honest, and to fill in the gaps where heritage media is regularly letting us down. We also need bloggers around so there’s someone to cover the news when the bulk of heritage media ceases to exist.
10:40 PM | |
The SEM blog is retiring
Dear readers: The Search Engine Marketing blog is retiring. I admit to feeling sentimental about it, because this blog was originally created for me by Jason Calacanis, in the early days of Weblogs, Inc, and although I ended up contributing to several blogs in our lineup, this is where it started for me. I’m grateful [...]
Dear readers: The Search Engine Marketing blog is retiring. I admit to feeling sentimental about it, because this blog was originally created for me by Jason Calacanis, in the early days of Weblogs, Inc, and although I ended up contributing to several blogs in our lineup, this is where it started for me. I’m grateful to Jason, and thankful for the people I met in the SEM and SEO universes, via this blog.
Chris Gilmer, who has been posting here lately, is still with us! You can find Chris writing on Download Squad, our software and online services blog.
Although our editorial priorities have changed over the nearly three years of operation, we do not remove retired blogs. the SEM blog will remain available as an archive (and not a badly optimized one!). Thanks to everyone for reading.
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The Times They Are A-Changin’
This week, I announced that I was resigning from the Frankfort Village Board. It was an extraordinary tough decision - one which I grappled with for some time. Work, School, a huge life change - marriage - is a lot to handle. Something had to give. Unfortunately, at this point, it [...]
This week, I announced that I was resigning from the Frankfort Village Board. It was an extraordinary tough decision - one which I grappled with for some time. Work, School, a huge life change - marriage - is a lot to handle. Something had to give. Unfortunately, at this point, it was public service. A more in-depth discussion of why I’m leaving is here. I’ve invested a lot of time and energy in to Frankfort and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish these past 5 years. As I wrote in my letter to the Mayor:
It is with a heavy heart and much emotion that I submit my resignation from the Frankfort Village Board of Trustees effective Friday, April 4, 2008.
Our country’s democracy was founded on the premise of “citizen democracy” and service. Leaders were elected, worked for their constituents and when their time was up, they went home. Increasingly today, we’ve moved away from that model to one of career politicians. I admire our Founding Fathers and their contributions to our country not only for what they did, but how they served their country and then went on with their lives. With that notion in my mind, it is time for me to step away from Village government.
With additional responsibilities at work during the day including an increasing amount of travel, coupled with the upcoming nuptials to my wonderful fiancé Natalie, my ability to focus on Village of Frankfort matters is not where it needs to be. Stepping away from the Board at this time is the right thing to do for the residents of Frankfort. Their interests are at the top of my mind.
The past five years have been a wonderful experience and I relish the time spent with you and the entire Village Board as well as past Clerk Tom Bartkus, current Clerk Kate Romani and former Mayor Ray Rossi. I’ve learned a lot from all of you. I appreciate your patience with me and your support on my many initiatives including the Hybrid Vehicle Tax Waiver, impact fee increases, ethics ordinances, and downtown wi-fi.
We’ve accomplished quite a bit in the five years since I’ve joined the Board, but there is more work to be done. With the steady hand of Administrator Jerry Ducay and your leadership, I’m certain that I’m leaving the residents of Frankfort in very capable hands. The Board will continue to lead Frankfort forward in both economic and quality of life issues.
Frankfort is such a special place and the Board is entrusted to ensure that it remains that way for future generations. I wish you and the Board much success. Don’t forget to keep growth in check and continue to uphold extraordinarily high standards for development. Also, don’t forget to consider the people of Frankfort in all of your decisions – they’re what make Frankfort a truly special place.
Thank you, mostly, to the residents of Frankfort who have twice voted to allow me to represent their interests on the Board. It has been an honor to do their work.
I couldn’t have gotten this far without help from my family and friends - most notably my Dad. With his hard work, he propelled me to office. I’ve met some incredible people throughout this process. Greg Griffin will be a lifetime friend. I appreciate his efforts on my behalf. During my time in office, I’ve lost one good friend - Dan Hattan - someone who guided me and provided counsel in tough times. For that, I will be forever grateful.
I’ll give my time on the board a more thorough post-mortem another time. For now, all I can say is “Thanks and I’ll see you guys around town.”
My China visa woes
I have been in China for a few months now and since I last posted about getting a visa to stay here for the Olympics, I still haven’t gotten it yet. Worst still the agent has my passport and my previous visa has long expired. The Chinese government is getting very strict now as to [...]
I have been in China for a few months now and since I last posted about getting a visa to stay here for the Olympics, I still haven’t gotten it yet.
