For the First Time, Interact with the Real Santa Claus LIVE from The North Pole on Ustream.TV

LOS ALTOS, Calif.–(Business Wire)–For the first time, using the power of LIVE VIDEO broadcasting on the Web, Santa Claus will be interacting LIVE with children and grown-ups around the globe - every night for a week in December.

WHAT: This year, instead of braving the mall crowds to get a glimpse of Santa Claus, kids and their parents can log on to www.Ustream.TV to see Santa LIVE, hear his stories and chat with him in real-time to ask questions about their gifts or anything else that is on their mind relating to Christmas.

WHEN: December 9th through December 15th, 2007 from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. EST

WHERE: LIVE online at ustream.tv broadcast from Santa’s studio at The North Pole (Ok, from Alaska!)

WHO: Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, Kris Kingle or simply “Santa.”

Santa Claus is available for interviews from North Pole, AK.

You can also visit the Web at ustream.tv to see an earlier recorded broadcast of Santa that will give you an idea of what Ustream-goers will see starting December 9th.

For us geeks, the advice “just be yourself” doesn’t work. We could go on and on about computers, the Internet, civil rights, and Leo Laporte for days, but when you’re trying to flirt with a woman you just can’t be yourself, no matter how much you’re told being yourself works.

Why should you believe me? Because there’s a “satisfied” woman sleeping in my bed as I type this right now. :)

Now, I don’t advocate being someone else. I mean, let’s be honest, there’s no way I could fool someone into thinking I’m David Hasselhoff, but I am saying that, as geeks, we need to practice a little social engineering in order to make women laugh (and, ultimately, get them to look at us as serious competitors for their affection).

• Go Ahead, Be A Dick - I’m not saying go around and proclaim yourself to be a womanizer and calling all women ho’s - that’ll just get you slapped in the face, and rightfully so. Instead, all I’m saying is to make yourself be the cocky guy at the bar - talk just a little louder than the other guys, walk around with your head held high and a slight grin on your face. Most guys see that as being an overconfident dick, but a lot of women see it as confidence. And confidence is a strength.
• Tell the Dirty Jokes - No, don’t just walk up to a woman and tell her the joke you heard about … well, I won’t defile this blog with that kind of humor ;) In any event, don’t be afraid of making a passing, off-color remark. Some women hate it, others love it.
• Treat Women like Humans - Possibly the most important tip is to just remember that women are humans too - just like men. Yeah, they’ve got different priorities, but at the end of the day, they just want to be happy like everyone else.

This is only a small sampling of the techniques you can use to attract women and make them laugh. Click Here to learn more about making women laugh.

In order to choose between the two consoles you’ll need to answer a couple of questions.

Gaming Library or Features?

If you’re looking for features over games, then the Playstation 3 is your console - the included Blu-ray drive is what’s going to kill the Xbox 360’s sales this Christmas. Also, while the Xbox 360 already has an extensive library of games, the Playstation 3 library will be growing over the next two years.

As far as media features, both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 offer a similar list of media playback features (mp3, dvd, etc…) - but the Playstation 3 offers Blu-ray support out of the box, whereas the Xbox 360 requires an add-on drive.

There are other features, such as web browsing and motion sensitive controllers, that are supported on the Playstation 3 but not the Xbox 360; but, if you’re browsing the Internet on a console you’re wasting your time - and you should really leave the motion sensitive controls to the Wii.

Backwards Compatibility?

I’ll admit, backwards compatibility really isn’t that important - how often do you actually play old games, other than for nostalgias sake? Still, it’s important to remember that the Xbox 360 comes with software emulation, whereas the Playstation 3 40Gb model does not support Playstation 2 games.

Is Online Gaming a Top Priority?

If online gaming is your thing then you’ll want to invest in an Xbox 360 and Xbox Live Gold. Yes, you’ll have to pay an additional fee every month, but the Xbox Live experience is - far and away - better than anything you can find on the PC, Playstation 3, or Wii. On the other hand, if you’re not hot on the idea of paying every month to play online, the Playstation 3 experience is actually quite decent, it’s just not as good as Live.

Is Halo a “must have” series?

If you just have to have Halo 3, and any of the future Halo games, you’ll need to get an Xbox 360. Of course, the Playstation 3 has its own share of exclusives. You’ll have to determine if loyalty to a franchise is more important.

As for transferring your save games - I don’t have an answer for that. While the Playstation 3 does have a hard drive built in (for storing save games and media downloads, among other things), there isn’t any simple way to transfer save games from system to system, from what I can tell.

This is only a small subset of things you should consider. If you want a much more in-depth comparison between the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 check out Xbox 360 vs Playstation 3: One Year Later

This strike comes as a pretty bad time for us. Before the strike my dad had work for only a month. Prior to that, his theater was dark for just over 8 months. Broadway has gone through its own little mini-recession and there was simply no work to be had. 8 months of being unemployed can play hell with your life - you go through your unemployment pay pretty quickly - and it has almost destroyed our family.

While dad remains on strike, mom works upwards of 60 hours per week, and my sister works just over 40.

Now, mom is a registered nurse, and has a pretty decent hourly rate, and my sister can fend for herself, but the sheer hell this strike can cause is staggering. Since my mother and sister are working so much, they’ve become much more impatient and stressed out - with each paycheck they fight to pay the rent, electricity, and other utility bills. We’ve also got the lease on the family car to worry about, as well as several credit cards, insurance policies, and loans that must be payed. To top that off we need to buy gas and eat every once in a while.

In order to balance all of this out, my family decided to sacrifice a few amenities that we’ve taken for granted for years: we’ve had to cancel our cable television account, which means we’re back to over the air TV, and there is no longer an Internet connection in the house (I’m currently borrowing my neighbors connection, which he agreed to let me use).

This lack of work also plays hell with other things - things that may seem minor, but just simply cannot be paid for with this tight budget; for example, there is a rather large, brown stain on the ceiling in the living room. Yes, we know it’s a leaking pipe, but we simply don’t have the cash to open the ceiling up, fix the leak, and replace the ceiling. Hell, we pay close attention to the lights and the heat just so we don’t get an unexpected surprise in next months invoice.

That car I spoke about earlier? The “check engine” light is on. One of the toilets stopped working, And, the family computer stopped working. I’ve since fixed the computer, but there isn’t much I can do about the car or the toilet.

