Myspace marketing: How to take advantage?

Myspace is a giant in the Internet world and is potentially a huge marketplace for your business. So just how do you take advantage of Myspace and turn some of the millions of users into your customers. This article has some good common sense advice.

From the article
As with most forms of internet marketing, with social networking sites marketing methods range from being completely legitimate to downright spammy. I’ll describe the various methods in full and leave it up to you if you wish your business to be associated with various methods.

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The 10 Commandments of Google

Are you a Google follower. I’m sure you are. Here are the 10 commandments which you should obey.

These are funny but true :)

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10 Threats to the U.S. Economy

No surprise that terrorism is rated at number one. I have another that should be on the list and that is George Bush. The real threat to the economy though is from the excessive amounts of cash that are being wasted on war efforts such as the conflict in Iraq. Surely this money would have been better spent else where.

From the article
However, according to a new survey of economists by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE), terrorism is the biggest short-term risk facing the U.S. economy. It's followed closely by concerns over rising energy costs and then inflation in the minds of economists.

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The mobile Internet: Are we there yet?

This question always gets varied responses. My take on the whole thing is that no we are not. Sure you can access the internet on your mobile phone but it’s just not the same. The quote below from the article hits the nail on the head. I for one definitely want to be able to view the internet on my mobile device in exactly the same way as I do via my PC.

What are your thoughts on the mobile internet?


From the article
"I think what people really want is to be able to access the same sites they access on their PCs, but from their phones," said Matt Hatton, a senior analyst with the Yankee Group based in the United Kingdom. "Once we can get the experience to look and feel more like the traditional Internet, more people will be willing to spend the money to pay for the services."


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Essential Tips for a Successful Business

While stating the obvious its amazing how many businesses fail to follow some or all of these tips. If you really want to succeed in business then it’s important not to take short cuts and a “it’ll be alright” attitude. So follow these Top 10 tips and you will be on your way to having a successful business.

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Microsoft offer free websites

Microsoft are now offering you the chance to get a free website including the domain name. I’m suspicious though. How do Microsoft intend to make money off this?

Anyway it’s an interesting offering from Microsoft but unfortunately I can’t try it as yet. While it is in it’s current BETA state it is only available to the US.

If anyone try’s it let me know what it’s like.

From the article
Microsoft Office Live Basics is the perfect way to get started on the Web. It features all the basics you need to create your first Web site, including free hosting, Web site statistics, personalized domain name, and e-mail addresses.

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PSP is a terror threat!

Maybe George Bush should include Sony in his axis of evil. Interesting article about how a PSP could be used to infiltrate Government networks. Personally I just want to use it to play games but I guess Osama Bin Laden could be sitting in the Afghan Mountains hacking into US Government sites on his PSP or maybe he just uses it for games too.

From the article
But how about using it for infiltrating top-secret clearance level data at some of the US's most prestigous intelligence agencies? The PSP has all the prerequisites.

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BlackBerrys improve life

According to a new survey, 77 percent of respondents believe their mobile communication devices enhance their work/life balance. I am not surprised by this result as used in their proper manner mobile communications do improve your life. However some people are so addicted to them that they fail to keep a clear boundary between work and life, allowing themselves to be contacted at all times and able to work on something at all times. When this happens then your home life suffers and everyone is worse off (except your boss). Is this anyway to live?

From the article
A new study finds four out of five executives globally are always connected to work through mobile devices.

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Officials Seek Access to Airline Data: Further Privacy Invasions!

Officials Seek Access to Airline Data: Further Privacy Invasions!
Every day it seems our privacy is getting less and less. With the current “war” on terrorisim, officials have decided they would like broader access to airline data. As if looking through you baggage and checking out your underwear wasn’t enough.

Should we be concerned by this latest proposal? Hell yes. The more we let authroities invade our private lives, the more they will want and the greater the potential for misuse of this information.

From the article
United States and European authorities, looking for more tools to detect terrorist plots, want to expand the screening of international airline passengers by digging deep into a vast repository of airline itineraries, personal information and payment data.

