Easy breezy recipes
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 03/28 at 09:19 AM |
A big issue I have with trying new recipes is that I find a lot of delicious looking recipes online. Because I have to print these out, I usually end up with a stack of a zillion pages which I rarely, if ever, use... and this is shoved somewhere just to collect dust.
Pandigital's making cooking fun again with an HDTV, cookbook, photo frame that's perfect for use in the kitchen.
It's a little pricey ($399.99) but I think it might be good enough for the birthday/christmas list. :)
Into the New... er, Blu
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 02/21 at 01:47 PM |
I've been waiting for the Blu-ray v. High-Definition DVD war to settle down so I can finally use some holiday gift cards. Why am I waiting? Mainly because I wanted to avoid having any more DVDs that would sooner (rather than later) become obsolete... I'm also just not the type to run out to get the latest and greatest and would have been especially ticked if Blu-ray had ended up losing the battle!
But things are slowing down on who will prevail as Toshiba becomes the latest supporter of Blu-ray (joining Wal-Mart, Netflix, Warner Brothers, and a number of others) to abandon HD technology.
While technology is always changing, it's still a little, well, frustrating, to me as a consumer. Not only does it mean that my husband will be "forced" to buy yet another DVD player, but it also means new DVDs, a number of gadgets, probably a PS3, and so on as HD begins its path towards extinction.
And if you're a Blu-ray supporter, don't think you're better off than those who may have been more hesitant as even current Blu-ray users will need to upgrade their players or have an obsolete product next year... You'd think I might be accustomed to constant changes in technology working in the web industry but I'm still wondering if our gift cards can wait for the dust to settle just a bit more! I guess I should keep in mind what I'm always explaining to clients when they ask why their new web site is not compatible with older browsers and vice versa! C'est technologie...
Outback Steakhouse Does Online Ordering Right
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 01/15 at 10:41 PM |
We recently tried the online ordering system at Outback Steakhouse. I went to the Web site to simply download the menu for phone-in service, but decided to try the online ordering system as they seemed to be promoting it.
I was very impressed by the ability of the online system. You could really tell that the logistics had really been pondered. I think the user interface could use a bit of work in an effort to make things more intuitive, but it was certainly adequate.
The system allowed me to select various menu items, add special instructions to certain items (hold the onions, please), and used dynamic menus to present me with salad/site item choices. It also asked me what Make and Model of car I would be picking the order up in. What impressed me most was the ability to set my own pick-up time. Since I wanted to see the last 15 minutes of SportsCenter, I gave myself an extra 20 minutes by selecting my desired time from a drop-down selection.
I arrived a few minutes before the designated time. The attendant came out curb-side and, recognizing my car, asked if I was Matt! Pretty impressive. She took my card, came back with my receipt and order 1 minute prior to my requested pick-up time. Needless to say, I was very impressed.
My only complaint was that the "medium" steak I ordered was a bit on the rare side. I have to say that the convenience and ease of the online ordering system made up for any shortcomings in the order. I would definitely recommend it!
Google Street Map Fleet
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 08/07 at 01:04 PM |
I read this post some time ago talking about Google's fleet of 'camera cars' which were setting out to take 360 degree views of streets to integrate with Google Maps. The idea is to give people actual street-level photographs of their destinations so that they might know where they are once they get there!
I then came across an article in today's Orlando Sentinel announcing that the new technology is available and that Orlando is one of Google's test markets. The actual photos within the maps are of very high quality...and you can use your mouse to pan in 360 mode and even advance down the street the way the actual vehicle must have traversed. Amazing technology!
You can try it out here. But be aware that the street view technology is only available in a few markets...
iPhone Hype
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 06/28 at 01:56 PM |
Close to 24 hours away from the Apple iPhone's much anticipated launch and the buzz around the Internet is pretty high. I'm curious as to the way the product will be received, although all signs seem to point to the positive. For starters, Apple's recent history of product launches has been nothing short of astounding--not to mention the very positive reviews that the product seems to be getting. Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and Steven Levy of Newsweek both seem to have positive things to say.
On the other side, Seth Godin points us to an interview with a Verizon exec (AT&T/Cingular was instead choses to exclusively handle the iPhone for Apple) who seems to be glad that Verizon isn't launching the iPhone. Not sure I believe him. This other piece about Verizon is an interesting look at how the iPhone's competitors are going to counter the product's hype. On a lighter note, Josh points us to Dan Blank's humorous view of iPhone post-purchase dissonance.
