Meyes Network

FanBox is a SCAM!

2008-03-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

I received yet another "question" from a member on Fanbox. So, I search Google for: fanbox spam. At the time of this writing, one of my blogs about SPAMbox is #4 on the list, but I've found a lot of seeding by them.

For example, take the posting they’ve done on the Office Tweaks blog. There is a comment there by a guy named “TJ Brown” that is an obvious seed for Fanbox.

I love FanBox! They have so many cool applications and features on their desktop! Their social network aspect rivals even MySpace and Facebook! I looked up the old stuff on SMS.ac, and who cares? It wasn’t even a big deal and they have since discontinued offering sms service. So stop crying and give the site a chance.

- TJ

Sounds like he’s trying to sell me a used Pinto. Fanbox is SPAM. Fanbox is a scam. Every message I receive, I mark it as SPAM.

The talKing Show Liz Lira Teaches Some Salsa

2007-06-07T13:22:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Four time World Mayan Salsa Dance Champion Liz Lira talks about Dancing with the Stars, Gravity Defyer Shoes, and salsa dancing. She even teaches host, Christine Eads some salsa basics. Watch as funny man Adam Hunter tries to learn some Salsa w/o looking ridiculous. Some of the crew even join in the dancing. But the real question is whether the Orbitor Listening Device can hear a pin drop from the top of a seven story building.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: dance, salsa, christine, christine eads, dancing, dancing with the stars, liz lira, gravity defyer shoes, salsa dancing, adam hunter, comedian, listening device, spy equipment, mr security

The talKing Show Mr. Security Hears a Pin Drop from a 7 Story Building

2007-05-30T23:09:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Where did they find Mr. Security? This guys is so top secret that when you try to check his background all you will find are questions, and a whole lot of stealthy spy equipment. The talKing Show host, Christine Eads, preps us for one of the best listening devices you'll ever see: The TM341 Orbitor Listening Device.

Just what can you use the Orbitor Listening Device for? Mr. Security gives us some ideas while he's on remote. He'll attempt to hear a pin drop from the top of a seven story building. What would you use the Orbitor for?

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: talkshow, television, christine, comedy, orbitor, listening device, electronics, spy, spy equipment, security, background check, host

Heat Fozzy

2007-05-29T23:54:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

www.galacticast.com

The talKing Show: Director Deborah Reed

2007-05-28T22:27:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

talKing host Christine Eads meets up with long time friend and now director Deborah Reed. But first, Mr. Security gives us a demonstration of the high end spy device: the TG286L de-FIB-ulator. Well, at least he tries :-P

The talKing Show Christine Monologue with beatboxing

2007-05-28T11:58:00.001-07:00

Click to Play

Christine Eads is the host of a new variety television talkshow: The talKing Show. In this clip, she talks with the show's DJ D.J. about American Idol, Blake Lewis, and beatboxing. She even tries out some beatboxing herself. She should stick to her day job with hosting her XM Radio show Broadminded and The talKing Show. I don't think we'll be seeing her on American Idol any time soon :-P

Riveting Expose (Inside Candyland)

2007-04-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 19, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Traveling, videos, cool stuff, fun, blogging

It is scandalous! A place in New Zealand where there is nothing but CANDY! Everywhere you turn. Candy to the left of me. Candy to the right of me. I got gumballs all around me I’ll take you inside the secret world of Candyland!!!

YouTube - Inside Candyland

technorati tags:candy, candyland, new zealand, food, fun, expose, travel, video, youtube, shocking

One of my Favorite Swing Dance Pieces

2007-04-13T11:33:00.001-07:00

Jan 15, 2007 in videos, friends, Education, Dance, swing dance, Entertainment, cool stuff, School, life, art, Relationships, fun, blogging

I’m a lover of Swing Dance. My first love was Lindy, but West Coast has really stolen my heart. However, I will never forget some of the great memories I’ve had with Lindy. My first dance teacher, Denise Gibson, has gotten hip with the times. She’s posting videos of some of the dances she’s put together over the year on youtube.

About 9 months prior to the release of The Pink Panter starring Steve Martin, the Moorpark College Swing Dance Club performed a routine to the Pink Panther Theme. Denise and I choreographed the piece together, and it is one of my favorite pieces I ever did with the MCSDC.

YouTube - Pink Panther

technorati tags:swing dance, moorpark college, lindy, west coast, teachers, education, college, fun, entertainment, school, friends, relationships, videos, youtube, dance

Feed an eel!

2007-04-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 14, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Weird Stuff, Traveling, videos, cool stuff, life, fun, blogging

Pet the eels. Feed the eels!

YouTube - Feeding eels in New Zealand

technorati tags:eels, video, youtube, travel, fun, food, eat, weird stuff, cool stuff

Parabolic Listening Device for Spying

2007-04-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 14, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Gadgets, cool stuff, technology

I bought one of these from Gagdet Universe last Christmas for my dad. I pointed it at my neighbor’s house, and I could hear her walking across her kitchen floor. You could easily listen in on conversations from a distance away.

technorati tags:gadgets, CES, Consumer Electronics Show, electronics, spy

Answering your home phone from 80 miles away

2007-04-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 4, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Gadgets, cool stuff, technology

This is not just impressive because you can call someone from 128km away (79.5 miles). It’s impressive because a company in Hong Kong is going to market and sell this item to you directly. Checkout their guarantee and shipping near the bottom of the page. They are claiming to guarantee the item for 10 days from the date you receive it. The most important part is the part about the shipping. They will ship this anywhere in the world. Heed their warning though. Is this thing legal in The States?

Long Range Cordless Phone - Senao

technorati tags:technology, phone, wireless, global, marketing, cool stuff, gadget

The Future of the Web

2007-04-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

Feb 3, 2007 in culture, friends, thoughts, videos, myspace, swing dance, Dance, Entertainment, cool stuff, Work, life, blogging, art, Relationships, photos, fun, technology

I love open source. I love the idea. I love the practice.

