You may not be familiar with the company Tronical but you will know their work because they are responsible for Gibson’s Robot Guitar tuning systems. Well judging by this video it appears that Tronical are about to launch some standalone systems that can be retrofit to pretty much any guitar be it a Les Paul [...]
Archive for May, 2009
Hulu Desktop 0.9.0 – Stream TV shows from your desktop.
Hulu Desktop is a lean-back viewing experience for your personal computer. It features a sleek new look that’s optimized for use with standard Windows Media Center remote controls or Apple remote controls, allowing you to navigate Hulu’s entire library with just six buttons. For users without remotes, the application is keyboard and mouse-enabled. Hulu Desktop is a downloadable application and will work on PCs and Macs. It will initially launch as a beta product during which we plan to gather and incorporate user feedback to improve the service.
(Via MacUpdate – Mac OS X.)
Digg Content is Now Public Domain Internationally
Digg has just upgraded the license for all of its content – titles, descriptions, comments, everything – from public domain to Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
Under the public domain license, the content was already free for anyone in the US to use for any purpose. By switching to CC0, this content is now also public property internationally. The Internet is getting more and more fragmented each day, with copyright laws altering our entire online experience depending on where we’re physically located. So, although the license change may not seem like much, it’s a welcome change and a nice gesture from Digg.
Digg has also updated its Terms of Use to reflect the changes; the new wording can be seen in Section #6 of the TOU.
(Via Mashable!.)
America, Ready For A National VAT (Value Added Tax)?
Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax — called a value-added tax, or VAT — has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.
‘There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform,’ Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. ‘I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table.’
A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American — a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families.
The VAT has advantages: Because producers, wholesalers and retailers are each required to record their transactions and pay a portion of the VAT, the tax is hard to dodge. It punishes spending rather than savings, which the administration hopes to encourage. And the threat of a VAT could pull the country out of recession, some economists argue, by hurrying consumers to the mall before the tax hits.
What would it cost? Emanuel argues in his book that a 10 percent VAT would pay for every American not entitled to Medicare or Medicaid to enroll in a health plan with no deductibles and minimal copayments. In his 2008 book, ‘100 Million Unnecessary Returns,’ Yale law professor Michael J. Graetz estimates that a VAT of 10 to 14 percent would raise enough money to exempt families earning less than $100,000 — about 90 percent of households — from the income tax and would lower rates for everyone else.
And in a paper published last month in the Virginia Tax Review, Burman suggests that a 25 percent VAT could do it all: Pay for health-care reform, balance the federal budget and exempt millions of families from the income tax while slashing the top rate to 25 percent. A gallon of milk would jump from $3.69 to $4.61, and a $5,000 bathroom renovation would suddenly cost $6,250, but the nation’s debt would stabilize and everybody could see a doctor.
Sounds like it will cure blindness, get my sheets whiter than white and make me a hit with the ladies! What can’t a VAT do? If it’s this good, why not go all the way and make it 100% so the government can do everything for us?
(Via Dvorak Uncensored.)
HOW TO: Build Your Personal Brand on Twitter
Dan Schawbel is the bestselling author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09), and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog. Follow him on Twitter @DanSchawbel.
Today, Twitter has roughly 6 million users and is projected to grow to 18.1 million users by 2010. With all those people, the chances for networking are endless and connecting with new people can lead to career opportunities, so it is essential that your personal brand exists on the service. Last month we showed you a step-by-step process for building your personal brand on Facebook, and today we’re going to show you how to do the same thing on Twitter. By leveraging the Twitter platform to build your brand you can showcase yourself to a huge and growing audience.
1. Claim your Twitter handle
Prime domain names, especially those ending in ‘.com,’ have long been desirable, hard to find and extremely expensive. By not reserving your domain name, your business or personal brand is at risk and you may never be able to reclaim it once you’ve lost it. With Twitter continuing its meteoric rise in popularity, it’s no surprise that Twitter account names are starting to be treated like domain names.
What happens when you don’t claim your Twitter handle:
• Exxon Mobil failed to claim their name on Twitter and was forced to deal with reputation management problems, when an imposter started tweeting using @ExxonMobilCorp.
• Jack Canfield, founder and CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises, had to take a different user name because he didn’t act quickly enough to secure his full name (he has @J_Canfield, not @JackCanfield).
• The same thing happened to web developer community and book publisher SitePoint, which was forced to settle for @sitepointdotcom, rather than @sitepoint.
Twitter handles have become so important, that there is now even an aftermarket for them, Tweexchange, where user names are bought and sold.
Stop what you’re doing right now and claim the Twitter handle for your full name, as well as any products and/or companies that you currently own or you have plans to create in the future. You can’t truly own your personal brand if you don’t even own your Twitter handle.
2. Decide how you want to brand yourself
Before you start actively using Twitter, you need a strategy, and the first step in developing that strategy is to completely fill out your user profile. One of the goals of having a Twitter account is to gain followers and few people want to follow an account that doesn’t look legitimate (i.e. the profile hasn’t been filled out and there’s no avatar).
