Technology That Helps Us

Technology spans almost every industry known to man, but perhaps is most importantly used in the medical field. One company, called Imtec, is a leader in premiere digital radiography technology solutions and deserves to be taken note of.

After researching their technology, the aspect that impresses me most about Imtec is that they are able to use less radiation in producing an image of like-quality to conventional radiography. This is because Imtec uses digital radiography which means that X-ray sensors are used instead of traditional photographic film. Other advantages of this kind of radiography are time efficiency and the ability to digitally transfer and enhance images. These are major pluses, and I encourage all of you to visit their website to learn more.

A Hot Niche In Blogging

Hot Niches in blogging come and go. Of course, the really exceptional blogs in any niche will remain strong and retain a large reader-base. Right now, I’m noticing that more and more blogs focusing on a “zen-like” lifestyle are taking the spotlight. Sites like ZenHabits and RirianProject are good examples of this. I can see a few reasons for the current trend, as people look for ways to de-stress while maintaining productive during these trying times.

Usually what happens in these hot niche cycles is that more and more people will “jump on the bandwagon,” so to speak, by creating their own like-minded niche blog, until overcrowding occurs and the next big thing emerges. Make Money Online or MMO blogs are a good example of a very crowded niche where it would seem people are starting to jump ship.

To Show Off RSS Subscriber Count Or Not?

This is something that I’ve been pondering lately, as I read many blogs in a day and notice a great number of them show off their Feedburner RSS subscriber stats. My opinion is that if the number is low it will probably do more harm than good. Maybe a newcomer comes to your site, but notices that you only have five subscribers, and suddenly it doesn’t appear so attractive.

I’m not saying that people are total sheep, but if I see a high number, I tend to assume that there is something worth reading, and that the blog is a proven source of quality information. Or that the webmaster has artificially inflated their Feedburner stats, but that is a different post all together.

While a low subscriber number will often only indicate that it is a newer blog, I would suggest holding off until you have a larger confirmed reader base, as to not scare off those that would discount your writing or the quality of its information based on a low subscriber count.

Did The PR Update Help Or Hurt You?

It seems like everyone is a buzz with the results of Google’s latest page rank update, which fell on the company’s tenth anniversary. While some bloggers were rewarded with a higher ranking, others were penalized or “Google slapped” with a lower PR, some even being put down to zero.

Personally, I have several blogs, and aside from this one, which went from a PR 0 to a PR 3, they all appear to have stayed the same. I have several PR 4’s which were unfortunately unable to make the jump to PR 5, but at the same time, after reading reports of bloggers who had their page ranked lowered, I’m grateful to have not experienced that.

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but WhatAboutBlog has experienced an increase in traffic from Google over the past two days, which could be a result of its increased PR. While PR 3 is not considered hugely substantial and is pretty average among blogs, I am interested to see its impact on this little blog. Just to note, I didn’t engage in many link building efforts, however I did use Comment Kahuna in order to  leave some dofollow comments on high PR blogs in my niche.

Anyone else care to share their results, or advice on obtaining a higher pagerank?

Entrecard Is All Over The Map Lately

First off, the website, which was only recently listed on Sitepoint.com, is no longer for sale. Apparently, the owner had a change of heart, and is now revamping the site in order to turn it into a profitable business. I’m glad to see this, as I believe in Entrecard’s potential, and quite often a change in vision and leadership by someone who doesn’t truly understand a website’s user-base can yield unfavorable results.

Owner Graham Langdon’s first move after pulling Entrecard from the auction block, was to make significant changes to the Entrecard economy. Such changes include lowering the cost of EC’s to six dollars per 1000, banning 3rd party sales - i.e. eBay, introducing a cap on how many credits can be transferred, and closing the shop, (which was pretty much defunct anyway.) This will certainly be helpful for the owner as those wishing the purchase EC will have to do it through Entrecard.com.

