Frame up those Memories

Over the past twenty years, most of the major technological breakthroughs in consumer electronics have really been down to the same basic process: converting conventional analog information into digital information. This fundamental shift in technology gave birth to the digital camera, and thus, digital photography. It totally changed how we handle visual and audio information and completely redefined what is possible.

Previously the only way one could view their photos taken with a conventional camera is by developing them all off and storing in an album possibly to be looked at every few years. In the early days of digital cameras, one may bring out the computer, upload the digital photos onto the harddisk and huddle family and friends around it while clicking open and viewing hundreds of files one by one.

Digital photography inevitably led to the development of digital photo frame. You can find a variety of them in Digitalframez.com which is an online electronic store specializing in LCD digital photo frames. Now all your fun snap shots and happy memories can be constantly on display in all areas of your home in true color and life-like resolutions. View, share and relieve your cherished memories digitally on the wall of your living room, at the entrance and on the side table in your bedroom on a fashionable, stylish digital photo frame.

All frames from Digital Framez are compatible with multi graphical or media format, users need not go through the hassle of uploading the photos in order to view them. Just plug the memory card into the 5-in-1 card reader that supports CF/XD/MS/SD/MMC cards and enjoy the slideshow with background music played through the built-in stereo speakers.

(This is a sponsored post)

Mini Blog Reviews - Batch 3

Till date, I have not post a mini reviews in the month of May. So it is a good time to continue the series I left off in April. Here goes (in random order):

Bob over at BobmeetsWorld.com is giving away a free Nintendo DS Lite with a few games because it’s his 30th birthday in May. The Nintendo DS Lite is 6 months old but Bob assures you that it is in mint condition. It is under utilized as Bob prefers his XBox360 much better.

While you’re there, check out some great posts about generating traffic and getting more RSS subscribers. And don’t forget to wish him a happy belated birthday! Better hurry if you want to win hours of gaming fun for free! Contest close 31 MAy 2007. I am making this last minute submission and if I'm lucky enough to win the prize, I'll regift it for my own blog contest.

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Over at Genius Types, Brian Lee is giving away a brand new copy of Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Entering the contest is easy, and everyone gets a link back! To enter the contest, just write a post linking to his book review using the book title as anchor text.

Brian is trying to build authority with the keywords “Think and Grow Rich” in the hope that more people will be able to find his review when researching this book (and ultimately buy the book through his affiliate link).

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A full-time Blogger from Southern Leyte, Philippines, Sustines E. Laplana is holding a"Review-Me Challenge" similar to my Review Exchange campaign. To join the challenge, write a review (whether negative or positive) about his blog, from its design, topics, way of writing, or anything you want to say about this blog. Within your post, publish a link to his review exchange post using the anchor text “Join Review Me Challenge and Win“.

His blog focuses on Technology, Products and Entertainment in general. He wants to help people make money blogging so you can expect to find tips on making money, blogging, SEO, Adsense optimization, Product Reviews, product promotions and sales (DVD, Gadgets, Books, Software, Computers…).

He sets an ambitious target for his blog to attain 1 million unique hits per day and also to earn at least $100 a day from blogging.

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My Blog World is a blog with a variety of categories and a discussion Forum, emphasizing environmental issues based on the research done by the "CleanFuture" project.

Blogging with Cultural Sensitivity

Here is a real life example marketing communication without due consideration to cultural sensitivity. It must surely rank as the ultimate nightmare of a marketer. This lesson can be applied to blogging as well.

This is why the Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank cannot make it in Malaysia.

A piggy mascot is all good and dandy to the Chinese, but pork or babi is taboo in Muslims societies.

It's bad enough using a baby babi as mascot, but giving that name "Puki" is really stretching their luck overboard! That is a Malay vulgar phrase referring to a certain female anatomy! Enough said!

Review of Masterseek.com

If you are looking for new ways of doing business online or off-line, search for company profiles and/or showcasing your products and services to the global community, look no further than Masterseek.com.

Masterseek is the world’s largest and most comprehensive B2B search engine that establishes contact between buyers and suppliers worldwide. Masterseek’s unique web technology enables companies to obtain detailed information in your own country or worldwide and find business partners, sales opportunities and new avenues to expand your business and increase your company’s profitability.

Using their extensive expertise within the area of data mining and search algorithms, Masterseek developed a global search engine that provides quick and free access to, among other things, company profiles, contact information, and descriptions of products and services from more than 45 million companies in 75 countries. These search results and company details are optimised both visually and functionally and are presented in an updated, user-friendly, well-arranged, and easily accessible manner.

Enter your company profile and showcase your company to the world today. Reach the potential of 90,000 unique b2b visitors on Masterseek.com – every day!

OMG! What's Going On?

Yeah, exactly WTF's happening to Technorati? Ever since the refreshed version of Technorati was introduced with some other changes (including Technorati Authority) in early May, different problems have been encountered by bloggers.


Mine came in the form of my Fan count. It was hovering above 200 a few days back, but just now I checked, my Fan count was ZERO!