The concept of open source software is pretty simple. The community freely, openly develops software, each individual collaborating and contributing to others in the community. The result… It’s the future on the Internet.

My former swing dance partner (Denise Gibson) wanted to create a website for her students. She teach swing dance, ballroom, swing dance, and other styles of dance at local colleges and studios. She wanted to provide them with a web experience where they could bond as a community, communicate with each other, meet new people, and enjoy a multimedia arrangement of dance information.

I wasn’t sure where to start. It’s been a while since I was out of the IT game. Of course, it never occurred to me to develop a website for her based on ASP.net or any Windoze platform for that matter. So, I played around with the applications available through my godaddy.com hosting service.

WOW! What a selection!

I stumbled across an application called Joomla. Mind you, by this time, I had evaluated Xoops, Geeklog, Serendipity, and a slew of others. Something about Joomla just really kept me interested. Sure, it has one ridiculous flaw in the fact that an article can only be placed into a single section+category. Hell, they should have talked to me about my infamous name/value pair class I developed back in the days of the psychic chat network. Those were the good ol‘ days, but I digress.

Joomla is as extensible as you can get. Build a community, host discussion boards, member managed blogging, private messaging, newsletters, AJAX shout boxes, eCards, contact management… The list goes on forever, literally. People in the Open Source community are developing tons of projects for Joomla every week.

In a matter of weeks, I developed a community website that had many of the same features as Myspace (minus the abundance of bugs). Granted, denisegibson.com does not have 11 million members, but that’s besides the point. I encourage anyone to test out Denise’s website. Even if you don’t know anything about dance, take a look and see what is possible in just a matter of days with open source software. Who knows… You might just find yourself picking up a pair of dance shoes after all!

Folks, this is where the web is going: community building websites with multimedia entertainment, newsletters, cool features. And it’s all going to be free!!!

www.denisegibson.com - DeniseGibson.com

technorati tags:dance, swing dance, college, dance partner, fun, art, life, culture, thoughts, friends, relationships, partnership, entertainment, work, technology, blogging, videos, myspace, photos, discussion boards, community, cool stuff, future, web, Internet, students, ballroom, dance studio, open source, collaboration, software, contribution

Email is an Ineffective Method of Communication

2007-04-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Feb 2, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in culture, quotes, myspace, landmark, Team Management & Leadership, friends, writing, blogging, life, Relationships, cool stuff, technology

I love the conversations that people have about Internet communication. I’m in a team management leadership program right now. The entire program is based upon being in communication with others and creating a listening of others that empowers them. What I find interesting about the course is that participants have created a listening of Internet communication as ineffective. That is to say that in the realm of communication, most participants view communication via the web and email as ineffective.

I’ve had a number of conversations with people in the course and other people in my life about how they relate to Internet communication. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you really want to communicate with someone, verbal communication is the best way to go”.

There are a couple of errors in this statement. First, verbal communication essentially means communication with words. Modern definitions of verbal have twisted it into meaning oral communication as opposed to written communication. However, the true meaning of verbal is “of or pertaining to words”. Nothing in the original definition implies oral vs written.

The second problem with this statement is that it implies that one must speak with another person in order to be in communication. Now, what I find interesting about this is that written communication was invented specifically to make communication available to more people.

Written word has the ability to become timeless. Written word has the ability to make us and our communication live on forever. Where would we be is Shakespeare was only communicated through oral communication? Where would we be if the US Constitution was never written down but just communicated in oral conversation?

The moral of the story is that the web, being part of written communication, is a very powerful method of communication. You can gain interest from people in whatever you are up to through oral or written communication. The web and community websites (more about this later) are very effective methods of communication.

technorati tags:landmark, community, myspace, communication, blogging, discussion, verbal, oral, team, management, leadership, writing, books, relationships, culture, friends, life, shakespeare, constitution, history

Retro Cell Phone or More Useless junk for your garage?

2007-04-13T11:14:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 30, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in Gadgets, Weird Stuff, Stuff that sucks, humor, photos, rants, blogging, technology

Let me start off by saying that I love gadgets. I’ve been shopping at Sharper Image since… Well, since before they had their stores (which I’m sure they will be shutting down a few of later this year, but I digress). I’ve long been a fan of Brookstone, Hammacher, and Gadget Universe. Then there is FirstStreet aka TechnoBrands.

I can’t really say that I’m a fan of FirstStreet. Most of their products are… I’ll let the picture do the talking here

Larger Image View - firstSTREETonline

technorati tags:cell phone, phone, ridiculous, gadgets, junk, lame, rants, stuff that sucks, photos, products, innovations, weird stuff, technology

Look MA! No hands

2007-04-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 26, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in videos, Weird Stuff, Traveling, Funny, cool stuff, random, just for fun, technology

I’ll just let the video explain itself…

technorati tags:waterless, urinal, new zealand, random, just for fun, traveling, weird stuff, cool stuff, technology, funny, videos, bathroom

My First (and only) West Coast Swing Dance Choreography

2007-04-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

Originally posted Jan 26, 2007 on my Wordpress blog in videos, friends, Education, Dance, swing dance, Entertainment, cool stuff, School, art, Relationships, fun, life

It is Fall 2005. I’ve been teaching swing dance with Denise Gibson at Moorpark College for a couple of semester. We both love West Coast Swing. We’ve been taking lessons from the world famous Sonny Watson, and we’d both love to bring it more exposure in the college community.

We start teaching beginning West Coast Swing to a beginning ballroom class. Now, for those of you who know anything about West Coast Swing, it is not as easy or simple as some of the other forms of swing. When it is done right, West Coast Swing is the coolest looking dance on the planet. Period.

