Sometimes You Should Read The Terms Of Use
Posted by Mitch on Apr 17, 2010
Okay, stay with me for a minute. I was going through Kristi’s weekly Fetching Friday listing, where this week one of my posts was mentioned (thanks Kristi), and came upon an article she was highlighting called 10 Firefox Addons For Affiliate Marketers from the blog Ace Affiliates.
Always someone who’s looking for the next big thing, I went to read that article, and one of the Firefox addons it recommended was something called Ghostery. It seems to do two things for you. One, it lets you know how safe a website is that you’re visiting. Two, it allows you to block sites from tracking your IP address and the like.
That second one is very intriguing to me. I was talking to my friend Kelvin about it and saying how freaked out I was when I go to websites, such as MSNBC, and see all the ads that are targeted for me knowing that I live in the Syracuse, NY area. He said he didn’t know of anything that could block that, so I thought this might be the plugin for me.
When I went to the page where the addon is, it looked different than what I’m used to seeing. There’s no description of what the addon is about, and there’s this big block in the middle with only one line: Ghostery requires that you accept the following End-User License Agreement before installation can proceed. And in the box there’s only one thing: http://www.ghostery.com/terms. Now, maybe it looks that way because I’m running Adblock, but it looked strange.
This tasked me (a line from Star Trek II; Wrath of Khan), so I decided I wanted to read the terms of service for using this particular addon. Overall, it was the same standard stuff you see everywhere else, but suddenly I came upon a line I didn’t like, under privacy: You acknowledge that the Software will contact GHOSTERY and send limited information about the websites you visit to GHOSTERY’s databases.
Come on now; y’all know me! I’m the guy who has a problem with Google Toolbar tracking our movements, to the point that I won’t use it anymore once I learned it did that. I’m certainly not letting some other group of folks track where I go; wasn’t the point of using their software so you could go to websites without them knowing where you were coming from, as in “tracking” you? I’m going to give up my privacy to these guys who I don’t know to get privacy from sites that I at least have some idea of who they are?
Many times I don’t read terms of service, just like most people don’t when we want to use something. However, the way this was segregated looked, well, suspicious. They might have specific reasons for wanting to track people, as in making sure the software works. And, of course we all have the right to use or not use something.
I’m choosing not to use it; that doesn’t sound surprising, does it? So, I’m still on a quest to find something that will aid me in my privacy efforts. Sure, I know that there’s no real privacy online, but I’d still like to find a way to decide when I want to give up information about myself and when I don’t.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Mitch Mitchell
Video Highlights And A New Page
Posted by Mitch on Mar 9, 2010
I have a lot of videos on this blog. Sometimes they’re easy to find because they match up with the content. Other times they’re kind of hidden gems, something I used to add something different to the post.
Overall the videos are all over the place, so I decided it was time to consolidate them, as well as highlight a few of them here. I did this before with my post showing my early videos up to June 2008. Below are 9 others I’d like to highlight, mainly because today is the 9th of March. For all other videos on this blog, though, go to the link above that says Videos, or of course you can click on the link I just created.
This video of Tunak Tunak Tun by Daler Mehndi just thrilled my wife and I when I discovered it last year. It’s infectious and fun.
This was the video of the year in 2009, a funny wedding entrance video.
We’ve talked a lot on this blog about commenting; this was Chris Pirillo’s take on it.
I had someone recently tell me about Google 411 service; told him I’d written about it in 2008, including the video.
I had finally written about the movie The Secret, and this was the 20 minute video clip from The Secret, which is enough to get you going.
This video caused a lot of consternation for a lot of people, mainly me, on my business blog for about 2 years before I decided to move it over here instead; it’s a motivational video of a boy with Down’s Syndrome.
A very recent video showing that stupidity and racism is still alive in America, courtesy of this Rachel Maddow clip with Pat Buchanan being stupid.
Talk about people with a passion that I’m not sure I could ever find again, this one highlights something known as Free Running.
Finally, we’re coming up on St. Patrick’s Day, and even though I’m not Irish and I’m not Catholic and I don’t drink beer (let alone green beer), I figured I’d get into the spirit of things this one time by presenting the Muppets singing Danny Boy.
And there you go, 9 videos I wanted to bring some life back to. I hope you check these out, and if you’re ever looking for some entertainment, remember to check out my Video page above.
Is Instant Messaging Dying Out?
Posted by Mitch on Dec 3, 2009
I remember when I first got into instant messaging. It was 1997, and I had just learned about ICQ, which is still around. There was AIM, and I don’t remember if Yahoo Messenger was around at that time. But ICQ offered just what I and my family members needed.
Through ICQ, I was able to connect my dad to all of his brothers and sisters, a couple of my cousins, and some friends I’d met through newsgroups. Later on, I had some friends I would talk to. We’d talk often, pretty much every night, and it was fun. Of course, ICQ tanked in a big way, but still, there are other instant messaging systems; even Facebook has one.