Oh, and cell phone service? Forget it. For a family of four that loves to keep in touch with everyone, a family cell phone plan costs a lot more money than people would like to mention.

Are these minor problems? Absolutely. Could they be fixed under normal circumstances? Sure can. Are they piling up and costing more to fix than we have in our collective budget? Damn straight.

Why am I writing about this? I don’t know. It’s none of your damn business, but I think I just need to vent. Since I live in Seattle I’m disconnected from these particular events, but I’m not unaffected from the stress - I try to help them out financially whenever I can afford it, and I’ve spent a lot of effort and energy in coming home for the Thanksgiving holiday (and I’m attempting to make it home for Christmas).

How does the Broadway strike affect real people? It kills us, slowly, with stress.

it’s 30 minutes of an original holiday score by Geoff Smith, with a crackling fireplace video playing, formatted for your widescreen or standard portable device. At $5 for the portable formats, or $7 for a higher resolution, you can enjoy the holidays on the go.

($10 nets you all of the available formats, plus bonus features)

I bought it, and I love it. The score by Geoff really does put you in the holiday spirit! Excellent job guys, excellent.

JB Williams, in an article carried by the Canada Free Press, describes several reasons why Ron Paul is dangerous to the Republican presidential nomination, the Republican party, as well as the very security of the United States itself. I think that these accusations are inaccurate, at best.

Before beginning, I need to admit some facts about myself and the Ron Paul campaign:

• I support Ron Paul. And, since I do, there may be a bias in this article.
• Ron Pauls campaign has benefited greatly from their communities efforts to grab national headlines. These efforts, such as thisnovember5th.com, are nothing more than attempts to gain notice through fund raising.
• Ron Paul does trail the so-called “top-tier” candidates in both fund raising and poll results — by a wide margin.
• Because of the above two facts, I must acknowledge that I don’t believe Ron Paul has the best chances of winning the Republican presidential nomination. Aside from those active in the political circle, very few people even know who Ron Paul is, let alone want to vote for him.

In his article Mr. Williams has one major point of contention with the Ron Paul campaign: where does the money come from, and what does that means about Pauls political opinions?

Where is All that Money Coming From?

According to the official campaign fund raising filings at OpenSecrets.org, the top company to donate to Ron Paul is Google, with $22,250 in donations. The second and third most come from the US Army and US Navy at $21,018 and $14,105, respectively.

While Mr. Williams lists Google correctly as the top contributor, he never states — or even acknowledges — that the donations listed do not come from the organizations themselves, but “rather the money came from organization’s PAC, its individuals members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families.” As you can see, those contributions listed for Google comes from a wide range of locations — including people who may not even work directly at Google [1].

“Google,” Mr. Williams writes, “… has a long history of progressive political activism … in their campaign contribution habits, which is solidly Democrat, with the exception of Ron Paul.”

(Please note this quote is edited. I encourage you to read his full article to acquire context. The accusations of censorship made by Mr. Williams will not be addressed here. Ironically, I found his article through a search on Google.)

While Mr. Williams is correct in that Google, as a whole, has donated more to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, he is either not aware of the contributions made to the campaigns of Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain, or chose to ignore them [2].

Poll Numbers and Campaign Methods

Mr. Williams asserts that, since the political contributions are coming from the liberal wing of the political spectrum, the monetary numbers cannot translate into poll numbers. “His donors are not Republicans,” Mr. Williams writes. “So, no matter how much money he raises, it is not translating into Republican support in the polls.”

There is more truth in these words than Mr. Williams even realizes, I think; however, in order to properly address we must first understand two things: how these polls work and who Ron Pauls campaign is targeting.

Most organizations poll “likely voters” - in this case, “likely Republican voters” which generally means Republicans who voted in the last election. This excludes a long list of people, including:

• People who did not vote in the last election.
• New voters (in some cases, pollsters limit the age group to people over 21, but this is rare).
• People who have recently switched parties.
• People who do not own a land-line (including people who exclusively use a cell phone).
• Non-Republicans who intend to vote Republican (this is true in states such as Washington where there is no political party registration and the primaries are open).

While I will concede that the percentage of people in some of these demographics are not significant enough to make a difference — for example, the non-republicans who intend to vote Republican — other factors have the potential to make a huge impact: there are more than enough college-aged people who work exclusively with a cell phone.

In order for these polling discrepancies to be meaningful in any way the campaign, obviously, cannot go after the classic Republican voter — the same voter who selected George W. Bush in the last election cycle.

“Because Paul supporters know that support coming from non-Republicans is not reflected in the Republican polls,” Mr. Williams writes, “they have started a campaign to promote party-jumping so that their anti-war supporter’s from the left can vote in the Republican primary.”

While he acknowledges that the efforts to “party-jump” are an integral part of getting Ron Paul elected, he makes two claims that stand out about the sanity and constitutionality of this election method:

Dangerous Insanity?

Mr. Williams contends that “the mere notion that a Republican presidential candidate should be nominated by [party-jumping] is insane and very dangerous to the entire election process.” He fails to address the fact that several political parties have had their entire political viewpoints changed because party-jumpers came across and helped sway the overall opinion of the party.

He also fails to address why this method of getting votes is “insane” and “dangerous to the entire election process” — in fact, party-jumping is nothing new to the Republican party: Strom Thurmon and Ronald Regan jumped from the Democratic party to the Republican party. Indeed, I dare say that the entire Republican party has been defined by party-jumping in the last 50 years.

Unconstitutional?

Mr. Williams contends that “at a minimum, it is a demonstration of just what kind of people are behind the Ron Paul campaign, obviously, not constitutionally conscious people.”

In preparation for writing this rebuttal I read through the United States Constitution multiple times. I am unable to find any reference to the unconstitutionality of changing party affiliations or voting outside of your statistical voting norm. Nor can I find reference to the unconstitutionality of people changing their opinions based on new facts presented over the course of time.

At no point does the Constitution of the United States ever decree what an individual cannot do — outside of Amendment 18, which has since been repealed — but instead it states what the government can and cannot do.

The constitutionality and, indeed, the legality of the “party-switching” campaign is not in question. I can only conclude that Mr. Williams is confused about some piece of legislation, or simply has not read the Constitution.

Dangerous?

