Speedy speedy

Are you into racing? I've been looking at DragonFireRacing's website, a great place where you can get teryx exhaust systems and there are some amazing bits of kit you can get for your offroad. I have a friend who's into this sort of thing, so I must remember to bookmark the site for them to have a look at. Myself, I'm happy to watch and just go "Wow"

Why GMail is awesome

I found an excellent post on LifeHacker talking about 10 great things that GMail does. This is putting aside the mundane email handling, massive storage space, spam filtering etc; but instead looks at features that makes GMail exception. Here’s a summary:

• Themes: You can completely change the way GMail looks using themes
• Chat: You can launch video and audio chat right from within your browser, no downloads required
• Backup your email: You can back up your email onto a different platform anytime you want. So you don’t have to feel you depend on The Big G
• Audit: You can see all the locations you’ve signed in and out from
• Contacts: Contact management is a real breeze on Gmail and integrates nicely with other platforms too.
• Consolidation: GMail lets you consolidate different email accounts in one place
• URLs: As Gmail is web based you can bookmark locations and send them to your friends
• Keep email on your desktop: You can download gadgets and even an entire Google Desktop which integrates nicely with your email
• Search: Google is the master of search and whether you’re looking for business satellite internet or technical help you’ll always be able to find them in your mailbox
• Experiment: Google Labs always has new exciting features in development, so if you’re so inclined, you may want to give them a whirl.

Head off and read the post.

Twitter as a marketplace

Did you know that you can tap into the awesome power of Twitter to attract people to your products and services? There's a service called Magpie that taps into people on Twitter to send messages to people who follow them. The interesting thing about Magpie is that it analyses the message streams of Titterers it uses so that any sponsored messages are contextually relevant to the people who follows them. This enables your messages to be targeted to a group who would be interested in something you are offering.

So, for example, if you are trying to sell an automated OS recovery package you probably wouldn't want to bother teenagers or moms with your message (or pay for their reading it), but would prefer to bring it to the attention of technical support staff or operational managers. Magpie lets you do this effectively without spending too much on your advertising; particularly as it's a new network so you don't have to bid against many advertisers at the moment.

Interesting concept, and one to watch as people try out different marketing techniques with new social networks.

Join an artisan marketplace

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.u-g-h.com/2008/12/08/join-an-artisan-marketplace/)
Are you handy with craft but hopeless with websites? Do you wish you could sell your creations online? Well, here's a website that you might find interesting. ArtFire.com is a marketplace that lets artisans and craft aficionados display their artwork and sell them to other people all around the world. The focus is predominantly on handmade products so if you feel you have a talent in that area it's a site you should really check out.

The site operates on the basis that artisans can list their items (basic sellers can see up to 10 items at a time with 4 pictures each without charge) allowing buyers to search through them and buy anything they fancy. there's even a facility for buyers to request items made specifically to their requirements. It's a great concept and a great way to make your way into creating a global brand for your products. Sellers get their own subdomain complete with stats and a way to attract loads of visitors to their products.

I gave a search through the website and came across this gorgeous set of printed monkey heads that I'm pretty sure Arthur wouldn't mind getting for Christmas. Who knows, I might get my credit card out and do some shopping.

Actually, that's another benefit of joining a market place like this. Payment facilities are provided for you out of the box (together with all the necessary conversion from other countries) so that's one less thing to worry about.

If you're artisticly inclined, check it out

One man's art is another man's pornography

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.u-g-h.com/2008/12/07/one-mans-art-is-another-mans-pornography/)
There's an interesting debate happening in cyberspace at the moment. It concerns album cover of the 1976 album by Scorpions called Virgin Killers (shown alongside). Apparently six British ISPs (Virgin Media, Be/O2/Telefonica, EasyNet/UK Online, PlusNet, Demon and Opal) are inadvertently filtering all access to Wikipedia after the site was added to an Internet Watch Foundation child-pornography blacklist.

