Archive Category: Blog & Internet
Super Punch Blogging Secrets
Our very own John Struan, who blogs at Super Punch, wrote a very neat article summarizing the secrets of his blogging success.
3. Give more than you expect to receive
Every selfish move I made failed. As I’ve explained, I tried posting spammy comments and begging for links. It got me nowhere. But what worked extremely well was trying to help other people. I recommended countless tips to other sites. Now, this didn’t help me directly or quickly. Many sites would post my suggestion and thank me, but not even offer a link. Other sites would credit me with a "via," but I’ve learned over the years that "vias" drive no traffic at all, even when they come from the biggest websites.
However, "vias" helped in two ways. First, they improved my site’s status in Google’s eyes, and thus increased the chance someone would find me accidentally via a web search. Second, vias directed a few visitors to my site, typically other bloggers who were looking for new sources. Those bloggers then started linking to me with more vias, further improving my site’s status. Also, every once in a long while, a site I’d helped would drive traffic to me in thanks. I stuck with it, and it all started to snowball.
As you probably know, John is a blogger here on Neatorama (as he mentioned in the article), so let me add three additional things that I think contributed greatly to his success: 1) John has a keen eye in finding neat stuff in his area of expertise (custom toys, pop culture); 2) he has integrity; and 3) he blogs about what he’s passionate about (it shows in his blogging style). I know that he’s an authority on the subject, and if I have a question about custom toy, he’ll be the first guy I’ll ask.
Previously on Neatorama: The Secret of Neatorama’s Success
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100 Ways to Kill a Peep
Like its name said, 100 Ways to Kill a Peep blog is dedicated to documenting the creative ways to kill the marshmallow candies.
So far they’ve got about a dozen and a half or so, but I have no doubt they’ll reach 100 soon.
Link – via Rue The Day!
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March MODOK Madness
Image: Ray Alma (who went as MODOK himself on Halloween!)
I’m fascinated with blogs that focus so narrowly on a single topic as to become a universe of their own. Take, for instance, this one called MARCH MODOK MADNESS – which as you can tell from the title is dedicated to everything MODOK (technically, artists’ renderings of the supervillain.
Oh, and for those of you who don’t know, the name stands for Mobile/Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. And so far I haven’t seen Ms. MODOK in the lineup: Link
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TIME's Most Influential People of 2009: moot of 4chan?
TIME Magazine has been compiling an annual list of the world’s most influential people since 2004 – and this year, they’ve opened the floodgates to let readers vote for their pick online. Little did the know that this exercise in democracy would yeild an unexpected result: the frontrunner – by a wide margin – is moot, the founder of 4chan:
PRO: Just about every Internet in-joke of the past few years has started on 4chan — a bare-bones, id-liberating and reliably profane image board whose Droogish users have hatched everything from Rickrolling to LOLcats. The site can also launch real-world movements, as evidenced by Anonymous, a 4chan-organized protest group responsible for several anti-Scientology rallies.
CON: Thanks to 4chan’s oft-obscene content, the reclusive moot has had trouble luring advertisers.
Link – via mental_floss
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The Blackboard Blogger of Africa
Alfred Sirleaf is a blogger. Not just any blogger – no sir, Alfred is an analog blogger. He runs the "Daily News," a news hut in the middle of Monrovia, the capital of a Liberia, a country on the west coast of Africa. The lack of electricity doesn’t even faze him:
Alfred serves as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. The lack of electricity never throws him off. The lack of funding means he’s creative in ways that he recruits people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 (he says) that read his blackboard daily.
Not all Liberians who read his news are literate, so he makes use of symbols. Whether it’s a UN or military helmet, a poster of a soccer player or a bottle of colored water to denote gas prices, he is determined to get the message out in any way that he can.
Link | A 2005 article on NYT on Alfred Sirleaf – via Onelargeprawn
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Animated Websites That Kids Will Love But Grownups Will Adore
There are sites on the internet for everybody, and kids are no exception. That doesn’t mean that sites intended for one audience cannot be enjoyed by another. This selection of sites is such that those of us who can occasionally be catalogued under adult may find the not so inner child coming to the fore. Simple pleasures are often the best. Pictured is Heromachine, where you can create your own superhero.
