Attending Podcasters Across Borders

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Despite not being a very active podcaster, I have signed up for a ticket to Podcasters Across Borders, an event being held in less than a week in Kingston, Ontario Canada. And so if you are going to be there, please let me know, as I would love to meet up, and talk with as many people as possible about blogging, podcasting, and of course my new job at PicApp.com.

I am excited to get back to Kingston, as it has been since Christmas that I was there. Some great people are attending from 76design, Bill Deys, John Wiseman, Thornley Fallis and more.

I am really hoping to meet up with as many people as possible, so even if you aren’t attending Podcasters Across Borders, but have a blog, podcast or some other website where we could talk about PicApp, your blogging projects, or mine, please let me know.

Originally posted on June 13, 2008 @ 3:12 pm

Google PageRank Update and Microsoft BrowseRank

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Google has been fighting hard to make their PageRank system relevant once again in helping people quickly understand if they are on a worthwhile site or not, and there has been some notice, including a post by Matt Cutts, that Google will be updating their PageRank once again over the next few days. Some people have already reported new ranks, but none of my sites have seen any love from Google as of yet.

What interests me the most is that Microsoft might get in the “ranking” business with BrowseRank, their own version of PageRank which they hope can’t be gamed in any way.

From Cnet:

The Microsoft researchers argue that PageRank has a number of problems. For one thing, people can game the system by building bogus Web sites called link farms. Those sites feature hyperlinks point to a Web page whose importance a person wants to inflate so it appears higher in search results. Another PageRank issue is that the indexing process doesn’t take into account the time a user spends on a particular site.

But user behavior, monitored in anonymous form by Web servers and Web browser plug-ins, can be better, the authors argue.

“Experimental results show that BrowseRank can achieve better performance than existing methods, including PageRank…in important page finding, spam page fighting, and relevance ranking.

The researchers gathered their data from “an extremely large group of users under legal agreements with them,” according to the paper.

It almost sounds like Microsoft wants to tap into people’s search patterns much like Alexa uses their toolbar to record traffic on sites, Microsoft wants to monitor which sites are being browsed, and where visitors are coming from and leaving to.

It is a lofty goal, for sure, but as we have seen in the online space, Microsoft rarely makes the right moves.

Will PageRank matter if Microsoft gets into having their own version of the system? Or better yet, is PageRank still relevant today? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Originally posted on July 26, 2008 @ 12:30 am

Blogging Interns – The New Free Work System

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Every time I turn around another company is offering intern opportunities. Being an unpaid intern can be a great way to start a career when the opportunity provides you with a chance to learn, but if it seems like all the position wants are access to your talents with nothing in return, it isn’t an intern position.

A friend of mine online recently decided that he might open up some intern positions and this had me steaming a bit. His plan was to give them reasonably inexpensive items in return for reviews for his blog. This is a better deal than most internships provide, but still not really fair when compared to the level of experience some of the interns will probably have.

People continually undervalue skills and people’s time, and it is very frustrating to watch people try to compete in such a marketplace. Future potential is not enough, the honour of working with a great team is not enough. Unless there is some time set aside to answer questions and train interns, you aren’t doing right by the people you are “hiring”.

To clarify though, I am an intern for GeekBrief.tv and I am enjoying it. This isn’t about that, but instead other instances I have seen with this whole new blogging intern issue.

Just a little rant today that I hope people will understand.

Originally posted on July 1, 2008 @ 9:11 pm

PodPress Not Working for WordPress 2.6 Beta

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I know it is ridiculous to expect a plugin to work with beta versions of the next version of WordPress, but at the same time, I am a cranky WordPress user that expects the software to only be manipulated in such a way that all of my plugins aren’t effected, other than taking plugin related features and integrating them into the core. One of my favourite plugins PodPress currently is not entirely working on this blog, leading me to directly link to my uploaded MP3’s.

There is no report yet on when PodPress will work with WordPress 2.6, but I have found PodPress to be on the cutting edge when it comes to WordPress compatibility, so hopefully they won’t let me and many others down.

PodPress is one of the few plugins that I am realizing are worth their weight in gold, and as such, are worth paying for, so if you have used PodPress and enjoyed it, please make sure to donate to the project as it will keep them happy, and more likely to continue its development.