West Coast Swing, however, is not an easy dance to learn. Nor is it an easy dance to teach, let alone to beginners. Denise and I are doing our best to prepare the students at Moorpark for a 6 week master class in West Coast Swing with Sonny Watson. When Sonny arrives, the students are excited! They are doing a great job. They are struggling but making excellent progress!

Next thing you know, the six weeks are over, Sonny is finished, and the beginning dancers now have 8 weeks to prepare for the dance concert at the end of the semester! Here is the result:

Remember! These are all beginning dancers. Some of these people have never danced a day in their life before this class. Some, this is their very first partnered dance class. For all but a handful, this is the first time they ever heard of West Coast Swing Dance. One semester! Look how clean they are. I’m so proud of how well they all did

technorati tags:west coast swing, swing dance, life, fun, school, Moorpark College, friends, art, education, relationships, videos, youtube, dance, college, stage, performance, entertainment

Most Important Copywriting Tip!

2007-02-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

Original post on Jared's Bloggin'

Buying and selling real estate depends on three things:

Location
Location
Location

Writing copy also depends on three things:

Benefits
Benefits
Benefits

What’s a benefit? I’ll tell you what a benefit is not. If it has anything to do with the product, it is NOT a benefit. WHAT?

Here is where it gets really tricky. When I say ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE PRODUCT, I mean ANYTHING. Keep reading, you’ll be able to sell better than ever by the end of this article. For example: Let’s say you are writing about a ladder. Here are examples of what you could say about the ladder:

The ladder extends to 12 feet, making clearing the rain gutters easier than ever
Clearing your rain gutters will be so much easier than ever with this new ladder
Every time my wife would ask me to change a light bulb or clean the gutters, I would always make some excuse not to because it is such a chore. Until I got this ladder

Each of the above make it clear that your life will be easier than before because of the ladder. At first glance, these might even seem like you are talking about a benefit. After all, isn’t having an easier life a benefit we are all after?

I’ll go back to my definition of what a benefit is *not*: If it has anything to do with the product, it is NOT a benefit. All of the above examples have something to do with the product. So, how can you write about the benefits of the product without writing about the product itself?

Going back to the ladder example:

Become a virtual Superman!
You can be the star of your own do-it-yourself television show
Be the neighborhood handyman you’ve always wanted to be

Sound like tall tales? Well, you aren’t selling someone a 12′ ladder. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of choices of 12′ ladders. You are selling him the excitement, the thrill of becoming a virtual Superman who can save cats stuck in a tree. You are selling him on being the guy that everyone goes to in order to find out how to clear rain gutters. You are selling him on being such a great handyman around the house that his wife is going to brag (NOT nag) about him to all the neighbors.

NOTE: I want to clarify that I am not saying to NEVER write anything about the product. You MUST write about product features. However, features are what people look for AFTER they are sold on the item, not before.

After you’ve hooked him with the virtual Superman line, you can give him all the features of the item. Now, when you describe the features of the product, it should be in line with the virtual Superman theme.

For example

Leap into action when your cat is stuck in a tree with a sturdy 12′ reach

instead of…

You can help save your cat when she gets stuck in a tree. The extra 12′ reach you will have with this ladder will turn into a virtual Superman

Even though the second example utilizes the virtual Superman idea, it doesn’t hold true to the idea of Superman. Remember, superman is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. He’s faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. When you tie your copy to that powerful of an image, you need to make sure that the rest of your copy is not a bunch of Kryptonite.

NOTE: In this example, I used a male subject. Same thing applies to women. Obviously, becoming a virtual Superman might not appeal to a woman, but becoming a virtual Oprah or having a virtual Superman husband might.

Now, let’s hope this helps the guy I’m coaching on writing copy for his email marketing campaigns

Hot new Transfomers Bodies need to match Megan Fox

2007-02-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

I was browsing the Autoblog and suddenly!!!

Transformers Update: Hasbro gives best looks yet at Optimus Prime and Bumblebee

Bumblebee looks pretty cool, eh? Although, I’m not sure if I agree with him no longer being a Volkswagen Beetle. That was part of the charm of Bumblebee. He was this dinky little VW beetle. Oh well, he still looks pretty cool, if you ask me, since he's a Camaro now (my first car).
Now, checkout the new Optimus!

Let’s see how things turn out in the movie! From what I've seen in the previews, the Autobots look really cool but the Decepticons don't look much like the classic 80s cartoon. However, it is pretty obvious that the look of the Autobots needed an update when they signed Megan Fox to the film.

Get Some Bawls

2007-02-25T17:39:00.000-08:00

Original post on my Wordpress Blog

I visited a company today that does product placement in television, radio, and movies. It was great. I showed them a bunch of products, and they were excited about them. One of the people from an upcoming film came by their office looking for more new product placements.

Before this happened though, I was sitting in the office and they asked me if I wanted something to drink. I told them that water would be fine. Then they asked me, “Would you like some balls?”

“That’s rather forward,” I thought to myself. I just had to clarify, “Did you say balls?”

“Yes. Do you like energy drinks?”

“Well, kinda. Wait, you realize that you said balls, right?” I just had to be extra certain.

“Alexis will bring you some balls.”

So, I waited for about 20 seconds while Alexis went and got my balls. She comes walking back into the office with my balls in her hand. Oh, wait! Bawls. As in the energy drink.

I start drinking my Bawls. It tastes great! I was expecting that nasty Red Bull taste. You know, that cough syrup taste that we’ve all come to know and dread? Here I am a few hours later… I’m still buzzing on this thing. Can you call this a gadget? Not really, but Bawls is an extremely tasty energy drink that gives you a kick… Well, not in the balls.

BAWLS

That’s some wicked lumbar support!