These days, I can’t find almost anyone who’s using instant messaging. It’s pretty much been replaced by Twitter and Facebook, and even a little bit by email. Sure, email was around back in ’97, but many friends wouldn’t use it for whatever reason.
Is instant messaging dying out, or am I just too old to have many friends who want to use it anymore? I ask that because it seems the people who say they still love instant messaging are all younger than 30. Obviously most of my friends are older. I only have one family member who still has an instant messaging account, and he’s rarely on. The friends I have accounts for almost never show up. There’s a couple of people I talk to sometimes during the day while they’re at work, and when I’m out of town my wife and I will try to have conversations through Yahoo (though I use Trillian), but that’s about it. I don’t even know anyone who uses Facebook’s instant messaging, though I’m sure there are people who do.
I also wonder if it’s why having Meebo on my business sites doesn’t seem to bring me much communications during the day when I hold office hours, which I announce on Twitter every once in awhile. I mean, one would think someone would take me up on the chance to speak to me live, but nope, doesn’t happen.
What are y’all thinking about this? Anyone else lamenting the demise of instant messaging, did you care, or have I just passed by the age where it makes sense for my friends and my business?
5 Websites You May Not Know About
Posted by Mitch on Nov 14, 2009
I don’t do this often, but I thought I’d take a diversion for a little bit of fun. How often do I do this? Well, I’ve done it only twice. The first was in 2008, and then I was only talking about music sites. The second was in April of this year.
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This list is going to give you 5 websites you probably don’t know about, which I think are pretty cool, and have been around for awhile. You might find them fun or informative; that’s what I’m all about.
Achievement Radio is a motivational site that I’ve always thought was very cool. There’s all sorts of motivational material everywhere, but that’s not the beauty of the site. If you look to the right, there’s a place where you can actually listen to short motivational excerpts from both famous and not so famous people. It’s free, and it will play all day if you’d like. Every once in awhile, we all need to hear uplifting stuff, right?
Every once in awhile, I feel I need to know how to make certain things. You’d think I would know how to make everything I need, but I don’t. Allrecipes is the site I go to whenever I need to check on a recipe, or I’m looking for ideas. There’s a ton of websites like this one out there, but this is the one I like best.
This site will kind of freak you out, but it’s neat for at least a little while. It’s called The Human Clock, and if you go to the site, then click on the image at the top, you’ll see it giving you the correct time. Then, if you keep it up for awhile, you’ll see that every minute there’s a new picture and the new picture tells you what time it is. No, it’s not a site where you’ll want to stare at it for all that long, but I have popped it up there for an hour or two, just to look to see what creative picture they’ve done for the minute I’m there.
Who remembers Cabbage Patch Dolls? What about mood rocks? This site is called Bad Fads, and you can go through the site and relive some of those things that you may not want to own up to as being a part of your life. I know many of you wore those bell bottomed pants; go ahead, admit it.
Finally, if you’re one of those people who loves quiz sites, you’ll want to check out Cool Quiz. Just like it says, it’s replete with many quizzes of many times, and you can find out lots of stuff about yourself; that is, if you believe this kind of thing. Hey, it’s a good time killer.
And that’s that; enjoy on this beautiful Saturday.
When Is The Last Time You Searched Your Name?
Posted by Mitch on Oct 8, 2009
How many of you ever check your name on Google to see what might be out there for you? If you have a common name, the numbers might be kind of skewed, which stinks. If I go looking up Mitch Mitchell I’m out there, but I have to deal with a heck of a lot of stuff that talks about Jimi Hendrix former drummer.
However, when I go looking under my official business name, which is “T. T. Mitchell (and don’t ask, because I’m not telling what any of it stands for), I’ll find myself all over the place. As a matter of fact, out of the first 50 references on Google, 38 of the references are to me. Out of the next 50 references, 17 are about me. I mean, 55 out of the first 100; that’s not bad if you ask me.
It can be pretty heady stuff when you keep finding websites that you’re listed on, or things you’ve written. I’ve found all sorts of things about myself that I never expected to find. I found a reference to a speaking engagement I’m giving next April on social media; never knew that was online. I found that many songs I have copyrights on are listed online in a certain place; freaky. I’ve found my articles on sites I never knew existed. I’ve found myself listed for things I’d have never expected to be found for. I even found someone who recommended both my newsletters and my services (read the article by Catherine Ryan on the right), someone I hate to admit I don’t remember, or can’t verify that I’ve met, but you know, we take recommendations as we find them, right?
Overall, how many references are there that pertain to me? According to Yahoo, more than 8,600; yeow! There’s also one thing I found that kind of freaked me out. The last year of my dad’s life, he was going to try to learn HTML so he could put up a family genealogy site. He got some of the references in, but not all that many. However, one of those references is me, and seeing that, something my dad put online back in 2001,… chills!