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Google to conquer India

India with it’s huge population is a market just wating to be conquered. It would seem that Google would think so. Google are looking for someone who can build partnerships and find acquisitions in India.

Should I apply?

From the article
Google has released an ad on its recruitment page stating a unique requirement. Google is searching for a Corporate Development Manager, South Asia - Bangalore or Mumbai who can scout partnerships and acquisitions for google in India

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Hard porn during Swedish news show

Viewers of a later night news show in Sweden got some extra entertainment. On numerous screens in the background you could see some hard core group sex going on.

How funny is that! Sure makes a change form the usual doom and gloom you normally get on the news.

From the article
Everything was going as planned on the midnight news broadcast, until the Czech hard porn film “Sex Tails,” came on the pay channel Canal Plus on the screen in the back. Those trying to catch the latest poll figures got to see group anal and oral sex.

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Cisco buys video-on demand start-up

Yet more evidence that video is the hottest thing going at the moment. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, whether it be user contributed videos, streaming videos, movies on your ipod or whatever.

From the article
From my point of view this event is the most important one in video-on-demand / TV market.
Cisco is going to sell media content to end-customers, entering into multi-multi-billion market of entertainment services.

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Bush has founded his own cult

It's certainly true that Bush expects everyone to fall in line with his way of thinking. He also requires his "cult" members to kiss his ass and thank him for making the US into the country it is now.....Just what is that, well it's possibly the most hated country in the world (by terrorists that is).

From the article
So, you've all seen the opinion piece in Salon by Sidney Blumenthal about the debacle in Lebanon. (It's on the DU front page; you can read the whole thing if you are willing to sit through an ad for Visa.) Blumenthal mentions a number of things that might lead one to believe that Bush has gone, as they say across the pond, round the twist:

* Bush appears to be surprised to hear that Shiites in Iraq have been demonstrating in solidarity with Hezbollah. Apparently, the only form of political expression any Iraqi Shiite should be capable of, in his universe, is demonstrations of gratitude and loyalty to the U.S.


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Please share your login

Here’s an interesting site that encourages you to share your login. The idea behind the site is that you can find a login for sites that require you to register to view their content. Looking at their most popular sites, they have logins for sites such as nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com, imdb,com to name a few.

Is this legal? Well regardless of that it could certainly be useful.
It's called Bugmenot

Show down with North Korea is getting closer

A show down with North Korea is getting closer. It is certainly going to get very tense in the region as the US & South Korea begin military drills. While these drills have been held every year for years without incident, things feel a little different this time around. I believe this year’s drills take on extreme importance and could be used as preparation for military action against North Korea.

What will North Korea make of these drills? Well they have always viewed the annual drills as a military threat and this year I’m sure they will do so even more. It could even speed up North Korea’s nuclear program. I’m sure they will at least want to fire off a few more missiles to show off there military might.

North Korea is a dangerous and unpredictable country and I believe the time has come for military action. I fear the longer that the diplomacy card is played the longer North Korea have to build up their nuclear arsenal and then it’s too late.

Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?

This is a question that always gets a mix of responses. My own take on this is that there will be an impact by the Open Source movement but I can’t see it displacing Microsoft, at least not in the next few years. For their part, Microsoft need to keep a close eye on the Open Source movement and be responsive to what the marketplace is wanting. Microsoft certainly can't sit on their heels any more.

From the article
"We believe that there is still a great deal of confusion and puzzlement on how this competitive battle will develop,"

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Amazon’s video download service: Called Unbox

It would seem that everyone is wanting to enter this market lately. Amazon it would appear will soon be the latest one. Thanks to some investigative work by a bloke called Alan Taylor he has unearthed some Amazon pages which would appear to be for their coming video download service.

From the article
Now the unearthed pages indicate that the service will be called Amazon Unbox. Taylor found a main page and pages for Twentieth Century Fox, the Sci-Fi genre

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Bush raising terror alerts to boost poll numbers

Is the Bush administration just using scare tactics? I think they are to a degree. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if George Bush wasn’t raising the terror alerts just to boost his poll numbers. The White House have become very good at manipulating the public and feeding them a bunch of lies to achieve their own agenda. Raising the terror alerts is one of these tactics.

