The Extraordinary Tourist
Free Stock Images for your Blog
Sunday, March 23, 2008
You may have noticed that I haven't posted to this blog for quite some time. That's largely been due to a lack of motivation on my part. If all has gone well, on the top right of this post you should see an interesting image of a blogger talking with his hand along with the text 'Blah, Blah, Blog'.
In many respects this is how I've felt about writing of late. Why bother if you don't really have anything of great value to say?
In an attempt to break the drought of posts, this post is to inform you of a new image hosting service called PicApp which breaks through all the legalities of using copyright images through ad supported image hosting of pictures provided by publishers willing to let their images be used in this way.
The image on this post comes from PicApp and demonstrates how the ads appear on an embeded image. Supposedly the ads are relevant to content (I wonder if this breaches Google's Adsense terms in any way?).
However, what makes the concept cool is that using the images is almost as simple as ripping off copyrighted images from other web sites - only with PicApp you're not likely to risk a law suit. Just browse PicApps database for a suitable image, choose one of the standard sizes, then paste some code into your blog where the image should appear. Easy!
At the time of writing this post the site was still in Beta Test mode but already has a substantial data base of stock and current events images. Eventually you'll be able to upload your own images and earn some of that ad revenue as well.
Well worth a look if you need some stock images to enhance your blog.Labels: internet, photography, writing
Computer Games - The Power Leveling Business
Thursday, February 07, 2008
 I happened to catch the final episode of the documentary Gamer Revolution on ABC2 last night and I was totally blown away with just how much the computer game industry has progressed. If you're interested to read a more detailed summary of the topics covered in the documentary there is a good article on CBC-TV's web site.
Although I knew the computer gaming industry is worth millions more than the Hollywood movie industry and I've heard about online games/worlds like World of Warcraft and Second Life it's an area of computing that has largely passed me by. I'm just not interested in spending hours upon hours playing computer games (though I am partial to the occasional game of Tomb Raider).
What gob smacked me the most about this episode was the story about a man who runs an online business to 'power level' a player's character in various online gaming worlds.
Here's how this works...
Say you're playing an online game where the top power level for a player character is 60. Unfortunately you're crap at the game and languishing around level 15 whilst all your friends, whom you game with, are at level 40. Such a power difference makes you more of a liability to the team in battles than a help.
One solution might be to practice, practice, practice...right? Isn't that what the game is all about, building up your characters experience and power yourself? Learning how to be a better player? Apparently that's not what it's about for everyone.
In the new world of computer gaming you can pay someone, who can play the game well, to play your character until they reach the desired power level you've requested and paid for. Say level 40 - like your friends. The catch? Whilst this person is powering up your character you have no access to the character or the game. Depending on how much of a boost you want this can take up to ten or more days.
When you get your character back your power level is much like your friends and, hey presto, you're no longer a liability. Well, assuming your not just blatantly crap at the game and fair no better at level 40 than what you did at level 15.
The unbelievable part - if that wasn't enough - is that the man who started this business of power leveling player's characters has had to out source the actual playing of the games part of his business. i.e. he no longer plays the games himself.
It gets better.
His business is based in the US but he's hired a manager in Romania to run a Romanian centre of about 30 computers where his players work on a shift basis to power up characters. Let that sink in just a bit.
This practice is so popular that he hired at least 30 players (probably more since they work on a rotational basis on 30 computers) in a developing country (read low paid workforce) to work around the clock power leveling people's characters in online games. Not only that but he's gone off shore to be competitive i.e. there are other people/businesses earning a living power leveling characters in online computer games.
Are you following this?
It's probably not new to you online gamer freaks out there but this is a whole online industry that I never imagined. I knew that Second Life has virtual money that can be turned into real money. I also knew that there's plenty of money to be made in other similar online games that have monetary systems but I never imagined there was this side industry in power leveling online player characters.
To me, it just smacks of people who want all the glory without the work.
