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Thursday, September 30, 2010
8 Reasons to Add an Ecourse to Your Blog
This is a guest post by Kelly Kingman of StickyEbooks.com and the co-creator of Engaging eCourses.
A great ecourse can make a huge difference to your blog and your business. In fact, I can name eight fantastic reasons why you should add an ecourse to your blog.
But first of all, what exactly do I mean when [...]
A great ecourse can make a huge difference to your blog and your business. In fact, I can name eight fantastic reasons why you should add an ecourse to your blog.
But first of all, what exactly do I mean when [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
Goo.gl?s Awesome Easter Egg To Instantly Turn Any Link Into A QR Code
Earlier today, Google formally released Goo.gl, their URL-shortener, to the public. They're calling it the "stablest, most secure, and fastest URL shortener on the web." But it also may be the coolest thanks to an easter egg. As Google's Matt Cutts' just tweeted out, if you simply add ".qr" to the end of any goo.gl URL, it will create a QR code. Scanning this with any QR code reader will take you to the URL.
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Study Shows That Web Blocking Ignores Real Problems, Doesn't Solve Anything & Is Used As A Political Tool
We've been hearing a lot about politicians trying to restrict access rather than actually dealing with the root causes of problems a lot lately. From the horrible COICA censorship bill, to various state attorneys general pressuring websites to block forums, rather than having those AGs actually do their job and go after those responsible, it seems that politicians keep looking to put up a wall, rather than deal with real issues.
And, surprise, surprise, that doesn't work.
Kelly was the first of a few of you to send over a report (found via BoingBoing) that looked at how child porn blocklists in Scandinavia worked -- and what they found is that they didn't work well at all. As the researchers noted: "Blocking means looking away instead of acting."
The key findings in the report were that of the 167 sites on the list, only three of them appeared to actually contain child pornography. There were two problems here. The first is that sites that were put on the blocklist apparently were never reviewed later. But, much more importantly, it looks like once law enforcement put sites on the list, no one in law enforcement actually bothered to do anything to go after or to stop the actual perpetrators. The researchers noted that they were able to get the three sites in question taken down within hours, and wondered why law enforcement didn't take the most basic steps to do so, or to find and arrest those responsible. As they note:
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And, surprise, surprise, that doesn't work.
Kelly was the first of a few of you to send over a report (found via BoingBoing) that looked at how child porn blocklists in Scandinavia worked -- and what they found is that they didn't work well at all. As the researchers noted: "Blocking means looking away instead of acting."
The key findings in the report were that of the 167 sites on the list, only three of them appeared to actually contain child pornography. There were two problems here. The first is that sites that were put on the blocklist apparently were never reviewed later. But, much more importantly, it looks like once law enforcement put sites on the list, no one in law enforcement actually bothered to do anything to go after or to stop the actual perpetrators. The researchers noted that they were able to get the three sites in question taken down within hours, and wondered why law enforcement didn't take the most basic steps to do so, or to find and arrest those responsible. As they note:
The investigators seem to be operating a "fire and forget" strategy by just putting the sites on the lists -- they don't seem to go after the crimes and the perpetrators, and they don't unblock sites that are no longer relevant, which they should do for freedom of speech considerations.It's too bad that many other countries are now trying to jump on such a mistaken censorship setup, without ever bothering to see if they can actually do something about the underlying causes of the sites they're trying to censor. It's all too typical in politics these days. This is a way that they can pretend they've done something by really brushing it under the rug. It doesn't stop the activity. It doesn't actually go after those responsible. It just hides things (perhaps too aggressively) and forgets about it.
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Drug Rep Accidentally Admits There's No Justification For Massive Markup Over Generics
Ever wondered why brand name drugs are so much more expensive than generics? Well, so did one Reddit user, who asked what magical qualities made a branded pill worth $500 when the generic was available for $10, and got back a response he wasn't expecting (found via Consumerist), as the rep accidentally emailed him the question that the rep meant to email a superior: 
In other words, there's simply no good reason. Of course, the monopoly rents afforded to the branded drug maker through patents probably helps. Combine that with the amount of money dumped into highly questionable and dangerous advertising, and you get a bit closer to the answer...
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If The Major Record Labels Tried To Adopt The 'Radiohead' Model...
A whole bunch of you have been sending in the recent Toothpaste for Dinner cartoon about how the RIAA/major record labels would "adopt the Radiohead model" if they ever really thought about it: 
While it is amusing, there's a lot of truth behind that comic (which is part of what makes it funny). We keep seeing people misleadingly claim that if you talk about "free" in one context, you must mean everything should be free. That kind of thinking comes out of the labels all too often, so you could totally see them saying that "well, if pay what you want is supposed to work for buying music, why not for paying people..."