From the article
Could our own government be using terror alerts, a pretty serious thing since 9/11, just for political gain?

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How Google has changed since it’s IPO

Google has certainly changed a bit since it’s IPO back in 2004. For one they released an amazing array of products in that time. Some are more successfully than others but at least they are out there developing and trying things that hopefully will benefit us all.

The other thing that has changed is their share price. Did you buy Google shares when they were $85? Well you should off as Analysts now are thinking it may go to $500 or more.

From the article
Yet, a lot has changed too. In fact, Google's two years is a lifetime for others, considering it's tripled its employee base, inflated its market valuation by nearly $100 billion, and is expected to spend in capital expenses this year what it generated in sales in 2004.

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114,000 viruses you won’t find on a Mac

As this article is by our “friends” at Apple they are obviously going to spout forth figures such as this so I’m a little sceptical. Should you choose to believe them then it makes a good case for why you should buy a Mac.

The most important point in the article though is quoted below

From the article
While no computer connected to the Internet will ever be 100% immune from attack,

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Hezbollah are now even stronger

What has this battle between Israel and Hezbollah actually achieved? Well according to this article, it hasn’t achieved what Israel wanted and that was to destroy or certainly weaken Hezbollah. In fact it’s claimed that Hezbollah are stronger than ever and will rebuild with funding from Iran.

What a mess!

From the article
A major reason — in addition to its hard-won reputation as the only Arab force that fought Israel to a standstill — is that it already is dominating the efforts to rebuild with a torrent of money from oil-rich Iran.

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eBay traders boycott the site

Well a small number of UK based ebay traders went on strike. Why? They were protesting at the increase in listing fees. Fair enough to. I think ebay are being a little greedy by changing their listing fee structure which for some will see there costs increase quite a bit. Come on ebay, you are abusing your position as the dominant player in the online auction market.

From the article
Unhappy professional eBay traders have staged a boycott of the online auction site to protest at a rise in fees and a drop in the visibility of their items.

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American Society is Intolerant to Kids

We all know that kids can be a pain but I do fear that yes society is becoming intolerant to them (all societies, not just America). Actually I think the real problem here is not the kids but more the parents who can’t control them. We have all been in the supermarket when kids are running riot and the parents don’t do anytihng or the feeble attempts to control them fall on deaf ears.

Parenting standards in the 21st century are poor. We are creating the little monsters.

From the article
In North Carolina an online petition was started last year to establish child-free restaurants — the petition loosely compared dining with children to dining with cigarette smoke

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Someone is actually making money off adsense

Here’s a story off someone who is actually making excellent money from adsense. What an interesting idea for a site as well.

Who would have thought that a site dedicated to the seating on airlines would prove so poular. I’m so jealous!

From the article
The biggest moneymakers tend to be people who started sites to document their passions

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UK passengers allowed one bag

There has been a bit of a lift in the restrictions on cabin baggage for UK passengers. You can now have a 45cm x 35cm x 16cm bag (including the wheels, handles, side pockets). There is still plenty of restrictions about liquids etc.

So what will you be taking in your cabin bag? I’m thinking a blow up doll.

From the article
Each passenger is permitted to carry one item of cabin baggage through the airport security search point.

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PS3 is quite a large beast

Mmmmm the PS3 looks good to me. What the picture in this article is really telling us is that the PS3 is off suitable size to crush the Xbox. Come on gamers, the PS3 will be way superior to the Xbox.

Since when was an extra few inches a bad thing!

From the article
If someone had told you four years ago that the PS3 would be later to market and larger in size than a 360 you’d have told him to put his Microsoft-loving lips firmly onto your posterior


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Buy an Executive Jet, take all the hand luggage you like

It seems this latest terrorist threat will see a boost in the Executive Jet market. Yes it probably will but it won’t be from me. These jets are out of the price range for the average traveler. Sure there are some “cheaper” seats now but cheap in whose eyes. Not mine!