If you're a gamer who's worked really hard to build up your character's level and experience then I just know you're not going to be all that impressed by these pretenders with money to burn.
If you want to know more about Power Leveling, BOG is one such service. I have no idea if it is the same service mentioned in the documentary however reading their about page I'm guessing not. This operation, with 700 computers and more than one thousand 'professional technicians', is much larger. Totally mind blowing!Labels: computers, internet
Radiohead - is this the future for commercial creativity?
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The music world and the online world in general is abuzz with Radiohead's decision to let fans decide how much they pay for the bands new album In Rainbows before being allowed to download it via their web site.
This simple act has allowed the band to bypass the need for a record company. It's estimated, on average the band will still make about the same amount of money from downloads as they would have going the usual CD release route after the record companies have taken their cut. On average, I've read people are paying about US$8.00 for an album which you can, if you choose, download for free. It's up to you.
If you would like to read a deeper article on the repercussions then Maki from www.doshdosh.com has written a great article about Radiohead and Anti-marketing in the music industy.
What's clever about their decision is that it completely legalizes the free sharing of music. Something that is very web 2.0 where the new words for sharing on a grand scale is going viral. People love getting stuff for free. If the music is good people will share it and pay to see it performed live. By all accounts this is where the real money is for bands and musicians.
What interests me is, could this approach work for other forms of creativity or does this model only work if the sharing by optional donation approach leads to a pay per unit style revenue stream down the line?
For example, could a painter give away, by optional donation, print quality, digital scans of artworks to raise awareness and generate buzz that could lead to people wanting to own the real, original works?
My own business model of uploading free videos of me creating my art in order to raise awareness of my web site, through which I sell merchandise and original art via ebay is a similar idea.
Giving the people what they want so that they may be interested to purchase something later that they perceive as having real value, worth paying for. Which is not to say the free stuff doesn't have value but we all know, at least with digital files, it costs virtually nothing to make a copy.
I don't know. In a sense the idea of people choosing to pay what they want is like busking. It's kind of honorable but at the same time kind of sad. It's like saying I'll take whatever you can give. I don't put a value on my creativity. I'm leaving that up to you.
In theory, if I do a really good job, the next time I release something and ask for people to donate what they like, they may just pay more second time around because their first experience was much better value than they originally thought. I guess that's called creating demand.
Perhaps it's just me but the donation model doesn't sit well with my psyche. I don't mind giving something for free but taking a donation feels like accepting charity or begging.
Radiohead's business model is a good one for a modern world where everyone seems connected. It's a fantastic way to interact directly with your audience (known as your market in business terms). However it's going to take a little more time to see if it really is the future for commercial creativity.
Is there really money to be made by giving your creativity away?Labels: internet, money, music
The Next Internet Millionaire and Joel Comm
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
I've been watching the online series, The Next Internet Millionaire, hosted by Internet revenue expert Joel Comm.
The series is similar in format to Donald Trump's series, The Apprentice. A group of moderately successful internet marketers compete through various individual and team challenges for the chance of winning a $25,000 dollar cash prize and the opportunity to be Joel's next Joint Venture partner (presumably a millionaire opportunity). Each episode the losing team ends up in the judgment room where one or more contestants is eliminated.
At the time of writing only episodes one through four were online so this is all that I've seen. In any case this post isn't so much a review of the show as an observation of Joel Comm and his marketing approach - as you'll soon read.
Joel runs a highly informative Youtube channel, which is what prompted me to watch his show. There is no doubt from Joel's videos that he clearly knows his stuff and provides no nonsense, down to earth advice for anyone looking to earn a decent income online.
That said, The Next Internet Millionaire is rather a lot like The Apprentice in that, as far as useful information goes, it offers sound bites of valuable ideas but never really explores them deeper. In fact, the useful part of the show, where a guest speaker explains the key theme for the team challenge seems little more than an opportunity for one of Joel's marketing mates to pitch their key marketing idea. However the viewer (i.e. us) is not party to the details of that message.