If your kids are a little older and like superheroes then this site will probably mean the last you will see of them until they come of age. There are hundreds of thousands of combinations and permutations available to them to create that superhero that they have always wanted to see. Of course, you may spend more time on this than the kids.
Link – via webphemera
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Explaining Twitter
(YouTube Link)
This 4-minute video from Current TV’s SuperNews lampoons the Twitter phenomenon. Why would anyone want hourly updates on the mundane details of other people’s lives? SuperNews explains.
Via Gavin Richardson
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The Guys Behind the Mentos Thing
If you recall the Diet Coke/Mentos phenomenon, you already know Fritz Grobe and Stephen Yoltz, even if you don’t know their names. They’re the geniuses behind the theater company Eepybird.
Geeks Are Sexy has a two-part interview with Grobe and Yoltz about how they took six months to develop the Bellagio Fountain routine for their “Experiment #137″ video and what went into the creation of their “Sticky Notes Experiments” video the next year.
You’ll also see them do the Diet Coke/Mentos routine in front of a live audience at the Maker Fair! Link
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Glico Nikon F Miniature Toy Camera
If you think the toy inside the box of Cracker Jack is cool, that’s nothing compared that what you’ll find in a box of the Japanese candy Glico caramel. Take, for instance, this fantastic Nikon F1 SLR miniature they included back in 2002.
Akiyama Michio of Red Book Nikkor has the pictures.
Link – via charlottesinterweb
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Six YouTube Classics in Two Minutes
[YouTube - Link]
Israel company FLIX has Ronen, a "portly, but eager intern" recreate six classic YouTube moments in just two minutes!
– via urlesque
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BuckyBalls Magnetic Toys are 216 rare earth magnet balls that can be shaped and molded into virtually any shape. Tear 'em apart and snap 'em back together in unlimited ways for hours of fun! Watch the video for a quick demo of what BuckyBalls can do. Remember to get two for twice the fun! Link |
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In Case of Emergency...
The picture isn’t great, but the hack is awesome. Apparently its origins are unknown – a friend of BoingBoing’s David Pescovitz pointed it out to him, and here we are, basking in its coolness. Anyone seen it before?
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Neatorama: Blog as a Teaching Tool
You
all know by now that Neatorama is a fun blog and a breezy read, but apparently,
there it also has a use that I haven't expected. Neatorama reader Barry
emailed me that he has been using Neatorama as a teaching tool at his
local community center.
Here's what he wrote:
Hello Alex,
I teach a class at my local community center that centers on technology use and recommend your site to the students. Many of them are underprivileged youth and I have found that sites like Neatorama can sometimes inspire them into other avenues aside from what's left for them on the street. Several students have gone on to pursue a job in IT and we even had one older gentleman pursue his GED at 60 years old because he wanted to become a successful blogger like those he saw on sites like yours. In fact I have it on personal account that at least fifteen people now know what "Large Hadron Collider" means. At any rate, thank you and well done.
When I asked for more info, Barry replied:
I use blogs in class because they're such a novel form of communication. One of the students drew the parallel that, after realizing he had spent five straight hours reading, "blogs are like books used to be in the old(en) days". What he meant was that when printed publications first started showing up all those years ago, literacy rates soared and that the very same effect had happened to him right in class. He went on to say that he couldn't remember the last time he spent five hours reading anything.
Aside from most blog reading being non intensive, I encourage the students to check out the sources of the posts they enjoyed because that was where they could find out more about the topics they enjoy.
I don't think that, even with the internet at their fingertips, new users know how interconnected things are online. This can lead to the intimidation a lot of them experience when all they have to consider is that it all really is right there in front of them. Neatorama especially bridges this gap with its combination of silly, serious, and intellectual content which is what makes it so effective as a tool.