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The 5 Deadly Sins of Voice Mail
The 5 Deadly Sins of Voice Mail
This content from: Duct Tape Marketing
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New Class of Smart "Piezotronic" Materials Could Create Self-Powering Micro-Bots
Tiny Piezoelectrics Piezoelectric materials, like the ones above, can be extremely small, generating an appropriately tiny charge when they are put under mechanical stress. Adding logic gates to them means they can be both power source and computing device rolled into one device. FDominec via Wikimedia
Piezoelectric materials have long been used to turn kinetic energy into electrical energy, but a clever application by Georgia Tech researchers is making those materials much smarter. By adding a gate to piezoelectric circuits, researchers have turned a mechanical action directly into a logic operation for the first time. This approach could turn conventional "dumb" circuits into computational circuitry that might run smaller micro-robots to harvest power as they perform their functions.
Piezoelectric materials generate a very tiny charge when placed under stresses like twisting or bending. That charge is too small to power most portable devices, although better and better materials have led to greater electricity yields from piezoelectric materials. One of these materials is zinc oxide, which isn't one of the highest yielding piezoelectric materials available, but it is a good semiconductor.
The Georgia Tech researchers formed zinc oxide into nanowire structures that generate a small current when bent back and forth, then incorporated a gate into those wires that regulates the current. If a current is of sufficient strength, it passes through the gate; if it's not, it doesn't. It's the on/off equivalent to the zeros and ones used in computational binary code.
Because the same system harvests power and performs computational functions, the size of devices based on the tech could be very small, reducing the mass of tiny robots capable of going places where other devices can't go. They could be used to monitor environmental conditions in places too dangerous for humans to go or in defensive applications like smart vehicle armor that can inform operators on the direction an assault is coming from or the damage sustained in an attack.
Congress Passes NASA Bill: New Heavy-Lift Rocket, More Commercial Spaceflight, and a Mandate for Mars
Atlantis Gets One More Flight NASA
As Congress adjourns there's still plenty left for them to argue about, but NASA's mission going forward isn't one of them. The House of Representatives passed a NASA authorization bill late last night, outlining the budget - $19 billion in 2011 and $58 billion through 2013 - and goals for the space agency going forward. On deck: increased commercial space investment, a new heavy-lift rocket, and a focus on future deep space missions to an asteroid or even Mars.
The bill was also the final nail in the coffin of the Constellation program, which was already effectively dead anyhow. But remnants of the program will live on as NASA retools its mission to tackle the challenges of the new century, most essentially an extension of manned exploration to regions of space beyond the moon.
Perhaps the most important philosophical shift represented in the bill is the eventual transition of low-earth-orbit activities to the hands of private space enterprises. The bill sets aside $1.3 billion over the next three years for investment in commercial spacecraft that will eventually become the workhorses for transporting personnel and materials into LEO.
The bill also officially extends NASA's role at the International Space station through at least 2020 and adds one more Space Shuttle flight to the two already scheduled before the program is retired next year. The new final mission will likely fly around June of next year aboard the shuttle Atlantis. It's not yet clear exactly when commercial space carriers will be able to take over cargo and personnel flights to the ISS, and in the meantime the U.S. will pay the Russian space agency to ferry goods and people to the space station and back.
The bill embraces many aspects of the space plan President Obama unveiled in February - enhanced commercial spaceflight investment and a goal to put a man on an asteroid by 2025 - but in some respects it attacks the plan more aggressively, a welcome signal from Congress that it is serious about maintaining NASA's status as the global leader in space travel. Under the bill, NASA will begin work on a new heavy-lift rocket next year, four years ahead of the President's proposed schedule.
[Space]
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Thai Gov't Arrests News Site Owner, Because It Doesn't Like Some Comments By Users
We've discussed a few times in the past about how the Thai government uses rules that say it's illegal to insult the Thai king in order to censor websites that it doesn't like. Now it seems to be taking this even further. The EFF has the details of how the webmaster for a political news site in Thailand has been arrested over comments on the site. As the EFF summarizes:
Of course, in the long run, as with the attempts to shut down sites under this same law, all this seems to really be doing is calling that much more attention to how the Thai government uses the rules in questionable ways.