2007-02-25T17:36:00.000-08:00

Someone from work put a Coreflx on their chair! That’s some wicked lumbar support!

More windDOZE Follies

2007-02-25T17:33:00.001-08:00

Apparently, the last Windoze update has a time bomb in it. After a certain period of time, certain features no longer continue to function. The most noticeable is gaining a network connection after my laptop has been on hibernate. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a huge Microsoft fan (Windows is a Piece of Work, Cursed Windoze, A Depressing Day in Blogging, I’ve sold my soul to the devil, Windows Mobile or PC Therapy?). The only real benefit to Microsoft products is that it gives me something blog about

It used to be that I could just hibernate my laptop by closing the lid, come back later, open the laptop, and it would connect right to my wireless (or wired) network automatically. This was a useful feature of Windoze, you know… working! Well, the latest updates have apparently give me some new features such are not connecting to ANY network after hibernate, not being able to shutdown, and even slower performance for all Internet related apps!

I suppose that I could spend time on the phone with MS support to figure out what’s going on. Or I could spend hours searching for solutions on the KB… Wait!!! Another update! Mayhaps that will fix the problem!

What did Paris Hilton get for her birthday?

2007-02-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

Original blog posted on The Gadget Panel

One of the presents Paris Hilton received for her birthday this year is pictured here. Can you spot it?

Read on to get a few more hints... I'm standing around at the GBK Oscar celebrity gift event when Kathy and Rick Hilton come into the room. It was a pleasure to spend a few minutes with them, showing them some of the coolest gadgets and innovations on the market. As I'm talking to Rick about the various gadgets and gizmos available on the market, Kathy comes over and points to one of the coolest digital recording devices in the world: The 1GB Digital Voice Recorder from Gadget Universe.

Of course, they love all of the cool tools available through the Gadget Universe catalog, but the Digital Voice Recorder is just the right item for Mr. Hilton's busy schedule. The real estate mogul is always on the go with his fast paced life. His mind is always full of brilliant ideas, and he often finds himself without the utilities necessary to capture them. No pen, no paper... and the idea can be lost.

As soon as Rick picked up the 1GB Voice Recorder available through Gadget Universe, he was hooked! Of course, it was Mrs. Hilton who spotted it first. She really does have a keen eye for great products :-D The features Rick likes about the 1GB Voice Recorder are that you can record 25 hours of high quality audio without having to move any files to your computer, easy USB file transfer to your laptop of desktop, one button recording, and pause and restart recording in the same file with just a single button! Pretty cool for someone as busy as he is.

I really must add that Mr. Hilton was very appreciative for receiving this gift from Gadget Universe, compliments of Alexander Innovation Wizard. I never know what to expect when meeting high profile people like the Hiltons. So, I was incredibly happy when I realized how nice both Kathy and Rick really are. They are the most delightful people I can possibly imagine. They listened intently to everything I had to say about the world of gadgets in front of them and were genuinely interested in the value of each of the products. I'll write more about the products that they enjoyed, including the Steinhausen Marquise, available through SkyMall, the world famous Gravity Defyer Shoes, and the iPlatform.

Have you spotted Paris Hilton's birthday gift from Gadget Universe? It's almost impossible to notice and that's the beauty of the product! And, as her parents said, its perfect given the amount of paparazzi she encounters while driving. I'll write about the product in my next blog.

More windDOZE Follies

2007-02-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Charge Your Cellphone with a Flashlight

2007-01-31T17:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I posted about one of the most useless bits of cell phone technology
I've seen in a while. Today, I'm pleased to show you a video of one of
the coolest gadgets I've used in a long time. I've written about the Zipping Flashlight from Gadget Universe before. I really did purchase one of these from GU for everyone in my family for Christmas.

Alexander Innovation Wizard made a video of this flashlight available on Youtube. However, they didn't actually show the coolest feature of this flashlight: you can charge a cell phone. Here it is in action!

Fall In Love with The Gravity Defyer Shoes

2007-01-23T17:51:00.000-08:00

The Gravity Defyer Shoes by Alexander Innovation Wizard are a hot item. They were a huge hit when debuted at the 2007 CES. Yes, shoes made their debut at the largest consumer electronics show. A crazy idea, but it actually makes sense, given the amount of time people spend on their feet.

See what people said about the shoes at the CES as well as what other bloggers and reporters have to say:

Read what GUTTERBOY said (humorous)
Read what turboGADGETS said
California Newswire
The Red Ferret says they “are straight off the ‘what the…?’ banana boat LOL
Investor’s Business Daily
Nothing to do with Arbroath
Dr. Joe Vitale has many good things to say not just about the shoes
The Gravity Defyer Shoes are wishlisted by someone on TheThingsIWant.com. Perhaps I’ll send him a pair
CrunchGear had their hopes up about defying gravity
MondoShoes had something to say too
Sys-con
Yahoo! Finance published the press release
Can you Digg it?
eNewsChannels
They even love it in India
The Ventury County Star picked up on the hot news!
So did the Dallas Morning News
Even EARTHtimes.org got in on the action

See the reactions from people at CES for yourself!

Gadget Universe - Gravity Defyer Shoes

Alexander Elnekaveh (Alexander Innovation Wizard)

A Christmas Gift for Everyone

2006-12-28T17:08:00.000-08:00

I gave my Christmas shopping a lot of consideration this year. I also braved the crowds of the Topanga Shopping Mall in Woodland Hills, CA. 30 minutes waiting in a parking structure might drive many insane, but I kept reminding myself that I was doing all of this for the people I love.