This is fairly understandable (I assume these experts usually charge for their knowledge and time) but it does reduce the shows usefulness to that of a game show and a platform for Joel and his mates to make their sales pitch. Kind of goes a little against the 'Content is king' message that Joel himself promotes.
Since discovering Joel his advice has played a big part in recent changes I've made to this site - which appear to be showing some early, positive results. Naturally I signed up to his mailing list. Unfortunately that has soured the relationship some what.
Whilst Joel knows his stuff and no doubt can run rings around me with his marketing abilities he does come from a really old school of internet marketing. The school of personal selling emails and web site landing pages explaining why you should sign up for whatever Joel's latest offer is. I hate that kind of marketing.
Daily emails, addressing me by name, with a sales message and perhaps a free offer thrown in, directing me to a bloated single page web site that scrolls forever with reason after reason explaining why this offer is so good. It's soooo... web 1.0.
I can't stand those landing pages. If I do take the time to look further I usually scroll straight to the bottom just to find out how much accepting the offer is going to cost. Nearly every time, if I could afford the offer I wouldn't need it.
Joel is proof that this technique works and can earn you a lot of money but I didn't sign up for a sales pitch I signed up for content. Even in the course of writing this article, exploring Joel's blog lead me to various landing pages with a sales pitch.
I really don't want a business in a box, web site templates or yet another report on how buying this latest product can increase my earnings. All I want is help and advice on how I can make what I do earn me an income that will pay my bills with a bit left over for savings.
I have all the skills already. What I need is help in finding out how all the pieces fit together. Joel says to make money from a web site you need to do something that you're passionate about. That's what I've done. Why then does he keep pushing all these other products at me?
Just give me some useful advice that directly relates to running an artist web site.Labels: education, internet, money, video
Echoes of your online life.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
How long will the echo of your life continue to resonate around virtual space once you are gone?
Performing a Google search on your real name and various user names that you may have adopted for numerous social sites and forums can turn up a lot of your online history. For example, if I perform a search on my real name, one of the results will be the very first web page that introduced me to the online world. This page is more than 10 years old and clearly no longer supported by its author but still it persists.
Other things that will turn up are game levels that I made in my former life as a Dark Forces Game Guru as well as echoes of my more recent stint on my local council. Two things which I have no involvement with in my present life as a wanna be internet celebrity.
Currently my videos are bouncing all around the internet. More than seventy of them and still counting. In these days of social networking and content sharing, who knows how far and wide my videos have spread. I can barely keep track of the places I've uploaded them myself.
How long will my videos continue to bounce around in cyberspace after I'm gone? How long will my echo be? If we physically can't be immortal, what about in cyberspace? Will our echo keep resonating years after we're gone?
I hate to finish with a cliche but...
Only time will tell.Labels: cyberspace, internet, life, mortality
Discussion Retrospective.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
One of the oddities of internet forums is that discussions can be preserved long after the interest of the participants is over.
My partner and I met up with some online forum friends recently at a local restaurant. Most of them we've known for years but hadn't met in person until now. At this event I was reminded by two people about a forum discussion that I remember having but couldn't for the life of me remember the actual details of what I'd said.
However, it must have been profound and informative because three people recalled it and at least one had thought it interesting enough to copy the discussion and show it to people not involved with the forum. I still couldn't remember the exact details despite the subject being a pet topic of mine.
Afterwards I went home and looked up this discussion on the forum. It took a little bit of finding because it was buried in the archives. Turns out this was a discussion that took place nearly two years ago. No wonder I couldn't remember the details.
It's quite an interesting thing to do, looking at old discussions. Especially if they're about topics that really fire you up (as this one did for me). At the time I sounded really informed about the subject (which I was) but now, if you raised the same issue, I doubt I'd sound even half as informed.