I guess the best thing is that I didn’t find anything negative about me, which is always a good thing. Of course, I’d probably find more if I could weed myself through all those other Mitch Mitchell’s. I’m listed at least 3 times in the top 100, and I guess that will have to do. Of course, if I add the “T T” to it, in quotation marks of course, I kill! As a matter of fact, 46 of the top 50 references are me; yeah baby! How long have I been talked about by some folks online? Check this article out from January 2004. I’d forgotten about it, to tell you the truth.
I’ve talked often about marketing and advertising on this blog. I haven’t talked as much about PR, or public relations, or press releases and the like. I have talked about being all over the internet and wondering what else I need to do to break through and become at least a well known name so that I can start making money, or at least getting more business, off my own name. No one can say that I haven’t established a presence on the internet, that’s for sure.
So, how are you doing with spreading your message, and getting your notoriety online? Are you ready for more? I am.
Number 401; A Pattern Of Steadiness
Posted by Mitch on Apr 16, 2009
This is my 401st post, and as I do after each century post, I’m going to give a recap of the past 100 posts. I’m also doing something with this post that I haven’t done for any other posts in the past 100, that being I’m skipping three days before this post, as my last post was on the 13th, in honor of what would have been my parent’s 52nd wedding anniversary if my dad was still here now.
When compared with number 301 and, oddly enough, number 101, the more things change, the more they stay the same. First, compared to 101, it took me six months to write my first 100 posts; it took me just under 3 months to write my third 100 posts. This time around, it took me four months to write 100 posts, which makes a bit more sense. One hundred posts every four months comes out to 300 posts a year, so if I keep that up I’ll hit 600 posts by my next anniversary; “if”, that is.
Also, most of the categories remain the same, but the order of posts concerning those categories has changed. Three of the top categories from my first 100 are still here, and from my last 100 four are still here, but this time around, I’ve added two new categories, which means that my top five is, for this month, a top six. Here they are:
Internet – 18
Marketing – 15
Research (new) – 7
Affiliates (new) – 6
Writing – 6
I find it interesting that “research” entered the top five/six this time around, because that shows, at least to me, that I’ve had more things that I’ve tested or investigated to share here than I could have had early on, mainly because I hadn’t had the time to evaluate anything. The thing about researched posts is that they take a long time to write. Steve, our friend the Trade Show Guru, compliments me all the time on my output, but researched posts show that I don’t just write everything off the top of my head, that sometimes I put real thought and real time into it all. Just thought I’d point that out. That blogging is at the top of this list is somewhat surprising also, because I’d really thought I had been giving more time to internet marketing topics this past quarter or so, and, though they’re both up there, I’d have thought they would be in the lead; nope.
Next, my most popular articles during this time period. Four of the five were written after #301, which is a good thing for the most part, but one of my articles came beforehand, and I’m kind of surprised it’s still popular because I’d have thought, with more people moving to Vista (or maybe that’s in my own mind”, that this particular post and tip would have dwindled. It’s at number four on this list of visits:
Visa Black Card – 155
My Big RSS Subscriber Contest – 144
Getting Google Desktop To Index Thunderbird – 143
The Keys – 140
Next, comments during this time period. This fourth period showed more growth in comments, as it went from 1,344 for the previous 100 to 1,804 this period; I like that. I still wish it was much higher, but I don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. My most commented on articles were:
My Big RSS Subscriber Contest – 60
At Least Be Professional In Your Writing – 55
So, there’s those stats for this past group of articles. Now, on my quest towards 500, I’m going to change up a couple of things, because, well, it can either be an experiment, or it’s something that just needs to happen; let’s hear what your thoughts on it are overall. One, I’m thinking about reducing the output of my articles a bit. I’ve been averaging 5 articles a week, and though I can easily keep that pace up, I’m wondering if the number of articles actually keeps the number of comments down. Maybe the output is so much that it’s hard to keep up with each article. I’m not really sure, but I do know that I visit blogs where there might only be one post a week, possibly two, and I see hundreds of comments on those; you see my highest is 70, and that’s over four months time.
Two, I’m thinking that the longer posts, stories notwithstanding, get less activity, for all the work I put into them, and that’s problematic. My solution is to think about breaking them up into multiple posts while spacing them out. So, if an article goes more than 750 words, I’ll break it up into two separate articles that may come in around 370 to 500 words each, since I’d have to add a few words in rewriting a second article to blend in with the first part of an article. That could mean that, for some of my posts, there might be 3 or 4 parts to it, but maybe that’s what’s needed to make sure everyone has a chance to see everything, and maybe the first part drums up interest in seeing the rest of the story, or, if no one’s interested, then the second part helps me with my SEO part. Of course, this can’t be standard, because some posts will have to go over 750 words for cohesion, but I think it’s time to consider it. I want this blog to grow, and though it’s growing, it’s not growing as I’d like it to. And, as I’ve seen how easy it is to post-date articles (this one is actually being written six days ahead), I could easily go out an entire month’s worth of posts, and if I need something more current I always have the option of adding something anew, even if it’s just a quick little video that I like at the time.