Worst still the agent has my passport and my previous visa has long expired. The Chinese government is getting very strict now as to who can stay here while the Olympics are on. People who have been here for years are having to leave the country.
The agent who is getting my visa assures me there is no problem and it will be ready soon. Problem is he has been saying the same thing for the past few weeks. Sometimes it gets me really worried as to might or could happen and other times, usually after a couple of beers I just think it will be a fun story to tell people in a few years.
It makes me feel pretty uncomfortable not having my passport, living in a communist country. It is also the longest I have stayed in the one place for quite some time. Even though I am planning to stay here for a few more months yet, I am dying to travel somewhere else.
My blog hacked
Thanks to Mid life travel and Work on a boat for email me about this site, I found that it had been hacked. The hack is very sneaky as no matter what I did I could not see the re-direct. Do a search in Google on wordpress and anyresults.net and you will see that this [...]
Thanks to Mid life travel and Work on a boat for email me about this site, I found that it had been hacked. The hack is very sneaky as no matter what I did I could not see the re-direct.
Do a search in Google on wordpress and anyresults.net and you will see that this is a common problem and you are still vulnerable if you are on the latest version.
There seem to be a few variations and my case seem to be the same as described here.
This is pretty scary. Spammers and hackers seem to be going out of control. I hope the owner of anyresults.net is investigated. I seem to have spent most of this week fixing script related problems because of increased security from Dreamhost, which of course is a good thing, but it is taking time away from writing content and marketing my sites.
Great Condo in Frankfort, Illinois (at a Really Great Price, too!)
It has come to this. With all the changes that have happened over the course of the past year (new job, new school, leaving public office) and the biggest one coming up later this summer (marriage), there is one more thing that I’m looking to change: my location. I’ve lived in the [...]
It has come to this. With all the changes that have happened over the course of the past year (new job, new school, leaving public office) and the biggest one coming up later this summer (marriage), there is one more thing that I’m looking to change: my location.
I’ve lived in the most incredible condo in Frankfort, Illinois for the past (almost) four years. I bought it pre-construction and was lucky enough to pick out all of the finishes. The time has come to move on and I’m parting ways with my home. It was my first, but won’t be my last. We’ve priced it incredibly (considerably below what others have sold for!) and this place is really looking for someone to love it as much as I did. There are NO better condo’s in all of the southwest suburbs. I can guarantee that! (Seriously!)
The details can be found here on the realtor’s site. For a condo, it really has an incredible kitchen and is a great place to host a party. It’s walkable to downtown Frankfort (2 blocks) where you can drink German beer at the Hoffbrau House, hang at the Village Green, and eat italian at Francesca’s. If you know anyone looking in the southwest suburbs for a maintenance-free life, make sure they check this place out. We want to sell it to you!
Nuptials
Just 11 days away until I’m a married man. With the longest engagement on record (21 months!) winding down, I thought it’d be appropriate for me to share with you all (Ahem…is there anyone still there?) one of my favorite parts of this whole wedding planning business. Sure…we had all the showers, thank [...]
Just 11 days away until I’m a married man. With the longest engagement on record (21 months!) winding down, I thought it’d be appropriate for me to share with you all (Ahem…is there anyone still there?) one of my favorite parts of this whole wedding planning business. Sure…we had all the showers, thank you cards, chicken dinner tastings, table cloth selections, ring shopping trips, and discussions of the various shades of pinks (It’s not my color!). That was all good and important stuff. However, the part of this whole experience that Natalie let me run wild with and really leave my mark on was the rehearsal dinner. It’s coming up in a bit over a week, and while I’m excited about the wedding, I’m really looking forward to the rehearsal dinner. From the location (Southport Lanes!) to the menu (Italian Beef Sandwiches!) to the invite list (skewed toward my friends/family!), Natalie gave me a lot of room to run.
The most interesting/challenging part was the invitations. We had really cool, but girly, wedding invitations (as they should be, right?) With 2008 being an election year, my political instincts kicked in for these invites. Last week, we mailed them to our friends and family. I’m really pleased with how they turned out. Guess who’s not at the top of the ticket!
(here’s a bigger version)
After the wedding, we’re off on a 3 week honeymoon, then we’ll hopefully be settled into our new/old house. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
(here’s a bigger version)
9:01 PM | |
Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Guide Sep28 08
If you want to convert your videos file formats, arrange your digital images inside an online photo albums, or be able to browse a huge database of free fonts and typefaces, I have gotten some tools for you. 
