Recently, I had to call Comcast to cut my cable package down to the minimum. I could still afford it, but with the rising cost of food and gas I thought it was wise to start making cut backs now. So far it’s been a good decision and the money I am saving is making my life more enjoyable.
With the lower package you only get 16 channels, so the chances of something good be on are slim. So when nothing is on cable I head to Hulu.com, a video website owned by a few of the big media players. It features a lot of great premium content like, the Daily Show, Arrested Development (Seasons 1-3), and movies (with a few ads). The best part is, if you hook up your computer to a HDTV you can watch them in 480p (not bad for free). If they could figure out a way to reliably stream live events, cable might become obsolete.
So instead of paying for a bigger cable package, save your money and watch what you can online. If you can’t find something on Hulu, check out Fancast.com (owned by Comcast), they sometimes have different content.
If you stopped paying for cable and watch TV online, please share your experiences via comments.
Even though Twitter is quickly turning in to the way most people communicate with each other, it’s starting to get so unstable, it’s barely usable. This is the reason I hate it. You would think that they would figure out a way to fix these problems, but it might have something to do with the monetization issue. It’s hard for a company to invest money into a product, if there is no real way to get a return on the investment.
I really can’t think of a way they could make money. Any advertising would most likely be overlooked by the tech savvy users of the service. The only other kind I could think of is something Facebook did with its Beacon service, but we all not how bad that turned out for Facebook.
I think services like Twitter will be short lived in the long run, for that reason. The life cycle for Twitter-like services will be as follows. Launch > Gain popularity > Grow faster than its resources > Find no way to grow resources > Become plagued with server outages > Die once something else comes along > Repeat
Using this formula, I think Friendfeed will be the next jump for Twitter users, since a lot of them are already using it. Once Friendfeed works out a few minor problems, Twitter better shape up or else.
I was doing some spring cleaning last month and realized that I had a few things I didn’t need but couldn’t throw away. I was going to drop it off at Goodwill but then I thought, “I wish there was some way I could trade this stuff for things I need”. Well I was in luck. Thanks to the internet there were two options I could go about doing just that.
The first option is SwapTree.com. With this site you list the items you have and the items you want. Then it uses some kind of algorithm to find people for you to possibly trade with. Once you find someone who wants to trade, all you have to pay the cost of shipping. The site does have its limitations since you can only trade books, movies, music, and games. So for bigger items like desk and TVs you will have to look elsewhere.
The second options picks up were SwapTree left off, it’s called Freecycle.org. Almost every major city has a Freecycle group, so all you have to do is look yours up. Then you can join and post items you would like to give away. Since everything is handled locally there is no shipping involved you just pick it up yourself. You can also list things that you want and if someone has it they will let you know.
So instead of throwing away perfectly good items first try to trade them and see if you can get something you need for them. It’s a lot of fun and you can feel good about helping yourself and other people get what they need.
If you know any other ways to get rid of non- trash items let me know.
Flickr has added a feature that made me want to pay for a pro account. Before, I saw no real reason to pay since I don’t do a lot of photography or upload a lot of it, but now they added video. So, having a clean (free of ads) place to post my short little video clips is worth the 24.95 a year.
With the new feature you can upload a 90 second video that is less then 150 MBs. That doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s enough for a short video snapshot. For example, my friend posted a video of everyone singing happy birthday at a party. Now a photo would have been ok but the video made the memory of that day a little more exciting. That’s the kind of stuff this new feature was meant for and 90 seconds is more then enough for that.
This is not a YouTube or Blip.tv replacement, it’s something different. Those services are for videos that are meant to be seen and entertain the masses. Flickr will be the home for all those random and short video clips people capture that are not meant for mass consumption.
So here is a quick recap of how I will use this video service. Blip.tv is the home for my polished and longer video content. Like the Bacon Eating Contest video. Flickr on the other hand will be for random clips that only I and maybe a few other people will enjoy. Like the video below, which I shot and uploaded via cell phone.
Let me know what you think about this new feature. I know that in the Flickr community there are mix feelings about it.
Disasters in Photoshop are always a good time if you’re not the one that caused them. That’s why the blog Photoshop Disasters is my new favorite read. It’s full of all kinds of Photoshop mishaps like lazy clone tool usage, over retouching, and awful composition. The best part is that this is stuff that actually made it to print. I hope I never see anything I did on the site.
Check out the site and let me know what some of your favorites are. Two of my favorites are Diane Scarecrow Keaton and the Madonna Cover. This is a new blog, so they are in need of more content. If you find anything interesting be sure to let them know about it.
In the beginning of February I quietly launched a new project call Chest Laser. It’s an online independent clothing and art store. All of the products and designs are made by different artists but share a common theme and/or look.
My goal is to create a place where people can shop for artist-made goods and to be an alternative to shopping at major chain stores. Other places try to profit off the artists; I let the artists profit from me.
I got the idea from Shana Logic. Her store sells mostly cutesy stuff, so I want to create a store that sells edgier things. I also know a few artists that have things to sell but don’t have the internet know-how to sell them online. Since I have the know-how and they have the talent, this should work out great.
I would like to thank Matt Gondek for creating the graphics for the site and the first limited edition shirt. He also helped in the brainstorming for a catchy and edgy name for the store.
I am working out contracts with two more artists. I hope to have their products up sometime next week. Keep checking the site for more details as they become available.
I am always looking for artists to partner with to sell their creations. If you are an established artist or just starting out, I would love to hear from you. Contact me at jmosley at chestlaser dot com for more details.
I have been in the hosting business since 2003, with Pagewaiter.com. I never planned on making a living at it, I just wanted a way to help offset the cost of hosting my many websites. After five exciting years I found it difficult to manage my growing number of customers and my many projects. So this year I decided to close up shop and no longer sell hosting publicly. I will still offer hosting to friends and friends of friends, but that’s all.
To keep the domain name active I have brainstormed a great idea. I am going to turn Pagewaiter into a Community of Independent Bloggers that support each other with blog promotion, training, brainstorming, and open discussion. It’s going to be a one page website with a list of member bloggers.
The backbone of the community will be a member’s only message board where the bloggers talk about blogging practices, promotion strategies, technical support, success stories, interests, and general chit chat.
Members will pool their strengths and help each other out. I have been part of groups like this before and they helped me learn a lot. For them to work well, all member bloggers need to be active players in the community.
If you would like to be a part of this let me know, I will be setting up the new site in the next few days. If you would like to be part of this just use the contact forum on this site to reach me. All I need is your blog’s address and a little information about yourself.
Note: As of right now my hosting companies site is still up. I hope to have that changed by the end of the week. Also, I already have four members signed up so far. I want the group to start with 10 members, then after a few months start adding more. So that means there are six more spots left.
