Monster Noodle

If you’re a blogger and have not checked out Woopra.com, stop everything that you’re doing and get on the beta list. This is the coolest analytic tool I have seen for blogging, period.

Let’s start at the beginning. First off, Woopra is live. Yes, totally live. You can see who is on your site right now and what they are doing. Not only can you see what is happening in real time, you can stop what you are doing and chat with the user that is currently online.

Woopra’s difference is it’s ability to report in real time. Is that important? In a word, yes. A scrolling screen has always been the holy grail of console management. It puts the pro’s and con’s in your face while you are watching. It is way too easy to sleep through a log file and miss an important event. When it’s happening as you watch, you’re almost guaranteed to notice. What else do we like about Woopra? Let’s take a look.

Real time analysis allows you to see what is happening on your site at any time. Who’s there reading what and at what time. That’s pretty hoss.

You can initiate chat with anyone on your site at any time while they are online. Careful, don’t scare away the traffic.

You can see where your traffic is coming from in the world. Ok, so you can’t speak Pashtun. Apparently, they can speak English.

Woopra lets you know when you have something interesting on your site. It’s nice to hear the bell telling you that you have another visitor.

Let’s see…woopra or google. Tough choice…right. Woopra kicks the @#$ out of google analytics, in almost every way. I guess that means that google will be buying it soon, or maybe the boys at Redmond will beat them to it. Either way, I’m ready for the IPO.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: analytics, marketing, woopra

Prediction Markets are one of the hottest new trends in social networking. If you don’t know what a prediction market is, don’t feel like you’re on your own.The concept is not quite mainstream enough to be a household word yet.

Prediction Markets leverage a community of users to make predictions about future events. Although the predictions are not always correct, prediction markets have proven to be quite accurate when compared with traditional methods of predicting future trends. Many companies are jumping on the bandwagon to find out exactly what they can do to improve their position in a given market.

If you want to take a spin, take a look at some of the more interesting prediction markets available on the web at this time.

ABC Futures Market focuses on pop culture trends, especially those that relate to recent ABC programming.

  Continue reading »

written by Lochshen \\ tags: advertising, blogs, marketing, prediction markets

WARNING!!! Jargonistic Technobable ahead.

I suppose that the first question is “what the ^%$& is QR-Code?”. QR-Code is a proprietary 2D bar-code technology that allows for a considerable amount of data to be encoded within it. Traditional 2D bar- codes can store up to 2355 alpha characters while QR-Code can store 4296. QR-Code has been around in the automotive industry for over ten years to track the movement of parts through the manufacturing system.

Now the real question, “why do I care?”. The biggest reason that you will care is that Google has begun to care. Google has taken the stance that this type of technology has the capability to revolutionize print advertising. Google has adopted the technology in it’s “Google Print Ads” extension.   

QR-Code is already hot in Japan. They are already used to store information about products on shelves, magazine articles, newspaper ads and a slew of other applications. Most cell phones in Japan are equipped with a QR capable camera. This allows the consumer to pull up lots of information by simply scanning the bar-code on the product.

There have been similar efforts in the US to implement a code based system in advertising but at the time, the technology to tie them directly to a web enabled cell phone did not exist. Now that the stars have aligned, don’t be surprised if you see more of this kind of technology in the near future.

Interested? Try it yourself here.

Until next time, happy blogging.

QR code is trademarked by Denso Wave, inc

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: advertising, barcode, google

In www-land there are new sites popping up every day that promise to be the next big thing. Most of these sites struggle for a few months or even a few years and then realize that it’s often more difficult to do big things than a slick site design and a shaky business model. Other sites seem to hit the exact place at the precise time and make millions, literally overnight. Then there are those that you’re not quite sure about. In comes Fusu.com.