I enjoyed the response my presents cause for those who received them. My nephew loved his digital drum set I got him but not as much as his mom :-D. My brother loved the UFO I got him. Those things are wickedly cool. I charged it before I brought it over for Christmas so that it was fresh and ready to go right out of the box. Everyone loved all the different items I gave this holiday weekend.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the response I received from my sister about the Pull-to-Charge LED Forever Flashlight from Gadget Universe. It really is a simple product. Last year, I got everyone in my family a Forever Flashlight from Gadget Universe. This is a similar item but much better. In my opinion, the Pull-to-Charge LED Forver Flashlight is truly an innovative twist on the battery free flashlight.

A flashlight without batteries. What's so impressive about that? The feature that impressed me AND my sister was the power adapters that come with the flashlight. On the bottom of the flashlight, there is an input for a power outlet. Yes, a power outlet. My sister's cell phone was dead. She had forgotten to charge the phone before she left, and she didn't have a charger in her car. I was joking about it charging her cell phone. After all, I didn't think it was going to fit her phone. But it did.

Next thing you know, she's pulling the string a couple of times and her cell phone is charging. Her phone charged for 20 minutes on the Flashlight. Her phone is the typical cell phone flip top. I think an LG or a Motorola. I don't remember. I ordered more from GU to give to other people in my life. Not only do they get a powerful flashlight but a portable charger. Now, if I can only find one that is powered by a hamster wheel, I'd be set for life!

Yahoo Finally Beats Google at Something

2006-12-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

I RARELY use Yahoo search. Granted, this has little to do with the usefulness of the search. It has more to do with the fact that I think Yahoo is a bunch of ass clowns. However, today... Today, I might just have to change my mind.

I am a HUGE proponent of RSS. I love RSS. If I could eat RSS, I would. I love RSS so much that I've tought about legally chaning my middle name to RSS. Jared RSS Tracy... I like the sound of that!

I ran a search on Yahoo to see how certain products were showing up on Yahoo vs. Google. I noticed something up in the corner of my Flock web browser whilst searching on Yahoo. It was the distinct RSS feed logo. At first, I thought it was merely a link reference for some main Yahoo RSS. Upon further review, it is actually an RSS for whatever the current search is! Wickedly SWEET!

Yes, Google does offer the Google Reader thing. However, it's more than just one click away. Kudos to Yahoo for geeking Google out. If you have a browser with a built-in RSS (such as Flock), explore the difference between bill gates - Google Search and the bill gates - Yahoo! Search Results

Gadget Universe Innovates Online Advertising for the Catalog Industry

2006-12-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

Sylmar, CA - Gadget Universe became the first major innovation catalog to offer up its email deals via Real Simple Syndication (RSS). Continuing a trend of innovative marketing ideas, Gadget Universe now offers the Gadget Alert Newsletter free to anyone with a news feed reader. Users have the ability to add the Gadget Alert Newsletter to their Google, Yahoo, or MSN homepages as well as any news reader web service.

The Gadget Alert Newsletter offers discounts on products, free shipping, and other specials previously available only to email subscribers. Utilizing RSS to promote specials and deals to Gadget Universe visitors puts GU at the forefront of innovative advertising. Since RSS delivers content directly to the browsers and newsreaders of subscribers, it offers similar functionality to email delivered specials. However, no personal information is required to be submitted by the visitor in order to receive the feed. There are no worries about spam from Gadget Universe, as the browser now has complete control over the feed.

The feed is available directly from the Gadget Universe website and also through the FeedBurner.com feed service.

My two cents...
I'm very excited about the latest release from Gadget Universe. This is truly innovative marketing technique that has been lacking from the catalog industry. Yes, companies have been delivering specials announcements and deals via RSS for a while. However, Gadget Universe is the first major catalog company to take their email specials and make them available via a news feeds, readily available to any browser; without having to divulge any personal information.

This will transform the catalog industry. I'm going to dare to say that catalog giants like Sharper Image, Brookstone, Hammacher Schlemmer, and First Street will all follow the lead of Gadget Universe is offering syndication of their online promotions before the end of 2007.

RSS at StrongIdea.com

2006-12-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

The Hard(ly) Working Development Team @ StrongIdea.com have put an RSS feed into place. Get the daily specials from StrongIdea.com delivered directly to your Yahoo, Google, AOL, Rojo, Bloglines, netvibes, news gator, pageflakes, Feed Demon, Netnewswire, Newsfire, Shrook, RSSOwl, or USM reader/aggregator every single day without having to do anything but login to your news feed site.

The crazy folks over at StrongIdea.com have even managed to turn on auto-discovery for those of you with news aggregators built-in to your browser (like my favorite: Flock).

Enjoy!

A FREE Word Processor

2006-12-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

Original post on Jared's Bloggin'

If you are like me, the primary functions that your PC or MAC serves
are to surf the web, watch videos on YouTube, and blog. Perhaps you are
a variation of those. Maybe you even use your computer to write a daily
journal.

Well, I’ve been journal-less for months since my old laptop died. I
purchased a MAC, which came with a trial version of MS Office. When the
trial expired, I didn’t want to spork out the 500 bucks it costs for
MS Office. Sure, I could have just purchased MS Word, which is what I
primarily use. However, I held my ground in not wanting to spend money
on an office sweet.

I recently purchased a laptop from newegg.com.
This too came with a trial version of MS Office. I used it a few times,
but I really didn’t want to get used to using the Office suite because
I’d then feel a need to go spend another half a grand on MS Office. I
held out again.

I’m glad I didn’t purchase MS Office. I was working on an
advertisement with someone in my art department the other day. They
opened up the Word doc I had sent from my computer at work in a program
called OpenOffice.org (OOo). I remembered back to the old days of that POS Star
Office (nerds in the house, lemme hear you say wOOt wOOt!!!) Anyway, OpenOffice.org offers an MS Office type suite for FREE!

