Link Mania - Full Tilt

Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks

7 Tips for Morning Alertness Without the Caffeine

How to Track Down Anyone Online

Convert PDFs to Online Books with Issuu

How to Build Cheap Linux and Windows Home Media Servers in Three Easy Steps

Basic Push-Up (Training with Your Own Body Weight)

Fark.com

Rapid Eye Reality - (Blog by Otis)

Ript - "Ript was born from the idea that there should be a way to “rip” images and text from the web and your computer as easily as you can rip ideas from your favorite magazines. The act of “ripping” in the virtual world should be just as simple and satisfying."

Quote for the Day

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
-Henry David Thoreau

Web 2.0: Five Sites to Consider

Mint - "Mint is the freshest, most intelligent way for you to manage your money online. Not only is Mint free, it saves you money."

Anywhere.fm - "Anywhere.FM is a powerful music player" that lets you access your music collection anywhere you have internet access.

QIK - "Qik is a little piece of software that enables you to stream videos directly from your phone to the Web."

Zoho - "Zoho is an Office Productivity Suite..." and is free and web based (used through a browser).

PodTech.net - "PodTech is the leading online video network featuring original technology and digital entertainment programming. PodTech’s media platform allows professional content producers to deliver their content to millions of people..."

More Reasons to Despise the RIAA

Find out why the RIAA thinks lower royalties will benefit artists:

• Check out this article from ars technica.

• See this blog post from CNET.

This is all further proof that the RIAA only cares about the RIAA. They aren't in it for the artists. They're only in it to make money. They cut artists short. They enjoy frivolous lawsuits. Worst of all, they enjoy trying to bring consumers down with them, as they slowly fade away and lose power. All of this is exactly why I despise the RIAA.

To stay current with the battle against the RIAA, read the following blog, which I give my highest regards: Recording Industry vs The People

News & Links for 2/6/08

Today, Yahoo! announced that they have removed limits from their web hosting. The driving force behind the change was to help small business owners. Yahoo! is hoping that small businesses will be able to focus more on their business (and less on web hosting), since they won't have to worry about exceeding limits anymore. For a mere $11.95 per month, small businesses will get unlimited disk space, unlimited data transfer, and unlimited e-mail storage. Check out Yahoo!'s Small Business Web Hosting.

[Source: downloadsquad]

From TechCrunch:

• Howcast, a website specializing in instructional videos, launched today - "Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast..."
  

• Google is getting aggressive in China - "Google To Challenge Baidu In China With Free Music"
  

• Ask.com has launched a news site in collaboration with Digg - "Ask and Digg Team Up for Big News"
  

From CNN.com:
Read about the new, innovative website, CrimeReports.com:
"Free Web site maps crime reports, calls"

...A new service on CrimeReports.com, launched last year and expanding nationwide, overlays police reports on maps, so people can view where arrests and other police calls have been made. Users can configure e-mail alerts to notify them of crimes in locations of interest within a day.

The free site relies mainly on police departments paying $100 or $200 a month, depending on their size, to have CrimeReports.com extract the information from their internal systems and publish it online...

Stay current with Microsoft:
"Microsoft tinkering with scary-smart ad spots"

A few of Microsoft's projects were aimed at helping advertisers get better at reaching their ideal customers online, particularly using search keywords.

The company showed a dashboard advertisers could use to forecast the success of certain keyword advertising campaigns and a system it says will make it easier for advertisers think about key ideas, rather than hundreds of individual keywords.

Quick Link: Professional Networking via Web 2.0

LinkedIn

From the LinkedIn about page:

Our mission is to help you be more effective in your daily work and open doors to opportunities using the professional relationships you already have.

This isn’t networking—it’s what networking should be.
Forget exchanging business cards with acquaintances that don’t know your work, or trying to renew professional ties when you need a favor.

Two noteworthy reads about LinkedIn from 2007 by Mashable:

• LinkedIn Sees 323% Increase in Traffic

• LinkedIn IPO Coming

Web 2.0: Discover Four New Sites

Four Web 2.0 sites you should know about, all of which are relatively new to the scene:

1. popurls - This site is a feed aggregation of the most popular Web 2.0 and social media websites. The feeds, colors, fonts, and much more are customizable. It takes feeds from sites such Digg, Flickr, YouTube, Google News, boingboing, and countless more. I love it. Get all your social media updates in one place, with an easy to use, customizable interface.


2. Netvibes - With Netvibes, you can create a personalized startpage. It's nearly identical to iGoogle. With Netvibes, you can have access to your e-mail, blog, social network, news feed, photos, video, and more, all in one place when you open your browser.


