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Just a quick note to let everybody know that I’ve officially released the NoSlang.com iPhone App. The app is a full internet slang dictionary for the iPhone.
It’s available for $0.99 in the App Store (just search for NoSlang)
I’d love for everybody to check it out and leave me some feedback. Thanks!
January 27th, 2009
Last week, Twitter – the extremely popular in California but never really heard of on the east coast micro blogging platform – announced that it was placing new limits on its API restrictions. White listed (meaning hand approved by Twitter) services will have a new limit of 70,000 accesses per hour, while non white-listed accounts can only hit twitter 70 times per hour.
So what does this mean?
It means what I’ve been saying all along: Using somebody else’s API to improve the look and feel of their service is not a good business model. Eventually, they’re going to implement your features on their own and cut you off.
Many 3rd party Twitter applications are going to be realizing this, especially now that Twitter has just got a new capital infusion. It seems like every day I hear Scoble talking about a new iPhone app, website, or desktop app that’s nothing more than a prettier version of Twitter, so you can bet that Twitter will be using some of this money to take some of the ideas that other people have come up with. (seriously, I wonder how many twitter apps Scoble actually uses on a daily basis?) If they want to monetize to their full potential, they’re going to have to get those users back to using the main service and not all these Twitter API spinoffs.
It will be interesting to see what comes next out of Twitter and how they eventually monetize, but until then one thing is for sure: A business model that consists of just adding flare to somebody else’s API is doomed for failure – especially if the company you’re building on can’t even monetize their own product.
January 26th, 2009
A new scientific theory suggests that the universe could, in fact, be nothing more than a hologram. It’s a pretty cool theory, and you probably need a very good understanding of physics just to read the article.
If the world is really a hologram though, it’s going to have a lot of interesting consequences. It will make it possible for things to be true one day and false the next, and it will certainly get rid of the whole idea of free will.
It’s soft of neat to think about, and scary at the same time.
The coolest part though is that it may just share other properties of holograms. For example, if you were to take a holographic image and cut it in half you wouldn’t get half an image. You’d get the whole image at 1/2 size. You can keep cutting it any way you like, but you wouldn’t lose anything other than size.
Holograms are cool like that, every tiny piece contains all of the information of the whole hologram. To put that in “our universe” terms, that means an atom actually contains all of the information in the universe. That’s pretty cool, and it’s consistent with some old physics conundrums that I remember back in college.
If you ever took intro to physics, you probably remember that calculating the potential energy between 2 electrons would result in an infinite number. With the holographic theory, that makes sense.
This post probably doesn’t make sense to many people, and I’m still reading about the theory but it sounds really cool. I’ll be sure to re-read my copy of “the holographic universe” by michael talbot now that there’s some research to his theory.
1 comment January 25th, 2009
I know what you’re thinking: “Offline SEO, that doesn’t make sense. SEO is all about getting visitors to my website.”
There’s more to SEO than just getting visitors, but when it comes to getting visitors why should they have to come from another web page?
According to some SEO agencies, offline SEO is often one of the most effective ways of getting new visitors to your website, and there’s lots of ways to do it.
Here’s some examples:
1. TV Ads
Ok, while TV ads probably aren’t an option for many of you due to cost, they’re still one of the best ways to advertise a website. Just think about all of the infomercials you see out there with URLs in them. They’re there for a reason.
2. Billboards, Bus Stops & Benches
Every time I drive by a bus stop or city bench I notice the ad on it, but what I don’t notice is a URL. Every ad I see has a phone number though. What’s easier to remember while you’re driving? 1-866-555-6789 or www.RentaDumpster.com?
Based upon the product or service that you want to advertise, transit advertising can be a very beneficial method of your marketing plan. To learn more about transit advertising, you can visit https://ongo.ph/transit-advertising-philippines/
3. Google Radio
If you haven’t played with Google radio ads yet, you should. For a very small investment you can get your ad heard by thousands of people as they drive to and from work. You only get 30 seconds, so you should try to get your website mentioned at least 3 times in the ad. You’ll be surprised at the results you get.