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Jiew's crime? In 2008, Prachatai published an interview with Chotisak Onsoong, a Thai man known for refusing to stand at attention during the Thai Royal Anthem -- a dangerous political act in Thailand, though not technically a crime. The interview received huge attention, drawing over 200 comments from Thai citizens. On April 28, 2008, complaints were filed against Prachatai alleging that several comments on that interview were a defamation to the Monarchy. An arrest warrant for Jiew was issued on Septemeber 8, 2009, but no summons was received by Jiew until her arrest this past Friday.The EFF also notes that this appears to be purely political and about intimidation, as the timing of the arrest (despite the fact that the warrant was issued over a year ago) didn't happen until Jiew was returning to Thailand from a trip abroad where she gave two separate talks about the importance of an open and free internet.
Of course, in the long run, as with the attempts to shut down sites under this same law, all this seems to really be doing is calling that much more attention to how the Thai government uses the rules in questionable ways.
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New Chrome Extension Adds Your Evernotes To Google Search Results
At TechCrunch Disrupt, Google's CEO Eric Schmidt told the audience that the next step for Google Search is to show more personalized results. It's unclear when Google will roll out a more personalized search experience, but startup Evernote, the ?memory enhancement? service that allows one to capture, organize, and find information across multiple devices and platforms, is hoping to bring this to you now. The startup is releasing a new Google Chrome Extension that includes Simultaneous Search, which lets you search both Google and your Evernote account at the same time. Here's how it works. When you beginning typing your Google search, your Evernote notes will also show as a result on top of your Google search result. Evernote will also show you the number of notes that match your query; and you can click on the result to see a list of all your notes that matched the search. Evernote says the extension also works on other Google search portals, including Google Images and Google Shopping. And the startup is planning to expand this functionality to other search engines and browsers. 
Trouble Choosing a Niche? Start a Personal Blog
“I’m having trouble deciding what topic to blog about.”
This was a statement I heard three times at the ProBlogger meet up in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and is a problem that many PreBloggers face.
I’ve written numerous times about how to choose a niche or topic to write about but it struck me while [...]
This was a statement I heard three times at the ProBlogger meet up in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and is a problem that many PreBloggers face.
I’ve written numerous times about how to choose a niche or topic to write about but it struck me while [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
Congress Passes NASA Bill: New Heavy-Lift Rocket, More Commercial Spaceflight, and a Mandate for Mars
Atlantis Gets One More Flight NASA
As Congress adjourns there's still plenty left for them to argue about, but NASA's mission going forward isn't one of them. The House of Representatives passed a NASA authorization bill late last night, outlining the budget - $19 billion in 2011 and $58 billion through 2013 - and goals for the space agency going forward. On deck: increased commercial space investment, a new heavy-lift rocket, and a focus on future deep space missions to an asteroid or even Mars.
The bill was also the final nail in the coffin of the Constellation program, which was already effectively dead anyhow. But remnants of the program will live on as NASA retools its mission to tackle the challenges of the new century, most essentially an extension of manned exploration to regions of space beyond the moon.
Perhaps the most important philosophical shift represented in the bill is the eventual transition of low-earth-orbit activities to the hands of private space enterprises. The bill sets aside $1.3 billion over the next three years for investment in commercial spacecraft that will eventually become the workhorses for transporting personnel and materials into LEO.
The bill also officially extends NASA's role at the International Space station through at least 2020 and adds one more Space Shuttle flight to the two already scheduled before the program is retired next year. The new final mission will likely fly around June of next year aboard the shuttle Atlantis. It's not yet clear exactly when commercial space carriers will be able to take over cargo and personnel flights to the ISS, and in the meantime the U.S. will pay the Russian space agency to ferry goods and people to the space station and back.
The bill embraces many aspects of the space plan President Obama unveiled in February - enhanced commercial spaceflight investment and a goal to put a man on an asteroid by 2025 - but in some respects it attacks the plan more aggressively, a welcome signal from Congress that it is serious about maintaining NASA's status as the global leader in space travel. Under the bill, NASA will begin work on a new heavy-lift rocket next year, four years ahead of the President's proposed schedule.
[Space]
Leaked Internal Emails Show Microsoft Overstated Windows Live Spaces Numbers
Joe Wilcox at BetaNews has posted a must-read article in the wake of the announcement - made at TechCrunch Disrupt SF - that the Redmond software giant would be transitioning all its Windows Live Spaces users to Automattic's WordPress.com platform. You may recall Dharmesh Mehta, Director of Product Management for Windows Live, stating that there were roughly 30 million active Windows Live Spaces accounts. Wilcox, however, has managed to obtain internal e-mail messages exchanged between (yet unnamed) Microsoft employees that suggest far lower numbers.
eBridge Raises $2.5 Million For Online Marketing Services
Internet marketing services company eBridge has raised $2.5 million in financing from Comerica Bank in a bid to broaden the scope of SMB-focused tools and services currently offered through its local business division, eBridgeInteractive. eBridge has been in operation since 2003, using technology and a service-oriented approach to help small and medium-sized businesses maximize their visibility on the Web.