3. Metafilter - I'm not exactly sure how to articulate this one, so I'll let them explain:

   Metafilter is a weblog that anyone can contribute a link or a comment to. A typical weblog is one person posting their thoughts on the unique things they find on the web. This website exists to break down the barriers between people, to extend a weblog beyond just one person, and to foster discussion among its members.

4. Seesmic - This is a new social media site based around the concept of community through video. I would say this is different from most online video sites, especially in the sense that it focuses more on community and personal expression. Many of the other sites have become very commercialized. I'll let Seesmic explain their concept, as taken from this page:
   

   What is Seesmic?
   Until now, online communication has lacked personality as it’s been limited to text (IM, SMS, email). Now, Seesmic brings conversation alive through video. See and hear people share their experiences straight from their webcams, join in live conversations, and engage in real interactions with real people.

   It’s so easy: record a video directly on Seesmic’s website, or upload an existing video straight from your computer, or link to a video posted on a social network, whatever works for you, works for us. Join the Seesmic community and experience a new way to express yourself, to make friends, and to be seen and be heard. Conversations can also be simultaneously broadcast via Twitter and soon via other platforms.
   Be seen. Be heard. Be on Seesmic.

The Online Business Card

I love the concept of digitizing business cards. These days anything that can be made on paper, whether its a check, a business card, or a grocery list, can be digitized. Instead of writing checks, we now use online banking. To make a grocery list, we use a word processor. Surely, business cards will follow suit.

An awesome example of this would be Thomas Marban's "hub page". It is extremely clean and profesional looking, yet with an artsy, elegant feel due to its great design and calming blue color scheme. As you first look at the page, the white rectangle with his picture and title immediately grabs your attention. This brings your attention right where it should, to the most important information on the page. Essentially, the whole rectangle (the white portion and the lighter color with all the contact information) is a business card embedded within the page. Most of all, I find it especially cool that you can download all of his contact information via the link to the right of his e-mail address (the miniature looking business card).


The next feature that gains your attention is the list of his websites along the right hand side of the page. Again, using the color white, he brings your attention to these links. He doesn't make these white links come off too strong, which keeps the focus on the "business card" portion to the left. Then, along with each link, he lists his involvement with the company/website.

Lastly, he puts links to all of his social media (web 2.0) profiles along the bottom, in a darker text. The social links are there, but in a humble way that doesn't draw your attention away from the "more important" information.

I think the online business card is a great concept. Initially, for me, four reasons stand out as to why an online business card is better than its paper counterpart:

1. Environment. Less paper consumption never hurt.
2. Findability. Your name will be one Google search away from anyone in the world.
3. Accessibility. No more digging through your pocket or briefcase to find your business cards. No more worrying about running out and having to get new ones printed. Ideally, your card will be available to the world 24/7, as long as you have good website hosting.
4. Convienence. All you have to do is tell somebody your domain name, which is especially easy to remember if it is yourname.com. If they don't think they'll remember, then you can simply e-mail them the link or they can search your name on Google.
   

Again, the link for the awesome example is: http://thomasmarban.com/

Business and Career Resources

• Want to find out how to deliver a presentation like Steve Jobs? Find out how, in this article, from BusinessWeek.

• Learn more about the "Mastering the Informational Interview" and what to avoid with an informational interview.

• Lastly, get advice on mentors and learn how taking a class can tweak, or even change, your career.

[Photo: lindsey lissau]

Current News - Microsoft and Amazon Expanding

Microsoft is trying to acquire Yahoo for $44.6 billion to increase their competitiveness in the Internet consumer market. Read more here.

Amazon.com is purchasing an online audiobook seller for $300 million, in an attempt to increase their presence in the digital download market. Get the full story here.

Link Mania - Full Tilt

The following are articles that I enjoyed and/or thought were of particular value. I became extremely backlogged with posting this week so the list will be quite long. I'm only going to post titles with the links so pick and choose as you like:

Want a Good Digital Distribution Deal? Get a Good Lawyer

Norovirus: Q&A

Wikimedia Foundation

Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps for Money, Finance, and Investment

What to do if you're laid off in 2008 recession

Organize Your Money in 2008 with Wesabe

eMusic

Amie Street

How to figure people out - Machiavelli Psychology

How to Find Work That You Love - A Logical Guide

Advice for Setting up a Home Office - Group Interview

United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team

Who gives better search results?

Get Rich Slowly

The Finance Buff

About Cory Doctorow