“I can not agree with the campaign tactics of using leftist money and votes to hijack the Republican nomination and I’m shocked that any Republican would,” Mr. Williams writes. He, however, seems to ignore that the Republican party was not always the so-called “right wing” party it has become.

During Ronald Regans administration the Republican party advocated small government, low taxes, and a foreign policy of non-intervention. It wasn’t until Bill Clinton took office that a movement within the Republican party started to take hold: “Christian conservatives” started their own campaign of party-jumping to get people elected in the House and Senate. They used the same tactics Ron Pauls supporters are using in order to get elected: either vote for the Republican candidate that you support, or switch parties and vote.

To use Mr. Williams’ imagery, the Republican party was hijacked with the use of “rightist” money and votes.

I contest, then, Mr. Williams’ closing remarks:

“There’s really no need to write another word about Ron Paul. If you can know all of these facts, follow the money and the links provided for their campaign tactics and still support him, you’re no Republican, much less a conservative or constitutionalist.”

I disagree. Traditionally, a conservative was one who supported small government and minimal spending. In fact, the name implies that there is some kind of ideal of conserving. Modern conservatives — so-called “neo-cons” — are not conservative in almost any respect: they support big government and more spending.

As for not being a constitutionalist: the very definition of a constitutionalist is someone who follows the constitution to the letter. Given that Mr. Williams’ views on the constitutionality of the party-switching campaign are questionable at best, his opinions on the matter are a moot point.

Mr. Williams is right to conclude that there is not much else to write about Dr. Paul: he has consistantly voted against unconstitutional actions [3] and has voted with his political affiliation of a contitutionalist, rather than what he personally feels.

References

1. OpenSecrets.org, “How to Read this Chart”
2. OpenSecrets.org, Search for Google
3. Washington Post, List of votes by Ron Paul

[tags]ron paul, election 2008[/tags]

My icons have been stuck like this for at least the past 12 hours, possibly longer. Help?

Uh … never mind? As soon as I finished typing that sentence, I went back to my desktop and, lo and behold, the icons were back to normal.

OK that does piss me off, because I was going to rant about some random act of Vista violence, but … what the hell, man? Why would my icons be stuck like that all through the night, only to magically fix themselves 12 hours later?

If I was a complacent consumer, which I’m not, i would be thrilled that the problem fixed itself and I don’t have to worry about fixing anything. As I said, I’m not a complacent consumer, and now I’m actually pretty pissed off: I don’t know why the icons did this in the first place, and I sure as hell don’t know why they magically fixed themselves.

Windows Vista: It’s Comcastic!

[tags]windows vista, comcastic, magic desktop icons[/tags]

I wrote about my intentions to vote for Ron Paul, but I wrote them with the idea that I was in a very small, eclectic group of people. Specifically, I thought that the Ron Paul supporters were fewer in number than that of the other lower-tier candidates; however, today made me rethink that position.

Today the grass-roots campaign, This November 5th apparently caught fire. Over 22,000 people donated today, raising over $3.5 million in a single day. When I went to sleep last night, there was about $100 thousand in donations for the day. When I woke up, nearly $1.5 million. As the day continued, the numbers continued to increase.

I originally came into this campaign believing that Ron Paul was, at best, a fringe vote, limited to people who were simple “too liberal” for todays society. Every time I would engage in a discussion about Ron Pauls policies I would either be mocked (”so you’re a 9/11 trutist”), questioned (”why support an isolationist”), or just downright treated like an idiot (”you’re going to cause another 9/11″). But for every person that mocked me, there were two people who supported my position.

After today, I am convinced that we - Ron Pauls supporters - are not the lunatic fringe. We’re simply the people who genuinely want the federal government to act in the way the founding fathers outlined for us: with a clear, logical mind, unhindered by the pressures of religion, and unwilling to impose its will upon the will of the people that created it.

[tags]Ron Paul[/tags]

Before I begin this long tirade, I want to preface this with something very important: I was there on 9/11/2001. In New York City. Hell, I’ve lived there for most of my life (up until recently when I moved out here to Seattle).

With that in mind, the current crop of political superstars - for both the Democrats and Republicans - disgusts me to no end. Their message is pretty much the same, and they are only very nuanced in their differences: continue the aggression in Iraq, keep a very close eye on Iran (and don’t rule out war), support the Patriot Act (and the continued spying on of American citizens), screw FISA, let the government run your life.

In my eyes, the three major candidates only differ because of their paths in life. Clinton is still riding the wave from Billy-bobs blowjob, Obama is a black man in politics, and Guilliani is a drunk Irishman who happened to be in NYC on 9/11/2001. Because of these minor differences, I’ve decided to refer to these candidates as the legendary beast Hillianiama.

All three candidates, I believe, would leave the country worse off than it is with George Bush. If you thought a declining dollar and trillions in foreign debt was bad, just wait until the Hillianiama monster fails to pay back that debt (pissing China off), the current market bubbles pop, and the value of the dollar reaches parity with the Yen. On top of that, Hillianiama would, in the long run, continue to decrease personal freedom in the name of national security. A national ID card? Why, because my drivers license was too easy to get?

It’s bad enough that I have to take my shoes off at the airport - although I do get a laugh out of it because my feet stink so badly, just ask Chris Pirillo ;) - but what happens when some radical group decides to blow up a bus, or a shopping mall? Will I have to get stripped search every time I want to pick up a stick of RAM? When does this shit end? Will I have to use a government sanctioned computer to access the Internet - with content filters attached that the RIAA, MPAA, and a bunch of right-wing Christian lunatics lobbied for - because the Department of Homeland security thinks I might, in some drugged up parallel universe, be a terrorist?

While this is only a theoretical path - and some of it does sound absurd now - it’s a path that I can see the current Hillianiama monster taking. It’s a path that makes me sick to my stomach. In fact I had considered - and continue to look into - moving to another country. Not because I’m personally oppressed, but because my political views, apparently, are.

I have, for the longest time, been a fiercely independent person: I do things on my own accord. It’s not necessarily “my way or the highway,” it’s more like “here’s the idea, let’s get this shit done.” This, I believe, is true personal freedom: the ability to do what you want, when you want to, as long as it doesn’t harm another human being. Of course, this personal freedom comes with personal responsibility.