When Google Wanted To Sell To Excite For Under $1 Million ? And They Passed
On stage today at our TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Vinod Khosla, the founder of Khosla Ventures, recalled a story from the days when he backed Excite, one of the original Internet portals. Specifically, he spoke briefly about the time they failed to acquire Google. This story has been circulated for a while, but not many people know about it. Khosla stated it simply: Google was willing to sell for under a million dollars, but Excite didn't want to buy them.
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Freshly Discovered Earth-Like Planet Orbiting Nearby Star Could Be the First Truly Habitable Exoplanet
Gliese 581 Digital Sky Survey/ESO
A couple of math geeks recently calculated that the discovery of the first "habitable" exoplanet would be announced in May of next year -- but a few stargazers from UC Santa Cruz and their colleagues simply couldn't wait that long. In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, the astronomers report the discovery of what may be the first truly habitable earth-like exoplanet orbiting the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 581.
Discovered via the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, the researchers claim their candidate planet is about three times the mass of Earth and orbiting smack in the middle of the "habitable zone," or at the right distance for liquid water to be present on the surface (that is, not too hot and not too cold). Its mass also suggests it is a rocky planet with a solid surface and enough gravity to maintain an atmosphere.
The planet is tidally locked into orbit around the Gliese 581, which means the same side always faces the star, keeping one side in perpetual daylight and the other in darkness. If indeed Gliese 581g, as the planet is known, is habitable for humans, it would probably best sustain life right along the border between darkness and light.
The discovery, of course, leaves plenty of questions to be answered about Gliese 581g. First of all, "habitable zones" are a bit of a grey area in exoplanet astronomy, and some scientists think there are too many variables at play to even consider a certain distance or range of distance "habitable." Further, the findings are very preliminary and a lot more observation will be necessary before astronomers really know what they are looking at.
But the fact that researchers have found another similarly-sized, potentially similarly-surfaced planet so close to Earth - Gliese 581 is only 20 light years away - in both composition and distance would suggest that such planets aren't rare in the galaxy. That raises hopes that as the exoplanet search extends outward that we'll find even more potentially life-harboring rocks out there.
LinkedIn?s CEO: Yahoo Is In A Position To Do For Browsing What Google Did For Search
With 80 million members, LinkedIn is steadily growing as the go-to professional social network. And as the company reportedly readies for an IPO within the next year, all eyes are on LinkedIn to see if the company can scale. Today, Michael Arrington sat down with LinkedIn 's CEO Jeff Weiner, a former longtime employee at Yahoo, about plans for an IPO, future strategy plans, and more. Weiner was mum about taking the company public, saying that an IPO is just one way that would allow LinkedIn to achieve long term goals. Weiner, who was formerly the Executive Vice President of Yahoo?s Network Division, did elaborate on his beliefs of where the internet is today and what the future potential of his former employer, Yahoo.
How to Romance Your Readers Like a 5 Star Restaurant
A guest post by Kelly Estes – coauthor of Online Business Elements. Image by Storm Crypt.
If you’re trying to impress a date, nothing does it like a romantic multi-course meal. In the blogosphere, you’re not trying to romance anyone, but you are out to impress — and snare — prospective readers.
Intrigue, Don’t Bore
So impress; don’t [...]
If you’re trying to impress a date, nothing does it like a romantic multi-course meal. In the blogosphere, you’re not trying to romance anyone, but you are out to impress — and snare — prospective readers.
Intrigue, Don’t Bore
So impress; don’t [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
Video: Demon Drone Makes First Flapless Flight
The Demon courtesy of BAE
No ailerons, no control surfaces, just directed jets of air
Cranfield University, BAE Systems, and nine other UK universities adapted a BAE Systems Eclipse Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) to fly without the aid of control surfaces, successfully executing the world's first flapless airplane flight.
This represents the first alternative to the moving flap technology used since the early days of aviation, in which moving mechanical elevators and ailerons control the aircraft's flight. Conventional control surfaces' many moving parts require frequent, costly repairs and account for a significant percentage of an aircraft's noise output.
The Demon UAV, BAE Systems' flapless aircraft, is shaped in a "blended wing body" configuration, which allows it to mimic the aerodynamic forces normally provided by flaps, elevators and ailerons by blowing jets of air from a nozzle over Coanda surfaces installed across the wing.