Photo credit: Mitar Gavric Here my selected visual communication and video publishing tools for this week:
- Jalbum: Create and share photo albums with skins and music
- Microsoft Image Composite Editor: Mix a set of images together to make a full panorama
- DaFont: Browse a database hosting more than 8000 free fonts
- Graphics2PDF: Convert images in one or more PDF documents easily
- DryIcons: Search and download free sets of icons and vector graphics
- Outshouts: Add video/audio messages to online videos and share them with people
- Filsh: Convert any video from URL or PC to many formats with customizable settings
- Slicd: Extract parts of YouTube videos and share them with people on a dedicated page
Visual Communication Tools
- Jalbum
Jalbum is an online project that people can use to create and share photo albums. After you install the Jalbum software on your PC, you are able to upload your pictures,add descriptions, select a skin and change its colors, add music and more. When done, you can publish your album and share it with other people. Free to use. http://jalbum.net/ - Microsoft Image Composite Editor
Microsoft Image Composite Editor is an advanced panoramic image stitcher. If you have a set of overlapping photographs of a scene from a single location, Image Composite Editor will create a high-resolution panorama incorporating all your images at full resolution. Then, you can save your panorama in a wide variety of formats, like JPEG and TIFF. Free to download and use, Windows machines only. http://research.microsoft.com/ivm/ice.html - DaFont
DaFont is a huge font database, hosting more than 8000 items, that lets you browse and download fonts. You can search for fonts, browsing them for style and name, see all the characters that compose a font, and also get a live preview of any word you type. When satisfied, you can download it in ZIP format and use it on Windows or MAC platforms. Free to use, no registration needed. http://www.dafont.com/ - Graphics2PDF
Graphics2PDF is a free PDF file creator that lets you convert your images to PDF documents. You can loads as many images as you want (BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF) just by drag&dropping then into the program, and then click "Save as PDF", to create one or more PDF documents that will contain your images. The setup weights just 4.2 MB, and works on Windows machines only. http://www.imposant.com/products/image2pdf.htm - DryIcons
DryIcons is a free service which provides sets of icons and vector graphics to the general public, with a specific target to designers, software and web developers. You can browse all the sets, comment them, and obviously download them in PNG format (16x16px; 24x24px; 32x32px; 48x48px and 128x128px) to use them as you wish. Free. http://dryicons.com/
Video Publishing Tools
- Outshouts
Outshouts is a video messaging system, that lets you add video/audio messages to online videos. You can search any video from a number of sources and then, when you have found what you like, you can record your video message and then easily email it to anyone or embed it on your page. The service is free to use, no registration is needed. http://www.outshouts.com/ - Filsh
Filsh is a Dutch website that lets you convert all of your videos online. You can start by providing a video URL (YouTube, Veoh, Metacafe, and more) or by uploading it directly from you PC (50MB max): then, after you select the output format from the available ones, you will be able to customize the settings, such as video/audio bitrate, proportions and volume, and click. Your file will then be ready for you to download. Free. http://www.filsh.net/ - Slicd
Slicd is a free and easy service that lets you extract parts of YouTube videos. Just paste a video URL, insert the start and final timing of the video part you\'re interested in, and click continue. A new page will be created, and you will be able to share its URL so that people will see a YouTube player with the video part you extracted before, being able to watch the new and the original video. Free. http://www.splicd.com/
Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi for Master New Media and first published on September 28th 2008 as "Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Picnic Sep28 08" ...
Photo credit: Mitar Gavric Here my selected visual communication and video publishing tools for this week: - Jalbum: Create and share photo albums with skins and music
- Microsoft Image Composite Editor: Mix a set of images together to make a full panorama
- DaFont: Browse a database hosting more than 8000 free fonts
- Graphics2PDF: Convert images in one or more PDF documents easily
- DryIcons: Search and download free sets of icons and vector graphics
- Outshouts: Add video/audio messages to online videos and share them with people
- Filsh: Convert any video from URL or PC to many formats with customizable settings
- Slicd: Extract parts of YouTube videos and share them with people on a dedicated page
Visual Communication Tools
- Jalbum Jalbum is an online project that people can use to create and share photo albums. After you install the Jalbum software on your PC, you are able to upload your pictures,add descriptions, select a skin and change its colors, add music and more. When done, you can publish your album and share it with other people. Free to use. http://jalbum.net/
- Microsoft Image Composite Editor Microsoft Image Composite Editor is an advanced panoramic image stitcher. If you have a set of overlapping photographs of a scene from a single location, Image Composite Editor will create a high-resolution panorama incorporating all your images at full resolution. Then, you can save your panorama in a wide variety of formats, like JPEG and TIFF. Free to download and use, Windows machines only. http://research.microsoft.com/ivm/ice.html