I started a business with venture capital funding. That business failed, and I ended up with the debt on my personal behalf. This was my fault, my responsibility, not some evil VC who was hoping to make a quick buck, or use me as a scapegoat: I made the call, signed the documents, and helped the business fail. Me. I believe that your freedoms come with the responsibility of answering for your own actions - YOUR actions, not those of someone else.

So, when I see the proposal for a national ID card, when the TSA searches me because they “can’t be too careful,” or when AT&T and Verizon help the NSA tap my phone (and cellphone) conversations, I see that as answering for the actions of someone else. When Hillianiama proposes that we increase taxes to help fund the aggression in Iraq, I see that as me answering for the monkeys mistake.

I also hate bullshit. Hillianiama only fortifies their arguments with three things: oppressed blacks, oppressed women, and 9/11. There is no substance behind their arguments - it’s only a point of view riding the personal emotion attached to an issue. That, my friends, is what salesmen like to call “bullshitting the customer” - tell the customer what they want to hear and get their cash. The same holds true in politics: tell the audience what they want to hear and get their donations.

It’s for all of Hillianiama’s bad points that I fell in love with Ron Pauls political message: personal freedom with personal responsibility. Don’t spend money you don’t have. Don’t start a war that Congress did not authorize. Don’t bullshit the American people.

The political position Congressman Paul has taken is radically different than that of the Hillianiama candidates; however, his position is not, in it of itself, radical:

• Dissolve the IRS? Come on, who doesn’t get a grin out of this idea!
• Bring the troops home? We walked into Iraq, we can walk right out. We made a mistake, there’s no shame in admitting that.
• Don’t build nations? There’s no reason to occupy a nation. Never has been, never will be.
• Foreign policy of no intervention? It has been my firm belief that we, as a super-power, have no need to extend our political reach.
• Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security? What have they done, besides giving the TSA the authority to strip search you at their discretion, and a color-coded graph?
• Eliminate the Department of Education? While it sounds radical at first, you have to remember that among developed nations, we’re the dumbest.
• Eliminate the Department of Energy? The same department that, from what I can tell, doesn’t actually DO anything?
• Eliminate the war on drugs? About damn time they stopped locking up people who smoke weed.

Eliminate the Patriot Act? Force the government to use the FISA courts? Destroy government granted monopolies? Let the market do its thing? Let States govern themselves? Let individuals control their own lives?

Everything Ron Paul has said has agreed with my own personal philosophy: be who you are, not who others say you should be. Do what you want to do, not what others say you should do. Interact, but don’t interfere, with others.

I do have some points of contention, especially when it comes to drugs, alcohol, and prostitution. I find no fault in the recreational use of drugs and alcohol; however, people do become addicted to these substances. While he has said that if you want to use it you can, he has not provided an answer for people who become addicted. On the position of prostitution he has stated that it’s a persons business if they want to engage in it, but he has never taken a firm stance in enacting laws to protect that behavior.

Overall, in the fight of Hillianiama vs Ron Paul, I choose Ron Paul. Yes, he is a bit radical compared to the other candidates, but he is the only candidate - Democrat or Republican - whose message includes “personal freedom with personal responsibility.”

[tags]Ron Paul, Hillianiama, 2008 Election[/tags]

I’m having some serious networking issues with Windows Vista - and no, it’s not related to the network performance drop when playing media. Since yesterday, the network connection on this Vista machine has been horrible, at best. Let’s recap what happened to lead me to this unstable mental state:

Started off alright. I had some bad packet loss, but nothing that was not normal for Clearwire (the single worst ISP in the history of shitty providers). As the day progressed, the packet loss became very significant - to the point where I was unable to even stay connected to IRC for longer than a few minutes.
• At first I suspected Clearwire was the culprit. After all, it is the worst ISP to ever disgrace the Internet (not far behind is Comcast and AT&T). Running a trace almost confirmed my suspicions: the trace died at the fourth hop (router->modem->tower->clearwire-dns); however, things started to become very unclear on my end.
• I tried to use my slingbox on this Vista machine, but was unable to maintain a steady stream. The stream would fluctuate between 1 and 10Kbps (where I can normally push 10+mbit easily).
• Concerned that the problem was actually on my router, I decided to go into the diagnostics and run a trace through the Internet. sure enough, i was able to ping and trace perfectly.
• Still, something was amiss, so I reset the router in the hopes that the local side was just being dumb. No such luck.
• At this point I had to eliminate all possibilities. I had a friend connect to my slingbox from a remote location. He was able to stream at nearly 50Kbps. Yeah - from a remote location on a shitty wireless ISP, where I was unable to stream locally at all.

At this point i suspected the computer as being at fault. I’ve had a similar problem before where the network adapter would not, for whatever reason, acknowledge that the network existed.

• since i had that problem before, I decided that resetting the network device might be in order. At this point I’m pissed - I spent the entire day bitching about how crappy clearwire was, and how I couldn’t wait until DSL got installed.. the network device resets and … nothing. This time I can’t even get DNS. I can’t even ping IPs outside of my network … and then pinging IPs inside my network failed.
• Resetting the device once more only caused more problems. Now I was unable to get Vista to admit I had a wireless network! Oh boy.
• Sensing I was in over my head, I rebooted the machine.

Can you guess what happens next? That’s right - everything worked again. Apparently this is a known issue - if your Vista machine is on “too long” the networking components will go batty. The only fix is a reboot, and this problem, I hear, isn’t going to be patched anytime soon. Wonderful.

How a company can release a product as horrible as Windows Vista and survive longer than a month amazes and astounds me.

[tags]windows vista, network connection, vista problems[/tags]

A sales letter is, as the name implies, a letter (often several paragraphs in length) designed to sell a product or service. Obviously, it’s a bit more complicated than that, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. In order to write a sales letter you’ll need to know several things about your product:

• What problem the product solves.
• What it does.
• What it does better than the competition.
• How much it costs.

