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March 04, 2007
Why Mark Zuckerberg is a Poor (for now) Genius/Idiot
Recently it has come to my attention that Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of the one and only addiction/waste of time/stalk fest called FACEBOOK, is not selling his website. Instead, he sits around and wastes time redesigning his website and playing with his old Harvard textbooks or something. I've heard that he has turned down $900 million from YAHOO! in that past and that there is no reason that if he does sell that it would be less than the $1.65 billion that was paid for YouTube.
I mean, I'm sure the kid has some game plan in mind. He probably wants to play stage conductor to a bidding war, but I just don't see the sense. The probability that FACEBOOK will lose its potency soon has got to be some where between 100-110%. Mark, just call it a day and take $1.5 billion, and go take some classes in basic internet economics.
If I were teaching him, this is what my lesson plan would look like:
- Tell Mark the secret Internet demand equation:
- Time + Fickle Teens and/or College Nuts + Internet Connections = an attention span of approx. 1.453 seconds
- Inform Mark that unless he has a new social networking site called Facerook.com, where you order chess pieces with customizable mugs, then he better strike a deal yesterday...
Posted by kiwesley at 07:27 PM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2007
How to Build Your Own Website
Setting up your own website can be a fairly easy and extremely rewarding process. To help you along, I have collected a few resources and laid out a step by step to creating your own website. This post represents a great deal of research; please use it in good faith.
Be sure to add this page to your favorites - many of the links I provide will lead you away from this site!
Step 1: Find a Host
The first thing you need to do is find a host that suits you. I suggest Brackmann Custom Web Creations (my company...). Every plan provided by BCWC comes with free domain name registration!
Step 2: Build Your Site
Building a site is fairly easy using the HTML editor offered in BCWC’s (and many other) hosting platform(s). It works just like any other text editor! For a more professional look, you might also want to check out templates online (search for “website templates” on any major search engine). Many of these templates can be edited using the same HTML editor.
Step 3: Make Money - Advertise On Your Site
The best way to make money on a new website is to advertise! Google's AdSense program has made the process of gathering advertisers extremely easy - check out the following link.
Step 4: Gain Users - Advertise Your Site
For these go getters looking to actively build their user base, I suggest Google’s AdWords program (see link below).
Step 5: Build a (Basic) Online Store
The more experienced users may want to try and build an basic online store. You can sell almost anything you want. I suggest using PayPal’s services to develop an ecommerce solution that works for you. I have found that PayPal offers the most services at the lowest cost - in many cases, only a per transaction free applies. The following link will provide more information.
Step 6: Tell Me Your Story
Once you've set up your site, please tell me about it! Leave a comment here and I'll visit to see what you've done. (If you want to, you can also link back to this blog to show your support and encourage others to start their own sites!)
Posted by brackme at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2007
What's Podcasting, Daddy?
This is a pod, casting it's net. And that is what podcasting is.
Actually, basically, essentially, if you would like to hear music, you must subscribe to a podcast, and then your computer will download audio on a regular basis through the use of RSS technology.
However, if you yourself would like to be an online song jockey, there are other steps to take.
For example:
- Record some precious beats overlaid with sugar-sweet lyrics using your computer mic.
- Go to a podcasting site, preferably a free one like ourmedia.org, and proceed to upload.
- Tell a friend to tell a friend to subscribe to your feed.
- Feed away.
There you have it friends, it wasn't as complicated as you thought it was. Cast your nets on both sides of the boat (I don't know what I'm trying to say with that.)
Posted by kiwesley at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2007
Top 10 Reasons to Have a Website (with a Business Focus)
The other day, a prospective client (who is now a client!) asked me why he needed a website and I was a little lost for words. To me, websites are a way of life; the reason I need them seems clear (work, communication, news, fun...), but I realized that a business needs better reasons. So I came up with a few...
10. You Can Tell the World about Your Business
Millions of people have access to the internet. In today's world, most people turn to the internet first for information on products or services.
9. You Can Sell Your Products or Services (Make a Profit!)
The internet provides another avenue for your business to sell your products and services. You could make more online than in your physical location.
8. Websites Are Cost Effective (Save Money!)
Utilizing the internet is a cost effective approach to marketing your business. You can reach anyone that is interested in your product or service for much less than any other medium. In addition, any products you sell over the internet don't need to be stocked in a physical location or sold by your staff. You could cut over half of your costs by using the internet.
7. You Can Reach New Markets
Your website can be easily customized to attract any market. You can concentrate on your neighborhood, community, state, country or even the entire world.
6. Your Customers Can Advertise For You For Free
Your website will turn your customers into free advertisers. If they can easily find your information on the web, they can save it, print it and pass it on to potential customers who will need your products or services.
5. You Can Provide 24/7/365 Service
A website allows you to be in business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You can handle customer concerns anytime, anywhere.
4. You Can Make Changes Available Quickly
Your business is constantly in motion. Your website can be updated to reflect your current prices, schedules, availability, specifications, requirements and regulations almost immediately. Your customers will be notified much sooner than if they had to wait for printed materials.