- DaFont DaFont is a huge font database, hosting more than 8000 items, that lets you browse and download fonts. You can search for fonts, browsing them for style and name, see all the characters that compose a font, and also get a live preview of any word you type. When satisfied, you can download it in ZIP format and use it on Windows or MAC platforms. Free to use, no registration needed. http://www.dafont.com/
- Graphics2PDF Graphics2PDF is a free PDF file creator that lets you convert your images to PDF documents. You can loads as many images as you want (BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF) just by drag&dropping then into the program, and then click "Save as PDF", to create one or more PDF documents that will contain your images. The setup weights just 4.2 MB, and works on Windows machines only. http://www.imposant.com/products/image2pdf.htm
- DryIcons DryIcons is a free service which provides sets of icons and vector graphics to the general public, with a specific target to designers, software and web developers. You can browse all the sets, comment them, and obviously download them in PNG format (16x16px; 24x24px; 32x32px; 48x48px and 128x128px) to use them as you wish. Free. http://dryicons.com/
Video Publishing Tools
- Outshouts Outshouts is a video messaging system, that lets you add video/audio messages to online videos. You can search any video from a number of sources and then, when you have found what you like, you can record your video message and then easily email it to anyone or embed it on your page. The service is free to use, no registration is needed. http://www.outshouts.com/
- Filsh Filsh is a Dutch website that lets you convert all of your videos online. You can start by providing a video URL (YouTube, Veoh, Metacafe, and more) or by uploading it directly from you PC (50MB max): then, after you select the output format from the available ones, you will be able to customize the settings, such as video/audio bitrate, proportions and volume, and click. Your file will then be ready for you to download. Free. http://www.filsh.net/
- Slicd Slicd is a free and easy service that lets you extract parts of YouTube videos. Just paste a video URL, insert the start and final timing of the video part you're interested in, and click continue. A new page will be created, and you will be able to share its URL so that people will see a YouTube player with the video part you extracted before, being able to watch the new and the original video. Free. http://www.splicd.com/
Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi for Master New Media and first published on September 28th 2008 as "Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Picnic Sep28 08"
How To Publish Your Content Online Without A Web Site - Video Interview With Ryan Hupfer Of Hubpages.com
Ready to publish some great content online but have no site or blog where to post it to? Hubpages, like a few other competing web publishing services online (namely Squidoo and Google Knol) provides you with everything you need to publish any content you are passionate about in no time at all.
In this eight-minute video interview, I recorded a few hours ago with Ryan Hupfer of Hubpages, you are going to find out what are the benefits of publishing to a ready-made content publishing portal and what are the key benefits you may have by going with Hubpages. (For a full review of Hubpages see this MasterNewMedia review.) Here the full unedited video interview along with its full text transcription: Interview With Ryan Hupfer - Communicator of Awesomeness - Hubpages.com
Full English Text Transcription
Intro
Robin Good: Hi guys here is Robin good and guess who I have today! Ryan Hupfer: You got me! Robin Good: Yeah! How are you man? What\'s your name? Ryan Hupfer: Ryan Hupfer and I\'m coming straight from San Francisco, California. Where even though I have on a little bit of a jacket there\'s some cool mornings up here. It is a beautiful, beautiful day. Robin Good: Fantastic, so the fog is gone. I\'ve been blowing all night. Ryan Hupfer: Yeah the fog, you know, it usually creeps around the morning but about this time it\'s starting to move away. So that\'s good, the sun is coming out. And it\'s a beautiful day. Robin, it is a beautiful day in California. Robin Good: Ryan Hupfer is... what is your official title? Ryan Hupfer: I am the Communicator of Awesomeness. Robin Good: ...which is one of the most important roles behind a company that you should know about and it\'s called Hubpages. This is a company that provides a service on the internet that allows you to publish content and also possibly to make money out of it, get traffic from your own content. But let me understand specifically how. So I got Ryan to come up here on the video for the first time and I\'m gonna fire him some rapid-fire questions. Ryan Hupfer: I\'m ready.Hubpages Key Traits
Robin Good: So, Ryan why would I go to Hubpages to create some content rather than go to Wikipedia or Squidoo or even Google Knol now are the trendy stuff. Why would I go to Hubpages to do this and not there. Ryan Hupfer: Robin, that\'s a good question. Let me take one by one: Ok so, basically Hubpages. I tell people we\'re kind of a go between a blog and a Wikipedia and the reason why you would post something on Hubpages:- We\'ve got amazing traffic. We\'ve got... I think last month we had just like over twenty-two million page views. We\'ve got eight and a half million unique visitors. So we got the traffic, alright?
- We basically take care of all the advertising for you. We use our Yieldbuild optimization platform. So we take care of all the advertising. You don\'t have to worry about it. It\'s easy to write so you can just get to what you love to do and that\'s writing. So you can go straight to what you love to do and just start writing content.
