Me and My Son: Our Seesmic Debut

Signed up for an alpha testing account on Seesmic.com and this is the first video I captured on the service.

Seesmic is best described as a video version of Twitter. Don't know what Twitter is? It's a platform for shouting to the world what you are doing at that very moment... 140 characters at a time.



For the record, Collin's favorite website is the free flash game website friv.com, and I have no advertisement agreement with them. (To friv.com: My son just plugged you, and he's pretty cute, so if you want to drop some dough this way, I won't say no.)

Also, as my boy just admitted, he's pretty hooked on Super Mario Brothers 3, which gets the kid in me pretty pumped as it was a favorite of mine in my pre-pubescent years.

I'll keep you posted on what I think about Seesmic.com as I get to use the service more.

She blinded me with science... or became my girlfriend because of it.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Nad Renrel

There's an classic song from the late 60's by Zager and Evans called "In the Year 2525", in which there's the verse:

"In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long black tube"

Well, we're not exactly close to that point yet, but this website helps bring us one step closer by allowing science to select our mates based on our DNA compatibility.

People often talk about the chemistry between lovers, but that's always been a figurative term. Thanks to the marvel of modern day science, by being matched by your DNA to your potential mate you'll find the following benefits according to ScientificMatch.com:

• Chances are increased you'll find the natural body fragrances of your match to be pleasing
• The odds of a good sex life go up
• Women tend to experience more orgasms with their DNA matched partners
• Odds of the woman cheating in the relationship decrease
• DNA matched couples tend to have a higher rate of fertility
• "All other things being equal, couples have a greater chance of having healthier children with more robust immune systems"

Now I didn't see any scientific research on their site to back up these claims. For a one-time $995 price tag you'd think they'd be right up front about the accuracy of these claims.

But, rest assured, in addition to being matched by DNA, you'll also find out if they've been in a bankruptcy in the last 7 years, or they are a convicted felon. And if you're one of those people who have been processed through our legal system and now have a criminal record, you have an opportunity to post an explanation of stated offenses. Better tell the truth about it though, as the site claims their detectives will investigate and verify it.

Ready or not, here comes the future of dating. I suppose this technology introduces us to "Dating 3.0", or would it be 2.5? I've lost track. What I do know is I won't be coughing up any DNA to find my "perfect" match anytime soon. There's just something about this service that feels like a gimmick to me.

Besides, the one guarantee the service doesn't make (I couldn't find it anywhere on the site) is to make sure your potential match is not a blood relative. I don't think I could overcome the shock and horror if the site claimed I'd find the natural scent of one of my own relatives to be most pleasing.

"In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, or say
Is in the pill you took today"

Are the Number of Social Networking Sites Making Your Head Spin?

Photo courtesy of Flickr user SideLong

While going through my RSS feed reading list on Google Reader tonight I came across a review on Mashable! for a new site called shouldi. (As in "Should I?")

The idea is pretty cool: submit a question and the public responds with advice. Check out Mashable's review if you want to know more about the site.

What this got me thinking about is how much we're inundated with all of these new social networking sites all offering their own special twist on connecting with other people around the world.

You've already got MySpace, Facebook, Yahoo! 360, Friendster and LinkedIn... oh and there's Digg, del.icio.us and StumbleUpon... Bebo, Jaiku, Twitter... you get the point.

What really hammered it all home for me is when I signed up for a MyBlogLog.com profile and there's a place to fill in your IDs for all of these different services for people to see what you're doing across all of these networks. This list contains over 30+ services that you could theoretically have accounts on all of them and somehow you're supposed to keep all of this straight.

My online world used to be simple. I set up a free Yahoo e-mail address and it was good enough for me. Friends would boast how great Hotmail was and I would tell them I was doing just fine with what I had.

Yahoo! 360 came out and since I already had a Yahoo ID, it made logical sense to set up a 360 profile. Friends would boast how great MySpace was, and I would tell them I was doing just fine with what I had.

Then the blog bug bit. Suddenly self-promotion became important and all the advice echoed the same message: you must have an account on all networks on the radar.

Now I have a Facebook profile and a LinkedIn profile, I've got friends writing on my wall and old co-workers looking for references. I've "dugg" more articles than I have dirt in my life, I've been "pownced" by more strangers than I care to admit, and I've been "flickd off" (if that's even a new 'hip' term) by more people's photos than when I used to do commercial photography.
What makes it so tough to keep up with is the fact there is a social networking service designed around every niche and interest out there it seems. Real estate agents have their own network, artists have theirs, athletes have one, librarians have theirs... the list goes on. Hell, there's so many that a Wikipedia entry had to be created just to keep up with the more notable ones.

Part of me wants to Twitter in all capital letters "ENOUGH! I BIT OFF MORE THAN I CAN CHEW!" but in the Web 2.0 world we now live in, I know better.

People had to learn to use the telephone, people had to learn how to send an e-mail, and I will learn how to keep up with all my gazillion online contacts across 50 social networking sites... eventually.

Epinions.com is still kickin' it after nearly 8 years.

I signed up for Epinions.com back in January of 2000. After surviving Y2K it seems safe to come out of my bunker, re-connect to the Internet and try and make some money.

Epinions.com is like a Consumer Reports by the every day Joe. Users write reviews about various products, give them a star rating, and other visitors can browse through all of the reviews before deciding to make a purchase. Epinions.com provides built-in price comparisons for each reviewed product, so it really is a one stop shop for someone who is in the mood for browsing and shopping.

If you were one of the lucky first ones to join the service, you made a killing off of your initial page views. I wrote 31 reviews in my first month, and with a couple of referrals under my belt I pulled down nearly $200.00.

Now that may sound like a lot of work for only $200.00, but believe me, those reviews were no sweat to write. Each one took me a max of 10 minutes of effort.

31 reviews x 10 minutes = 310 minutes or 5.17 hours.
$200.00 / 5.17 hours = $38.68 an hour.

If I wasn't working as hard as I was at my day job, I would have more time to write reviews. If I had known that I was really going to get paid I would have slacked at work and earned even more doing Epinions.com. (I had a bad taste in my mouth after a bunch of "paid to surf" and "paid to read e-mail" scams.)

The first check did come. I ripped open the envelope and was shocked to find my check for $125.09. I received checks every day that week, although none of them were as big as the first. Now that I saw this was legitimate, I decided I was going to dedicate more time to writing reviews and increasing my earnings.

Alas, it was too late by then. The bottom had fallen out, and earnings went down to "normal rates". Apparently all these big earnings were too good to be true, and just an opportunity to draw in users and reviewers.

I did go on to earn another $150 over the next 3 years, but it just wasn't the same as scoring $200 in my first month.

I haven't written a review in over 4 years, but my account is still active... and still earning. I logged on today for the first time in a while and noticed I have $8 and change sitting there. The minimum redemption balance is $10.00, so I might write a review or two for old times' sake. That, and to push my balance over ten bucks so I can get another check.