Nic’s blog
I write about building businesses, failing and building a life, not a legacy.
Microsoft Hardware turns 25 this year
I have been invited to take part in Microsoft Hardware's 25th, the big 2-5.There are various reasons for me deciding to partake in the event, being a Mac user and all. I am interested to see what an event of this sort brings about. What exactly does one do at the 25th birthday of some hardware?Are they going to unveil some sort of development or simply entertain some people for a period of time and in return expect them to promote the birthday bash?Nonetheless I am attending the event and today received this little gem in the post:
It's a cupcake. I don't think that I am going to be eating it, I don't know when they sent it to me, but one can only guess that they thought about it and it's safe to eat.
Things I've learnt in the past two weeks
Being sick over the past while I've learned a few things that I think are worth sharing:1. I am not indispensable - so take more time for myself.2. The more you blog the more people will read.3. If you blog too much people get irritated and stop reading.4. Idle hands end up with threats of legal action.5. Only start something when you know you can finish it.6. The high ground is not always the dry ground.7. Giving your employees more responsibility:I left work and my colleague was lumped with a load of my work. I did work from home but he was pushed to work on things that were outside of his job description. This has seemingly provided him with some insight in to my job and me with some insight in to his. He now works ten times harder and takes pride in knowing that he can do my job if he needs to and know that I can rely on him to do more important things for me.8. Listen to your mates, sometimes they have a pearl of wisdom even if they are swines. I really think that the things I have listed above are important if you take note of them. If you don't think about them it might seem that they are irrelevant and don't apply to you, but I suggest you pick one and try it. Some are easier to implement than others so maybe start with something that is less taxing on your time.Maybe try blogging a bit more. Take Saturdays and Sundays and write 5 blog post over these two days. Then set their timestamps and post them one a day throughout the week. This way if you want to blog more as topical issues come up you will be showing a minimum of one post a day and a maximum of however many posts you can manage in the week.
When sites just don't work
One of my pet hates is when a site claims to do one thing and one thing only and when you try to do that one thing the site tells you it isn't working right now.I don't mind the occasional screw-up at all but when a site has ONE function and that doesn't work then the site is wasting space.Much like this site:
This is meant to be an awesome site that takes a photo you upload and makes it in to a Simpson-esque character. I was so keen to make myself Simpson. But no, disapointment followed and no Simpson photo of me. Man!
Gautrain stikes
The Midrand depot of the Gautrain is violently striking. I have no photographs but have reports that cars are being burned and some of the staff have been locked in their offices by the striking workers.Stay tuned for more.
Follow up post: Congratulations
Firstly, notice that I have spelled Guy's name right, I think it's only respectful. Guy, my name and spelling of it are right there in this blog's url, please in future get it right.Secondly, I did not prompt the below post from The Colony. He is a thousand miles away, not on this continent and I haven't spoken to the author about this AT ALL.Now, here is some of the post from The Colony:
The R395.00 gets you the basic site, however if you want to actually be involved in e-commerce you’ll need to add on extra bits and pieces for just under R2000.00. So in other words your R395.00 gets you a blog! Ummm… did I miss something or did wordpress, blogger, et al just go out of business because I could’ve sworn it was free to setup, run, and maintain a blog. This has been addressed elsewhere and so I won’t dwell on it.
As for the statement that you will be listed on Google SA within 2 days… SFW… anyone can submit their URL to Google (or any major search engine) and the bots will crawl the site. Is Guy honestly charging for a service which anyone with 5 minutes to spare can do themselves?
And finally:
Guy submits his, and his clients stories to sites like Muti and others in order to promote them. Now I have nothing against people promoting their business, however these sites are not the place for it. These are community sites where users recommend content which the community is interested in. If people are interested in the content it gets voted up, if not it gets voted down- simple. Now Guy’s submissions are getting much love from these sites and in fact he has been condemned as a spammer. I have to agree with the community that when you consistently submit your ‘own’ content which has proved to be unpopular in the past then you really need to get the message or you will be branded a spammer.
Do yourself a favour and read the entire post, it's well worth the read and helps to clarify what my issue with the CMS that Guy is offering.
Useful sites for students
In my new position as FM Campus editor I have needed to source helpful, useful and relevant websites for our 10 000 readers to make use of in one of our magazine sections.I have stumbled across some very interesting sites that are extremely beneficial for many students. Unfortunately many of the sites are tailor made for US students.With that said, here are two sites that I think are extremely helpful for SA students. I wish I had these two services when I was a student. My life was such a shambles as many can attest to.