Once you have all of that information, you’re ready to write a sales letter. Instead of showing you paragraph-by-paragraph how to write a sales letter (this isn’t English 101), here are some tips for creating a killer sales letter:

• Create Hope - sales is a game of faith, and people buy hope. Your goal is to create hope for a person that their problem can be solved. Remember: we’re pretty simple mammals, and our entire existence is based on building or acquiring tools to deal with a problem. So, you need to create hope in the buyer than the product is the right tool to fix the problem.
• Be Personal - have you ever gone to a used car dealership only to feel dirty? That kind of feeling comes from knowing that you’re being sold something. While you are trying to sell something, you need to be more personal than just your average used car salesman. Don’t leave the customer with the impression that all you want is their money, instead leave them with the impression that your product has the ability to fix their problem, and all you’re asking in return is some compensation for helping them fix the problem.
• Create FUD - FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt - is a tactic several large companies have used in order keep people from switching over to competing products. FUD also works for making an initial sale, if you know what you are doing. Creating FUD in a sales letter can be done in several different ways, including pointing out flaws in competing products, warning of the dangers that could arise if they don’t purchase your product, etc… The trick to creating FUD is that you need to slowly integrate it into the rest of your sales letter: while a sudden “warning” section may get grandma to purchase that medication handbook, it may leave a bad taste in the mouths of more experienced buyer.
• Act Now - telling people they have to act now isn’t as easy as saying “act now before this offer expires” because that just screams “infomercial” - so, instead of running screaming that the offer is going to end (when, it in fact, will not) give them a hard cut-off date. instead of saying “this offer won’t last” explain to the customer the reasons the offer will not last (cost of distribution, low supply, whatever).

Whatever you do in your sales letter, remember that people are generally smart (or smarter than some companies give them credit for) and like to be treated as such. Telling someone to buy something “because i said so” won’t win you any favors. Alternatively, telling someone to buy something “because it has x,y,z” helps them make an informed decision.

[tags]sales letter, affiliate marketing[/tags]

1. Contracting - you may not realize it, but you have several skills that other people may place a value on; for example, I’m pretty talented with a microphone, and help people record messages for their websites … for a fee. Of course, you may have another skill, such as programming or writing. This is why I recommend contracting out your labor: you know what you’re doing, and you know how much you’re going to get paid to do it.
2. AdSense - yes, AdSense is an old cliche by now, but it works, and it works damn well. The real trick to AdSense (if there is any) is to write the right content: you don’t want to write endless articles about your computer, or your cat. No, instead you should focus your subjects on what you know and the popular search terms for that subject. Oh, and keep writing: your earnings with AdSense are directly proportional to how much work you put into it.
3. Affiliate programs - Chris hates these, but I love ‘em. Yes, affiliate programs work, but using them effectively is very different than with AdSense. With affiliate programs, you become the sales person: you’re no longer writing content, you’re selling an idea. You know all of those sales pages you see on the Internet (those one page “buy this now” advertisements)? Study them, because if you’re going to get into the world of Affiliate marketing, you’re going to need to learn how to sell, sell, sell. And, if you’ve got what it takes, you could very well end up with a very nice payday.
4. Paid advertisement - it’s easy to ear money with AdSense, but it does require a lot of work to maintain any level of success, but paid advertisements, like Text Link Ads, require very little work and pay out time and time again. Of course, you do need to have an established website in order for this to work.
5. Sponsorships - while similar to a paid advertisement, sponsorships bring their own unique twist to the game: sometimes sponsorships don’t end up with a transfer of money, but, instead, a transfer of goods. In exchange for sponsoring your business in some manner (be it banner ads, classified text ads, or whatever else) a sponsor can generally provide you with a larger payout than a paid advertisement would. Here’’s the catch: unless you already have a well-established business and contacts within the company you want to seek a sponsorship from, you’re going to have a difficult time convincing anyone to sponsor what you’re doing.

[tags]make money online[/tags]

The Pirate Bay claims that, thanks to the e-mails, they now have proof that the big media companies are paying professional hackers and saboteurs to attack private trackers. The charges, TPB states, are commercial hacking, spamming, denial of service, and infrastructural sabotage.

The companies involved include:

• Twentieth Century Fox, Sweden AB
• Emi Music Sweden AB
• Universal Music Group Sweden AB
• Universal Pictures Nordic AB
• Paramount Home Entertainment (Sweden) AB
• Atari Nordic AB
• Activision Nordic Filial Till Activision (Uk) Ltd
• Ubisoft Sweden AB
• Sony Bmg Music Entertainment (Sweden) AB
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Nordic AB

[tags]The Pirate Bay, MediaDefender, BitTorrent, sabotage[/tags]

The torrent file, uploaded earlier today, apparently contains the source code for the application used to poison torrent files. This poisoning process essentially makes the download useless to the end-user.

So far, this company has endured:

• A breach of security protocol when one of their employees forwarded every e-mail message to their gmail account.
• A recorded phone conversation between the attorney general of New York’s office and MediaDefender was leaked.
• The source code to the internal utility used by MediaDefender has been leaked as well.

All of this in about the span of a week. It looks like Mr. Saaf might need some Tylenol.

[tags]mediadefender, leak, source code, security breach[/tags]

• Make sure your content has a market. For the longest time I treated Lockergnome like any other blog: a place to dump my feelings, ideas, and general comments. The truth is that Lockergnome isn’t a blogging platform so much as it’s a content network. the distinction here is that unlike a blog, you’re more successful on Lockergnome when you post quality content related to the real world - not your world. Talking about cats is fine, but don’t talk about your snookums - talk about the brand of cat food you feed snookums (or any other myriad of other cat-related subjects).
• Write early, write often. After seeing my AdSense clicks drop significantly over the past month, I’ve come to the sad realization that the AdSense game isn’t some kind of magic ticket: you need to write early and write often. (Anyone recognize where i got this from?) It’s a simple fact of the Internet: if you’re going to be successful, you need to write new content all the time.
• Queue up content. Right now the auto-posting feature on Lockergnome isn’t working very well (I’m working on it, I swear), so the best advice I can give to you is to queue up content on your local machine and post daily. I’ve been trying to write two to five articles in a given day (given enough time) and post them over a period of a week. Ideally, I’d like to post at least one article per day (or more had I the time). Life is much easier when you queue up articles.
• Write original content. Writing original content can be difficult, especially when you’re a computer programmer by trade like me; however, never post articles you find on sites like EZineArticles, or articles sold as “Private Label Rights” (PLR). Lockergnome gets almost all of its incoming traffic from Google, so what Google wants Google gets: fresh, original content that it has not seen before. Plus you avoid any nasty legal entanglements.
• KISS, Keep it Simple, Stupid. OK, so this article isn’t a prime example of KISS, but your articles, in general, should be simple and to the point. I’ve found that 400 words is my sweet spot, with many line breaks, bold and italics text, and links to other pages. Readers tend to see longer articles as a “wall o’ text” and pass it up.
• Ping it. for the love of (deity) use PingOMatic.
• Use Lockergnome’s Google Love. Google loves Lockergnome, so why not use that to your advantage? Don’t spam your Web site (that’ll get your account deleted), but do some research on Google and see how you can optimize your article for the search engine.