Is it just my blog or has anyone encountered the same problem? I've contacted Technorati via email, but was alerted not to expect a reply from them! Dead-end....

Anyone care to clue me in on WTF is going on?

Direct To You via PayPerPost

A certain buzz has been created since PayPerPost launched a new service called PayPerPost Direct. Proponents and critics alike are having a field day blogging and spreading by word of mouth marketing, about this new opportunity which is created to compete with ReviewMe.

PPP Direct makes it possible for advertisers to directly approach Posties to get them to write special blog posts. In a nutshell, you simply specify the minimum amount you want to be paid for these Direct opportunities and stick a widget on your blog, similar to the many blog ads but now you are advertising your own review service! When an advertiser finds your blog and decides they'd like you to write something they just click on the badge attached to the widget and make you an offer.

Now comes the crux of the problem. Unitl now, PayPerPost has not established a publisher marketplace and the lack of this key element makes it extremely difficult for blogs to get stumbled upon by advertisers, let alone get any review orders. With gazillion of blogs out there and no publisher marketplace(yet), the chance of an advertiser stumbling upon smaller blogs to find a PayPerPost Direct button is very slim.

On the positive side, PayPerPost takes only 10% to your direct price as their service fee, and nearly 5% of that goes to PayPal and credit card processing fees. That’s a lot better than the 50% commission ReviewMe takes. There is justification in a markup for making the facilitating of the reviews, match making, customer service processes, tax report and financial processing, but I think a 100% markup by ReviewMe is plain ridiculous!

This is a great new way for bloggers to keep the most amount of money possible while having the safety and security of an escrow-like service that will assure you get paid for your hard work. If and when the publisher marketplace is up and running, this new service will certainly moves and shakes the paid review lanscape.

Transparency is the New Color

I received an email from PayPerPost support team informing that my post has been rejected. The person went on to state the reason:

"PPP bloggers are required to disclose within their post, or on the same page as their post, that they are being paid. You can do this by making a site-wide disclosure policy and linking to it from your post, or by writing something along the lines of "this post is sponsored" somewhere within your post. Please make the appropriate changes and resubmit!"

It then strikes me that I've overlooked to disclose that particular review to be a sponsored post. I went on to googled "disclosure policy" and search result brought me to DisclousrePolicy.org. I've since generated my own site-wide disclosure policy using the policy generator provided.

This episode sets me thinking about the many blogs which I've visited but most of them do not display such disclosure policy on their site. As the blogosphere grown exponentially, so has the financial opportunity it represents. Now more than ever Advertisers, PR agencies, political organizations and bloggers themselves are reaching out to blog owners in an attempt to gain visibility for their products, services and causes. As a reader it has been difficult to identify which blogs are influenced by these organizations.

Disclosure Policies are designed to allow bloggers to self-identify any affiliation, payment or other conflicts of interests that may influence the content of a blog. From banner ads and paid content to free gadgets and travel, disclosure policies allow you to make your own judgement regarding the influence on content you are presented with.

Disclosure does not mean you are changing your voice, perspective, values or persona. You will always be you, and that's why you blog. It is about providing transparency to your readers about the content on your blog.

If you see a blog without a disclosure policy drop them a line and send them to disclosurepolicy.org. Demand disclosure and and help set the right tone for advertising on the Internet for years to come.

Disclosure policy transparency

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 24 May 2007

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact betshopboy[at]gmail[dot]com

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Disclosure policy

Pah-rum-pum-pum-pum, Me And My Drum!

To celebrate "MeAndMyDrum" 90days old birthday, the site owner, Mark Sierra, is running a contest to reward readers and drum up(no pun intended) some buzz and of course, more traffic!
A lucky winner stand a chance to win a Google Adwords coupon worth $25(only for new account and must be used within 14 days of its creation) plus a free banner ad space on his blog sidebar for 30days! To enter the contest, just make a post on your blog about MeAndMyDrum, link to the homepage and also link to the contest page. This contest will ends on midnight (central) 31 May. The winner will be determined by a random draw.

In his blog, Mark covers a variety of topics such as blogging tips, technology, politics, humor, and more. In the short space of 90days, MAMD had attained a PR3 ranking, roughly 300k in alexa rank and broken the 3 digit barrier in Technorati authority. These stats are remarkable and are constantly on the up, I'm sure. This blog has got great potential and is worth every minute of my time checking out.


blog review

A Tribute to Apple and All their Goodness

All Apple fans rejoice! The long awaited debut of the sexy and sleek Apple iPhone is coming to an end soon.

Last week the Apple iPhone was given the green light by the Federal Communications Commission which means it has now passed all prerequisite industry checks and can be rolled out of the production line and into the hands of its millions of gadget-hungry fans.

Now you can create your own iName and stand a chance to win an iPhone!

Make all your friends jealous by showing off your snazzy iName! iNames can be used as avatar's, MSN profile pictures, email signatures, Facebook pictures, MySpace pictures and more!

To get your iName and a chance to win an iPhone, click this link.

Don't forget to spread the word and tell your family, friends, blogging communities and co-workers about my-iname.com!

Get an iName & WIN an iPhone!