Reading your discussions retrospectively, years later, is quite different from reading discussions in which you did not take part. There is a personal connection to the dialog. For me I wonder how did I get to be that knowledgeable? How could I be that fired up and make the connections I did?
Not only that, but to have someone still remember what I wrote nearly two years later with me having next to no idea what I said.
Most of the time discussions are lost. Forgotten. However the internet is a really big thing. I wonder how many discussions of mine could I find if I looked?Labels: discussion, forum, internet, retrospective
Competition with a day job.
Monday, April 30, 2007
User Generated Content changed everything. Suddenly, the corporations lost their control. No longer could they spoon feed us propaganda.
At one time filming your life for the world to see was considered voyeurism. Now it's entertainment. We all can be stars.
The loudest voice comes from those who understand the medium rather than those with the most money and resources.
Now we can talk to each other and that's dangerous.
The next person you meet could be your last.
You don't know them. You only think you do.
You meet them anyway.
Fortunately today isn't the end it's a beginning.
People getting together, collaborating. That's dangerous.
Corporations now have new competition.
Competition that isn't driven by profit.
Competition with a day job.
User generated content changed everything. We all can be stars.Labels: ideas, internet, observation, video
Where to make money with Video.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Thanks to Nalts from Will Video For Food for the heads up on an article, Online Video: Show Us the Money, by Light Reading giving a comprehensive overview of which video sharing sites pay and how much you could earn. They even give you some revenue comparisons between the different sites.
There are five reports linked to their article that should be of interest to anyone wishing to earn money from short format videos including:
It's worth noticing that despite all the revenue sharing, YouTube is still king. I'm hoping that when YouTube announces its revenue sharing model later this year, it will be something revolutionary. Even though I'm supporting Revver at the moment, YouTube's video streams so much better than any other site.Labels: internet, money, video
Net Neutrality - why you should care...
Friday, January 05, 2007
Have you heard the term 'Net Neutrality' and wondered what all the fuss is about? This documentary by four eyed monsters explains it in everyday language and draws parallels with newspaper and radio for how the every day person lost access to open, mass media communication in those mediums. Essentially it's about Phone companies in the USA wanting to control the Internet through charging for different types of media as it is uploaded and/or downloaded to and from the net. For example it might cost you an additional fee to upload a video file to share with your friends. Currently you can upload as many videos as you like for whatever it costs you to be connected to the Internet but think of this cost for uploading each video file as an additional cost to being connected. These additional costs could be applied to all manner of files from email, pdf files, mp3 songs etc. etc. Remember how it's said that it costs virtually nothing to send an email? Potentially the phone companies could make you buy virtual stamps for every email you send. That might slow down the spammers but if you look at the real world postal service...it hasn't stopped the over supply of junk mail. There's always someone who can afford to send junkmail. What the phone companies want will reduce your ability to broadcast and communicate on a level playing field with big corporations because you'll be priced out of the market. Why is that good for big corporations? Well they'll no longer have to compete with people like me, making no budget content that's only watched by a minority of people who don't return enough income to pay for my lunch...forget about paying for my living expenses. The Corporations will get to feed you a selection of media based on market research, focus groups, cross sections and results that indicate which media is going to be the most profitable...there by killing minority media. Sound familiar? It should... that's what Television is. If you actually enjoy what I do...you won't see it again until I find a way to go main stream and be financially viable or can get a look in on a community broadcasting network. How likely is that? You might think this is only an issue for the USA but you'd be wrong. If the phone companies get their way in the States how long will it be before your communication provider and government wants a piece of the action? The whole war on net neutrality needs to be fought and won in the USA. If they lose to the phone companies there then it will be next to impossible to stop the transformation of the Internet as we know it to a closed media platform. Net Neutrality is the online issue for 2007. Keep yourself informed and don't support those who would take it away from you and I. Labels: corporations, internet, issues, media, neutrality
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