Well, that’s pretty much it. This is, at its core, a game of educated trial-and-error. There’s a lot of information out there on writing articles that you can use to your advantage. In the end, it boils down to:

1. Doing research
2. Executing a plan based on the research
3. Learning from the results
4. Adjusting your plan accordingly.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

[tags]google adsense, lockergnome[/tags]

[tags]UPS, brown, mud streak, worthless company, stupid monkeys with bats[/tags]

Alright, I didn’t fix the problem, per say, but now you can embed YouTube-style videos on Lockergnome and not have your blog break. Here’s how:

In the rich-text editor (the default way you write entries on Lockergnome) you should now see two additional buttons: and

- Use this button if you have a flash file you wish to link to directly; for example, a file on another website that ends in .swf

- use this button to link to YouTube videos. You use the URL of the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-ZDEhz8y… - instead of the provided embed code.

That’s pretty much it, any questions?

[tags]Lockergnome Update[/tags]

Where the hell are all the IEDs?

Post-9/11 we, as a people, were told that there were a countess number of so-called “sleeper cells” in America. There were so many of these sleeper cells that all of the law enforcement agencies in the United States didn’t have the manpower or legal strength to combat this threat.

Six years later the FBI has arrested less than a dozen suspected members of “sleeper cells” and not a single IED - which could be linked back to an organization like Al-Qaidea - has been found. So, why is that?

Maybe it’s a matter of actually getting into the country. After all, we have increased airport security, right? Well, only if you believe Fox News. Just so you know, I boarded a plane in Detroit with a metal switchblade in my pocket and a bottle of clear liquid (water) in my backpack - and all of that was because I had forgotten they were with me.

No, it’s not an increase in airport security, that’s for damn sure. Maybe it’s because a proper explosive device is difficult to make? Well, there’s a little thing called the Anarchists Cookbook still floating around the Internet. Despite its inaccuracies (if you were to follow some of the recipes to the letter, you would die), it depicts how easy it is to make something that can harm humans. Gas + Fire = Boom.

IEDs are difficult to make? Absolutely not.

US security is as stupid as it has ever been, and IEDs are easier to build than some “assembly required” desks.

So where the fuck are the IEDs?

[tags]IED, Improvised Explosive Device[/tags]

[tags]stress, relax[/tags]

After looking online and drooling over several items I longed for (how about a 32″ DLP 1080p HDTV, a nice GPS system, or a halfway decent laptop) I became discourages with the fact that I would have to save for months in order to afford anything close to what I would like to have.

You can afford good things with bad credit, and there are two main ways you can do it.

The most logical path is to open a savings account and use that to save up for the large-ticket item you want. Personally, I prefer this method as having a savings account does have a positive effect on your credit score.

Of course it could take years to save up for the item you want, and by that time you may have spent your savings on something else. That’s why if you have to have it now - and you know for a fact you can pay for the item - you can use the monthly payment plans on the television shopping networks.

What?! Yeah, that’s right: I just told you to go shop at QVC, HSN, and ShopNBC. Yes, yes, I know what the main problem is: you’re going to be overpaying for items. Sometimes it’s a lot, but sometimes it’s a steal.

Here’s the trick: do your homework. Go online and comparison shop for the same exact item. If the item price is inflated by hundreds of dollars, pass it up; however, if they’re similarly prices, you may want to consider using their monthly payment plan.

There’s a trick to everything in life, and if you have bad credit you’ll have to use those tricks in order to purchase large-ticket items. By either saving your money in  savings account, or taking advantage of monthly payment plans you can actually buy decent items on bad credit.

[tags]bad credit[/tags]

I looked around and compared several GPS units. I drooled over the high-end TomTom and Garmin models, as well as cringed at the high price of the low-end models. Eventually, I stumbled upon a GPS device called the Intellinav 2 GPS Unit.

As I looked over the feature list and compared it to several other models, I decided that this cheaper GPS unit would service me well. I’d also end up saving a couple of hundred dollars by going with his rather off-brand name.

Of course, buying a cheaper, not-so-popular brand often means you’re risking buying a really spiffy pile of crap. So, I used this device a lot. When you compare this device to its other similarly priced GPS brethren you realize you’re actually getting a pretty good deal.

So, here are the things I took note of while using this unit.

Hardware

• The Intellinav 2 comes with:
• The Intellinav 2 GPS Unit (duh)
• A windshield stand that works on suction
• Two mini-USB power adapters: one AC and one DC (car charger)
• 1 GB SD card pre-loaded with map and Point of Interest data
• 1 SD card protective case

An interesting note: this device is charged via USB, however, I was unable to access the device fro my computer. Apparently, the USB port is disabled. What’s even more interesting is that you can’t charge this unit while it’s off: the unit must be turned on in order to work.

Satellite Acquisition

The manual states that the initial GPS satellite acquisition period may take up to 15 minutes and after initial lock it should only take 15 seconds to 2 minutes; however, I’ve noticed that initial GPS lock takes only 30 seconds to a minute, while subsequent reacquisition only takes a few seconds - I’m sure this will be longer in areas with taller buildings or many trees, but it’s not as bad as the manual states.

Route calculation

Route calculation is damn accurate. I did notice, however, that if “quickest route” is selected in the settings menu you’ll get some really weird turns every now and again while the unit tries to optimize the route (I think this is optimized for street speed, but I’m not entirely sure).

The route calculator does seem to take an exponentially longer time when it has to calculate longer routes: a trip to the local Wal*Mart (about 20 miles away) took only seconds to calculate while a trip to Seattle, WA took almost a whole minute to calculate.

If you are going to head on a long road trip, you probably want to enter in the trip information and itinerary ahead of time anyway, so it’s really not that big of a deal.