- We have an amazing community of people. So if you\'re writing a blog you kinda just writing by yourself and you can\'t really connect with other people, Hubpages already has a building community. We have forty-thousand authors. So it\'s a great community. There\'s lots of people writing and you can make some money too. You know, a lot of people come to Hubpages, they don\'t necessarily come there for the money, but it\'s a great by-product for a lot of people to write.
Why Hubpages And Not Squidoo
Robin Good: That\'s great information. Now though you\'ve so elegantly avoided comparing yourself staking again those other guys there... There\'s no way you\'re gonna escape! So... Ryan Hupfer: So the thing about Wikipedia is you don\'t really control all your content, you can contribute to content, and plus, every single link on Wikipedia is a no-follow. So, we\'ve got... like Google and other search engines really like our content so a lot of people like to post inside Hubpages, as you can get that good Google link juice. Everybody likes the good link juice. and you can point it back. As long as you write good content, we don\'t mind if you link back to other things like blogs or another website that you\'re running. So, that\'s how we compare to Wikipedia. As far as Squidoo goes, the big difference between us and Squidoo is our content. I feel like our content is a lot better. About six months ago we completely shut off all adult content and all spam content. We hired a lovely woman named Maddy Rudd who\'s our community manager, so she\'s going through everyday she controls the content\'s good because if Google doesn\'t like your content, nothing\'s gonna rank. And if nothing ranks, then nobody\'s gonna make any money.Content Topics On Hubpages
Robin Good: Good. what about the topics. Is this open to just about anyone. Is it more technology-, marketing-oriented. Do you have some kind of slants that would have a better audience if they realize to Hubpages? Ryan Hupfer: Well Robin, actually we have people riding on all types of topics, but there\'s obviously topics that have better results than others. We find that one of the best topics to ride on is financial topics. So you can write about how, you know, better prepare yourself for this crazy economic situation we have going on here in the United States, you could write about that. Also like How-Tos, instructional content, so things they really show your expertise or things that you know. It can be anything from how to build something to how to be a parent how to make more money. I mean, the topics are all across the board but I think the goal, the thing you really need to do is you need to find those topics that are getting searched for but don\'t have a lot of really good solid results. So a little bit of research never hurts, but just kind of writing with your heart and just publishing what you really like to write about that works too.Key Benefits Of Using Hubpages
Robin Good: Coolio. So, I think the last thing you may do to do a great favor to the guys who could be interested in this, is really point out with them clearly what are the advantages for me as an author, somebody who would like to publish out there good content but don\'t have yet a blog or website. Now this going and creating a Hubpages. What key advantages does this give me that I would normally not have. I think, this is what people wanna know, so if you could help me with this one I think they would have a good picture of the opportunity. Go for it! Ryan Hupfer: Excellent, I\'m going. Ok, so, if you\'re a writer, one of the things a lot of writers don\'t wanna deal with is all the technical issues they have to do to set up a blog and especially when setting up a blog that wants to make money. So, I think when you go on Hubpages there\'s a couple of things:- We may manage all that for you. So you go on Hubpages, you can really be signed up in a minute, you can start writing your first hub and before you know you can start getting traffic and you can start making money and you don\'t have to think twice about it. You go and sign up an AdSense account and it makes it really really easy so you can get to what you really wanna do, and that\'s writing.
- I think our tools are a lot easier than most blogs and we have some really intuitive way to put different content, video, links, photos, content so you can put all the stuff into a nice looking hub. It\'s a piece of cake actually. I also blog but I also, you know, write a lot of hubs so it\'s not really one or the other Robin, I feel like a lot of people, on a hub you can really start building your expertise in a lot of topics that you know a lot about , where a lot of people, you know, they create blogs just for more personal conversational type of content so they can kinda work well off each other and especially for trying to build traffic on both of them, they can kind of start putting traffic back and forth which creates a really good situation on the web.
Robin Good: Alright Ryan. It\'s all very clear, you seem to have prepared for this quite well. That\'s fantastic! So you guys you promise me you go and try this out Hubpages and you let me know through the comments and your feedback, even from your videos, what you think of it, if it stands up to the competition to Google Knol, the latest stuff and where do you find some advantages or not. Does it look professional, is it something that\'s gonna actually help you or not. I want to find out from you guys who are gonna use it because if it was for Ryan there would just Hubpages and nothing else, so they guy looks trustable, all-going, lives in San Francisco, but we got to go and find out ourselves. So, Ryan thank you and say hello to the great team at Hubpages and look forward to find out from my guys what they think about it. Have a great day for today!
