Vincent van Gogh's Birthday

Google commemorates van Gogh's birthday in their unique way:

Comcast Wants You

A blog about residential high speed internet--called megabits per second--has outlined the things Comcast is doing to aquire new customers. I admit these are pretty nice. I personally have comcast already, and I love it, so I think these are really good deals for people thinking to switch.

This seems to be part of a major marketing offensive from all the major ISPs. For example, you can't miss the PeoplePC or the Netzero hates Netscape commercials every 7 minutes, or the cool Earthlink ads about their spamblocker.

I just keep waiting for the Verizon guy to pop up in my Instant Messenger and text me:

"Can you read me now? Good!"

Jobster joins the jobsearch fray

Thanks to Michael Arrington for noting that

Jobster [has entered] the (getting very crowded) online job space.

I had looked over this site yesterday, thanks to a link from a recruiting site. It looks very interesting. Of course, some of it is under wraps until they launch.

Defintely, if they can use a P2P-ish (ala Napster) model for sharing and disseminating job information and recruiting talented people through tapping employees' centers of influence, I can see this being a good cornerstone in the burgeoning talent search marketplace.

If anything else, their VCs like their idea to the tune of $8 Million. Not too bad.

Filed Under: job jobs jobsearch career jobster networks networking social talent search public recruiting new

Is Technorati down? 

Robert Merrill -- Determined, Driven, Entrepreneurial Problem-Solver

Update 5/2/2005 -- I am no-longer currently seeking employment. However, in the spirit of transparency, here is the remainder of this posting:


I am seeking the opportunity to work in a fast-moving, smart organization with talented people--especially in the technical area. I have deep experience in programming, business-development, sales, marketing and communications, as well as a wealth of professional contacts in the Provo-to-Draper and Salt Lake regions of Utah.

Always professional, and determined to solve problems and build leadership in others, I look forward to the opportunity to be an asset to your organization.

Experience:
Recruiter, Trainer, Co-Owner, Herbalife International Independent Distributorship (Provo, Utah), 2001-Present

• Personally recruited and trained independent sales/marketing representatives to work with the company.
• Increased 2004 revenue 38% over 2003.
• Present live regional trainings (100 to 500 people) and over-the-phone trainings (up to 10,000 people).

Owner, NetNut Web Development & Hosting (Provo, Utah), 2000-2003

• Recruited & mentored independent web developers.
• Sold hosting & development services.
• Worked with clients and independent web developers to create web solutions on aggressive timelines.
• Managed all operations of the company.

KLAS Enterprises (Orem, Utah), 2001-2003, Programmer/Analyst, Internal Computer Support

• Developed secure intranet, enabling quick data-entry and retrieval both locally and to remote offices.
• Analyzed and Changed processes relating to data flow, quality, and entry.
• Managed all internal technical support needs.
• Skills include ASP, ASP.net, SQL, xHTML, Flash, VB, VBScript, Java Script, XML, RSS, Document Management, CRM, SFA

HomePortfolio.com (Boston, Mass.), 2000-2001, Web Developer

• Worked with product managers, partners, and clients to develop, program, and roll-out effective, engaging web storefronts.
• Worked with Business Development and Marketing managers to increase clickthru-to-sale ROI percentages, track site visitor metrics, and identify cross-selling opportunities.

Genuity (Boston, Mass.), 1997-2000, Sales Operations: Corporate Training, Sales Forecasting, CRM & Knowledge Management Specialist, Sales Operations: Telecom Parter Specialist

• Supported 1,500 worldwide sales people.
• Developed distance-learning applications to distribute knowledge.
• Developed/Delivered stand-up training sessions across US.

Other Related Experiences/Accomplishments, and Associations:

• Returned Missionary, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• M.I.T. (Boston) Rugby Football Club.
• North Shore (Hawaii) Rugby Football Club.
• Member, National Eagle Scout Association
• Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America.
• Member, Quill & Scroll, Association of High School Journalists.

Contact Information:

Robert Merrill
801-234-0254
rob dot merrill at com cast dot net
Provo, Utah

I'll give you my password for that...