4. Newspapers and Magazines
Newspapers and Magazines often have vast online archives that are just full of pagerank. The only way to get into them though, is to actually have an article mention you in the newspaper or magazine. The easiest way to do this is to just write the article yourself or submit infographic posts. There’s thousands of small town papers and grocery store magazines that accept submissions, and niche magazines are always looking for new content from authorities on their subjects. Writing an article is also a great way to help build yourself up as an expert in that field. Pick up a writers market, read their post, and start sending your content around.
5. TV and Radio
Once you’ve established yourself as an expert in your field, you should see yourself receiving requests to be interviewed on relevant talk radio or TV news stories. Tons of people listen to talk radio and watch their local news – and you’ll be shocked at how many actually click over to your website. In addition, you may even get a nice juicy link from the station.
6. Coupons
Depending on your business, it may be a wise idea to mail out some coupons. This can be a simple letter, or a fancier postcard. Don’t get trapped in the “coupons only work for repeat customers” line of thinking. Creative “refer a friend” style coupons are a great way to help your customers spread word of mouth.
7. The Phone Book
I personally don’t own one, but lots of people my parents age do. You can’t think of the baby boomers as computer illiterate anymore. They’re starting to get computers and they’re starting to be able to use them really good. They may still look to the phone book instead of Google, but that doesn’t mean they won’t visit your site after they find you in the phone book.
8. Your Car
Think about it. How many people see your car on your drive to and from work? What about vacation? A simple little URL sticker on your rear window can actually drive a lot of people to pull out their iPhone and say “wtf is that… let’s see…” Just don’t put it near your license plate though, that’s illegal.
9. Business Cards
Sure your work business cards already have your URL on them (or they should) but what if you’re like me and run several personal websites too? Head on over to VistaPrint and get some free cards made up for your personal sites. When you meet somebody at the bar, or a friend of a friend, give them this personal one instead.
10. Your Logo
Is your URL part of your logo? Making it part of your logo ensures that it will always be on any merchandise, uniforms, stationary, signs, and anything else you’d normally put your logo on.
11. Sponsor a sports team
Find a local beer league hockey, softball, or bowling team and offer to buy their jerseys for them. They’ll love you, and your logo and website will be worn all throughout the league. Sponsoring a hole at a golf tournament is also another great way to build website awareness.
For additional information of what an offline seo is, visit a site like https://www.updigital.ca/edmonton-seo-services.
6 comments January 22nd, 2009
I didn’t want this to become a censorship blog. I find writing about such things incredibly boring, but people keep doing stupid things. We’ve heard about state senators who want to ban swear words, but the latest to irk me is the Apple app store.
I’ve just submitted my 3rd attempt at an internet slang dictionary for the iPhone to the store. The first 2 were rejected because the definitions of words contained swear words. The second version had some of those swear words ***’d out, but it wasn’t good enough.
Why can’t there be swearing on the iPhone? Some uses (like a freaking dictionary) make sense to have swear words. This policy isn’t protecting anybody.
Think about it. My iPhone has full, unrestricted access to the internet. I can watch the 2 girls 1 cup video but I can’t see the word “ass” on an iPhone app? That doesn’t make sense.
I can swear in text messages, look at porn, cuss on the phone, and listen to music that has bad words in it – but I can’t have them in an application that I paid money for.
What’s the reason here?
At the very least, can’t you just put a note into my app saying that it has bad words and let people decide for themselves? The review process alone is stupid. What happened to the free market? Are you going to do this for Mac software next? You’re already doing it for iPhone accessories thanks to your stupid auth chip or whatever.
It’s going to be interesting to see what road Apple follows. If they start becoming software Nazis I might just have to switch back to Linux.