Link Rundown
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 05/17 at 09:41 AM |
If you have a minute, check out http://www.bubbl.us. It's a pretty cool Web-based productivity application for diagrams, brainstorming, etc. This is the type of Web-based app that the world has been warning Microsoft about for some time (i.e. Google Apps).
Also, check out the new release of Google Analytics, something every marketer/business owner/Web site operator should find the time to do. Google just released a new version and the reviews are starting to come in. Check out reviews by beconfused, Mashable, and Mydeology. All seem to be relatively positive, save a few errors that still remain in the new site.
Vroom, Vroom... Increasing Traffic Online
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 02/06 at 03:46 PM |
In the spirit of my post-Super Bowl glow (yay Colts!), I came across this blog about Toyota Tundra’s commercials’ “actual demonstration” disclaimer.
Now, I usually don’t pay too much attention to the ads unless they’re pretty funny but I did in fact see one and thought something along the lines of “Actual demonstration? That’s weird they’d put that there since that would take a lot of work.”
Turns out I was wrong as well. More interesting to me now is that the end of the video had no compelling call to action to go to toyota.com to see the behind-the-scenes video.
Well, I went to the site today and the video -- although shorter than I expected -- is surprisingly interesting. Even though it's a great idea, I just can't help but feel that if you were going to spend money on an ad during the pricey Super Bowl timeslots, then there should have been a call to action to push viewers to go online for the video. By using a cross-media reference, the web site's traffic would have increased as well as audience exposure (to more than just the one truck) without costing any more.
Though I’m now promoting the video myself, I would be curious to see the ad campaign results in relation to the behind-the-scenes page views and compare the ad's success vs. how many people will “happen across” this page. It’s not likely I’ll find out, but I’m still curious.
Partnering in the community
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 11/19 at 10:12 AM |
WebSolvers has a long history of partnering with non-profits in the Orlando/Central Florida area. We recently launched a pro-bono site for UCP of Central Florida, a charitable organization that serves children with special needs.
I also wanted to make mention of another project with which we're charitably involved. A group of Rollins College students has partnered with a group of artisans in Otavalo, Ecuador to help them deliver their goods to market. We've pledged financial support for the endeavor. Do some holiday shopping at http://www.mercadootavalo.com/!
One HUNDRED MILLion Web Sites (ah-ha)
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/06 at 11:15 AM |
Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox email came in and the “100 Million Websites” title caught my attention (as well as started me quoting Austin Powers / Dr. Evil lines in my head). Those who use the web always talk about the internet in terms of “large” and “vast” and that weird cloud image but probably never really think about what those words really mean when it comes to numbers. The article quotes "even if only half the sites are maintained, there are still more than 100 M sites that people pay to keep running” --- that’s a lot of information out there… 101,435,253 million and growing to be exact.
Nielsen, one of the founders and advocates of web page usability (read his bio), further goes into a little bit of the history of web sites, the growth stages, web usability changes, and future predictions. Ultimately it’s just a teaser for an upcoming seminar on web usability but I thought this information was interesting in showing how many people currently use the internet and not just for searching.
So… 200 million by 2010? I agree with Nielsen, I think we’ll surpass that as more and more companies recognize the benefits of having a presence online (not to mention the personal sites, blogs, etc.).
Simple System Maintenance
|
Posted By Keith Ort on 09/07 at 04:52 PM |
A lot of computer novices don’t realize that their computers require maintenance, just like your car, truck or SUV. Windows tends to store many files unnecessarily and over time, those unused files pile up causing things to slow down. You’ll notice it takes longer for Web sites to load or programs to open up. Rather than doing extreme solution of reformatting the computer, a few easy to use freeware utilities can be used to optimize your system again.
- Ad-aware - One of the best anti-spyware programs for the money. A few clicks and spyware is gone. It is important to make sure you keep the program up to date which it tells you if you are or not. Depending on how much time you spend online, you should run this program either weekly or monthly.
- HijackThis - Not the prettiest program out there but HijackThis is great at removing unwanted toolbars and buttons from Internet Explorer. If you see something you don't know about, I recommend looking into what the program is through Google. Run this program as necessary.
- CCleaner - A very simple to use program that will eliminate many old files and clean up your systems registry. I recommend running this weekly or monthly depending on how much work you do on your computer.