Somewhat funny, but a little disturbing, security companies in the UK found that:

"More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found. "

Further, 35% will just give up their password if you simply ask. And 79% of people regularly share compromising security information that could lead to their identity theft.

Personally, I think some of it comes from ignorance about how identity theft can happen, and what public information is already available for people to find.

Also, with respect to corporate password security, I think some cognitive dissonance about a person's personal appreciation to corporate security may be partly to blame. Sure everyone's worried about security, but people don't see how my password could hurt anything... I am just "Mary in H.R."

Thanks to del.icio.us/tag/password for the link.

Filed Under: password security compromise public delicious

Do You Undertand?

Found on the web: in a job posting on CareerBuilder, the following is required:

"Must be able to undertand and communicate in English" (emphasis added)

Filed Under: job typo error jobsearch career placement recruiting hire hiring public

Noted: 29 Ways to Promote Your Website

An article reprinted on webmaster tips, originally from Web Marketing Today, reveals 29 strategies for bringing more visitors to your website.  If anything else, its a good page to del.icio.us.  I already did, under "website promotion advertising marketing SEO blogging & blogger"

Filed Under: promote website blog tips blogging SEO strategy marketing visitors hits promotion blogger public

Big Job Boards Coordinate With Niche Lists/Sites

Niche industry websites, blogs and newsletters are increasingly common for ways to promote and find employment these days, and the big boards like Monster, Yahoo Hot Jobs, and Career Builder aren't going to be left too far out in the cold.

Already, major corporations are using the lists to "whisper" and effectively leak information about job postings as an officially unofficial part of the formal hiring process.

Computerworld reports that "Niche sites are part of the hiring strategy at Toyota Motor Corp., too. Spokesman Dan Sieger says the automaker uses a combination of sites, posting 95% of openings on Toyota.com and Monster, but a handful of positions on niche sites like Engineering.com and the American Society of Professional Engineers' site.

Larger career sites also are getting in on the trend. CareerBuilder.com coordinates with dozens of industry-specific sites... sharing listings and resources and driving traffic back and forth between the sites." (via Computerworld)

The article also predicts that the more common these lists become, the less impact they will have on the overall job search process.

In the end, I believe it's still all about who you know... and what you know about who you know, which is one reason I do like LinkedIn's Jobs tool.

Filed Under: jobsearch job monster careerbuilder career employment hotjobs public recruiting hiring HR

PayPal Preferred Rewards program

PayPal announced in an email today that they are extending their cash back rewards program to all sellers, not just ebay sellers. This is a sweet deal if you're accepting any form of credit card or electronic payments online. For one, you get your payments instantly (not in 72 hours like many merchant accounts), and PayPal gives you a percentage of the money you spend with their debit card as cash-back.

Here is the text of the email they sent out today:

We are pleased to announce that the PayPal Preferred Rewards program is now expanding to include all merchants. Since you already participate, this change will not affect you.

Starting in March 2005, all sellers (on eBay and off eBay) who promote PayPal as their preferred online payment method can sign up for PayPal Preferred Rewards. If eligible, they can earn 1% cashback on PayPal Debit Card purchases.

You will continue to earn the 1.5% cashback that you're used to. The more you use the card, the more cashback you'll receive.

Plus, you'll still enjoy all the other benefits that the card offers:

• Instant access to your PayPal account balance - no checks, no transfers, no
  waiting
• Purchase power wherever MasterCard is accepted
• Cash withdrawals at ATMs worldwide.
• Shop safely with zero liability for unauthorized purchases

Thank you for continuing to use the PayPal ATM / Debit Card.

Sincerely,
PayPal

Once you qualify for the cashback bonus, they will pay you the bonus every time you make a purchase--online or off--using your PayPal Debit Card. I've earned almost $10 cash back this week this way. Hey, I'm not going to complain much about free cash.

Filed Under: paypal cash cashback money ecommerce debit card credit ebay free public merchant

Small Business Faxing with eFax. Try it Free.

Fax over IP (FoIP?) has been around for a while, and eFax has been a pioneer in this industry. Right now, they are offering their best-of-breed fax-to-email software free.

