Seesmic is basically a “video Twitter.” I got an invite today from Jeff Pulver (it’s in very private pre-alpha release) and have to say that I’m liking the service…
How To Play the Piano?
Learning to play the piano at a respectable level is not difficult (or so I’ve been told).
So I’m going to learn to play the piano.
Anyone have a link to a site to help me out? Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email (mail@samharrelson.com) if so!
I’ll keep you posted on my progress here.
Here’s a great piano tutorial from Mahalo:
http://www.mahalo.com/How_To_Play_Piano_For_Beginners_(And_Save_$500_In_Lessons)
How To Twitter Guide
Caroline Middlebrook has put together a tremendous guide to Twitter (both how and why answered).
I’ve started directing people here when they ask me why I Twitter and what I get out of Twitter (since I’ve been there for about a year now).
Required reading…
The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
The Big Juicy Twitter Guide | Caroline Middlebrook
Thanks to Brian Solis for a Great Pic
I got to meet and hang out with Brian Solis at this week’s BlogWorldExpo. Brian is one of my favorite bloggers and a heck of a photographer.
I liked this shot of me that he took at the ShareASale / Conversation Group party on Wednesday night at the Wynn Hotel in Vegas.
Linkshare’s Flex Links and Mobile Links
Linkshare has announced new mobile and video/embed object initiatives within their affiliate interface.
It’s great to see the major affiliate networks moving into these areas!
I mentioned yesterday that Linkshare is releasing a series of interesting new platforms within the affiliate network’s interface. Here’s the update on those: Flex Links (a video link embed platform), Mobile Links for pay-for-performance tracking in the mobile space and Link Locator 2.0 for enhanced web services. All in all, this is a great step ahead for the affiliate network space as the performance market continues to mature and encompass other areas than traditional (or "1.0" if you will) affiliate sites.
Linkshare’s Flex Links for Video, Mobile Links and Link Locator 2.0 Roll Out
Oprah Gives Flip Ultra Cams to Audience
Based on the recommendation of video guru Jim Kukral, I bought a Flip camera a couple of months back. If you watch my YouTube channel, you’ll notice the frequent shaky and unprofessional videos that I shoot with the neat little device.
Gizmodo says that this indicates that YouTube has arrived… I think this is an indication that The Flip has arrived.
For amateurs, it’s perfect. Evidently Oprah feels the same…
Oprah, that generous talk show host who no longer needs a last name, stooped down to YouTube to join up with the great unwashed yesterday, and to commemorate the occasion she gave away a $150 Flip Ultra camcorder to everybody in her talk show audience. Check out her condescending peptalk to YouTubers in the video above, promoting her show on which YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, whom Oprah says “don’t go out much,” appeared.
Off To BlogWorldExpo
I’m heading out to catch my flight for BlogWorldExpo in Las Vegas in just a few moments, but wanted to let you know that if you’re going to be there, send me an email (sam@costpernews) or give me a call (803.413.6834) if you’d like to meet.
I’m glad CostPerNews is back (best traffic day ever yesterday, btw and FTW).
More soon…
Using Disqus for Comments Here
So, I’m trying out something new for the comments called Disqus. It’s a rather neat (and easy to install) platform that allows for comments to turn into a forum and allows for you the user to keep your comments organized with other blogs using Disqus (Dave Winer, Fred Wilson and a few others are using it).
Give it a whirl and let me know what you think. If you think the old comment system is better we’ll switch back, but the forum integration is nifty.
The webwide discussion community where you carry your conversations with you.
AdReady: Ready for Prime Time?
The ad network space is incredibly crowded (especially in this age of loose spending by advertisers). That may be coming to a close in the near future, but for now it looks like there’s more and more ad networks popping up everyday who aren’t bringing much creativity or uniqueness to the table.
I found AdReady while doing research for another post and I’m trying to figure out exactly what they do that is different from either AdSense or CJ, Linkshare, Performics, ShareASale, etc. From the site, AdReady is working with Google (AdSense?), Yahoo’s RightMedia and AOL’s Advertising.com.
TechCrunch gave some coverage of the site with details like a 20% cut for the network. Beyond the ability to customize graphical ads (Photoshop?? The Gimp??), I’m not seeing the value proposition here or a reason why publishers (or advertisers) should choose something like AdReady over one of the existing ad networks.
I’d love to see them expand and improve, though… the ad network space (especially in the graphical realm) needs some tree shaking.
AdReady is an advertising technology company focused on making online display advertising accessible and effective for advertisers of all sizes. Through AdReady’s data-rich library of proven creative, real-time ad customization tools, and intuitive web-based interface, marketers are learning that AdReady makes it easy to build and run effective online display ad campaigns in minutes.
AdReady — Company Overview
TinyURL Supports Ron Paul
TinyURL is supporting Ron Paul (so therefore all Twitter users are as well!).
Seen on the main page of TinyURL today (look in the top right):