After using these programs, defragmenting your hard drive is your next step. This is built into Windows, just go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools and choose Disk Defragmenter. This should be done about once a month. Restart your computer and things should be running a little snappier just like your vehicle after its 30,000 mile maintenance.
Google is Sorry.
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 08/08 at 03:41 PM |
Google is sorry. This message says so.
For the third time today, I've gotten an error message from Google telling me that my query is suspicious--perhaps eminating from spyware or a virus. It is forcing me to validate that the search is authentic through a simple random character display and dialog box.
What's peculiar is that all three of my searches were fairly innocuous: one was for a Compaq server model number, another for movie listings, and a third for a piece of software.
If this is to be the trend, the positive attributes that made Google #1 (simplicity, speed, etc.) will quickly reverse.
Nike + iPod = ?
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 05/23 at 01:21 PM |
Reuters is reporting that Nike and Apple are collaborating on a device to send wireless signals from your shoes to your ears...no, this isn't a joke!
Big changes in the realm of search
|
|
Posted By Keith Ort on 05/16 at 11:41 AM |
We’ve had a few large products go out the door recently so I’ve finally been able to catch up on many of the things going on in the world of search engines. The major search engines have all been trying to do what they can to get your advertising dollars. I'd like to highlight the biggest things for you.
Google
Google has unleashed a few new products that are really cool. 1st off would be Google Calendar which, when combined with GMail, competes head to head with Microsoft’s Outlook. The interface is very slick and it offers a lot of convenience. The latest entry into the battle is Google Notebook. Essentially it’s a way to categorize and organize your research and notes and make it accessible publicly if you wish. The last new tool is a utility called Google Trends. This is more of an extension of Google’s infamous Zeitgeist (which also got a nice makeover) that allows you to search and compare trends for searchers. It’s a great tool for web marketers and SEOs.
Yahoo
The biggest news for Yahoo has to be their long overdue redesign for their home page. It’s not 100% live yet however they are letting anyone view it. It’s a great, modern look with lots of integration of their various products and services. The new page fuses AJAX programming seamlessly and makes for a very enjoyable user experience. The other thing Yahoo has done is reawaken the beast known as AlltheWeb. They have brought some very slick AJAX coding to the search engine world which is a refreshing change. The AJAX functionality adds a new dimension to searching through Yahoo’s massive index by giving vertical search suggestions. Even if you prefer another search engine, it is definitely worth the time to take a look at.
MSN
Microsoft has been pretty quiet as of late. They are slowly rolling out their online advertising program called adCenter. This will be replacing their current model of using Yahoo’s sponsored listings and help give MSN its own identity. With Microsoft putting a lot of money into the Xbox360, I expect them to invest heavily into MSN in the near future. Amazon recently dumped Yahoo in favor of Windows Live search (which is another great AJAX based web site). Steve Balmer has stated he wants to compete more heavily against Google for the online advertising dollar.
Early Thoughts on Internet Explorer 7 (IE7)
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 05/09 at 09:47 AM |
I downloaded a beta copy of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) several days ago and am starting to form some opinions. This is Microsoft's first major revision to the browser since 2002. During that time, Firefox has emerged as the browser of choice for many techies and purists: it's known to be faster, more secure, and more reliable. I have stayed with IE as my day-to-day browser, though, because the majority of users/consumers still use it. Given that we do Web design for the masses, I want to look at our work through this lens to be sure we're not simply designing for the leading edge.
As many reviews have already stated, most of the changes to this new version of IE seem to be an emulation of Firefox. Microsoft is known for emulating the positive traits of would-be competitors in order to satisfy the user base and hang on to market share. Just ask Steve Jobs.
The browser contains many useful features that I have lived without until now. The biggest 'wow' factor is the tabbed browsing, which enables you to switch back and forth between Web pages without toggling between various windows. This is a pretty cool feature (I'm probably making Firefox users laugh right now).
Strategically, the biggest change is the inclusion of RSS feeds and subscriptions within the browser. RSS still has a long way to go, but I've said for some time that this move by Microsoft will likely be huge for RSS as a whole. If RSS doesn't catch on with IE7's release, I'm not sure it ever will. I still get blank stares when I talk to people about RSS (what it does, and how it works). That's simply a sign to me that it hasn't been promoted outside the techy community. The RSS interface itself is pretty cool...you just click on a star in the toolbar and it shows you your feed subscriptions. Seems to update more reliably than Bloglines does. Don't know that I can check my feeds from a remote computer, though.