Am I within my right to get annoyed when key plugins aren’t at the front of the development curve? Should I be mad at Automattic and the WordPress contributors for making changes that negatively effect key plugins or is all of this just part of open source software?

I guess it doesn’t really matter, I just want PodPress to work…

Originally posted on July 9, 2008 @ 8:49 pm

XFEP Reader Interaction Contest

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Contest Time!

I have decided to run a small contest to giveaway a few things as a reward to the great readers of this site that constantly participate and make blogging here such a great experience. I haven’t run many contests before, but I have always enjoyed giving things away, and so I figured it was time to try my hand at it once again.

Prize Pool

Three Copies of Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett – An amazing book for any skill level and worth far more than the twenty-five dollar list price on the back of the book. Problogger is already in its second printing and includes some very timeless advice. I have read the book cover to cover more than a few times now. Prize includes shipping fees from me to the winner anywhere in the world.

Various Domains registered at Godaddy.com – Each domain has a different expiry date, but if you have been looking for a great property to build that next project on, no doubt one of the below will probably inspire you. As winners of domains are selected, they will get first choice on which domain, or domains where listed as a possible package, that they would like.

  • BuyWPThemes.com
  • CelebReader.com
  • DesignRanked.com (and DesignRankd.com if winner wants it)
  • FabCeleb.com
  • HealthNewsFirst.com
  • OneBigCanada.com (.biz, .info and .net if winner wants them)
  • TheBlogJob.com
  • UpRanked.com (and UpRankd.com if the winner wants it)

One Hour Blog Consulting from Me – with a list value of fifty dollars, I believe that an hour of my time, one on one in any medium you desire, could be a huge opportunity for your blog to grow in exciting new ways. Looking to monetize, but you are confused on how to make more than a coffee worth of money per day? Wanting to leverage your content better? Trying to figure out how to promote things better in the social media world? Issues with your WordPress theme? I will use my expertise, and connections to help you with your blog.

One 468×60 Banner on the front page of Xfep.com for 3 months – with a value of $360, adding your non-animated banner just above the title of each and every single post on Xfep.com as well as above the first post title on the front page will allow your brand to be noticed resulting in new traffic to your blog.

One 125×125 Banner on Xfep.com for 3 months – with a value of $120, you will be able to add your square advertisement graphic above all others on Xfep.com for three months. The exposure could mean new readers, new subscribers, and the chance to promote your own products, services, contests, or just your brand. Building brand equity is invaluable.

How to Enter

I wanted to make it easy to enter, but I also wanted those willing to go the extra mile able to have more chances at the above prizes, and so like many successful contests, I have built in a system where the more things you do, the more entries you get.

One Ticket Each

  • Relevant and Approved Comment on Xfep.com
  • Follow me on Twitter – davidcubed
  • Invite me to a beta for a service I am not yet a member of. [dave.phoenix at gmail.com]
    Brightkite is off the list
    Aviary is off the list
  • Twitter about this contest (don’t forget to let me know)

Two Tickets Each

  • Promote Posts from Xfep.com on popular Social Media promotion sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious or Sphinn. Make sure to contact me through the contact form with the relevant details of what you did, or it won’t be counted.
  • Post about this contest on your blog (250 words or above to qualify)

Five Tickets Each

  • Submit guest post for Xfep.com that gets approved (over 500 words).
  • Talk about Xfep, or one of its posts on your own blog (excluding the contest post). Add to the conversation.
  • Purchase an advertisement on Xfep.com

Winner Selection

Eligible participants will be randomly given a number or numbers dependent on how many ways they enter. Once numbers have been put into a spreadsheet and double checked for accuracy, I will run a random number generator online with a randomized hash as the seed for the random number generator. I will start with the domains, and then the advertisement positions, consulting, and finally the three copies of the books. Winners will be removed from the spreadsheet so that they cannot win multiple prizes.

Important Dates

Contest Open: Friday, July 18th, 2008
Contest Closed: Friday, August 15th, 2008 @ 11:59 PM EDT (GMT-4) [2359 hours]
Draw: Monday, August 18th, 2008
All Prizes Awarded by: September 1st, 2008

Originally posted on July 17, 2008 @ 10:23 pm