From the article
Heightened security in the United States and Britain could boost demand for executive jets, a sector expanding with more models, greater range, and cheaper seats on planes once the preserve of the super-rich.

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Time to Fly Naked

I am getting really sick of these terrorist pricks causing problems for the average Joe. The latest foiled plot to blow up airliners is already having a huge impact on travellers. There is the huge delays and inconvenience at present due to the heightened level of security.

An ongoing impact of the latest plot is bound to be the restrictions on any hand luggage or in fact it may be banned altogether. Now to some travellers that won’t matter and personally I can do without hand luggage on short flights. I would not like to do without any hand luggage for long haul flights. What about those of us with kids? Imagine taking your child on a long haul flight without any hand luggage, which you could have stored many an item in to keep them amused.

All of this leads me to the only logical solution to make flying perfectly safe. Make all passengers FLY NAKED. At least then you can be 99% certain they are not carrying anything that can pose a threat.

Government threatens your privacy

According to Google chief Eric Schmidt, it’s Government intrusions that is the real threat to your privacy.

Do you believe Google should bow to Government pressures and release private information as and when requested? I say no. Google should dig their heels in and give the Government the middle finger salute. That is effectively what they did earlier this year when Google took the US Government to court over its request for data.

Off course there is the debate that if you have nothing to hide then what does it matter if the Government views it. Sure this is a valid point but I think it misses the bigger picture. The sort of information that the Government could get from Google would certainly give them a good deal of information about you which could be open to abuse. The US Government would claim that it requires this data to battle crime and in particular to battle terrorism. Based on the history of lies we all know that that is only part of the reason.

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Do Google own the Web?

Google have announced some pretty big deals recently and with every big deal they become an even more integral part of everyone’s internet lives. The growth of Google has just been phenomenal and certainly shows no signs of slowing. Yahoo, Microsoft and others must be worried yet despite bringing out new products of their own they seem unable to stop the spread of Google.

Do you think Google have become too big? Are you worried about Google having too much influence on the Internet?

I do have some concerns about Google gaining too much control or certainly having too much influence on the Internet. I don’t want to see a situation happen with the Internet where Google have such a monopoly in much the same way as Microsoft have had such a monopoly over the Operating System.

For those who have not kept up with the news, Google have signed big deals this week with Viacom MTV and with New’s Corps Fox Interactive.

It seems Google are everywhere and will become even more so.

The World is Arming Itself

It seems the whole world is getting into the act of building up it’s arms supplies. Is this just coincidence that this is happening at a time of great instability? I think not! It’s seems nations are preparing for the war in the Middle East to spread. Let’s face it though, surely the only weapon you need is one of the nuclear kind. Then maybe you won’t get touched.

From the article
Russia is negotiating arms sales to Argentina less than two weeks after angering Washington with a $3 billion deal to sell jets and helicopters to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.


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Humans To Have Sex With Robots

Has technology so taken over our lives that it's hard to seperate the two? I can relate to some of the stuff in this article, well that is some of it apart from the having sex with robots. Can't see this being a reality. Can you?

From the article
The Sunday Times of London recently reported that an international team of scientists is writing a "code of ethics" for machines, along the lines of Isaac Asimov's fictional 65-year-old Three Laws of Robotics. Some scientists believe "conscious" machines will exist before 2020 and that people will be having sex with robots within five years

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Time to get the truth about 9-11

Some pretty heavy stuff in this article. Do you really believe the US government is behind 9/11?

I know what you should believe and that is don't believe everything George Bush and the White House have to say on 9/11, terriorism, the middle east or anything else for that matter.

From the article
We have never been closer to nuclear annihilation. And at the same time we have never been closer to breaking the media censorship, building a large-scale political movement around 9-11, and arresting the traitorous plotters behind the attacks


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A blog every half second

This is proof if every we needed it of just how popular blogging has become. These numbers are quite staggering and there is no sign of it slowing.

Long live the blog!