There are a number of updates on The Register outlining whats happening as the events unfold, with the latest step being a statement issued by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) saying:

A Wikipedia web page, was reported through the IWF’s online reporting mechanism in December 2008. As with all child sexual abuse reports received by our Hotline analysts, the image was assessed according to the UK Sentencing Guidelines Council (page 109). The content was considered to be a potentially illegal indecent image of a child under the age of 18, but hosted outside the UK. The IWF does not issue takedown notices to ISPs or hosting companies outside the UK, but we did advise one of our partner Hotlines abroad and our law enforcement partner agency of our assessment. The specific URL (individual webpage) was then added to the list provided to ISPs and other companies in the online sector to protect their customers from inadvertent exposure to a potentially illegal indecent image of a child.

Now, gettings yourself off a blacklist can be as difficult as getting industrial clamps off your car, but I'm sure Wikipedia will be able to swing it somehow. We'll just have to watch what happens, but there are also some interesting questions about the powers behind Wikipedia that keep popping up, particularly around their transparency.

Getting some new shirts

Well, I’m still into T-shirts though, I came across a website that sells MMA gear and I found a number of T-shirts I wouldn’t mind adding to my collection. Thing is, I really need to get more adult-ish clothes. Can’t live in T-shirts for ever I guess.

I received a package today which was some clothes we bought a week ago from Marks & Spencer. It took a bit longer than expected, but then they did warn us that they had loads of orders that day (they had a 20% off day). I’m trying to move away from geeky T-shirts of which I have a full wardrobe and wear more rugby shirts or polo shirts.

Loving iPlayer

The BBC has a great little Internet tool that lets you download movies and shows that have been aired on TV on any of their channels. It's called iPlayer and it's a great way to catch up with programmes you've missed on TV. It's not quite live event video streaming as you can only watch programmes that have already been played on TV, but it's a great way to make sure you don't miss an episode of your favourite series.

Which reminds me, I downloaded this new show called Survivors. Better catch up on it before it expires (downloaded shows only last for a couple of weeks)

Looking around in the dark

If you're in the dark, how about getting yourself a street light? Ok, you might not really need a street light, but it’s a great example of how you can get pretty much anything you like online. I found a website that lets you purchase any sort of commercial lighting including street lights. The website actually sells a whole collection of different lights, both residential and commercial and what I find really cool are these lights called “Grow Lights” which are designed to help plants grow.

That sheds some light doesn't it?

An SEO tip

Here’s a cool tool which you can use to help optimise your websites. You know that you need to focus on keywords to try and attract the right visitors to your website. Well, Google have a Keyword Tool that can help you find the right keywords for your website. Let’s say you have something hard like teryx exhaust all you need to do is key in the phrase, fill in the Captcha and the website will come back with ideas for you to try.

It’s a cool idea and a tool you should keep in your toolbox for when you next need it.

Top 5 Manx Tweeters

(My Original Blog Post: http://www.u-g-h.com/2008/12/03/top-5-manx-tweeters/)
I was looking at Twitter Grader to see who the Twitter Elite in the Isle of Man are and these are the top 5 at the moment:

#			Tweet Them	Grade	Bio	Location
1		OwenC	Tweet	96.7	Your friendly neighborhood geek	Isle of Man
2		sherrilynne	Tweet	95	PR and marcoms consultant.	Isle of Man
3		ManxStef	Tweet	82	Freelance slacker geek who should probably get a real job	Isle of Man
4		jamesq	Tweet	81	A happy kinda guy just wandering along with my beautiful fiancee for company.	Isle of Man
5		Clarissa789	Tweet	80	Wedding Planner Extraordinaire	Isle of Man

I must say, I'm pretty chuffed to be at the top of the list. I know all the others on the list except for Clarissa whose Tweets seem to be predominently posts on her wedding site. A number of people are using Twitter for SEO purposes, whether it's to sell term life insurance quote online or wedding services, so I guess there are always going to people Tweeting who I don't really know.

Again .. pretty cool I'm first ;)