Route Recalculation

Route recalculation is surprisingly fast and accurate. One of the nice features of this unit is that unlike others in its price range, it doesn’t try to recalculate your route so you can get on the original route it plotted for you. This is a great feature for a GPS unit because it means you won’t be taking some weird turns just to get back on the original route.

I did notice that on some slight turns (slight-right, slight-left) that the unit would think I went off course, and it had to recalculate my route, it then thought I went off course again, and did a second recalculation. I ran into this only once, though, and was unable to reproduce this by taking the same route a second time.

Dead reckoning

From what I can tell, this unit does not have any dead reckoning abilities. If it loses its satellite signal, it does not assume that you are still going in a straight line on your current route: the map will lock up and wait until it finds a GPS signal again.

I tested a couple of GPS units before making my purchase, and I found dead reckoning to be more of a hassle than anything - they were inaccurate at best, and downright wrong as worst. So, the lack of any dead reckoning features in this unit does not bother me in the slightest.

Points of Interest

The unit comes loaded with 1.6 million points of interest. While that sounds like a lot, its older brothers - the Intellinav 3, 4 and 5 - as well as other high-end models all come with 16 million points of interest.

The points of interest are good if you only need the basics: food, gas, and the occasional hotel. Don’t expect to find anything interesting like a good local deli or an out of the way restaurant.

Navigation

Voice navigation is excellent with the Intellinav 2: the pre-recorded voice tells you what your next maneuver is and how far away it is while the digitized voice tells you the street name.

The only complaint I have is that there is no warning tone when voices are about to become active. For whatever reason, I always got surprised when the voice navigation started to talk, but this worse off after I got used to driving with the unit.

Map Display

The map can be displayed in four ways: 2D, 3D high, 3D medium, 3D low. There are also nine levels of zoom, with individual streets and their names being visible as zoom levels 1, 2 and 3. At zoom level 4 street names are still visible, but the smaller side roads are lost. Zoom levels 5 and above show mainly the highways and interstates and should probably only be used if you’re going on a long road trip and don’t intend to leave the interstate for a while.

The screen itself is gorgeous, and the colors are bright and vibrant. There are only four color selections you can make from the display options menu (yellow, grey, white, and fuchsia). Colors can also be adjusted by changing the daylight setting between auto, day, and night.

Speed Alert

The speed alert option is pretty good, although it’s not a replacement for actually glancing down at your speedometer every once in a while. It apparently calculates speeds based on your GPS location (just like every one of the GPS units on the market), and it’s accurate, for the most part.

You can have the option of an automatic alert (where the unit automatically determines the speed limit of the current road you’re on), manual alert (where you enter in a speed limit), or have it totally disabled.

If you’re just driving locally, chances are you’ll want to keep this disabled; however, on longer trips that involve a freeway (where you can easily lose track of the speed you’re going) this little alarm can be very helpful in avoiding a moving violation.

Trip Computer

The trip computer is like the trip information found in some premium and luxury vehicles. It tells you when the trip started, ended, the time elapsed, total distance, average speed, and top speed. It also stores up to three trips.

Itinerary

This is one of those gems you don’t often come across. I was unable to find this particular feature on similarly priced GPS units. As the name implies, it’s a trip itinerary where you can add multiple destinations to your trip.

This is particularly helpful if you have already planned out a longer trip, and you need to make several stops at hotels, or if you have several things to do for that day and you don’t know where every spot is.

Other options

The Intellinav 2 comes with an MP3 player and photo viewer, but you cannot use these when you’re using the map. I have not tried these yet, because this unit only come with a 1GB SD card, and that isn’t nearly enough space to store map data, pictures, and music.

Missing Features

I would love to be able to update this thing via the Internet. One of the features I wish this - and every GPS unit - had was the ability to wirelessly connect to the Internet, grab the latest map data and construction information, and build your routes around that. This complaint isn’t specifically geared towards the Intellinav unit, but it would’ve been a nice feature

Final Thoughts

Overall this is an excellent unit. While it is small (3.5″ diagonally), it has a ton of features packed into it, slips out of its cradle easily, and fits into your pocket. Route calculations are generally fast, and recalculations are much faster than I had expected.

If you don’t want to spend an extra $200 on a Garmin or Magellan unit, then consider the Intellinav series - I’m damn happy with it.

Do you have a GPS unit? How do you like it?

[tags]intellinav, intellinav 2, GPS[/tags]

Part 1: What is Revolution?

Ah, revolution. The sound of the word makes a man stand up with his chest held high and pay attention. Sure, revolution has a few downsides, but it has some really nice perks.

Generally, a revolution has the support of the majority of citizens - the lower, poor, and destitute citizens of a country. You’re shit out of luck with the middle and upper classes - they’re more than content to watch football every Sunday and play golf.

(As an aside: if you don’t have the support of the people, it’s generally called an insurrection or terrorism, depending on the buzzword of the day)

Since you have “the people” behind you, there’s a good chance that you can also grab the media’s support: if the vast majority of people support your actions, media outlets would be insane to ignore it or downplay it.

Also, your government has undoubtedly made more than a few enemies (unless the government you’re trying to overthrow is Luxembourg. Nobody hates them). So, you can use that to your temporary advantage - but be warned: if you succeed you’re going to have to try and remain on good terms with that country, even if you don’t support their outlook on life.

Beyond the support of the people, the media, and some fanatical governments, you really don’t have much. You’re certainly not going to have support of the armed forces, and that can be a huge obstacle.

You also don’t have support of allies of your soon-to-be-overthrown government, and this can be a big hindrance: blocked supply lines are just as bad as blocked arteries.

By the way, in case you have not noticed, you also lack political power, so if your little revolution fails you are personally fucked: your entrails will be paraded in the capitol city of your country to trumpets and a marching band.

Another thing you don’t have is money or training. Remember, your support comes from the majority of people: the poor, the homeless, and the otherwise untrained. You lack funds, food, weapons, ammunition, strategy, and just about everything else an organized mob needs to take on the enemy.

Who is the enemy? Why, with a people-supported revolution, you’re going head to head with the army of your country. Now, this may or may not be a huge obstacle. For starters, if you live in a country where the army is about as well trained as a circus troupe, you’ll probably find that firefights are easy to win; however, if you live in a modern country, where armed forces are trained 24/7, your chances of winning any battles decrease drastically. War is about mind-fucking your opponent into giving up, and a well organized army can mind-fuck you better than your unorganized mob.