The flapless system, based on a concept called fluidic flight control, would require less maintenance and would produce less noise, affording the aircraft a more stealthy profile for military missions. It could also allow for planes with significantly reduced wing size.
11 Ways to Convince Readers to Buy Your eBook
This post was written by the Web Marketing Ninja — a professional online marketer for a major web brand, who’s sharing his tips undercover here at ProBlogger. Curious? So are we!
eBooks are a great monetization channel for your blog. Unlike methods such as advertising and affiliate programs, your own products allow you to keep the [...]
eBooks are a great monetization channel for your blog. Unlike methods such as advertising and affiliate programs, your own products allow you to keep the [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Please Welcome Georgina ? ProBlogger?s New Content Manager
I’m really excited today to announce that I’ve just hired Georgina Laidlaw to help with content development and strategy here at ProBlogger. Her official title is Content Manager.
The backstory
Over the last year, I’ve become increasingly aware that I need to begin to expand my team to cope with the load of running my business.
ProBlogger itself [...]
The backstory
Over the last year, I’ve become increasingly aware that I need to begin to expand my team to cope with the load of running my business.
ProBlogger itself [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
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Barry Diller: Everyone Needs To Stand Up And Protect Net Neutrality ? Unleash The FCC!
Today at our TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, IAC CEO Barry Diller took the stage for a fireside�chat�with our own Michael Arrington. They covered a lot of topics, but the first thing Diller keyed in on was the most important: net neutrality. "All of you have to get out there and start arguing for this strongly," Diller emphatically said. He clearly feels very strongly about this topic. "It is the lives of you all and the people coming after you -- we have to protect that," he continued.
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Kevin Rose On Digg, ?I?ve Made A Lot Of Mistakes?
Digg founder Kevin Rose took the stage here today to talk to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington about the future of Digg among other things. One revelation that came up during the talk? Jay Adelson, Rose and Digg crew turned down a $60 million dollar in cash plus $20 million in earnout offer during the trajectory of the social news site. Rose told Arrington that he didn't regret turning down the offer, which we're guessing came either from Current or Google (Rose refused to disclose).
5 Ways Your Blog is Undermining Your Business
Many entrepreneurs and small business owners start a blog to support their business. A blog, they figure, will allow them to illustrate their knowledge to clients, build a reputation and brand, get people to check out their work, and take the place of that pesky enewsletter they started a year ago but never seem to [...]
Post from: ProBlogger Blog Tips
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EngageSciences Secures $750,000 Angel Round For ?Social Nurturing? Service
EngageSciences, exhibiting in the Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt this week, has revealed it's closed an angel investment of $750,000 from private European investors. Terms were not disclosed but we understand the round came from some UK and European angels. The startup has been developing its application since December, focusing the concept of "social nurturing" - a fancy way of saying its about getting more fans for brand brands and companies. The startup is slightly different form the the current crop of U.S. social media marketing vendors, in that too many of these companies just focus on just getting more ?Likes? for brands or increasing their fan count or simply running a one-off contest. This is rather tactical and avoids the issue of user retention in the longer term. 
Ex-CIA Chief Says US Gov't Should Be Able To Shut Down The Internet
We've talked about all the hype over a supposed "kill switch" for the internet in recent cybersecurity legislation was misleading. There simply was no such thing in the proposed law -- but apparently some government spymasters would like it to be true. Michael Hayden, who was the head of the CIA until recently, is out claiming that the President really should have the ability to shut down the internet because "cyberterrorism" is such a big threat. While he does say that the bar should be "really high" before such a kill switch could be used, he still doesn't justify why it would ever make sense. Of course, this is the same guy who once denied that the 4th Amendment said "probable cause," so he has a history of stretching things.
Separately, since FUDing up "cyberwar" claims seems to have become quite profitable for former gov't spooks (now often working for private sector "security" companies looking to create moral panics and fears to drum up business), I wondered what Hayden is up to these days. And... what do you know... it appears that Hayden is now working for the Chertoff Group, the "security firm" founded by former head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. It seems like that sort of conflict of interest would be rather pertinent to any press coverage of what Hayden has to say, but for whatever reason, Reuters chose to leave that out of its story....
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Separately, since FUDing up "cyberwar" claims seems to have become quite profitable for former gov't spooks (now often working for private sector "security" companies looking to create moral panics and fears to drum up business), I wondered what Hayden is up to these days. And... what do you know... it appears that Hayden is now working for the Chertoff Group, the "security firm" founded by former head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. It seems like that sort of conflict of interest would be rather pertinent to any press coverage of what Hayden has to say, but for whatever reason, Reuters chose to leave that out of its story....
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