Then today, a second announcement - This time concerning a partnership Entrecard has made with OIO publisher. Basically this move will allow you to sell and buy adspace through OIO’s automatic advertising system software using EC credits (of course, the advertiser has to be participating, not everyone wants EC.) I hate to say it, but my prediction on this one is a bit of a flop (think SezWho partnership), as I just can’t see anyone with valuable ad space accepting EC over actual legal currency. A small widget is one thing, but a substantial amount of ad space in another.

Time will tell on all these moves, and I for one, will be hoping for the best.

A Little News From Around The ‘Sphere

If you haven’t heard…

Entrecard.com is up for sale on the Sitepoint Marketplace. Got big dollars? The minimum bid is set at $100,000, with a reserve somewhere under one million. Too rich for my blood, but as a regular Entrecard user, I can safely say that the site’s huge potential is quite obvious.

Pagerank is updating, about a month earlier than expected. It looks like this little blog went from a PR 0 to PR 3. Unexpected, but welcomed. My other blogs are stalled at PR 4, and having trouble making the jump to PR 5.

OnMoneyMaking.com is having a relaunch contest offering a Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and other prizes. It’s a unique blog that even does a little spoofing of John Chow and ShoeMoney. You can check it out here.

The Web Enters The Bookstore

We all know and love the LOLcats. Well, at least I do. They are an internet classic, and now have their very own book. At first I thought, huh? But can now actually imagine it being a pretty cute little coffee table book for guests to look at, perhaps over coffee or cocktails.

This news made me think, because the other day, I was in Chapters at the mall and noticed the Problogger book in stock. Sat down and read a few chapters - it’s actually pretty good, but that’s not the point of this post. I noticed that actually a few bloggers have books (the others aren’t “household names” around here, and I can’t remember their names), and wondered if this is a new and emerging trend that will continue, with more and more websites coming out in some type hard copy format. I suppose the success of the current crop of “web books” out there will go a long way to determining this, but it’s definitely a new and  interesting direction that some members of the blogosphere are going in.

A Passion For Blogging

Forget the social networks, link building and networking just for a moment. Forget Twitter, Google, Entrecard and all the stuff I normally love to write about. My opinion is, that the most successful and happy bloggers are exactly so because they are passionate about blogging. They are writers, at heart, and enjoy the community feel that a blog can bring. This combination will keep a blog from fizzling out and staying the course to success.

Of course, everyone will define success in their own way. Personally, I see it as someone who is content and passionate about their endeavours. Whether blogging is your hobby or full-time job, if you are excited about your upcoming post, you are already a success - in my eyes, at least.

Twitter Gets A Makeover

You may remember that a few months ago I posted an article questioning whether Twitter was worthwhile or not. While at the time, I was not convinced, and found the that old bird wasn’t for me, I have since changed my tune. This is because, I don’t tweet about mundane things, actually, I rarely tweet at all - but instead, use Twitter to keep up to date on the on-goings of some of my favorite bloggers. Twitter can often offer a sneak peak into what’s going on behind the scenes at sites of interest. That’s why I find it useful, and that’s why I’ve decided that Twitter is, in fact, not stupid.

If you also use the service, you may have noticed that Twitter has plucked her eyebrows, put on some lipstick and got a design revamp. Word is, that while the changes are mostly superficial for now, they were done in an effort to make future feature develops easier to implement. As twitter plans to add a lot more tabbed elements at a later date, they axed some unnecessary elements and simplified the layout - resulting in an all around cleaner page.

Firefox 3 Has Let This Blogger Down

I made the switch over from Internet Exploder to Firefox a year or two ago. Won over by it’s ease of use and superior speed, I recommended FF to friends and colleagues alike. But those days are over.

Sadly, Firefox 3 makes me feel like a crash test dummy. For every hour I use it, I would say it crashes 2-3 times. Simply annoying and unacceptable - so that’s it. No more. Time for a new browser, but can I go back to FF2? That doesn’t seem like a very forward or exciting option.

Chrome is new and might take a little getting used to, but I’m going to try and make it my new “default” browser.  Which makes me wonder, is this FF 3 crashing issue a common occurrence, and if so, will Google benefit by more people (who wouldn’t have seen the appeal before) moving to Chrome? If you care to share, do you have problems with Firefox 3?