thinkzig

Heh.

All the fake phone number does is measure how many phone leads the site generates, but it does nothing to measure the value of those leads. What if it generates 30 leads a month from consumers that are a bad fit for the service provider? On the other hand, what if it's 3 leads a month that turn into valuable business?

I'm with the plumber on this one. If you're trying to gain favor with a business you don't do it by hijacking their name and representing them as something they are not.

HelpHive got this one wrong.

(buffering..................)

Another company that is doing really well with newsletters is Dogster. Sarah Lacy interviewed the Dogster founder for Yahoo a year or so ago and I was amazed to discover how lucrative they can be.

Link to the interview here: http://blog.dogster.com/2008/12/01/sarah-lacy-interviews-ted...

Did you find that success on this exercise tracked well with success on the job for those that you ended up hiring?

Assuming this guy isn't a troll, what do you think about the claims he's making? Do you think hardware/software combos like this exist?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327246.500-13-more-t...

That article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2226279/

I think it would depend on how many different pills you're taking at once. For me, I liked the way the Maya was laid out in a grid. It makes it easier to see the big picture.

Wait... what?

This whole article is laying things on a bit thick, but this quote is especially hard to swallow.

The two groups of people that primarily buy Windows are individual consumers, like my dad, and corporate IT decision makers, like my boss.

I can't imagine either man saying to me, "I'd love to stay with Windows but its damn Registry-centric architecture is something I just can't get past. It's sure making Linux look pretty attractive."

There are plenty of legit reasons for choosing or not choosing to use Windows. I have a hard time swallowing that its Registry-centric architecture is high on most people's lists.

Allowing you to authenticate against another SMTP server always seemed like such an easy win for them and I couldn't understand why they didn't just do it. But I guess I'm not the one supporting millions of people on my platform. :)

This makes GMail an even stronger candidate now to replace a desktop mail client in my book. Thanks, Google.

While this document doesn't discuss the iPhone takeover explicitly, it does illustrate how instructions can be sent to iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile phones via an SMS exploit that does not require the carrier to be involved. Interesting stuff.

"sites that use Facebook Connect as an alternate to account registration have seen a 30-200% increase in registration on their sites."

Has anyone here done this with their site? Are you seeing those kind of numbers?

I posted this because there was a lot of interesting discussion on the Matt Mullenweg post in regards to his sleeping patterns.

My lifestyle would make it hard for me to try polyphasic sleep, but I could see where it would help my productivity if I could pull it off.

Outside of seeing a doctor to see if there's something seriously screwed up with your back, I'd offer these 3 pieces of advice I had to learn about the hard way.

1.) Massage.

You may not think it's the manliest thing ever, but if you can afford it you should find a good local masseuse and get yourself an hour session. Even if you go once and never go again, you'll get an education in just how kinked up your back and shoulders probably are.

I tweaked my back lifting a lawn mower out of my car a few years ago and didn't think much of it at the time. Over the next few weeks I started to have all kinds of shoulder problems and other various pain to the point where my arms were getting tingly and I couldn't sit and code for more than 30 minutes at a time.

Long story short, I went through a few doctors before I finally just decided to see a masseuse and see if it helped. I was lucky to find someone that knew what they were doing and helped get me straightened out. It took about 5 sessions over 5 weeks, but I've never had problems since.

2.) Trigger points.

Learn what they are and how you can fix them. This was my problem that the masseuse turned me on to. Trigger points are essentially little micro-knots in your muscle fibers that can add up to cause big problems for you. For me, lifting that mower was really just the straw that broke the camel's back. It just exacerbated all the trigger point problems I'd been creating over years of coding and not stretching out my back and shoulders properly.

If you know where the common trigger points creep up and how to get rid of them you can save yourself a lot of pain and downtime (not to mention massage bills).

Buy these two things: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook (http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Point-Therapy-Workbook-Self-Tr...) and a TheraCane (http://www.amazon.com/Thera-Cane-Theracane-TheraCane/dp/B000...)

The book will show you how to identify and treat the trigger points all over your body, and the TheraCane will help you reach the places on your back that you can't reach yourself.

3.) Yoga.

Once you get all your issues straightened out, yoga and/or a good daily stretching regimen can help keep you kink free.

Hopefully some of this advice is helpful. I was really messed up for a while until I figured all this out.

After all.... I like monkeys. :)

http://www.0xdeadbeef.com/html/monkeys.txt

Thanks!

1.) Pick niche

2.) Put up survey finding out what questions people most want answered in niche.

3.) Use Adwords to bring people to survey.

4.) After you've collected results, write eBook that answers questions most asked.

5.) Sell eBook

6.) Profit!!! :)

Do you have experience with this method, Peter? Does this actually work? It seems that the recommended sample size of the survey I saw (50-100 responses) would be too small.

Also, how could you be sure that just because people say they want answers to these problems that they'd be willing to pay to get them?

I'm fascinated by this whole info-marketing thing in that I can't believe it actually works yet a lot of folks seem to be doing it profitably. I'd be interested in any insight you have on this.

I kinda like this idea though I'm not sure I'd pay $9.99 a month for it. Also, if you were industrious enough you could do this yourself with a private WP blog that you email posts to, but obviously not everyone knows how to do that.

A few thoughts about your web site that after a first look.

1.) The first thing that grabs my eye is the "A Diary + Twitter = LifesBook" yellow block in the center of the page and it immediately confused me. I first thought that the app somehow integrated with Twitter and then thought "There's no way I'd post my private thoughts to a Twitter stream." At this point, peeps who feel the same way might move on.

2.) The phrase "(SMS type functionality)" in the yellow box only confused me more and I still have no idea what it means even after realizing that you can text thoughts to your service.

3.) The next block under the yellow block focuses more on features than benefits. I wouldn't lead with "SMS Diary Entires", "Memory Bank", and "Locked and Secure". Those don't mean much to me as the user. Try something like "Post from Anywhere", "Never Forget a Thought", and "We Keep Your Secrets" instead.

4.) Small typo under the Spare Change heading on the home page. You end with "Seriously just got nuts." I think you mean "just go nuts", right?

5.) Others may disagree, but I don't love the name. I think my biggest fear of using a service like this is that I'd be posting my most private thoughts out into the cloud, so a name that somehow let me know that you're storing my secrets as securely as possible would be a plus. Sorry I don't have a good name suggestion right now, but it's something to think about.

Anyway, best of luck to you. I think if you keep tweaking and iterating you'll find something that people really dig.

I remember reading somewhere that Jessica Livingston might be working on a sequel. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this?