Virtual Web Log

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Virtual tools are need for virtual bookmarking

With so many social media sites popping up every day, and with people looking to take advantage of these social bookmarking sites to promote their own websites, blogs, and social pages, there has to be a point where you realize that your efforts to promote your site are outweighing the effort you put into your site.

With so much time being spent backlinking, crosslinking, tweeting, Facebooking and Myspacing, people are sacrificing some of the time they would normally spend creating worthwhile content. What good is increasing your traffic and your pagerank, if there’s nothing on your site worth the promotion?

Well, lots of people make it their main chore to bookmark their site on every microblog, directory, forum, and blog, because they’ve got a product or service they wish to promote. They use virtual bookmarking services like Bookmarking Demon, Bookmarking Ninja, or AutoPligg, to generate hundreds of accounts and thousands of backlinks.

It’s not like the old days where you created a website, joined a web ring, and hoped that the natural interest of your website was enough to generate traffic; now, you have to be a master SEO, and a marketing expert just to get 100 people to visit your page once, if they can find it!

I guess with so much filth and crap on the Internet, you need that extra help to push your website through the years of accumulated garbage. The search engines think they know how to remove the trash, but even they can’t outwit the determination of an Indian blogger who will spend ten hours a day promoting his free-hosted blog  just in order to earn a few bucks from random clicks on Google ads.

In a virtual world, I guess you need virtual weapons in order to keep up with the competition, if you can call them that. Virtual bookmarking is just one little weapon in your arsenal to help you win these online battles for traffic, rank, and good old-fashioned visitors.

According to GOTD, time travel is possible through email.

Apparently, there is some mechanism from the Future that allows email to be sent back in time, with its timestamp clearly showing on the email.

If this is true, I’ve been receiving emails from the Past and Future for quite some time now. The old emails I attribute to slow delivery service, but the Future emails I have no explanation for!

Research your writing before you write about your research

When you are working on a final essay or a dissertation or another important paper, it can be a stressful and challenging time to put your research and results into the proper words. While you have worked your hardest getting the information prepared for your final written composition, and you know what arguments you wish to present, the hard part can be translating your thoughts into well-structured paragraphs and ultimately a finished written product that cohesively joins all your materials into one powerful document. The frustrating thing is that while you have put a lot of time and effort into your term paper outline, when it comes to composing that outline into a well-polished essay, your mind suddently goes blank.

Well, if you were really good at researching, you would take advantage of the opportunity to research other strong essays, and go so far as to recruit the services of a college essay writing service with which you could draw comparisons to similar research, and identity the strengths and weaknesses of your own writing.

While it is never a good idea to plagiarize any written work, analzying and understanding written compositions can be essential to the success of your written essay or dissertation. Your strengths might well be in the the subject matter, but not as much in writing. But in the university world, you are going to be measured to the success of your final arguments and how well you communicate them in writing. Certainly, you don’t want to screw up your potential to succeed with poor grades and less-than-stellar writing. So, it might be prudent for you to take the time to do some further research on essay writing, and see how writing experts would put your research into words.

Microblogging Is Becoming Megablogging

What is all the fuss about? Apparently microblogging is the “in” thing to be doing on the Internet, next to blogging that is. It seems that microblog social networks like Twitter and Spoink and all those other aptly named microblogs are probably going to stick around for a while. Microblogging is a very hot topic on the Internet, and people are starting to understand the value and the power of these little microblogs.

Microbloggers now have a lot of choice when it comes to these miniature networks, and although Twitter seems to be out in front there are a lot of choices for micrbloggers. Some of the microblogs only allow the “traditional” 140 characters, while others allow images, file sharing, music, and other extra goodies.

Here is one list of microblogs to use as a small resource to checking out some of the many different microblog networks.