Take a good look at your other websites and profiles and draft a Twitter bio to match the rest of your online branding. This is how people will find you and recognize you now and in the future, so be honest. Don’t brand yourself as an expert unless you already are one. Do brand yourself based on your passions and skill set.
Once you have everything filled out, you should spend some time focusing on your Twitter background, which gives you an opportunity to extend your brand image onto Twitter and create a more cohesive experience for your followers. There are many sites that you can use to help you develop a custom background, such as Twitpaper and Twitterimage.
I recommend creating a Twitter background that resembles the colors, format and logo from your personal or corporate website. When you create your background, add in additional information that isn’t covered in your Twitter profile, such as pointers to more websites, contact information, or information about products or services you sell.
Three techniques for branding yourself on Twitter:
1. Lead with your company: Pete Cashmore puts his company (Mashable) ahead of himself on Twitter by using @Mashable as the account name, but uses his personal avatar and bio. This is a smart approach for Pete because he wants to build his company’s brand, while associating his own name with this successful property. This also gives Mashable a face and a personality to go with it.
2. Mutual branding: More and more companies are realizing that their employees are on Twitter and that they can be tapped to help promote their initiatives. Some of these Twitter accounts are mutually branded, so that the avatar has the person’s picture and the corporate logo. Two examples are Kodak’s Jennifer Cisney (@kodakCB) and Allison and Mike from CareerBuilder’s PR team (@CareerBuilderPR).
3. 100% personal branding: If you’re trying to build a strong personal brand, then focus your Twitter handle, avatar and bio information 100% on you, instead of your company.
3. Become known as an expert or resource
Essentially, Twitter is a shorter and more viral form of blogging, so the same rules actually still apply, and by constantly writing or tweeting about your expertise on a specific topic, you’ll become known for it and people will gravitate to you and follow you. If you already have a blog, then I recommend using Twitterfeed, so you can syndicate your posts on Twitter automatically.
For many people, Twitter has become a filter. Trusted experts are relied upon to send their followers interesting and relevant links. You can subscribe to blogs and keywords using Google.com/alerts, and then act as an arbiter for your topic, constantly pushing out the best content. Do you want to become known as a personal finance enthusiast? What about a search engine marketing consultant? The best thing you can do for your brand on Twitter is to take your current interests and activities and establish a feed on Twitter to deliver that content to your audience again and again.
If you are an expert in your field, then have Q & A sessions, where you answer questions from your followers. The more you tweet about the topic you want to be known for, the more people will remember you and when they need your expertise, they will contact you. It’s that simple!
4. Establish a Twitter marketing plan
Just like with any other website or blog, just because you build it, doesn’t necessarily mean people will come. You should have a marketing plan in place to acquire new followers.
Elements of a Twitter marketing plan:
• Email signature: You probably already place your blog or website URL and contact information in your email signature, so why not add your Twitter handle? It’s free promotion and every email you send can turn into a new follower.
• Personal/corporate website: If you already have a website for you and/or your company, then you have a platform on which you can promote your Twitter address to people who will probably be interested in following you.
• Blog homepage + posts: Your blog is a great place to promote your Twitter account because most people who read blogs know what Twitter is. You should take a two pronged approach. First, put your Twitter address in one of your sidebars and second, promote it discretely in posts every once in a while.
• Email newsletter: If you have an email newsletter, you can write about Twitter and link to your profile or put it at the bottom of your template, so that each email has a link to your account.
• Presentations: Do you do any public speaking? Why not include your Twitter account on the last slide of your presentation and tell people that they can follow you on Twitter?
• Business Card: Try including your Twitter handle on your business card. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, did this with his card.
• Article writing / guest blog posting: Whenever you write an article for a magazine, news website or guest post on a blog, try to include your Twitter handle in your byline.
• Networking on Twitter: By using the ‘@’ symbol and either retweeting or communicating with other people, you’ll have some of them responding to you, thus promoting your Twitter account to many of their followers.
• Promotional products: Some people take Twitter promotion to the next level: Ted Murphy, for example, created custom Twitter shirts that have your Twitter handle.
Just like with any social network or blog, the more people who follow you, the easier it is to grow your already existing community. Retweets and following other people are two essential ways to get new followers. However, content is king on Twitter, so it is vital to make sure you produce consistent, quality tweets.
5. Utilize third-party applications
There are literally thousands of Twitter applications out there, but only a few that can really help you build your personal brand. The apps below will help you stay in touch with your industry, find people you can network with, save you precious time, and push out your content.
Note: If you have additional Twitter applications that aid in personal brand building to recommend, please tell us about them in the comment section.
• Twellow: Find people in your industry to follow and connect with using this Twitter yellow pages guide. You can find more Twitter directories here.
• Tweetbeep: Keep track of your brand reputation by getting alerts through email when your brand is mentioned on Twitter.
• Tweetmeme: Put a button on your blog that allows your readers to more easily retweet your posts.
• Hashdictionary: Keep track of conversations that include hashtags on Twitter.
• Ping.fm: Save time by sending messages to all of your social networks at once.