IE7 also offers a pretty cool 'Zoom' feature that allows you to zoom in and out of Web pages (and scroll) the same way we all do on Mapquest and Google Maps. Not sure how often I will use this feature, but it certainly is noticeable.
Speaking of interface, the toolbars and status bars seem to be much smaller and more compact. Say goodbye to the clunky buttons that have haunted IE for years.
As far as things that I haven't really noticed (yet have read exist) is the improved security. The application is supposed to be more secure and to have some built-in anti-phishing features to guard against scams. I have noticed that I can easily erase my browsing history, something that is cumbersome in other versions of IE.
I've run into a few bugs, as is expected with a Beta launch. I've had some printing difficulties and some RSS feeds don't seem to get detected by the browser. All and all, a pretty nice upgrade for the money (free)!
Video iPods for Training
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 04/19 at 11:08 AM |
BusinessWeek Magazine has an interesting little article on the use of Video iPods being used by companies for employee training. If you haven't seen an iPod with Video yet, I encourage you to do so. The video quality on the screens is amazing!
Shooting for… Reality
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 04/14 at 10:46 AM |
Almost everyone looking for a new Web site wants it to be the latest and greatest, to be better than the competition. But more often than not, the wow factor is not practical and you have to bring them back to reality gently in order to achieve a successful online presence while remaining practical.
MSN has a great example of a wow factor that is not realistic for this type of media: high-definition videos online.
Things like bandwidth and filesize are constant concerns for those involved with online media. In this case, high definition filesizes almost triple the standard filesize – resulting in enormous delays during download, a much slower internet speed, and poor quality of video… It would be hard to find a practical reason for using that level of clarity online for most Web sites out there.
One part of the article that stuck out in my mind was a comment by Josh Martin, an analyst for IDC:
"Is that story less compelling because it's not high definition?" Martin said. "I don't think so."
When it comes to the Web, the ability to browse through sites quickly is one of the most compelling reasons to go online. While you should always want to shoot for greatness, it's more important to accomplish your users' goals successfully than to overshoot your own.
Referrer Spam
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 04/11 at 04:24 PM |
We've been getting a ton of referrer spam lately on our blog. Our traffic (albeit bad traffic) is surging and so is our bandwidth consumption. Hownow.Brownpau has a great piece on the issue which includes a link to a great how-to over at spywareinfo.com.
Now over to Chris and Mike in our office to implement the fix!
Bill Gates and the $100 Laptop
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 01/26 at 04:21 PM |
I've written about the $100 Laptop more than once on this blog. Kevin Maney tells us that Bill Gates is 'dissing' the idea. Gates thinks people in the third world need cheap cell phones before cheap laptops.
Google & BlackBerry
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 01/12 at 08:56 AM |
Google appears to have cut a deal with Blackberry. This is promising to BlackBerry owners like myself, but I am already able to get to Google using its browser. It works very well. I'm sure that the two will be working on even tighter integration (such as IM, etc.), though.
Sign of the Apocalypse
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 01/09 at 05:04 PM |
I saw this little $278 power strip (stylized, no less) in the Design Within Reach catalog. I wonder how many of these they sell at almost $300 each! Thought I had seen it all! Full listing is available here.
What was that? I can't hear you.
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 01/05 at 05:34 PM |
I was browsing MSN's news yesterday and The Who's Pete Townshend warns iPod users caught my attention. The article is about the guitarist's concerns regarding headphone popularity and concern with the inevitable result of future hearing problems. He, along with some others -- electricnews.net, slashdot.com, and headwize.com (see their article on "Preventing Hearing Damage When Listening With Headphones") to name a few -- all bring up important points [that should be common sense but aren't usually even top-of-mind] regarding the headphones and hearing loss. More specifically the growing popularity of headphone usage with any sort of sound interaction and the increasing likelihood of hearing damage.
With the continuing advancement and ease of technology, it's just something to keep in mind when it involves your overall health and wellness.
Bill Gates' Urge
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 01/05 at 12:56 PM |
Gates has revealed his rival platform to compete with Apple's iTunes today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Apparently, the new service (called Urge) will distribute music and video the same way iTunes does but it won't play on iPod devices. I'm wondering if that iPod move is a wise one or a foolish one!