Thanks Barry! I'm honored and humbled that this li'l blog has helped your students!
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Leaving Camera Memory Cards in Public Places
The Photochaining blog is a continuous project where people randomly leave memory cards in public places to be picked up and used by others, who then do likewise.
First, take funny/original/creative photos with your own camera using a cheap memory card. Then write a note in which your explain the concept to the "finder". You also provide a name to the memory card (research on Photochaining to ensure that the designated memory card name has not already been allocated). Put the memory card and the note in an envelope. Hopefully the "finder" will pay it forward and you will be able to track images and the journey of your card online.
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Oreo Cupcakes With Internal Milk Glass
Sweet lovers like myself will love this brilliant concept on The Cupcake Project blog. It’s an Oreo cupcake with Oreo frosting, topped with home-made Oreos and served with a glass of milk built inside. This ingenious dessert marvel is made possible with the help of those delightful chocolate liqour cups. I totally want to make these myself, if you do as well, let me know how they turn out.
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Twitter Throughout History
What if microblogging platform Twitter had been available in the distant past? Sharinator has a sample of Twitter feeds from an ape-man, a caveman, Julius Caesar, and Hitler, plus on from the future! Link -via Digg
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Unscientific Yet Totally Accurate Look at Digg and Reddit Users
If you’re interested in joining an online community yet don’t know which one is right for you, Brainz has done the legwork. Here is a completely unscientific (yet surprisingly accurate) look at social networking and media sites, including digg, reddit, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter: Link – via The Presurfer
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Chinese Woman Put Her Life Online
Beijing resident Chen Xiao was tired of making plans for her life and having them ruined by natural, economic and personal disasters. So she decided to hand over her personal decision-making to China’s hundreds of millions of Internet users.
"I figured if other people came up with things for me to do, I might stumble upon something new and better."
Web users, known in China as netizens, have been finding plenty of things for Chen to do, from delivering pet food, to caring for stray cats, to taking a hot lunch to a homeless man, to attending the birth of a child. And she’s been able to make money at it, charging about $3 an hour.
Chen won’t do anything illegal, immoral or violent, although she’s been asked.
“When people stop needing me, I’ll go back to my original life. But I don’t know when that will come.”
– Chen Xiao
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The Inboxes of 15 Fictional Villains
Cracked.com held a reader contest to see who could come up with the most appropriate villain inbox. This one wasn’t the winner, but it was my favorite.
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Photo Evidence of Tacky Weddings
Some of you might be familiar with Cake Wrecks, a site that mocks botched baked goods. This site is sort of like Cake Wrecks for weddings. If you think the camo tuxes are something, wait til you see the Hello Kitty dress and the gal who chose hot pants and bustiers for herself and her bridesmaids. To each his (or her) own, I guess!
Link
Photo by Stacy Reeves, obviously. I checked out her site and she actually does very lovely work; don’t hold the camo outfits against her.
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Google's Cafeteria Doesn't Suck
As if we needed another reason to be insanely jealous of people who work at Google, here’s one more: not only is the food there free, their cafeteria doesn’t suck. Not by a long shot. The Google people periodically bring in guest chefs to cook for a day – even Mario Batali has stopped by. The baker who blogged about her experience is Kelli Bernard, the owner of Amai Tea and Bake House in New York. She brought in several varieties of cookies, including chai almond, green tea and pumpkin chocolate chip. I’m so envious.
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Fail Sticker
Design studio Go Media has just released "the most usable sticker for real-life FAILS". Behold, the Fail Sticker.
Oh, I can think of many uses for this little puppy!
Link – via Zoomdoggle and Urlesque
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The Farewell Email: "So Long Suckers! I'm Out!"
The farewell email, the last piece of correspondence to send to your co-workers when you are leaving the company, is usually a utilitarian method of letting people know how to contact you. But for some, it has evolved into a megaphone to voice their rant … or their creativity:
It was not the most eloquent subject line for a farewell e-mail to 5,000 co-workers: "So long, suckers! I’m out!"