But that’s not where the coolness ends. Sure, free is great, but there
is one very sweet feature that I will be utilizing soon: export to PDF.
I’m going to start working on my new book soon. Of course, the best way
to get an eBook on the market is as a PDF! So, I’m going to be doing
this all for FREE.

Now, even if you’ve already sporked out the money for MS Office,
download OpenOffice.org for free. Yes, it’s completely free. Yes, it
offers pretty much all the same functionality as MS Office. Plus, you
can save/open MS Office documents whenever you want with
OpenOffice.org. When the latest version of MS Office comes out, you can
spork out another 200 bucks if you like. When the latest version of
OpenOffice.org comes out… Just download the puppy!

Now, I’m sure there is some ultra-nerd out there who is going to read
this and have plenty of bad things to say about OOo and how slow it
might be and blah, blah, blah. In my experience, OOo used no more
memory than Internet Explorer after having viewed a few flicks on
Youtube and spent some time on my other favorite websites. In my every
day use, OOo has not been too slow. If you are an every day person
(non-ultra-nerd) like me, OpenOffice.org is the Office suite for you.

The T-Shirt that launched 1,000 blogs!

2006-12-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION BLOG LOVERS! Geek it up from the folks at ThinkGeek.com. My coworker myspaced me a link to this product. It's time to get White and Nerdy. Like the T-Shirt says, "I'm blogging this." Pass it on!

ThinkGeek :: I'm blogging this.

Myspace or Bust!

2006-12-17T22:18:00.000-08:00

A while back, I opened a dialog with someone at Myspace to run advertisements for Gadget Universe. The price tag, I will not divulge, but everything is negotiable anyway. I pitched the idea to the powers that be at Gadget Universe, and the result was a resounding no. To me, it should be a no-brainer. You take the largest social network on the planet and mix in some cool gadgets. Heck, Gadget Universe should have its very own myspace profile, with bulletins about the latest innovations and blogs about the insane antics that take place in the office.

Yet the powers that be don't want to cough up the measly amount of money to run a full campaign on myspace to learn a little. A few months later, I get a call from Paul Gasser at Next Action, and he's pitching me on an idea for a new eCommerce solution they have. I won't go into too many details about how it works, but it is a rather ingenious idea (mostly because it is identical to an idea my friend Michelle Denogean and I developed about 8 years ago).

Here we are a few months later. Gadget Universe just implemented the new advertising campaign. I'm minding my own business on myspace: blogging about Brett Favre's completion record and Christians Gone Wild when suddenly... in the middle of my myspace adventures... up comes an advertisement for Gadget Universe. What can I say? Someone up there must really like me. Now, I just need to keep my fingers crossed that it will actually payoff so I can go pitch them on a full run with Myspace!

Why God Hasn't Answered Your Prayers

2006-12-17T12:26:00.000-08:00

You don't realize it yet, but in the next 3 minutes you're going to learn why God has not been answering your prayers. Before I get to that, I'm going to share with you an experience that I've had several times in the past and, most recently, this morning. My confession is that this is something that I have done myself. What I'm about to share is something that we have all done at some point in our life and then pondered why the outcome is so different than how we thought God had intended it. So what is the secret to God answering our prayers?

A good friend of mine was sharing about her experience with failing a test necessary to received her teaching credential. She had taken the test last year and failed. She was devastated, but she picked up her chin and started studying again to take the test this year. She spent hours studying and doing what she felt was needed to ensure that she passed the test. Then she began telling me about her conversations with her higher power, God, regarding her journey.

She had made several requests to God that if he did not want her to pursue this goal of hers, he should make sure that certain milestones were not met (such as receiving scholarships, early rescheduling, etc.) Yet, everything fell into place. My friend was clear that God intended her to take *and* pass the test this second time around. She was riding high in faith that she would pass the test. I remember her talking about how positive she was trying to be about the test. She was trying not to think about the last test. She had asked God for guidance, and it was clear to her that he intended her to pass. She failed the test earlier this week.

Almost everyone has heard of this happening to someone. Or maybe you have experienced this for yourself. You called upon God to give you guidance, and he has given you a path that is as clear as the hand in front of your face. To my friend, God has shown her exactly what she was supposed to do by supporting her pursuit of her teaching credential exactly as she knew it should happen. Now, she was upset with God for having not protected her interests. After all, she had made the requests of God, and he had put everything in place for her. I'd venture to guess that you've had this experience yourself.

So, why is it that God can appear to answer our prayers one day and not answer them the next? I know that some of us have it that it is all part of God testing us. However, that God is testing our faith by baiting us with cheese of our wants being fulfilled, only to take the cheese away at the last minute is a bit obscene. Bait & switch, deceit, and lies are very human type games. What is more likely than God playing some faith testing game with us is that we have fooled ourselves into believing that our wants and pursuits are supported by God at all. We do this by making demands on God like my friend, "God, if you really don't want me to pursue this then you should not allow me to receive the scholarships I need."

Many of us have it that we are so important that God is listening and reacting to every request and demand we make of him in the exact way that we want him to. There are a lot of assumptions we are making about our conversations with God:

He's actually listening
He takes action in response to our requests
He responds and alters the universe in a way that makes sense to us

Don't be offended by any of these three assumptions. I'm not suggesting that God does not listen to us. I'm also not suggesting that God doesn't take any action in response to our requests. I personally believe in a higher power that is always listening and responding to everything that everyone thinks, says, or does. So where does that leave us with the final assumption? The one that God responds and alters the universe in a way that makes sense to us.

As this blog rolls to an end, I invite you to consider that the answerto the question at hand lies in the realm of responsibility. We project onto God that which we believe to be what he is "revealing to us". Take a moment to soak this up. Put another way, we see the actions unfolding in our life as God's response to the requests we are making of him. Like myfriend has experienced, God will not make you pass or fail in life. So, then, why do we make God responsible for the outcomes we experience in life? Stay tuned to my blog for more.