And three, I’m thinking that I might add a weekly post of deals that some of my affiliate marketing companies offer, along with codes and the like. Commission Junction and Google Affiliate Network products always have their advertisers sending me new short run specials, and sometimes you can save upwards of 15% if you’re given the code to add onto your sales page while you’re checking out. I’m not sure how popular that would be for everyone, but hey, one has to find new and unique ways to market themselves and their products, right? This one I haven’t fully decided upon, though; I want to think about it some more.
And, one final thing before we move on. I still want more RSS subscribers, and obviously I’m not afraid to ask for more subscribers either. Just to throw this out there, Technorati has finally, FINALLY, bumped me up, and now I’m sitting around 85,000, which I’m not upset about at all. But I want more readers, more visitors, more commenters, and more people talking about me and writing about me. Folks, I’m looking to not just be popular, I want to be a movement! So, get out there, spread the word, share my name and some of what I write on your blogs or Twitter or Delicious. If you haven’t noticed, one thing I often do here is use someone else’s post to write a post of my own, but I link back to it. It’s a good tactic, and even Sire got into the mix by mentioning John Dilbeck in his post against Google’s new advertising policy. It’s works great.
Anyway, by the time you see this, I’ll probably have already put some of these things into practice. Doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way, of course, but for awhile, unless I have a story to tell, this may be the last article you see from me that is more than 1,000 words at a time. For now, please enjoy what I’ve produced up to this point, including this post, and let’s see what the heck 100 articles brings.
Ten Websites I Find Interesting And Fun
Posted by Mitch on Apr 3, 2009
I’m learning that folks love lists. I’m the same way, and, for some reason, this post I read on 15 Disturbing Documentaries got me thinking about another top ten list.
Well, top ten doesn’t quite fit it, but I’ve got ten websites here that you probably don’t know about, although I’m sure someone will know at least one or two of them. So, without further ado, let’s get there:
Instructables is a site that has how-to’s of some of the oddest things you probably haven’t ever thought about, ideas and links to free stuff of all sorts, and many other fun things that will waste your day.
How Stuff Works is just what the title says. It’s got a large database of information on, well, how different things actually work.
Exit Mundi is a site that could depress you, enlighten you, or entertain you; it entertains me. It talks about all sorts of categorized doomsday scenarios, stuff that could or could not cause the demise of life as we know it. Unfortunately, some of this stuff is going to happen one day, but a lot of this other stuff is a major league danger that we just can’t do anything about.
Sunsets are one of my favorite things in the world, and this is a site of sunsets. One in particular on this site is from my college town, which was on the shores of Lake Ontario, and is what drew me to this site in the first place.
Quizilla is the site for you if you like taking all sorts of quizzes to either learn how smart you are or about some aspects of your personality that you didn’t know about.
Shoetubs is definitely a site for only women, as it’s all about shoes, shoes of any type. One of the things they have on this site is a weekly video on the latest stylish shoe. In case the guys are wondering why I know about this site, I almost got a contract to optimize it, and it could still happen one day.
Roadside America used to be one of the ugliest sites I’d ever seen. They’ve cleaned it up some, but I still hate the colors. Still, it’s one of the most entertaining sites if you like to travel across America looking for the offbeat, or just reading about things you may never see if you do travel.
Dumb Laws is a site for when we want to feel superior to politicians (which is always for some of us) and see some of the stupidest laws in the country. This one I’m betting a lot of you have at least heard of.
Virtual Plastic is for the inner geek in all of us who have blogs and like computers in some fashion. It’s a site of all sorts of tweaks and downloads for Windows computers.
If you’ve ever been sent something called Frog In A Blender or Gerbil In A Microwave, you got it from Joe Cartoon. Whenever I need a laugh, this is the site I go to, and if I click and watch any movies with gerbils, frogs, or flies (yup, flies), I know I’m going to bust out. Matter of fact, I want to share the link to one of my favorite video cartoons of all time, which stars my friend the gerbil, called The Boss. This isn’t for kids, so if you can get past that, it’s one of the funniest things in the world, and something I’m betting will make a lot of people who’ve been laid off lately wish they could have done.
And there you are; I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Mitch Mitchell
I'm Just Sharing is where I share my thoughts on internet marketing, writing, blogging and many other things. You never know what I'll be posting on. So keep coming back, read, enjoy, and buy! ;)
