revjim.net

blogging

IndieKarma: 1 penny per visit

Jun 5th, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
2 comments

Thanks to “IndieKarma”:http://indiekarma.com/ you can now support your favorite internet websites, authors, and artists by easily contributing 1 penny every time you visit their website with no effort required on your part. What’s more, if you act now IndieKarma will give you your first $1. That’s 100 free donations to websites that you enjoy and visit on a regular basis.

Just to give you an idea of what this means… in the articles that I’ve written and photographs I’ve posted in the last 6 days alone, I would have made $6.81 so far. Or, if you look at my top ten posts of all time (since I started counting, anyway) I’d have made $111.06 so far. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but, I assure you, it adds up quite quickly. And it costs you, my dear reader, a tiny, puny, insignificant, $0.01. That’s 0.25% of the cost of that latte you bought at Starbucks this morning. In fact, if you view five of my photographs each week for an entire year you will have paid me a WHOPPING $2.60.

Here’s the real kicker, if every person who has ever visited my site, in passing, or on a regular basis, had given me a puny $0.01 per visit, I would be able to quit my job, take photographs full time, and be giving away free photo sessions and prints left and right.

So do me a favor and sign up for “IndieKarma”:http://indiekarma.com/. It doesn’t take long, you’ll get $1 for free, and even if you don’t ever put any more money into your account (and why wouldn’t you since it’s such a cheap, effective way to support the sites you visit on the internet?) at least you’ll have donated that $1 to the sites that enrich your life on a regular basis.

So I’ve added IndieKarma to this site. You’ll see the banner pop up at the bottom of your browser for about 15 seconds every time you visit a page here. Additionally, I’ve signed up for a donations account myself and intend to keep funds in my account so I can support the sites that I visit easily and without hassle or effort.

Do it for me? Pretty please? With a cherry on top? I’ll be your best friend?

LifeHacker and the separation of content

May 3rd, 2006
by Jim Reverend.
1 comment

I love “LifeHacker”:http://lifehacker.com/, but I really wish I could find an “only interesting stuff” filter for it. I don’t care about Mac Software, iPods and the things you can do with them, technical HowTos and Cheatsheets that cover fairly obvious technology, unimportant or obvious research, obvious tips and tricks for daily life, write ups on how to make something utterly trivial look fancier, and reports of local events that I couldn’t possibly attend or care about.

But I still read because, when I do find something interesting, it’s really, really interesting. Like these tidbits:

* Make Right-Clicking in Windows faster by “disabling the SendTo menu”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/windows/windows-tip-disable-the-send-to-menu-157977.php.
* Does an RSS reader make life on the web more livable for you? If so, how do you deal with sites that don’t offer an RSS feed. You can “track website changes with FeedWhip”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/news-aggregation/track-website-changes-with-feedwhip-157963.php and get update reports via email. Or, “use DeltaSpy”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/news-aggregation/track-web-site-changes-with-deltaspy-158016.php to track website changes and get all of the updates you’re interested displayed on one page. Or, see them in your RSS reader just like everything with “FeedYes”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/rss/create-an-rss-feed-without-an-rss-feed-159455.php.
* Do you cook often? Learn “how to peel a potato in one easy step”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/cooking/video-demonstration-peel-a-potato-in-one-step-158620.php from the same people that taught us to “fold a t-shirt”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/household/folding-tshirts-fast-151214.php with lightning speed: the Japanese!
* Edit digital photographs quickly and easily with “Pixoh, the online image editor”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/photos/edit-pictures-online-with-pixoh-158753.php.
* Did you know you can now “send money using PayPal and your mobile phone”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/paypal/paypal-via-your-cell-phone-162417.php?
* Learn how to “repair a drywall hole”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/household/weekend-project-repair-a-drywall-hole-164828.php, “get in on the Yahoo! Mail Beta”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/yahoo-mail/get-in-on-the-yahoo-mail-beta-169223.php, “overcome procrastination”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/procrastination/wikibook-on-overcoming-procrastination-169192.php, “build a loft”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/how-to/how-to-build-a-loft-169215.php, “save money on your taxes”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/taxes/tax-tips-own-your-own-business-169450.php, and “wake up and GET up when you really want to”:http://www.lifehacker.com/software/sleep/how-to-get-up-when-you-really-want-to-169533.php.

As you can see, LifeHacker is a great resource. But I find myself *dreading* going through it because there are a lot of posts on any given day and over 75% of these posts are not anything I’m interested in but I have to read in to each entry in order to determine that.

This is why I’m always trying to find new ways to separate the things that I write, the images that I display, and the information I provide on my website(s). Sure the “write for yourself” mantra is certainly one worth repeating, but, without organization and clear thought there’s no point in putting your writing online, as it’s unlikely that anyone else will ever bother to comb through it all to find the bits that are interesting to them.

Yes, I comb through LifeHacker, and that fact that I do so despite the trouble it presents is an argument against separation. However, I don’t imaging everyone is as diligent as I am about looking for useful information. On top of that, I imagine there are lots of good things on LifeHacker that I miss entirely, because I was either skimming too fast, didn’t read the right words within the first few seconds, missed a link burried in the article, or simply gave up on LifeHacker that day because its folder was more than I could bare to look at.

So if you find something interesting at “LifeHacker”:http://lifehacker.com/ be sure to let me know. I may have missed it.

Newer Posts →