Christians Gone Wild...

2006-12-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for some news about Christianity. I was reading an article on CNN about the son of Jim Bakker (remember that swindler?)

I saw an ad on the side of the page with the headline: Davidic Christianity Christian Polygamy. The text ad read: Davidic Christianity seeks to fulfill the prophecy of Amos 9: 11-12 by... Perhaps it was my red-blooded American curiosity that got me clicking. I mean, David was hooking it up.

Now, typically, I don't blog, bulletin, or otherwise comment on material that I don't want to promote. After all, all press is good press. On top of this, I suspect that the folks at House of David Ministries paid good money for their ad on CNN. I'm now giving them additional value for their spend on CNN. But the message they are trying to convey is of great importance.

The folks at House of David Ministries claim that they are trying to convey a message of God. Please, by all means, read the article they have crafted about Biblical Marriage. This is a sweet idea! Hell, if God supports polygamy, I'm all for it. Any man stupid enough to try to take on fulfilling the needs of more than one woman deserves what he's going to get. Then again, the "Biblical" concept of marriage is the transfer of ownership of the bride from her father to her husband. So, I suppose there's not a whole lot of focus on fulfilling any of her needs when it comes to "Biblical" marriage.

My personal favorite is the Conclusions section. Honestly, this is a rather well written article that clearly outlines the conclusions of this biblical research. Yes, it is filled with authentic Biblical gibberish. Yes, it is entirely too long for anyone in their right mind to read in a single sitting. In fact, I encourage you to read it over several bathroom visits. There are plenty of Bible quotes that truly prove that either (1) polygamy is established through the word of God to be not just acceptable but honorable *OR* (2) parts of the Bible can be used to support any idea someone can come up with.

Read Conclusion #8. The first 8, please, not the second. At the time I wrote this, there were two 8's. Will the House of David Ministries change it by the time you read this? I'm not sure. I suppose it depends on how many people spend their time reading my blogs :-D

My Screenwritin Debut

2006-12-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

It turns out that my screenwriting and directing debut also turned into my acting debut. You are probably wondering, "What the hell is Jared talking about?" A few months ago, the CEO of the company that I work for decided to start making short infomercials about the products that we sell so that we can send them to the companies that buy our products. It was something he pretty much took on for himself. I gave him tips here and there, but I had very little involvement with it.

A few weeks ago, he scheduled the video shoot. I tell him that he should probably write a script for the whole thing. He says he will work on it. Of course, nothing happens with the script and it is now the day of the shoot. Suddenly! A panicked IM, "Jared! I need you here right now. Read this script that I put together, and let me know what you think." It is horrible, to say the least. I hop in my car and head into the hills of Sherman Oaks.

I arrive at a house filled with models having their makeup done, a videographer setting up the lighting, and one of my employees shooting a behind the scenes video. I find my boss in front of a computer trying to type out a script. He hops out of the chair and say, "Here! You do it." I sit down and ask him questions about how much interaction he wants with the host. Does he want to say the big words? See, English is not is first language, so words like ancillary don't just roll off his tongue.

I'm finished with the first script. BLAM! I hand it to the hostess/model and she nearly faints. "It would have been nice to have this earlier than today. This is well written, but I'm not going to be able memorize half of this in 10 minutes. Can I just improvise?" Hey! I just got a compliment about my writing from a woman who's been on Broadway. Nice!

My boss and the hostess interact with each other on the camera a bit. Well, there goes that plan for the script I wrote. Damn! Now, I'm going to have to rewrite everything. No big deal. I start slicing and dicing. Heck, I'm a virtual Veg-o-matic with words. A couple of minutes later... BLAM!!! Script, versions 2.0 is in their hands, printed in 40 pt font so that they can read it from across the room.

Cameras rolling... blah blah blah CUT! WTF? What happened to the script? My boss is reading from the script. The model is reading from... Well, not really sure. She's doing a great job though. She's a very effective ad-libber, but she's totally stealing the show from the CEO. The day just seems to keep going. More ad lib. More uh?!? Well, let's just say that the CEO wasn't too happy with the outcome.

A few days later we have the DVD of the shoot so that we can start doing some rough editing. What's next? Well, looks like we are doing another shoot. Stay tuned for another story about My Acting Debut followed by another about My Directing Debut and My Editing Debut. Coming to a bulletin and blog near you!

Why Best Buy Posted Low Profits

2006-12-12T11:36:00.000-08:00

I could have predicted this months ago. In fact, I posted a comment on some guy's blog about stores like Circuit City and similar businesses. The last time I went to Best Buy was about two months ago. The time before that was about a month earlier. Nothing changed. Best Buy had some new Plasma TVs that just confused the hell out of me because some looked good and others looked like crap. There was so much selection that I just didn't even want to waste my time.

Instead, I went online and looked for TVs. I found all kinds of great reviews and information. I asked my friend Keen about projection TVs and all that good stuff. The end result is that I went to Costco and found the DLP projector of my dreams. It had everything that Keen was talking about. It had everything that all the super geek websites said it should have, for a reasonable price.

What I want from a store is for them to limit the amount of clutter. I don't want 500 choices when it comes to my television set. I don't want 200 choices when it comes to my washing machine. I want a store that is going to stock ONLY the highest quality merchandise and tell me, "Jared, this is the best item right here."

Of course, since I rule the universe, it was no surprise when Best Buy posted disappointing profits.

Best Buy profit disappoints, shares fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Best Buy Co. Inc. reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Tuesday as the consumer electronics retailer cut prices on flat-panel TVs to boost sales at the start of the holiday shopping season, sending its shares down 5 percent.