3.You Can Gather Information from Your Customers
When you combine Web Analytics (see above) with forms in your actual site, you can see what your customers have to say about you and what they would like to see from your company. Whatever you want to know, you can ask.
2. You Can Keep Your Professional Appearance
In today's world, people expect legitimate businesses to have a website.
1. It’s So Easy
I can do it all! (Check out my last entry - you can do it all too!)
Posted by brackme at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)
March 13, 2007
Firefox? It sounds unsafe, but I LIKE!
I thought I would throw my top hat into the ring and give you my opinion on which is better: Firefox or Internet Explorer. While I have used some form of IE throughout my entire life, over the last year or so Firefox has been my go-to browser buddy. We don't hold hands, but we're in love. Firefox, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
As you can see, we have a love/love relationship. Just click below to download Firefox, you'll see what I'm talking about.
Posted by kiwesley at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2007
Viacom sues Google!
An important part of the issue of intellectual property in the internet age has come to a head. Just under a week ago, the media giant Viacom, who owns Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon among others, "slap[ed] Google with $1 billion lawsuit" for displaying its copyrighted content on YouTube, a user populated video site. For more complete details see the following links:
Viacom claims that YouTube has "built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google."
"Viacom said YouTube has avoided taking the initiative to curtail copyright infringement on its site, instead shifting the burden and costs of monitoring the video-sharing site for unauthorized clips onto the 'victims of its infringement.'"
The problem is that because YouTube’s content is user populated, Google has very little control over what is posted. Even when they take copyrighted material down, users repost it. Personally, I don’t believe that you can hold Google accountable for what its users do (according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act "companies are off the hook if they remove copyrighted content promptly when it is brought to their attention."). However, holding users responsible is also problematic (i.e. the RIAA approach). In short, no one wants to be held responsible, but, according to the owners of the copyrighted material, someone must be. Do we make the providers of the services used for illegal purposes, the users who posted illegal material or both groups accountable? Perhaps, in the age of the internet, information belongs to everyone and no one has done anything wrong...
Posted by brackme at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2007
I Xbox Live, but hoW?
This is my confession: I do play video games once in a while. Through the massive global network called Xbox Live, I am able to interact with pimply teenage boys from Sacremento, California to a small village on the bank of the Yangtze River in China (granted the village has an internet connection.)
Xbox Live boasts a membership base of over 2 million users, and the main purpose of the service is to connect gaming citizens to each other, in effect allowing users to compete as if they were sitting next to each other in the same room. Experiences with screaming, cursing 12 year olds abound. Invigorating, I know. So, how does it work?
As you have probably guessed, and Xbox connects to the Xbox Live network through an Ethernet port on the Xbox itself. Any matches played with other players are routed through Xbox live servers, but any content of the actual gameplay (for example, who had the highest score) isn't necessary stored on the server. Many games have their own separate networks for storing game info.
Halo 2 has bungie.net and EA Sports also keeps track of game info. In games such as Halo 2, where many players are playing the same games at once, there is usually one person who "hosts" the game. This means that the person's internet connection creates optimal conditions for gameplay, and so all the information is sent to that person's Xbox and the Xbox either agrees with the info, or rejects it. (Packet Power!) Need more info? Click here.
Posted by kiwesley at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
Product Review: Caspio Bridge
A few months ago, I was looking for a database application for a few websites I was working on. I thought that my only option was going to be learning to use MySQL and PHP, an idea that seemed reasonable in concept, but turned out to be much harder in practice. I thought I was sunk; there was no way I was going to get done what I needed to in any reasonable amount of time. Yet, there was hope; there was Caspio Bridge, a database application that anyone can learn to use.
Caspio Bridge is a web based application that has the look and feel and power of Microsoft Access with the ease of use of Excel. One can create tables in Excel, download them to the application and then create ‘datapages,’ interactive JavaScript based forms and menus based on the database which can be customized in a number of ways (even more since the product update two months ago). Moreover, since the application is web based, changes can be made from any computer.
The best of my whole Caspio Bridge experience is that the service is free! (Although a free (SOHO) account is limited to 2 ‘datapages’ and inferior support options.) Caspio Bridge is a great product I would suggest to anyone. Thus far, I have used it in 4 different websites!
Posted by brackme at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2007
How to Make Your Computer More Cool
I bet a lot of people sit around, scavenging the Internet for ways to make their computer cooler. With great new programs coming out all the time, however, there is just no way to keep up with our fast-paced global insatiability for DOWNLOADS!!!!
I have the solution, and, moreover, am willing to share it with you. This secret website will enable you to shut down your brain and turn on your clicking finger, because not only will it give you everything you want to download, it will tell you what to download. No thinkers need apply!
So after searching through the site a little and catching up on some good ol' programs, you should have no problem convincing yourself that you are cool. Have a great day!
Posted by kiwesley at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)