Netbooks are perfect for the ‘Net

I bought a netbooks for my wife a couple of months ago (although she really wanted a Mac), an Asus EeePC, with an Atom processor a nice little screen, a webcam, and all the power she would ever need to operate on the Internet, using Facebook, MSN, and Firefox.  I’m not going to review the product, as there are thousands of other techies probably more qualified to detail you on all the specs, and the comparisons, and speed tests, etc. Just check the Wikipedia link for all of the relevant information.

It was just that this netbook was so portable that she was using this little PC on her lap while watching tv, on the kitchen counter searching for recipes, and even in the bathroom (not the shower). It was enough to convince me to go out and buy one for myself just so that I would be able to write, update, surf, email, and do all that other Interweb stuff without having to pack up my laptop and lug it around in its case or in a backpack.

What is ideal about this little machine is that it runs for hours on a single battery charge, and even more extraordinary is that it fits into the pocket of my Scottevest (another amazing gadget), allowing me to stuff it away and carry it conveniently wherever I go.

These netbooks might not be ideal for playing Call Of Duty 5, or Photoshop, but I tell you, it’s perfect for updating Wordpress blogs, following my hockey scores, watching recorded television shows, listening to music, and doing all that other web stuff. I’ve always loved PDAs, but I’ve hated writing full articles or stories on them as it takes forever, plus I usually had to port the finished work over to another PC before uploading it to a blog or website. These netbooks have comfortable sized keyboards that allow me to type easily (I don’t have giant sausage fingers to begin with), and to publish from a Starbucks, McDonald’s, or a mooched Internet connection (from a friend).

I own several PCs, laptops, PDAs, and even a mobile PC (older), but I must say that this little netbook is one of the best tools I’ve ever purchased, and it has improved my productivity by more than half, without taking away from any of the fun!

It doesn’t matter how many pairs of earphones I purchase, or how matter gadgets I own that use them (that come with earphones), I can never find a pair to plug in when I want to listen to music on mp3 player, iPod Touch, laptop, or netbook.

I’ve always believed in having a place for everything (and everything in its place), but when it comes to earphones and headphones, that place is never where I expect it to be.

Now I know it doesn’t make sense to attach any extra cords or wires to these devices, and leaving the earphones plugged in usually just leads to tangles and other troubles. I’ve never gotten into the Bluetooth way, as it pertains to wireless listening, but there must be some other solutions to earphone management.

Now, I’ve tried retractable earphones, but they’re really quite silly, and bulky (however I do like my retractable mouse for my netbook). I’ve tried wrapping the cords around the players, and I’ve tried putting them in little boxes, but ultimately they disappear into some drawer or cupboard, never to be seen (or heard from/with) again.

The only solution I’ve come up with to this date is to run a set of earphones through my Scottevest (not a plug), a multi-pocketed layer of clothing designed for geeks. As this set is more-or-less permanently attached to my vest, I always have a set of earphones to listen with, as long as I don’t lose the vest.

At home, there are plenty of stereo speakers for pumping out the sound, and I never seem to lose those (the remotes are another question). However, when someone comes up with a way to manage earphones and headphones, I’d like to hear from them.

Get Outta My Facebook is reporting about more of the dangers of trusting your friends too much on social networking sites such as Facebook. Apparently, those pesky Nigerians are targeting Facebook users with their classic money scam.  It’s just one more reason why should be careful about sharing your personal and private information on the Internet.

It seems that the College of Cardinals is unhappy with their current religious working conditions, and the Catholic body is preparing for a full Vatican strike.

Let’s just pray that this gets settled before Superbowl Sunday.

I’m always nagging on my friends to pull themselves away from their World of Warcraft battles, but gaming and social networking can be on equal ground when it comes to addiction. I ran across this website that makes fun of Facebook users and their problems. Get outta my Facebook!

I came across this article about article writing. In webmaster forums, I see several offers every day from Indian “writers” who are promoting article writing at very low prices. Most of the posts are poorly written, are filled with spelling mistakes and punctuation, and constructed with grammar so poor you’d think it was done intentionally.

Seriously people, if you are going to pass yourself off as a “professional writer”, get a professional writer to proofread your copy before you post it.