Dance Event: High Desert Dancesport Challenge Dance Competition

2006-12-11T17:43:00.001-08:00

Come be a part of the 3rd Annual High Desert Dancesport Challenge Dance Competition
Ballroom, Latin, West Coast Swing, Salsa, Jack & Jills, Pro-Am & Amateur

March 23 - 25, 2007
Location: Antelope Valley College
3041 West Avenue K
Lancaster, California

ALL ENTRIES/REGISTRATION DEADLINE
FEBRUARY 26, 2007
Sorry, No Refunds or Substitutions

All Jack & Jill/Strictly Swing Contests Registration at the Event Only
West Coast Swing, Salsa, Night Club 2-Step, Cha-Cha
$15 per dance
TO COMPETE, YOU MUST PURCHASE A 3-DAY COMPETITOR PASS

Judges & Instructors Include:
Teresa Shiry, Luis Crespo, Tom Hicks, and more!

For More Information, Contact:
Lisa Sandoval, Organizer
lisadance1[at]aol[dot]com

Linda Chesnutt, Marketing Director
chesnuttls[at]adelphia[dot]net

Janet Diaz, Competition Director
hddance[at]adelphia[dot]net

For More Information on: Tickets, Package Prices, Registration Forms, Rules, Workshops
Schedules, Directions, Hotels, and Eateries visit:
www.highdesertchallenge.com

Yet Another Music Download Website

2006-12-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

UrbanBoomer is touting their new digital music store (UBTunes) as a hip place for the 35-60 year old demographic. They're genre selection is a little different than say iTunes (or the 50 million other iTunes knock-offs).

It's pretty clear that this web service is not for the person who finally got on the web using AOL for the first time. If you are going to be using UBTunes, you better know how your MP3 device interacts with your computer and how to get files from your downloads into your portable device.

Right now, they have a program to win a Zune, loaded with 250 songs. I'll take the 250 songs, and they can keep the Zune. How does that sound? The part of the site that most caught my attention is the same thing that keeps drawing your eyes away from this text. Short of the snapshots from the infamous "wardrobe malfunction", this is one of the best pictures I've seen of Janet Jackson in a long time.

Dance Event:World Swing Dance Championships

2006-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

Date: May 4-6, 2007
Irvine Marriott Hotel
1800 Von Karman Avenue
Irvine, CA 92612

Buddy Schwimmer
http://www.usaswingnet.com/worldswing/

In conjunction with The Lindy and West Coast Swing Connection
Teveya Dovbish & Eileen Dovbish
lindywestcoastconnection@earthlink.net

A combination of Lindy and West Coast Swing with equal prize money for contests
And workshops for both styles of swing

Invited judges and workshop teachers:
Bill Cameron
Laureen Baldovi
Sonny Watson
Benji Schwimmer
Lacey Schwimmer
Buddy Schwimmer
Heidi Groskreutz
Manny Variel
Phil Adams

Kim Clever
Dave Frutos
Minn Vo
Corina Acosta
Ben Yau
Sheri Yau
Benjamin Ricard
Genevieve Kerouac

DJ's Jack Smith and Tip West
Saturday Midnight Buffet

Contests:
Jack & Jill
Young Adult
Team
Masters
Junior
Showcase
Cabaret
Lindy vs. West Coast

Event Ticket
$110 Before March 1
$125 March 1 - 31
$135 April 1 and later

I'm sure there is not much I need to say about any of these instructors, but I'll say it anyway. They are all gifted dancers, performers, choreographers, and teachers. You will really enjoy learning from all of them. See you there!

More Myspace BS

2006-12-10T11:13:00.000-08:00

I'm an avid user of myspace. That's not to say that I'm one of those people who has a totally pimped out profile with 300,000 friends who I don't even know any of them. All it means is that I, like many people, sign in to myspace once or twice a week to keep in touch with many of my friends. I post comments, fill out lame surveys, post bulletins, write blogs, etc. I use myspace as a useful method of communicating with some of my friends.

Given the usefulness of communicating through myspace, I figured that I would attempt to utilize myspace as the wonderful networking tool that so many people have claimed it is. I went to the Myspace.com Classifieds section and posted a job opportunity for bloggers. I wasn't sure exactly where I should post such a classified. Posting it under the job section seemed to make sense. Granted, it was not a paid position. It was not a typical posting, but the job section seemed to be a logical fit. After all, the requirements are essentially the same as a job. You need to be able to post a blog on one of the topics at least once a week.

However, I'm not going to pay any of the bloggers money (for now). The starting point for this network is that of a cross promotional network. Each individual contributor will receive a link on the blog to their personal website/blog/etc. Individuals promote the network, the network promotes the individuals. The network is simply a means to expand your exposure for yourself. Simple idea, now back the the Myspace BS...

My classified posting was deleted. There was no notification stating that it was being deleted. There was no message sent to me saying something along the lines of: "Jared, we noticed that you posted a classified for a job that does not pay money. This does not fit the guidelines of the myspace.com classified section. Please consider a new location for you posting." The best part is that the posting is completely gone. I can't even go back and move it to another location on myspace. To top things off, when I click on the link to view my classified posts, I receive the infamous:

Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred.

This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.

Now, I know that people have been saying that myspace is going to die out because of all the problems it has. I have another suggestion. How about Google buys myspace from Fox? Seriously, everything that Google touches seems to turn into gold. Imagine a myspace world where stuff actually works, where you can post a bulletin without having to worry if you "profile is temporarily unavailable for maintenance". Imagine a myspace world where you wouldn't receive the infamous Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred message whenever you try to go back to you home page. Imagine a myspace world where you don't want to strangle Tom because the damned website just erased your bulletin after you've been working on it for 15 minutes! I'm sending good ESP vibes to the business development folks at Google so that they buy myspace from Fox. Join me in this entrancing thought. The will of the masses can make this a reality.