2 comments January 20th, 2009
Freakonomics has an interesting point about the proposed ban on bottled water, noting that it will most likely cause students to switch to sugary sodas instead.
Every time I’ve ever bought a bottle of water, it wasn’t because I wanted water. It’s usually just more for the bottle. When I was in college, I always made sure I had a bottle of water or soda with me. Cans don’t reseal, and they can’t be thrown in a backpack.
Having a college ban bottled water won’t reduce the amount of bottles being thrown in landfills.
A better approach (as much as I hate taxes) would be to impose a new tax on bottled water or take other steps to encourage people to fill their own containers with tap water. Re-usable containers are the way to go here.
January 19th, 2009
Senator Robert Ford of Charleston, South Carolina (go chiefs!) – it’s my opinion that you’re a fucking idiot.
Why do I think he’s a fucking idiot? Because if I had posted that sentence on a blog hosted in South Carolina, I’d be guilty of a felony and facing up to 5 years in pound me in the ass prison. That is, if his latest bill on profanity actually passes. In addition, I have to say that it’s my opinion so that this isn’t portrayed as slander.
Up here in the northern states though, we’re familiar with the constitution (seriously Mr. Ford, you should read it. Can somebody send him a copy with the relevant parts highlighted?) and we know that it protects free speech. That means I’m allowed to say words like Fuck, Shit, Damn, Ass, and well here’s a list of all the rest.
Granted using these words makes my writing sound less professional and more juvenile, so I often don’t. Since I can’t use them in a business setting either, they very rarely find their way into my vocabulary. In fact, save for hockey games, poker night, and deer camp, it’s pretty safe to say that I really don’t swear. It’s just nice to know that I can say FUCK if I want to. fuck fuck fuckity boo boo kitty fuck.
Seriously? A 5 year, $5000 felony? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Do the people who voted for you know what kind of crazy bills you’re proposing? How would you even enforce that on the internet? Sounds to me like it would drive the web hosting and technology companies right the fuck (see, how I used a swear word there to enhance the meaning of my thought?) out of South Carolina.
I’m all about protecting the children too, but trying to shelter our children and hide them away from bad things isn’t the way to do it. You don’t need a law to protect your child from profanity, you need a 10 minute discussion at the kitchen table. Odds are your kid will be able to teach you some words you haven’t even heard of.
2 comments January 15th, 2009
News was just released that Steve Jobs will be temporarily stepping away from Apple. This means their stock is going to lose a TON of money.
But does that mean apple will be any worse?
It’s too late to sell your stock if you still own some, but I’m thinking of buying more after it crashes. This will be a definite long hold, but I think as a company Apple is still solid and won’t lose that much with Jobs walking away.
What do you think?
January 14th, 2009
As Noslang.com – my internet slang dictionary and translator continues to grow, I often find it necessary to branch out into other forms of slang. So far, I’ve branched out into british slang, drug slang, and bad words.
Thanks to a ton of submissions though, I was finally able to branch out into World of Warcraft slang. I saved them all up, and today I am proud to launch WoWslang.com – the World of Warcraft Slang Dictionary. So go ahead and check it out. I’d love to hear your feedback.
January 8th, 2009
Hey Google… When I mistype a word in one of your URLs (like “adsese” instead of “adsense”), I get sent to a custom error page that looks like this:
Instead of making me re-type the URL, why not just say “Did you mean, Adsense?” and let me click it to go there.
You already have the technology, and it would save me a ton of time. I can’t count how many times per day I type the wrong URL as I bounce between gmail, adsense, adwords, analytics, docs, alerts, calendar, etc. Hell, I spelled 1 of those words wrong while typing this draft.
It’s just a suggestion, and it’s yours to implement freely – but I wouldn’t say no to some free swag when you do implement it 🙂
January 8th, 2009
| Name: Ryan Jones Alias: HockeyGod Location: Michigan Company: Team Detroit Title: Sr. Search Strategist AIM: TheHockeyGod Pets: Who Dey |
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