User generated television is the primary goal of YawpBox.com, but unlike AcceptibleTV they are not asking you to create mini television series they want your life story. You get to tell your story to a world wide audience via the website and to a TV audience based in Texas. I am not sure if the television series is or will be going national. In any case you get to have your fifteen minutes of fame thanks to YawpBox TV.
Unlike other online video sharing sites YawpBox offers up its content in categories. You choose which story you want to submit then upload original videos, photos, audio, and blog content then community members vote on your submissions. If you rate high enough from fellow Yawpers your story just might find its way to the YawpBox TV show. According to their website the magazine style TV show is filmed live in front of a television audience in Dallas, Texas using your content, your stories. Not simply reposting a clip from your local news shows without their consent.
The key to this site and I assume the television show too is to use community members stories, photos and video not to be a dumping ground for other people’s copyright material. Thus far it looks as if YawpBox.com needs help in that area as all I could find were photoshopped images, pictures from other sources and video commercials. The best video on the site that I could find was of a couple doing a dance routine at their own wedding. Heck Lex and Terry give you some great homework assignments via the national radio show and TV program so come on folks put on those thinking caps and take up their challenge. YawpBox needs your original content so get to posting. This idea has potential but from what I can see the users are not living up to it at this time.
When I think of Spock my mind Immediate goes to Star Trek’s most famous of Vulcans, Mr. Spock played by the venerable actor Leonard Nimoy. From there my mind wonders to the Star Trek themed pop bank called S.P.O.C.K. (their music is pretty good by the way). I don’t think I would ever think search engine, but that’s exactly what Spock.com is, a search engine. It is a people and information search engine. You can search for your friends, co-workers, models, singers, or even your favorite Star Trek actors like Mr. Nimoy.
Spock says they are not a social networking site yet it certainly acts like one. You can use the site to make your searches without signing up, but if you join you get to contribute to the site and hopefully help improve those search results. You do that by inviting friends to “trust” you and then vote on your tags, any one can add tags to any profile so there is the potential of misguided results due to abuse by the users. I can only hope that people that do sign up and claim their profiles have control over the content people add to their profiles. I would hate to come up in the top results for some thing I am not like republican. The site is still in beta so hopefully all the concerns people have will be addressed. Until then enjoy the new search engine and behave yourself.
The hope is that Spock could become the Google of people searches. But do you think you will be hearing the term “have you Spocked yourself” in place of the now familiar “did you Google yourself” any time soon? I don’t think so. Personally, I have not Googled myself in a long time, but felt the need to see if the Spock results were similar to theirs. And they are pretty darned close especially since the web result portion of Spock.com is pulled directly from Google. So head on over to the site and run a search or two on Spock.com to see where you and your friends stand.
When I first signed up for SheSpeaks.com I had hoped to get something really cool. What was great was they fact that I signed up after hearing about them on the local news as did a lot of other women. So I did not think I would be contacted to review any products any time soon. But not long after I signed up I did receive and email telling me I could review a new magazine from the folks who bring us Martha Stewart Living. Woman’s magazines are not really my bag but I figured what the hey. So I filled out the initial survey and received the magazines today.
I really was not expecting too much from the magazine. Just another Woman’s Day or Cosmo, don’t get me wrong Comso has its good points but I am not into the makeup tips and high fashion no one can afford. Blueprint has this but in moderation and the fashion is more affordable. The best part of the magazine is it does not pander to a feminine stereotype. The makeup tips and fashion spread are mixed with computer tips, decorating help, technology tips, and of course recipes, but done in a cool way. Dare I say it? It is almost like Blueprint is the WIRED of the women’s magazines.
Really enjoyed the 100 lists at the end of the magazine. Nice list and a neat layout. Well done.
Draw back the magazine has all the articles on the left and the full page ads on the right, which keeps us cover rollers from doing that easily and forcing us to keep the magazine opened wide [not good for commuters but good for the advertisers].
I got two issues the March/April and the May/June issues.
From the website: “Our new magazine, Blueprint, inspires with easy ideas for your home, wardrobe, and life. Design your life with Blueprint.”
[I know the post is a little late. Since then I had also reviewed an AOL website for SheSpeaks.com as well. Now on to some good stuff in ‘08.]
Google is trying to take over the wikipedia market with their new Google KNOL [unit of knowledge] site. The new site seems to be a cross between wikipedia and about.com’s formats. It will contain numerous articles on topics written by experts on that topic. Unlike wikipedia the public at large will not be able to edit the information in the article only comment on it. This good news for us as it makes the information on the site more reliable than wiki’s. The author is now held responsible for what they write as they should be. Share your knowledge with the world but beware everyone else is too.
Which brings me to the big problem. Google will of course be ranking all these pages in their search engine so everyone and their brother will be writing half-assed articles to eat up the keywords. So while this might take something away from wiki I don’t think it will hurt About.com as the test their writers and actually hire them to do the writing with only one writer on one topic they control the potential onslaught that Google will be facing. As Rachel Luxemburg has said this is going to get ugly.