Ryan Hupfer: Awesome. Thank you so much. You too Robin. Go catch your plane! Robin Good: Alright, ciao!
Originally shot and recorded by Robin Good for MasterNewMedia and first published on September 26th 2008 as "How To Publish Your Content Online Without A Web Site - Video Interview With Ryan Hupfer Of Hubpages.com" ...
In this eight-minute video interview, I recorded a few hours ago with Ryan Hupfer of Hubpages, you are going to find out what are the benefits of publishing to a ready-made content publishing portal and what are the key benefits you may have by going with Hubpages. (For a full review of Hubpages see this MasterNewMedia review.) Here the full unedited video interview along with its full text transcription: Interview With Ryan Hupfer - Communicator of Awesomeness - Hubpages.com
Full English Text Transcription
Intro
Robin Good: Hi guys here is Robin good and guess who I have today! Ryan Hupfer: You got me! Robin Good: Yeah! How are you man? What's your name? Ryan Hupfer: Ryan Hupfer and I'm coming straight from San Francisco, California. Where even though I have on a little bit of a jacket there's some cool mornings up here. It is a beautiful, beautiful day. Robin Good: Fantastic, so the fog is gone. I've been blowing all night. Ryan Hupfer: Yeah the fog, you know, it usually creeps around the morning but about this time it's starting to move away. So that's good, the sun is coming out. And it's a beautiful day. Robin, it is a beautiful day in California. Robin Good: Ryan Hupfer is... what is your official title? Ryan Hupfer: I am the Communicator of Awesomeness. Robin Good: ...which is one of the most important roles behind a company that you should know about and it's called Hubpages. This is a company that provides a service on the internet that allows you to publish content and also possibly to make money out of it, get traffic from your own content. But let me understand specifically how. So I got Ryan to come up here on the video for the first time and I'm gonna fire him some rapid-fire questions. Ryan Hupfer: I'm ready.Hubpages Key Traits
Robin Good: So, Ryan why would I go to Hubpages to create some content rather than go to Wikipedia or Squidoo or even Google Knol now are the trendy stuff. Why would I go to Hubpages to do this and not there. Ryan Hupfer: Robin, that's a good question. Let me take one by one: Ok so, basically Hubpages. I tell people we're kind of a go between a blog and a Wikipedia and the reason why you would post something on Hubpages:- We've got amazing traffic. We've got... I think last month we had just like over twenty-two million page views. We've got eight and a half million unique visitors. So we got the traffic, alright?
- We basically take care of all the advertising for you. We use our Yieldbuild optimization platform. So we take care of all the advertising. You don't have to worry about it. It's easy to write so you can just get to what you love to do and that's writing. So you can go straight to what you love to do and just start writing content.
- We have an amazing community of people. So if you're writing a blog you kinda just writing by yourself and you can't really connect with other people, Hubpages already has a building community. We have forty-thousand authors. So it's a great community. There's lots of people writing and you can make some money too. You know, a lot of people come to Hubpages, they don't necessarily come there for the money, but it's a great by-product for a lot of people to write.
Why Hubpages And Not Squidoo
Robin Good: That's great information. Now though you've so elegantly avoided comparing yourself staking again those other guys there... There's no way you're gonna escape! So... Ryan Hupfer: So the thing about Wikipedia is you don't really control all your content, you can contribute to content, and plus, every single link on Wikipedia is a no-follow. So, we've got... like Google and other search engines really like our content so a lot of people like to post inside Hubpages, as you can get that good Google link juice. Everybody likes the good link juice. and you can point it back. As long as you write good content, we don't mind if you link back to other things like blogs or another website that you're running. So, that's how we compare to Wikipedia. As far as Squidoo goes, the big difference between us and Squidoo is our content. I feel like our content is a lot better. About six months ago we completely shut off all adult content and all spam content. We hired a lovely woman named Maddy Rudd who's our community manager, so she's going through everyday she controls the content's good because if Google doesn't like your content, nothing's gonna rank. And if nothing ranks, then nobody's gonna make any money.Content Topics On Hubpages
Robin Good: Good. what about the topics. Is this open to just about anyone. Is it more technology-, marketing-oriented. Do you have some kind of slants that would have a better audience if they realize to Hubpages? Ryan Hupfer: Well Robin, actually we have people riding on all types of topics, but there's obviously topics that have better results than others. We find that one of the best topics to ride on is financial topics. So you can write about how, you know, better prepare yourself for this crazy economic situation we have going on here in the United States, you could write about that. Also like How-Tos, instructional content, so things they really show your expertise or things that you know. It can be anything from how to build something to how to be a parent how to make more money. I mean, the topics are all across the board but I think the goal, the thing you really need to do is you need to find those topics that are getting searched for but don't have a lot of really good solid results. So a little bit of research never hurts, but just kind of writing with your heart and just publishing what you really like to write about that works too.Key Benefits Of Using Hubpages
Robin Good: Coolio. So, I think the last thing you may do to do a great favor to the guys who could be interested in this, is really point out with them clearly what are the advantages for me as an author, somebody who would like to publish out there good content but don't have yet a blog or website. Now this going and creating a Hubpages. What key advantages does this give me that I would normally not have. I think, this is what people wanna know, so if you could help me with this one I think they would have a good picture of the opportunity. Go for it! Ryan Hupfer: Excellent, I'm going. Ok, so, if you're a writer, one of the things a lot of writers don't wanna deal with is all the technical issues they have to do to set up a blog and especially when setting up a blog that wants to make money. So, I think when you go on Hubpages there's a couple of things:- We may manage all that for you. So you go on Hubpages, you can really be signed up in a minute, you can start writing your first hub and before you know you can start getting traffic and you can start making money and you don't have to think twice about it. You go and sign up an AdSense account and it makes it really really easy so you can get to what you really wanna do, and that's writing.