But Jason Shugars worked at Google, whose off-center corporate culture is more forgiving than that of your average buttoned-down investment bank. In the rest of his goodbye, Shugars, a senior sales compliance specialist, reminisced about workplace moments that included putting cake down his pants at a sales conference, stealing a boss’ $8,000 leather couch and singing "Hit Me Baby One More Time" in a miniskirt and braids.
"It took me a long time to write it," said Shugars, 34, who left Google to become director of ad operations for the music streaming website Imeem. "I didn’t want to send out a stale ‘good working with you, please reach me here’ e-mail. Who wants that?"
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From the Desk of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe...
…comes “Appropriately Named,” a blog that points out all of those names for people and businesses that are just too good to be true. My favorite? Dr. William Friend… proctologist. And to your left is Larry Sprinkle, weatherman. If only he was a urologist. Mostly this is an excuse to get you to share your own in the comments – so have at it!
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Atlantis: Found by Google Ocean?
Google Maps: Link
Has Google Ocean finally found the missing city of Atlantis? A curious rectangular pattern 100 miles wide was spotted off the coast of Spain, in 17,800 ft deep water:
Situated in an area called the Madeira Abyssal Plane, the grid was spotted by aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford as he browsed through Google Ocean.
Bernie, 38, of Chester, said: “It looks like an aerial map of Milton Keynes. It must be man-made.”
Link – via Cliff Pickover’s Reality Carnival
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Cupboard Door Sounds Just Like Chewie
Link via Geekologie
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Spinalistips: Life Tips for People With Spinal Cord Injuries
This is a really awesome site for people with spinal cord injuries, just different things to make life a little easier and more normal. It’s kinda like an Instructables-style Swedish site run by a couple of occupational therapists.
Spinalistips now has more than 875 tips sorted by categories like mobility, carrying objects, eating, and so on.
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Why You Shouldn't Cheat On Your Spouse Using Facebook
This should go without saying, but for those who are thinking of cheating on their spouses, check this story out.
After traveling for 9 hours on a journey from his home in South Yorkshire to North Scotland, Stuart, 39, was ready for an exciting sexual weekend with Emma, the attractive twenty-something he had been exchanging provocative messages with on a nightly basis via Facebook.
When he arrived at a farm in a remote area of Aberdeen where Emma had told Stuart she lived, he found the place run down, locked up, and deserted. Moments later, Emma texted him explaining that she had been delayed at work and that he would have to wait for her.
So he waited and waited inside of his car for three hours.
As the day shifted into night, Staurt was becoming increasingly anxious and he decided to give Emma a call to see when she would be home.
He dialed the number he had been texting, but when he heard the ringer stop he was horrified to hear a man with a Liverpool accent answer and say, “Hello Stuart, do you remember us? It’s them Scouse lads who threw you in the pool. You’ve been framed.”
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Tiny Art Director
Bill Zeman’s daughter is the Tiny Art Director. She tells him what to draw and then tells him just exactly how much she hates it. Bill has been recording her comments and posting them with his art since she was two and a half.
Here’s a sample:
The Brief: Purple Gatorade [Rosie's Fish]
The Critique: Dad, that doesn’t look like Purple Gatorade. Only mine looks like Purple Gatorade. You’re going to scan it, and then when you’re done with it, it’s going to be scrappled up and thrown in the garbage. And then mine will be our final picture.
Job Status: Rejected
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Zzz-mailing
Sleep researchers at the University of Toledo, Ohio, reported the first case of someone using the Internet while asleep. A 44-year-old woman had gone to bed about 10 p.m., then got up a few hours later, logged on to her computer with her username and password, and composed three e-mails to friends inviting them over for drinks. She only found out about it when they called the next day to accept.
Her e-mails contained a mix of upper- and lowercase characters, were badly formatted and contained odd expressions. One read: "Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4 pm. Bring wine and caviar only." Another e-mail said only: "What the …"
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My "Type" Of Car
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