If you haven’t heard anything about it, you’re not alone. The site and it’s concept are new and have not had enough time to generate much in the way of buzz. Beginning it’s history only a few short months ago, Fusu’s concept is simple, find people who own potentially big domain names then issue stock for the sale of the domain. The domain owner raises initial capital from the issue of the stock while the investor reaps the benefits of lower cost fractional ownership. The big question is if Fusu can draw enough attention and produce enough results to continue to mature it’s business.

It is a very interesting concept but is it the next big thing? Who knows. Crazier things in recent years have made billions. One thing is however certain, Fusu will need a lot of buzz and even more luck to reach the critical mass that will be necessary to get this concept off the ground. Take a few minutes to head over and judge for yourself.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now!

written by Lochshen \\ tags: blog, buzz, Investing, new, squatting

Ever need to sync two very large directories or make comparisons of two data locations? Chances are if you move large amounts of data on a frequent basis, at some point in time the process will fail. If you’re data is important or time sensitive, weeding through the mess to find what hasn’t been copied can be a very time consuming and at times a harrowing affair.

If you ever find yourself in this position and xcopy or explorer has let you down, try a product called Vice-Versa Pro. This little application has literally saved me hours worth of work. It’s simple to use and light on the wallet (hint: you can even find a nerfed free version if you look hard enough).

So, the next time you find yourself in a jam with your data move or you’re not sure which files are missing from a directory, give this app a shot. It will be well worth your time and money.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now! 

written by Lochshen \\ tags: it, tgrmn, tgrmn.com, utility, viceversa

There are many rating systems that are used to measure the success or failure of a product or service. For restaurants the Michelin guide is the de facto standard (although Zagat is gaining in popularity). For hotels it is the star system (AAA uses diamonds). In fact, a whole slew of rating systems have cropped up on the Internet for the past several years ranging from the venerable consumer reports online to the newer Eopinions.com.

When I purchase goods or services I always ask myself three basic questions. 

1. Did I get what I wanted?
2. Did I get it when I wanted it?
3. Was it at a reasonable cost?

I rank each one of the questions from 1 to10 and then come up with a score. Divide that score by 3 then come up with an average.  If the average is above an 8 I feel very comfortable with giving repeat business. Of course this system does not indicate the value of the purchase before the fact but there are many resources out there that will be happy to give that opinion. This system may seem simplistic but it addresses each one of the key elements of purchasing happiness.

So, the next time you visit that great restaurant that everyone is talking about or even purchase that latest video card, ask yourself these simple questions. If your product or service scores above an 8 average you have a great fit for you. If not, you may want to consider trying another source.

Until next time, happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now! 

written by Lochshen \\ tags: aaa, consumer reports, eopinions, Ratings, zagat

Sure, it’s not new. It’s not even the latest buzz on the web, but what else could you want from a radio site? Pandora allows you to create up to 100 channels of whatever content you’re in the mood for and listen indefinitely.

If you’re a random freak, this is the site for you. It has some of the classical drawbacks that radio has (it’s not your favorite song on demand) but considering the fact that it is as free makes it one of the best bargains in music.

If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot. I don’t think that you’ll be disappointed.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now! 

written by Lochshen \\ tags: Add new tag, pandora, radio, reviews

WARNING!!! Jargonistic Technobable Ahead…

You know, there are some things in life that are just good. Over time there have been quite a few software packages that promise to deliver health, wealth and an oil change when you need it, but few of them deliver on the promises. Wordpress delivers.

If you haven’t upgraded to V2.5 yet, take a look at this update brief written by Sadcox. There is some helpful information here that will make life easier than it should be. If you choose not to use the automated tool, the instructions are very clear and concise. It took about five minutes from the time that I realized that a new upgrade was available until the site was completely upgraded (using the tool).

With that in mind, it somehow doesn’t seem right to take more time writing the article than it took to do the upgrade. Good luck and happy blogging.

Megadisclaimer: Take nothing at face value. Everything on this blog is for entertainment purposes. It won’t change the world, or even your opinion in most cases. If you believe everything that you read stop reading now! 

written by Lochshen