Soft Tech Reviews

I had found out about BuySellAds through one blog and was curious so I checked them out. BuySellAds allows you to buy or sell ads, obviously. What I like is that advertisers can purchase an ad through them and then it will appear, just like how it works with Text Link Ads, except that BuySellAds use images, which you can select what size you want them to be.

It was a little harder with customizing to get it to work right, but I managed. It was one of those ‘It works in Firefox, but not IE7′ issues. Took me a couple hours to finally get it just right (at least in IE7 and Firefox). I’ll leave it up to anyone using other browsers to point out if anything looks wrong. Just a small note: it isn’t BuySellAds’ code that caused the problem, it was some CSS not working right with the layout in IE7.

I do like how they don’t just show your Google Page Rank or Alexa Rank; they show more information, such as Yahoo Inbound Links, Technorati Rank and more. This allows people who have lost their Google Page Rank to at least appear popular in other areas (assuming they actually are).

I added two spots on the side which both currently say “Advertise Here”. If you click on one, it will take you right to the page to purchase an ad. I hope they will fill up.

Also, I am currently offering free advertising to one random RSS subscriber. Just pay attention to the bottom of each post in your reader and one will mention free advertising with a code. Just follow all instructions if you’re interested. Good luck!

Bloggers are probably one of the most generous people. Sure they usually have a reason (like bringing more traffic) but it’s great for the visitors! We all really do like contests, don’t we?

Even though it would be great to win $100, a MacBook Air would be even better! I would love to have a new laptop to replace the one that I have that overheats (has melted the bottom of the laptop) and probably cause a fire (I hope not).

Anyway, there are several ways to get entries in this contest over at Bloggin-Ads. I recommend getting as many entries as possible if you really would like a chance at getting a MacBook Air. I will be very surprised, but very happy if I actually win a MacBook Air. Not because it’s a MacBook Air, but because of what it’s worth. That’s an expensive prize! And very much wanted.

There will be 12 winners. 10 winners will each receive $100 and 2 winners will each receive a MacBook Air.

Contest ends June 13, so get your entries in now! Good luck!

If you don’t know about Diggnation yet, go watch an episode, or two, or 150. Diggnation is probably one of the best shows from Revision3. The Totally Rad Show is pretty awesome, too, but when you put Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht together, it just makes it more fun.

On one of the Diggnation episodes, Alex announced that he’s going to give away his Xbox and some other goodies along with it to a random Twitter follower. But first, he needs 20,000 followers. Once he reaches 20,000 followers on Twitter, he will announce it on Twitter and ask everyone to reply if they want the Xbox, giving them something like 8 hours to reply in. Then, someone will be chosen randomly.

To win Kevin’s iPhone, I think the same thing applies. I’m not sure about the followers, but just follow Kevin on Twitter and wait for him to announce it if you want his iPhone for free.

Why do I want to win Alex Albrecht’s Xbox? Because ours broke a while back and I miss playing games on it! Besides, who wouldn’t want to own something Alex and Kevin signed?

Why do I want to Kevin Rose’s iPhone? Well, I don’t really need the iPhone, but I like it, and it belongs to Kevin!

This is real! Proof is on the latest Diggnation show, episode 150. Good luck everyone!

UPDATE: A winner was announced for Alex Albrecht’s Xbox 360. And, he’s decided to give away his iPhone to a random follower as well.

Google Reader is a popular web-based feed reader that lacks one feature. A feature I’m sure everyone would love to have available, even if they didn’t use it. To sync with a desktop feed reader. Google seems to be falling behind with this. I stopped using Google Reader for a little while because of it. Now that I found a new way to read feeds on the desktop, I started to use it again. It’s not perfect, but it works.

One way to keep up with feeds is by using your mobile phone. You can access Google Reader on your phone by going to www.google.com/reader/m. If you have an iPhone, then you would go to www.google.com/reader/i.

If you use Firefox frequently, you can also set the sidebar to load Google Reader for the iPhone or the plain mobile one. It’s your choice.

Another way that might be my favorite, although needs issues worked out, is a desktop client called ReadAir, which connects to your Google Reader account. It’s not perfect, though. But, I’m sure eventually it could get pretty close. One of the issues only displays 20 items. Even refreshing does not remove the items you’ve marked as read.

Besides a few issues, ReadAir looks really nice and works very well. It’s not slow unlike viewing feeds in Outlook is. Using ReadAir makes me feel like I’m still using Google Reader, even though it’s on the desktop.

With so many social networks available, it’s very hard to pick just one. Some of your friends and family choose one, others choose a different one, and then maybe a couple picked another. You either get invites from them or they tell you about it and you feel obligated to create an account. I’ve been there, but refused to do it again when family and friends started in with their MySpace pages.

I was slow grabbing a Twitter account and started off with Pownce. I like the ability to share pictures, videos and music. I eventually signed up to Twitter and started using it. I can see the difference between Pownce and Twitter and don’t mind using them for two different things. I haven’t even once wanted to post to both with the same message. Why? The people who follow me on Twitter are different from the people who read my posts on Pownce. If anyone wanted to read what I have to say/share on either one, they would add me.

Everyone keeps comparing Pownce and Twitter, but really, they are two different services. One offers several features, the other offers mostly just 140 characters. In my opinion, Pownce is more like StumbleUpon than it is like Twitter in the sharing aspect of it (images, videos..). Twitter is like having a chatroom open and reading what people have to say with the occasional link to read more.

I’m not telling you to stop cross-posting to both Pownce and Twitter, but try to consider the people who are following you. Are they going to be interested in reading what you have to say on Pownce with an @reply to someone on Twitter? What about the people who follow you on both Twitter and Pownce? Do they want to read duplicate posts? How do they know which one they should reply to that will get a response back? It wastes time. You may be saving time by posting the same message to both, but you are wasting other people’s time. Also, think about the replies. People on Pownce won’t see any of the Twitter replies, and vice versa, so they may be missing the whole conversation.

If you used IM the same way, wouldn’t you be annoyed if someone sent the same message to you with all of their IM accounts at the same time? (Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, Google, etc.)

There may come a time when you want to hear what both Pownce and Twitter people have to say, because maybe you’re asking for help or for an opinion or getting an idea for a new blog post. But cross-posting to both all the time could become annoying to some.

Suggestions

• Pownce allows you to group your friends. Maybe you could create a group that wants to receive your Twitter posts on Pownce. This may or may not work depending on the client, if it allows you to select a group.
• Prefix your posts with Twitter/Pownce so if someone is interested, they can follow up on either.
• Use Twitter and Pownce as two separate services, as they were designed.

As I said, I’m not telling you to stop, but just keep your friends in mind the next time you cross-post. If anyone else has a suggestion or reason why Pownce and Twitter posts should (or shouldn’t) remain separate, please comment.