- I think our tools are a lot easier than most blogs and we have some really intuitive way to put different content, video, links, photos, content so you can put all the stuff into a nice looking hub. It's a piece of cake actually. I also blog but I also, you know, write a lot of hubs so it's not really one or the other Robin, I feel like a lot of people, on a hub you can really start building your expertise in a lot of topics that you know a lot about , where a lot of people, you know, they create blogs just for more personal conversational type of content so they can kinda work well off each other and especially for trying to build traffic on both of them, they can kind of start putting traffic back and forth which creates a really good situation on the web.
Robin Good: Alright Ryan. It's all very clear, you seem to have prepared for this quite well. That's fantastic! So you guys you promise me you go and try this out Hubpages and you let me know through the comments and your feedback, even from your videos, what you think of it, if it stands up to the competition to Google Knol, the latest stuff and where do you find some advantages or not. Does it look professional, is it something that's gonna actually help you or not. I want to find out from you guys who are gonna use it because if it was for Ryan there would just Hubpages and nothing else, so they guy looks trustable, all-going, lives in San Francisco, but we got to go and find out ourselves. So, Ryan thank you and say hello to the great team at Hubpages and look forward to find out from my guys what they think about it. Have a great day for today!
Ryan Hupfer: Awesome. Thank you so much. You too Robin. Go catch your plane! Robin Good: Alright, ciao!
Originally shot and recorded by Robin Good for MasterNewMedia and first published on September 26th 2008 as "How To Publish Your Content Online Without A Web Site - Video Interview With Ryan Hupfer Of Hubpages.com"
9:01 PM | |
वकाशन रेन्ताल्मौरितिउस फ्रॉम 45 एउरोस पेर निघत अल्बिओं अपार्टमेंट्स फ्लिक Albion, Seaside Flic En Flac with Swimming pool close to the beautiful beach
Book with confidence...Phone or Text Anita (2 direct lines) in Mauritius +230 93 19 727 / +230 45 20 769 (photo on website) who will be pleased to answer your questions, discuss your requirements and arrange your reservation for you. Or, Email llewelynpritchard@blueyonder.co.uk
Self-catering Apartments at Albion, Flic En Flac, S.W. Mauritius, Sleeps 1-6, One, Two or Three Bedrooms, Fully furnished, Well-equipped, Air-Conditioned, with or w/out swimming pool only a few minutes walk from the beautiful beach and coral lagoon(see photos.)
Ideal for a relaxing holiday for all ages.
The apartments are nicely decorated and regularly maintained to a very good standard. A great base from which to explore all the wonderful delights that the island has to offer.
Come to Delicious Mauritius!
From: Apartments in Albion, Flic En Flac either 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms and living, dining, kitchen and bathroom situated in a complex with swimming pool and on-site security guard (see photos).
To: Villas, with or without swimming pool.