From the article
According to recent statistics from blog-tracking site Technorati, the blogosphere has doubled every six months for the last three years. That's 175,000 new blogs per day worldwide. Technorati added its 50 millionth blog on July 31, 2006

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Adwords words are open to all

I don't have a problem with the ruling. I think you should be allowed to purchase whatever keywords/phrases that you like on Google's adwords, including those of competitors.

From the article
I wonder how long it will take until verdicts like this pop up in the US

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An Apple on the Green does not distract Woods

A spectator thought it would be funny to roll an apple across the green as Tiger Woods attempted a long birdie putt at the 17th hole of the Buick Open. Woods was undaunted by this and went on to win the title and his 50th career victory.

By winning the Buick Open, Woods has become the youngest player to reach 50 career titles. Another chapter in what is already a remarkable career. Hard to believe he is only 30.


With fans chanting "throw him out, throw him out", Woods would not be distracted stepping up to the ball and draining a nervy four-footer for par.

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Iran preparing to go Nuclear

Iran has said they will defy the latest UN Security Council resolution about their nuclear activities. Any resolutions or sanctions to try and stop Iran going nuclear are pointless. Iran will try every trick in the book to delay and stall the UN imposing any resolutions or sanctions on them. Lets face it, it really does not matter what Iran says, we all know they are trying to make or have already made nuclear weapons.

While the UN can try resolutions and sanctions they are in the end pointless. Iran will do whatever they want and will not give the UN’s wishes a second thought. The only way to stop Iran will be to draw them into the Lebanon v’s Israel conflict and then use that as an excuse to invade and destroy!

Cuba readies troops: How paranoid is that?

Just how paranoid is Cuba? I get the feeling the US is a little too occupied at the moment to give a stuff about Cuba.

From the article
Cuba government has mobilized citizen defense militias, saying it fears a U.S. attack during
Fidel Castro's health crisis, even though the White House insists no such threat exists.


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Computer Mouse Faces Extinction

If you thought the computer mouse would last forever then you were mistaken. It’s just a matter of time before something replaces it. I’m not sure about the eye tracking technology that this company has come up with. I would have to give a try for myself. Do you think they are onto a winner?

From the article
The maker of eye-tracking hardware and software has created a mouse that's not really a mouse, but just a cursor that's controlled by eye movements.

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MTV Ruins America

MTV ruins America
Is that what happened to America?....

From the article
In case you missed it, MTV turned 25 years old this week. In honor of this important milestone, I hereby present my list of the ten ways MTV fucked up America. Enjoy!

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Chinese county massacres 50,000 dogs

This is disgraceful. All this killing because there were 3 deaths from rabies. Seems extreme to me. If they really felt they needed to kill these dogs, couldn't they have done it in a more humaine manner. Beating a dog to death is terrible.

From the article
Dogs being walked were taken from their owners and beaten on the spot, the newspaper said. Other killing teams entered villages at night, creating noise to get dogs barking, then honing in and beating them to death.


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Google News is Obsolete

If it's not obsolete it is certainly showing it's age...It's 4 years old after all. The way the news is delivered and how a user interacts with it has changed a lot since Google first released Google News. Time for an upgrade.

What do you think of Google News?

From the article
New products from startups and entrepreneurs are advancing news aggregation beyond what Google News offers.

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How drunk was Mel Gibson?

Give the guy a break. This sounds like more celebrity bashing to me. For all those high and mightys out there trashing Mel, I say take a look in the mirror. We all make mistakes and plenty of us have been caught DUI.

From the article
Mel Gibson was arrested on suspicion of DUI on Friday after a Breathalyzer test administered by police officers measured his blood-alcohol content at 0.12. (The legal limit in all 50 states is 0.08.)

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Apple to release an iPhone….Maybe!

Go Apple.....A natural progression really given their is a multitude of mobile phones that double as MP3 players. Could this be another winner from Apple?

From the article
It seems that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer has gone on the record to at least indicate that the company is working on an iPhone-like device; he suggested that "Apple is definitely working [on a] portable music player with communication capabilities”


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