• Twitter Grader: A site that ranks your influence in the Twitter world based on an algorithm. You can see where you stand in your town, city, state or country, as well.
• Tweetlater: Schedule tweets so that they are published automatically in the future. It’s a real time saver.
6. Form a Twitter ‘Mastermind Group’
As you may suspect, certain groups of people on Twitter constantly promote and retweet each other. Some of them are in what are called ‘mastermind groups’ — groups of individuals who are committed to helping each other and sharing knowledge amongst themselves. They are communities of supportive colleagues who seek to mutually help each other become more successful. On Twitter, by finding people who share your interests, you’re able to help each other out and cross-promote. There are a few Twitter applications that help you form these special interest groups.
Group applications:
• Grouptweet: This app lets users create groups and broadcast messages to each other via direct messages sent to the group’s Twitter account.
• Twitter Groups: This site allows you to tag your followers and place them into different groups. You can then send messages to those groups without needing to send them to each person individually.
(Via Mashable!.)
Bad Idea: UK Launches Database Of Info On Every Child
Apparently, some folks in the UK haven’t yet realized that no database is fully secure, and any large database of info will almost certainly be abused at some point. In what appears to be a stunningly bad idea, the UK has put together a giant database including info on every child in the UK. The goal is for it to be used by childcare professionals, but you can bet it will be misused quite soon. As internet law expert Michael Scott notes: ‘Who thought this was a good idea? And why?’
(Via Techdirt.)
Wake Us When Wolfram Alpha Can Solve an Actual Problem
British physicist Stephen Wolfram today officially launched his new, massively-hyped search engine, Wolfram Alpha. Now for the inevitable letdown; and for the hard questions more journalists should have been asking weeks ago.
Wolfram Alpha has, inevitably, been repeatedly compared to Google. Of course: just like the fatally overhyped search engine Cuil, Wolfram Alpha was previewed for sympathetic press, who, with help from all sorts of other media, quickly raised expectations to unmeetable levels (a long and storied tech-industry tradition).
Wolfram is attempting to almost magically deduce useful, precise information from the mess of information that is the World Wide Web. That’s a task that has thus far eluded even the scientist who invented the WWW itself, Tim Berners-Lee, who has spent more than a decade on a crusade to do basically the same thing through a system he calls the ‘Semantic Web.’
In its present state, Wolfram Alpha excels at providing information people don’t care about, like ‘How far will the Earth be from the Sun tomorrow?‘ or ‘the average body mass index of a 40-year-old male, whether the Eiffel Tower is taller than Seattle’s Space Needle, and whether it is high tide in Miami right now.’ Try asking something more complicated and you get an error message like the one at left (Google might get this one wrong, but at least it tries!)
Will Wolfram Alpha ever improve? Sure, but it’s hard to imagine it ever improving enough to be truly useful; human language itself lacks the precision to enable what Wolfram is attempting. Or so it would seem. As social tech professor and author Clay Shirky has written, ‘Actual human expression must take into account the ambiguities of the real world, where people, even those with real taste, disagree about what is interesting or affected…’
For now, people of real taste disagree about the fate of Wolfram Alpha. But those sorts of opinions have a way of converging as a startup’s fate becomes more clear.
(UPDATE: Comments enabled; they were off due to a tech glitch.)
(Via Valleywag.)
How to Monetize Your WordPress Blog
It’s all across the world wide web, people want to know how to make money with websites. People especially want to know how to make money using online advertising. This is because, it’s often assumed that putting a few ads on a website requires less work than other means of monetization.
The first thing to note is that just throwing Google adsense or any other advertising on your blog isn’t going to make you much money. Just like you won’t sell products if you don’t have a customer base, you won’t earn money from advertising if you don’t have customers coming to your site. Having a few hundred people visit your WordPress blog each week won’t cut it.
The first way to monetize from ads on your WordPress blog actually has nothing to do with advertising, but everything to do with content. If you’re not offering something fresh and new, then users won’t continually come to your web site. You have to offer fresh content or products to first get people on your site. This may be posting several blog posts a day, selling products or running contests. Find a niche, and work on building a presence on that niche before even thinking about putting advertising on your website.
Once you’ve got a following to your blog, start researching about possible advertising tools out there. Many people do Google Adsense, but it is difficult for it to pay off. There are many other methods of advertising on your WordPress blog including:
- Affiliate Ads. These are often the best advertising method because you can choose affiliates that are geared toward your targeted audience.
- Brokered Ads. This type of advertising only works if you have a high volume of visitors. Advertisers go through a broker to have their ads display on your site. This cuts down on the work you have to do such as billing, ad size and technical issues.
- Text Link Ads. Text link advertising is important if you have a high page rank and your blog is properly optimized. Once again, you can use a broker or sell the ads yourselves.
- Contextual Advertising. These are your basic adsense-type ads that display ads based on keywords on a page or your blog’s category.
Above I’ve discussed some of the different advertising methods that you can implement on your WordPress blog. Is there an advertising method you’ve had success with? Later, we’ll feature some of the wordpress plugins that are available to help monetize your blog.
(Via Tutorial Blog.)
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