Archive for September, 2007
logo wars
I was browsing Tyler Cruz’s blog yesterday (regular reader) and came across his new logo.. (here).
It seems everyone who’s anyone is changing their image these days.. in the past couple of months, JohnChow, Shoemoney and Problogger have all dipped into their pockets and paid for new designs and identity.
Tyler has mentioned several times before he wanted to update his blog design, i remember him saying that like a year ago 
Anyway, his new logo certainly looks the part..
Very professional, custom made… a solid investment. He’s gotten in to a bit of a mess though over it..
He got the logo for $250, but tried to sell the services of the logo designers for $500, pocketing around $150 for acting as a ‘sales rep’. The brown envelope deal was spotted by John Cow who became the whistle-blower…
Whilst Tyler is no doubt angry, potential clients are no doubt grateful to John Cow who might well have saved them $250 per logo. At the end of the day, the reason services/sales are so successful online is because they cut out the middle man.
By taking middle men into internet services, you raise prices, which in turn means only the wealthy can survive… without the little guys like me and you investing our pennies, we’d have another dot com collapse. That is of course an OTT, pessimistic view of things, blown out of all porportions, but it’s a little example as to what we don’t need on the net.
The best solution would have been for an affiliate system. Prices at $500, with a 20% cut per referral. If the service is good enough (which it is, in this case), then you’ll have no problem getting referrals and generating business. So this is an example of how not to do referrals
The past week, it’s really gotten cold out there..
My car windscreen was frozen over one morning last week 
Now all we need is the pitch black mornings to come along and we’re officially in winter 
People get angry/frustrated, they hate getting up, hate going to work, hate coming home in the dark from work… it’s like life just stops for 4 or 5 months, only waking up for Christmas in between 
So i’m not looking forward to the winter months, but at least i’ll be wrapped up in a nice warm college/car/home most of the time… there’s guys out there that have to work outside or leave the doors open all day to take in deliveries 
I can understand why a lot of animals go into hibernation for a few months
The MillionDollarWiki has now sold 104 pages, taking in $104,000.
I didn’t think it would make it, even this far, but then again i didn’t expect Shoemoney to blog about it..
That took things to a new level. I heard about it through John Chow’s blog, so when you’ve those guys blogging about you, you know you’ve got something hot.
So a big landmark for the MDW, the first target is always the most difficult to reach, and now with over 1000 pages sold, i think Graham will make it at some stage, i’d expect things to really take off now as people realise this is a winner after all and it’s a case of supply<demand so you may find people buying words to sell them.
Anyway, enter the copycats.. and i guess if you were kicking youself for not thinking of MDW, you’ll be kicking yourself even more, now that i tell you MillionEuroWiki.com has made over $3000 in a week
MillionPoundWiki anyone?? 
Check out JohnChow’s updated PageRank.. PR5 
I’m sure this won’t bother John much.. in fact, he’ll probably gain more link love out of it from bloggers like me blogging about how he’s been bitchslapped by google again
John’s blog was removed from google SERPS a while ago, but funnily enough, it is still indexed 
So this latest ‘attack’ on John’s ranking/SEO is further proof that if you try to mess with Google, there’s only going to be one winner
Don’t be fooled by paper watch, despite getting 112 pages of stuff, it’s all fairly easy/common sense stuff which i already know…
There are 2 major things i’d say i’ve learned out of it all so far…
- Binary code: what it is, where it’s used, how to convert/calculate other bases to/from binary.
- Programming: the basics of VB (visual basic), i can now design and code small app’s such as simple calculators with buttons/labels/textboxes etc…
That’s it. The rest is either what i’d call bluff work, common sense or stuff i’ve already known from working in/with computers as a general user. I’ve had 3 mini assignments so far and nailed 100% in all 3 (well, i should do), so happy days
Loads of huffing and puffing, fancy terminology along with 70+ hours of classes and the 100 pages of notes/info/rubbish, but if i were to give you a no – frills summary of what i’ve learned, that would be it 
I’m also, for the first time, beginning to see different standards/quality between lecturers.. the good ones and the not so good ones. Up until now, i guess i was trusting/looking up to all of them as some sort of guru’s in their area, but this week i’ve begun to see that they are human after all and not invincible fountains of knowledge. So a reality check for me.
The one thing i can say about DkIT/College and the staff i’ve met, is that it has a really relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.. no pressure and an ‘in your own time’ sort of approach to things. Very casual and laid back, which i love, it suits me. It makes learning not necessarily fun (you’ll never hear me mention ‘maths/programming’ + ‘fun’ in the same sentence), but less of a ‘chore’. I’m also very self-motivated/independent so you’ll never find me taking days off here and there just because i feel like it.. 100% attendance record so far in all classes
So things are relatively easy so far, i can’t complain.. the only thing i’m having trouble with is adding/converting binary numbers but that’s probably down to my lack of interest in maths. I find it boring / not useful, but at the same time i know enough to get by so i can’t complain as i’m sure there’s other people that are seriously struggling.. if i REALLY wanted to, i’d spend a couple of hours on the net and iron out any problems i have, but let’s be honest here.. i just couldn’t be bothered doing something if it doesn’t need to be done, especially if i’m not interested in it
So 3 weeks in, September under my belt and cruising along nicely. I’m enjoying it all so far.. the early starts suck big time, but hey, they could be the difference between me making it online, or me trying to make it online 