Larry King can talk but not blog
|
|
Posted By Keith Ort on 12/20 at 03:05 PM |
As I was channel surfing last night, I stopped off on Larry King when I saw the finalists from this past season’s Apprentice being interviewed. At one point Larry King asked “The Donald” if race had played a part in his decision. Larry cited his notes that some bloggers were accusing Trump of racism. Trump became very upset with the question. The part that came to be most interesting is how out of tune with technology Larry King portrayed himself. He said quote “I don't even know how to touch a blog. Do you know how to get a blog?” Even Trump didn’t have any interest in blogging when he said “Me? I have no interest.” Larry asked “Do you know how to reach a blogger?” to which Donald replied “I have no idea. Everybody that works for me knows.” It makes me wonder if Larry or Donald has even looked at blogs or if they have been quick to dismiss them. Maybe they should be since some people are making six figures off of it.
Television 2010?
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 12/15 at 04:13 PM |
I honestly had no idea my last topic would spin off into even more but so it has. After doing some research on the video iPod's network episodes downloads, I found some news (to me at least) that the advertising revenue losses studios are experiencing are making them start to freak out and consider having viewers pay per television episode in general (similar to on-demand shows). Post-gazette.com has a "Q&A: TV's future" article with some interesting details - also touching on the benefits of using "added extras" as an incentive for increasing interst, i.e. go online to chat about a show, view web-only extra scenes, etc. Even the big networks are looking to offer online downloads the next day, commercial free, for a price.
While I am absolutely for the benefits of "added extras" online, I'm pretty torn about the new direction the television media might be going in general. On one hand, it'll give networks an easier time keeping up with shows that aren't as popular off-the-air and still accessible. On the other, why not buy the DVD if you really want to the show - Best Buy has several aisles dedicated to this. And I can't even imagine how this will end up affecting the cable companies with their already high prices.
In the end, as Steven Spiecher ponders the problems with per episode charges becoming an epidemic, I think -- ok, I hope -- that people will simply become more interested in finding other interests to occupy themselves versus losing themselves in front of the television screen. For everyone's sake... picnic, anyone?
Wikipedia Called 'Pretty Accurate'
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 12/15 at 10:42 AM |
A recent Associated Press article on Yahoo characterizes Wikipedia as 'pretty accurate.' Some side-by-side spot checking with traditional encyclopedias has turned up high marks for the accuracy of the open-source encyclopedia. Should mean some pretty good things for the open-source movement and concept of wikis.
$100 Laptop - Update
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 12/14 at 02:35 PM |
I wrote some time ago about Nicholas Negroponte's vision for the $100 laptop. As Yahoo reports today, a vendor in Taiwan has been selected. Looks like Negroponte's vision is inching toward reality.
Online Media Emphasis
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 12/13 at 04:31 PM |
Christopher Kenton makes a really good point about a recent B2B article in which the 'best and brightest' of the media world had very little reference to the online space. His rhetorical questions at the end of the post seem to say it all.
Television 2005
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 12/13 at 02:18 PM |
I was watching a show the other day promoting the new video iPod and how you can now download actual television episodes and thought -- What a great way to promote something: offer it on TV, available for download, maybe even include it to view online. -- Two seconds later, they mention that it costs $1.99 per episode. $1.99?? Most of these shows are on the local stations, not to mention I already pay some crazy amount for cable. Why would I want to pay more - especially when I can DVR them?
Now, I'm not a huge iPod user - I find mine works well for airplanes and working out - but it seems like this is asking for a lot more out of the user than it really should considering the popularity of TiVo and DVR which are already endangering advertiser revenues. I understand the reasons to charge people money to download the video (maybe even make up for lost revenues), but I think it would be a better direction to offer network television downloads for free, and charge for other more valuable items (music videos, maybe actual cable channels, or special artist interviews - I haven't really thought this part through but I'm sure there's something better that could be done).
So, while I feel networks are losing out on growing their audiences with download incentives such as iPod's network downloads, my very small point to tie this in to Web sites is that it's important not to ask your visitors (or potential visitors) to jump through hoops to do what you want them to do. Find out what makes your customers loyal (or brings them in initially) and focus on building from there. In my case, I would be much more receptive to the video iPod's episode downloads if there was an incentive - such as free network shows - to draw me in.
New Addiction for Snoops and Egomaniacs
|
|
Posted By Matt Certo on 12/01 at 09:05 AM |
Just saw the link for ZoomInfo over on Micropersuasion and was pretty impressed with this tool. It appears to be a Web 2.0 'people research' tool. Many of us probably wouldn't admit that we 'Google ourselves' to see what's been written about us or, (cough-cough) Google other people to snoop. But for those of us who have done so, this tool will be your newest fetish.