I already knew Fiskars made great scissors, but I did not know they also made gardening tools too. According to their website they are offering a grant to gardening groups to help with community beautification and education. The program is called Project Orange Thumb. (Get it? It is a cross between the company’s colors – black and orange — and having a green thumb. Get it now?) Only groups are eligible for this grant. So if you know of or are part of a gardening group and you have a project that is geared toward community involvement, horticultural education, sustainable agriculture, or neighborhood improvement you are invited to apply for the grant. No individuals are allowed to apply, as this is a grant for groups and not a sweepstakes. This is a great opportunity for schools, garden clubs, camps, youth groups, or other clubs.
Applying for this grant sounds almost as much fun as winning it. You have to completely describe your idea and goals for the project and what you hope to accomplish with your project. If you win you have to keep a journal, write in gardening blogs and photograph your group and project. (Sounds like a great way to get a bunch of bloggers out of the house and into a garden.)
So what do you win for all your hard work? Your group will get $1500 worth of Fiskars gardening equipment and $800 in garden-related materials. (I assume that means plants, seeds, soil, mulch, fertilizers and the like.)
So show the world how green you can be and go out and make your neighborhood more attractive. Who knows this could be you next year.
I had my ultrasound on my legs today to make sure I do not have any blood clots. I pressured the doctor into allowing the test because I have been staying up too late watching Discovery Health and I got scared of DVTs or deep vein thrombosis.
Let me tell you this is one of the worst tests I have ever had. It really hurts. I think it would have hurt just as bad even if I did not have two huge injuries on both legs. The worst part was right above the knee on the inner thigh. Man that hurt.
The girl giving me the test tried to avoid two of the big bruises on my left leg but she had to do the test. She was very friendly and talking to me helped distract me from what she was doing. Who knew an ultrasound would hurt so much? She told me that once a lady got off the table and hit her. I promised not to hit her but said I was going to blog about how horrible it was.
Overstock.com has a great contest. They are currently running the “All I want for Christmas Giveaway”. Between December 3rd and the 7th you can win gifts for yourself and five of your friends from the fine folks at Overstock.com.
Since my accident Christmas isn’t going to be full of presents this year. That’s for sure. This contest lets you pick the one item you would really love to have from their website each day for five days. Each day you get a chance to win the gift you chose for that day. But that’s not all. At the end of those five days you get a final chance to win all five gifts! It gets better too. If you win and have sent invitations to the contest to five friends they win too. Winning this contest would make my Xmas a lot more cheery. I net it would yours too.
I would love an LG LCD TV. We go to a local sports bar to watch the games on Sundays and they have these all over the place and they are just great. That would be my first choice if I could have anything from the whole store. My next choices would be accessories to go with it like the Toshiba HD-A20 high definition DVD player, the Canon HV20 HDV Camcorder, Sony VAIO N395E/B Notebook, Xbox 360 Premium Bundle with an extra Headset and finally something to watch on it — The X-Files Ultimate DVD Collection.
Talk about a Christmas wish list. There is nothing on there that I could afford but I certainly would enjoy winning them. I will be sending five really good friends a chance to win too, because if I win they win too. Sweet deal.
There are lots of sites out there to help you with site submissions. Most will cost you but a lot of them are free. Do a simple google search to weed them out.
I just stumbled on StartRanking.com which is a slightly different model. It asks for a text link instead of payment. Believe you me the best way to get a good google rank is to get a lot of text links back to your site or blog. I am willing to link to those who link to me so send me your requests or write a good comment on one of my topics and I will approve it and your site link too.
If it is not the guy who decided to almost take my life on Sunday or his insurance company or my insurance company it is everyone else!
Most recently it is PayPerPost. Which quite honestly is normally a great place to work with get some money from your blogs. Which quite frankly thanks to that asshole on Sunday I am in desperate need of!
So I go to PPP to try and find some things to write about and get a few extra dollars to cover some of these bills which are adding up after three days in the hospital and who knows how long out of work and they reject the post without even completely reviewing it!
I always choose things I want to write about and jumped on the Sweeny Todd offer ASAP. I had all my content but had to edit it and change a few things so I put all the required info in the post first and added the trailer before adjusting and adding my personal content.
Normally, it takes them days to even look at a post, but for some reason on the day when it is taking me longer to do anything is the day they are on top of me. I am sorry that the medications I am on for the six broken ribs I have makes me a little slower than normal!
Most days I would be proud to post this badge but not today.
UPDATE: Now they are telling me I did not add all the stupid little code they require. I know I did and posted it exactly like they requested. I double checked and it is all there as requested. Links, codes, images, everything! They need to take a better look at that post!
What better way to see the great city of Philadelphia than via a free tour? You can do it. All you need to do is sign up for the Trusted Tours and Attractions free newsletter and by doing so you get a chance to win a free sightseeing tour from the city of your choice. You could win four tickets to the sightseeing tours of your choice. Don’t know if you can get a ticket to four different tours or if you must take four tickets to the same tour.
Philadelphia is a great city full of history and culture. Heck, just watch the film National Treasure and it will make you want to travel to the city to see all the cool clues in the film. Okay, so that was all fiction but the history is real and you will be immersed in it. Visit the liberty bell, Betsy Ross’ House and so much more.
So whether you live in or around this fine town or are simply visiting I suggest you head to TrustedTours.com a take a chance on what they have to offer. And quite possibly win one of their tours. You will be able to choose from a boat tour, trolley tour or even a carriage tour.
Philadelphia is not your only choice either. You have many cities to choose from like Savannah, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco just to name a few.