Stu.dicio.us - Is a version of Del.icio.us but more student-centric. You can add in your lecture timetable, bookmark relevant sites, set alarms for various events or deadlines and upload files for storage. The two best features of this site are the Facebook link and the mobile option. With the sites link to Facebook users can link up with their friends doing similar courses, with similar deadlines and similar lives and sync in. If they are late, you are late and everyone is late but lets be honest, we all had one friend at Uni who would always be one time!While the mobile option of the services ensures that you have no excuses any more. Wherever you are you can login to the service using your mobile phone and make sure you aren't missing any deadlines!
MyNoteIt - This site is a place where students can take, edit and share notes that they make. Students can upload notes, manage their calendars, assignments and stay in touch with classmate groups.Fair enough the two sites seem to overlap somewhat but for some reason they appear to be different to me. Anyways they are both great services that are beneficial for students if they are used diligently and effectively.
Add Del.icio.us to your Facebook
I know I've been posting alot of Facebook related stuff lately but the things I've been posting are relevant to me and the most helpful stuff I've found recently.Can you believe it, you can now add your Del.icio.us bookmarks to your Facebook Profile page?I know, it's amazing. Surprisingly only Gino and Rafiq are currently using the app in my friends.This sort of App is making me regain my involvement and "faith" in Facebook. I am tired of the excessive amount of spam and apps that appear on Facebook now. But with the discovery of the Flickr app and now the Del.icio.us app I am definitely interested again.Add the Del.icio.us app here.
Social Networks AKA dating sites and crap websites
I absolutely hate it when people talk about things without doing research or knowing what they are saying. I am sure I have done this on the odd occasion in the past but it still bugs me.I just read this post that talks about social network sites as commonly known as dating sites too. Since when? This post has such an air of "authority" about it that ignorant readers would actually believe this rubbish.Then the author proceeds to include god's plan for our lives including these "dating sites". The author then mixes things up by saying that one should join social networks (or dating sites) to network with people and make links to begin to build a network of people who can help you, over 3-5 years build the sort of life you want to lead. Uhu?What a load of hogwash. And this sort of revelation comes from a website that looks like this:
It is very scary to me that there are actually people out there who are:1. Promoting this sort of crap site as something people can and should use2. Using these sites as their personal blogs.I have a feeling that this is a Guy Mclaren website. This guy (no pun intended) seems to be promoting the very worst of the web as the contemporary web styles. What is he thinking? Can he not see that his user system is rubbish and outdated? Why would anyone want to use this sort of platform when even the dreaded blogger is better than this platform?I am so shocked that anyone is registering for this service and this crap. Come on people. Wake up, make a stand. Don't use this rubbish.I will offer my somewhat inexperienced services to anyone who is thinking of using the rubbish service above. If you are thinking of starting a blog, email me and I will offer you some assistance on where to go and how to do it. Just as long as you aren't using the above services.
Add Flickr photos to your Facebook
I have just added all my flickr photos to my facebook. Can you believe it? A few weeks ago I suggested that this become possible and thanks to Zu.com it is now possible!You can add this app to your Facebook here.The app is called zuport Flickr, this is what it looks like on my profile page:
And this is what happens when you click "See all"
I think it's an awesome and simple application that solves one of the main issues I have had with Facebook. Their application concept has now shown to be a smart move in my mind. Instead of solving problems by developing within their company, Facebook is just waiting for other developers and websites to solve their problems.
Mint Money Management
I have a beta testing invite to Mint. I can barely remember what it's even about I signed up for it so long ago.I've now signed up and part of that involves me not blogging about the services that Mint offer or posting any screenshots.So I'm not posting any screenshots or any service secrets. All I am posting is that it looks pretty cool but it looks pretty American-centric.