It appears as if this tool harvests all that has been written about individuals on the Web and then intelligently 'builds' profiles for them based upon where they work, awards they have won, and affiliations they maintain. The site also presents the Web links from which the information is compiled.
Aside from the ego factor, the business implications for this could be potentially very significant. The site is touting premium memberships (with deeper results) organized around recruiting, prospecting, and business (i.e. competitive) intelligence.
Powerful stuff and a great example of Web 2.0 at work.
The answer to splog.
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/18 at 09:19 AM |
I've mentioned the issues with email spam attempts in a recent post but am becoming pretty disheartened with splog's increasing popularity in my life. Lately, I have been spending more and more time babysitting posts, specifically comments, to move one here, another there, to be filed in the junk section. While it's not a huge time eater, it does become tiring to deal with over and over and over and... over again. Yep, good ol' splog.
What's splog, you say? Well, some compare it to the zombies in Night of the Living Dead - seriously, read the article. But it's really spam + blog and can vary from nonsensical content, to adlinks that link to unrelated Web sites, to stolen content that falsifies search engine results (hurting those who deserve those results).
So I decided to look around a little and not only found that people who do this have nothing better to do with their time but that splogs cause major search engine issues, require you to constantly watch for malicious activity (especially if you don’t have a junk filter), and who knows what else will develop should it continue. I also came across Frank Gruber's "Spam + Blog = Splog : How Is It Affecting The Blogosphere?" post which led me to his answer to splog: SplogReporter.com. According to the site:
Splog is a terrorist to our blogosphere and needs to be stopped. This site was created for "good willed" bloggers to report splog in an effort to help to clean up the blogosphere of splog. It was spurred by the called to arms of Mark Cuban here and then followed up by a post on Somewhat Frank.
So, if you are dealing with splog, please report the site to SplogReporter.com -- if anything, so these people can find something else to do with their time. Thank you.
Be Cool. Upgrade your iPod
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/10 at 03:25 PM |
Wondering just what you can do with your old equipment when you want the newest iPod out there? Trade it in, of course. And the options becoming available won’t make you laugh or cry (unless it’s with joy).
Apple itself will give you a 10% discount via their Recycling Program but they’ve also been known to shut down sales before. Regardless, there are also others out there that will offer you a higher percentage for your iPod. And, if you want to try out a used iPod yourself, you can find some decent perks as well as competitors trying to get you to try their mp3 players.
According to CNN.com’s “Market growing for used iPods” article:
…Several iPods up for auction include the sellers' music collection and instructions on how to transfer the music from the iPod to the buyer's computer. Some even take requests for additional songs to be added prior to shipping.One video iPod for sale contains an entire season of TV show "King of Queens" included.
Even Apple competitors have tried to use the swap as a promotional tool. Dell offered a $100 mail-in rebate to any customer turning in an old iPod when buying one of its MP3 players…
Not a bad idea considering the ever-changing iPod models and the costs to keep up with the popularity contest.
Yahoo! Maps Comes to Town
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/03 at 01:54 PM |
The competition is increasing for Google... Yahoo! is launching its response to Google Maps. Yahoo! Maps, naturally. It's still in the beta stage right now but the bonuses are: Multi-point driving directions, Live Traffic stats, and an excellent integration with Yahoo! Local to name a few. Yes, I do like being able to know how I get from my house to a friend's house to that restaurant near my friend and if I'll run into any major traffic issues.
TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has an in-depth review of the power of Yahoo! Maps. Pretty impressive.
Ph-Fishing Fun
|
|
Posted By Rochelle Knight on 11/03 at 10:14 AM |
Comparable to the cockroaches of the world, phishing scams are now targeting more precise groups (it's called spear phishing) to ensure that their scamming plans last as long as annoyingly possible. In June, small, local institutions (i.e. banks and credit unions) were the target. Today, small businesses, eBay members, and even cell phone users --to name just a few-- are the prime targets.
If you're wondering "Why are you calling fishing, phishing?" Well, it's time to be educated. Phishing, according to The Daily Item's Business News, is an:
... e-mail that tries to trick you into giving away personal information such as account login names, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, PIN codes, and social security numbers. The e-mail will pretend to co