RENTAL RATES per apartment /per day/ fully furnished with or w/out swimming pool:
Self-Catering Studio: Sleeps 2: £35/ Euro 45 / Zar 505./ $Usd 65/ $Sgd 95/ $Aud 75/ $Hkd 510/ Jpy 6970/ $Nzd 80/ 1800 Mur;
3 Bedroom Apartments: Sleeps 6: £45-£55.00 / Euro 60-70 / Zar 680-780/ 2400-2800 MUR;
Villa: 4.5 Bedrooms Sleeps 6+: £60/ Euro 75/ ZAR 840/ 3000 MUR or,
Other Accommodation in Flic En Flac may also be available upon request (click below) to suit your needs at a great rental price of per apartment/ per day/ £21.00 / EUR 28.00 / $SGD 60.00 / $AUD 46.00/ $HKD 327.00 / $USD 41.00 / ZAR 310.00 / JPY 4492.00 / $NZD 52.00 / (1200 MUR)
MAKE YOUR BOOKING ENQUIRY HERE FOR AN ALBION APARTMENT:
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/flic-en-flac/47773
AND HERE FOR AN ORCHIDEES APARTMENT, FLIC EN FLAC:
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/flic-en-flac/52835
Or Phone Anita (in photo on website) 00230 93 19 727 / 00230 45 20 769 who will be pleased to answer your questions, discuss your requirements and make your reservation for you.
Or Email llewelynpritchard@blueyonder.co.uk
We are also pleased to bring you a variety of lower cost, carefully selected, comfortable apartments and villas in Mauritius to choose from.
Click here:
http://rentalapartmentsvillasmauritius.wordpress.com/
ACTIVITIES, EXCURSIONS, SIGHTSEEING:
BEACH AND SEA:
beach fishing, boat trips, coral reef, deep sea big game fishing,
glass-bottomed boat trips to swim with dolphins, diving, water sports,Blue Safari Submarine; Undersea Walk, Sailing Boat to Isla Mauritia, Catamaran / Parasailing (including lunch, drink & transfer);
LAND-BASED:
Tennis and Horse Riding in Flic En Flac, Golf within 30 mins drive; visiting crater lakes, Coconut island; Chamarel coloured earths; great for walking and cycling holidays, fascinating tropical fauna and flora, National Parks, golf, sega dancing;
HONEYMOONS, FOOD AND NIGHTLIFE:
Mauritius and Honeymoons go hand-in-hand!
http://www.mauritius.net/what_to_do/honey.php
Chinese, Creole, European, French, Hindi, Mauritian and Seafood restaurants' culinary delights;
http://www.mauritius.net/general_info/cusine.php
casino and clubs are only a few of the many tastes to try on your multi-cultural, unforgettable holiday experience of a lifetime!
SPOILT FOR CHOICE!
YOU MAY DECIDE TO VISIT:
Grand Bassin, a place of Hindu pilgrimage.
Or,
Pamplemousses Botanical Gardens with Giant Amazonica Water Lillies.
Or,
you may just want to enjoy the sugar cane plantations, sub-tropical forests, stunning sunsets, volcanic mountains or walking with lions!
A Catamaran trip to Ile Aux Cerfs is unmissable!
http://www.mauritius.net/what_to_see/east.php
Or evening cocktails and a BBQ cruise.
THE CHOICE IS YOURS! COME! ENJOY!
TAXI AIRPORT TRANSFER: about £15-£20.00;
CAR RENTAL:
Airport or Flic En Flac collection available;
HIRE A TAXI 1/2 OR WHOLE DAY WITH YOUR OWN DRIVER GUIDE:
Flic En Flac taxi rank near apartment, from about £15.00;
HIRE a SCOOTER or BIKE instead?
HOW TO GET THERE:
Air Mauritius: daily non-stop flights from major cities worldwide. Other major airlines: Air France, Emirates, British Airways, South African Airways, Air Zimbabwe, Condor, Commair, Air Europe, Virgin; Budget airline - Air Seychelles.
NEAREST TRAVEL LINK:
Airport: SSR International Airport, Plaisance: 45 km, approximately 30 minute drive.
USEFUL GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT MAURITIUS:
GUESTBOOK
At first I thought this was too good to be true but it wasn't!
Brilliant!
Best holiday ever!
Coming again!
Thank you so much Anita's Affordable Apartments. Gail, Cardiff
Will be definitely using Anitas Affordable Apartments again. Thank you! Mr & Mrs Thomas, Wales
We had a brilliant time and it was great value for money. Mr & Mrs Leonard, Teeside
We loved the great variety of things to see and do. For a small island. there really is something for everybody. Feel like we've only touched the surface of the culture, lots more to find out next year! Peter and Jean, London
Must be the closest thing to Paradise on Earth! Fantastic! Thank You! C u soon. Timothy, Birmingham
Other useful addresses:
Mauritius Tourist Promotion Authority
Government of Mauritius
Flic en Flac Tourist Office
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Air Mauritius
Air France
British Airways
Emirates Airlines
Air Fares Compared
Useful Guide Book: Spectrum Guide to Mauritius Pub. by Camerapix International 1997
http://albionvacationrentals.blogspot.com/
http://anitasaffordableapartments.blogspot.com
http://anitasaffordableapartments.wordpress.com <