Blogroll vs linklove vs advertiser
What's the difference? Everyone is searching for some degree of success with a blog whether it be a personal blog or a business orientated blog. When this success comes one needs to make some decisions that might not have needed to be made previously.One such question is how to define between a blogroll, linklove and an advertiser. Sponsors are more easily defined as they are clear-cut from the get-go.Who do you blogroll? People you knowI had an interesting, albeit brief, discussion with Justin about his new design and who he blogrolled and why.He made it clear that his blogroll is trying to be a definition of his blog and his presence online. He has blogrolled people that have influenced, affected or touched him in one way or another. I think this is a good move. Especially when it comes to a personal blog. This is an effective what to decide who receives free advertising on your site.People who have blogrolled youThis is what I have done on this blog. I have blogrolled people who I personally know and who have blogrolled me. This makes for a very, very long list. It also makes for a list that becomes irrelevant and meaningless in the greater scheme of things. But one cannot simply remove the people who you have blogrolled. Why I say this is because when I started my blog I worked hard to build relationships so that people would put me on their blogroll. This has helped me with my Technorati ranking.If I remove many people from my bogroll, they might just do the same.People who payThe more tricky of the three option is this one. You need the right stats to demand payment for a blogroll. Simple. If you don't have the stats you wont get the payment.Then there is the small matter of "selling out". Selling your blogroll can seem like a bit of a sell out to your readers. This is definitely not the primary option in my mind.Your sidebarI think it is necessary to clearly define areas of your sidebar. It's pretty simple:SponsorAdvertiserLinkloveBlogrollThese are all basic ways you can define a sidebar when it comes to links. It's now easy for you and your reader to see who is paying you and for what service.It is also tricky to define the difference between a sponsor and an advertiser. If you look at the SA Rocks blog you will see that Virgin Money is the main (and only for the moment) sponsor. In my mind they are classified as both and advertiser and a sponsor on SA Rocks. For a very simple reason: there is a Virgin Money banner advert in the sidebar as well as a main sponsor button in the header.One of my favourite ways to reflect advertising space and advertisers is with a small and dedicated space in the sidebar that consists of various small square-sized adverts. This way advertisers receive maximum exposure, readers aren't confused and you stay content with the differentiation between a blogroll, linklove and and advertiser.LinkLoveMany people seem to forget that linklove within a blog post is a form of free advertising. However I personally have no issue with this if the post and the mention of the product/site/person is also relevant to the blog post topic and your blog in general.If you are going to do an entire post on a single product and your statistics call for it, you can charge for advertorial content. This is an extremely print-media orientated method of charging for content but when it comes to blogs this is extremely effective.Choose your poison and see which model fits with your blog.
7 days and still swollen
It's been a whopping seven days since I first realised I had mumps. I feel like shit and am still swollen. You think I'm not telling the truth? Have a look for yourself on the left. Not much fun let me tell you.I must admit I've been a bit slack with the photos so I only have four photos out of what should have been seven. Sorry bout that!I'm now going to be completely open and say that I have started to feel some testicular pain. Apparently it's meant to start in your right testicle. That's where it's started today.I called the Doctor and guess what he said? Nothing. Two doctors have now apologised to me for being unable to treat me or any of my symptoms. What is that? For fuck sakes it's the fucking 21st century, we can fly to goddam Mars but can't find a cure or preventative treatment for mumps sufferers.I'm sick to death of being so sick. It's really enough now, enough TV, enough Mac, enough blogging, enough Xbox360, it's just enough.
Time off work
Humans are strange. Whether we are brilliant at what we do or not we all like to feel indispensable. I like to feel that way and in fact I thought that I was indispensable in every aspect of my life.This feeling keeps me going, it keeps me driven and alive and I am insistent that no one can do what I do they way that I do it. But then you get ill (as I am) and you are forced to lie down at home with your email from work as your only tool. It is in this state of incapacitated illness that I have realised that no one is indispensable. Absolutely no one. There are many people who can do my job even though they might be unhappy at the prospect of doing my job, they still do it.My point is this: Take time off when you want to because life is not about becoming indispensable.Becoming indispensable is impossible and that is reality. Everyone is replaceable in any job even the president, hell, especially the president should be, can be and is replaceable. I also think that it is necessary for companies to occasionally remind their employees that they need to perform consistently well because if they don't there is someone else who can do the same job for less pay.
No cure or medication for mumps
It's strange how one thing can become such a massive focus in ones life. Mumps is this strangeness for me at this point in my life.Let me tell you why I am blogging about mumps again: There is no medication. There is no cure. There is nothing that can help me. All that I can do is take dulling painkillers.Mumps is known to have made men sterile. This is rare but it does happen. I am even more baffled, concerned and downfounded by this news. How is it that an illness that can make me sterile has no cure? I was told by my doctor that if I begin to feel pain in my testicles there is really nothing that can be done but this is "rare" and we should pray that this doesn't happen.Well gee flipping thanks doc. Welcome to the 21st century!