Revolution is best suited to the extremely oppressed: it’s a last-ditch effort to improve the quality of life for the poor. Its success hinges heavily on outside support (from governments you may not trust) as well as media sympathy

[tags]overthrow government, revolution[/tags]

So far I’ve received:

• From: “ActivateiPhoneRequest”, Subject: “iPhone Charged to Jason. Use This Activation Code.”
• From: “Apple Customer Care”, Subject: “iPhone Activation Failure, please read.”
• From: “The Apple Store”, Subject: “You’ve Won a FREE* iPhone!”
• From: “AT&T iPhone”, Subject: “Fraudulent Activity on Your iPhone!”
• From: “AT&T Security”, Subject: “iPhone Fraud!”

Am I the only one having this problem with Google Mail? It appears to be catching a ton of other spam (I just combed through my spam box), but this iPhone stuff seems to be getting through on a whim. Does anyone have a solution?

[tags]iPhone, Apple iPhone, iPhone Spam[/tags]

Member banks of the ChexSystems network (which compromises roughly 80% of all banks in the United States) report on their customers who exhibit poor financial management skills, and being on file in the ChexSystems can be financially damning.

The policy banks use for reporting customers to ChexSystems vary between institutions and the reason usually given is “closed for cause.” This reason is very vague and can mean anything from serious fraud to multiple overdrafts.

Unlike credit scores, ChexSystems is more of an absolute than a score: if you’re on it, you’re more than likely going to be denied opening an account at a major institution - for the next seven years.

So, keep your financial future in mind when you write your checks and pay your bills: getting reported to ChexSystems can be very damaging and seriously limit you for the next several years.

[tags]chexsystems, chex systems, telecheck[/tags]

If you’re considering a payday loan then there are some things you should know:

• In order to obtain a loan you must currently be employed and receive your pay via direct deposit.
• You will be required to pay back your loan each time you get paid; so, if you get paid every week you’ll pay back part of your loan every week.
• There is a common cap of $1500 on these loans, but you will probably only receive the minimum amount offered by the institution, unless you’ve taken out multiple payday loans in the past and successfully paid them back.
• Your credit is not checked but your employment history will be checked.
• With a payday loan you will generally end up paying back over twice the value of the loan. For a $250 loan you can expect to pay back over $500.

Personally, I wouldn’t recommend taking out a payday loan, as it can be more financially draining than simply going through a brief financial rough period.

[tags]debt consolidation, payday loan[/tags]

In the case of loans, the item being purchased can usually be used as collateral against a default on the loan; for example, the house purchased with a mortgage is generally used as the collateral, as are cars in an auto loan.

A secured debt is generally the easiest way to obtain a large amount of money quickly, as lenders generally don’t loan a large amount of money based on word of mouth alone; however, just because you have something of value to put up as collateral does not mean your credit score will not affect you.

If you have a poor credit score you may have a very difficult time finding a lender willing to loan you the large amount you need. Remember, if you properly maintain your credit score and have a good credit score you’ll have an easier time finding a lender.

[tags]secured debt, debt management[/tags]

There are usually two factors that come into play when a bank or lending institution considers giving a borrower a line of unsecured debt: credit history and current income Both of these factors not only help determine if the borrower will receive the loan or credit, but also determines how much money the institution can charge in fees and interest rates.

People with a poor credit score can except to be flat-out denied or expect to face a much higher interest rate, while people with an unblemished credit record will have a much easier time finding institutions willing to lend them money at a much lower interest rate.

If properly managed, unsecured debt can be a great solution for borrowers who need a large sum of money they otherwise would be unable to obtain, but would be able to pay back over time.

[tags]unsecured debt, debt management[/tags]

Even if you’re new to the world of credit, or are recovering from bad credit, these 5 tips to building a good credit score are essential.

Don’t spend more than you can pay back. Some advice says not to spend more than you make, but that’s kind of tricky: you probably already have non-credit bills (such as television and electricity) that need to be paid every month. So, subtract your monthly bills (loans, food, and utilities) from your monthly income. How much you have left over is how much you should limit yourself to spending on a credit card.

Pay back the entire debt every month. Alright, so there will be dry times when you can’t pay back your debts, but overall you should pay off your credit cards in full every month. Carrying a debt over month to month can be a very bad thing in the long run. While it won’t hurt your credit score when your carry debt (after all, credit card companies make their money on interest rates), it will lead to several bad habits, which can put you in a very dangerous hole.

Get into good spending habits. Don’t swipe your card every time you go buy a newspaper or coffee. Use your credit card for larger purchases which you don’t carry any cash around for.

Treat it as credit. Too many people consider credit to be “free money.” Credit is not free money - it must be paid back, one way or another. Going out and maxing out your line of credit just to buy some crap you really don’t need isn’t something a fiscally responsible person would do.

Always monitor your credit score. The most important piece of advice I can give you is to make sure you closely monitor your credit score, and always get the free credit report you are legally entitled to receive. Go through it with a fine-toothed comb and report any inaccuracies.

Keep these tips in mind and you’ll be well on your way to building a good credit score. Remember: your credit is your future (And your children’s future, too).

[tags]build good credit, good credit score[/tags]

Debt consolidation allows you to:

• Organize all of your credit/loan payments into one monthly bill
• Lower your monthly payments, sometimes drastically
• Pay off your debts in a shorter amount of time - sometimes

Overall, debt consolidation can usually be a good thing; however, if you have bad credit or you are working with a bad company, you may end up paying more per month than if you paid off your debts individually, because you could end up with a very high interest rate.

In the long run you will not save money with a debt consolidation loan. In fact, after you pay off the consolidated loan you may end up paying as much as five times more money than if you had paid off your debts individually.

If you need breathing room from month to month, one option you may consider is speaking with the banks that you owe money to. They may be able to work out a payment plan that can help you lower your monthly payments (usually at the expense of a longer pay period).

Before you do anything to consolidate your debt, remember to do the math. Organize all of your payments and do the math, then look at your options and weigh your current monthly payments against your future monthly payments, then consider how long it will take to pay off the debts.

Ultimately the final decision is up to you. Debt Consolidation can be a lifesaver, but make sure you know what you’re getting into before you sign the dotted line.;

[tags]debt consolidation[/tags]