Setup takes only 2 minutes, you get a local fax number, and faxes come right into your email box. Also, you can send faxes right from your computer to any fax machine in the world.

I've been using eFax for a few years. Here are my favorite few "bonuses" that truly made eFax come in handy for me:

• Need to scan something, but don't have a scanner?
  FAX it to your eFax number, and it will appear in minutes as an email attachment.
  
• Need to FAX something to someone without a FAX machine (a contract, invoice, etc)?
  FAX it to your eFax number, then just forward the email you get from eFax to your client, vendor, or partner. Anyone can open an eFax message, even without an eFax account.
  
• Drowning in paperwork?
  FAX important documents to yourself through eFax. Then simply archive the messages you get, store them on a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or other archive format.

One note I want to say about using eFax to archive your files is that once you archive them electronically, you can either throw away the originals, or store them deeper in your filing system.

You can easily call up tax returns, contracts, leases, mortgages, insurance paperwork, etc., right from your computer. If you find out you need the original, go get it, but don't dig endlessly through files for something you are not sure you even need!

Even better, arrange your electronic archives with a filing or naming structure that helps you locate paper documents in case you need them! Imagine finding a lease agreement in a folder on your computer labeled "Archive--June 2004". Guess where you would look in your real-world filing system?

Related: Find out how eFax delivers faxes right to your email inbox. Try it free – instant activation.

Filed Under: fax efax smallbusiness tools downloads free trial cool web apps public

Review: Password Managers

I've long been a proponent of RoboForm. Here's a review on it an a few other password managers:

Review: Programs That Manage Passwords
Forbes - USA
... five such programs for Windows PCs: Access Manager 2 ($19.95), TK8 safe ($19.95), Password Agent 2 ($24.95), Handy Password ($30) and RoboForm Portable ($39.98

Related Posts (technorati)

Filed Under: cool software tools utlilites passwords security

GoToMeeting -- Big Power for the Little Guy

Small Business Owners Utilize New Tools to Stay Profitable
Emediawire (press release) - Ferndale,WA,USA 

 
"Scott Barnett from Walla Walla, WA didn't need a website. He already had a number of his own in addition to the ones he manages for clients. Barnett, the owner of Xtend Computer Services and Xpert SEO needed to re-evaluate the semi-local traveling that he did on a regular basis.

“I have a number of clients with offices 30 to 90 minutes away from me, said Barnett.” “Trying to demonstrate search engine strategies and applications over the phone can be a less than satisfying experience.” “My clients pay me well to make sure they are ranking highly within Google, Yahoo and MSN.” “They deserve personalized attention and explanations from me.” “Unfortunately, traveling to a client 45 minutes both ways in addition to the time spent in their office can easily eat up half my day.” “It isn't an effective use of my time.”

Barnett did some research and quickly found an online resource that was the answer to his problem www.gotomeeting.com." 

Filed Under: conferencing meeting training collaboration tools apps web remote productivity public smallbusiness

Noted: Job Hunting Links

Step-by-step guide to land a new job
CNN - USA
 

Craigslist as Recruiters' Pet
SearchViews - New York,NY,USA
... of its job board has long made Craigslist a favorite among recruiters, and now a very real competitor for the likes of Monster, Careerbuilder, and newspaper ...

Blog-Burn-Rate

Its happening everywhere.

Steve feels it, Scoble ditched it. All these guys are thinking about it, too. But, reading part of Scoble's entry on his blog-burn-rate, I have to comment that he's doing a good thing.

"Time is more valuable than money," Jim Rohn has taught, "because you can always make more money. You can never make more time."

Have fun with your family, Robert. They are more important than everything else.
Filed Under: blog burnout time family energy wasting public

TO: C|NET--Trackbacks aren't useful if I can't use them

I just noticed a sweet article on cnet that I was going to blog about. Then, I noticed they have Trackback enabled--very cool... or, so I thought.

I can't easily get the Trackback URI.

This is because I manually post my trackbacks, using Haloscan over Blogger. Therefore, I need to copy the Trackback URI so I can ping it.

But, on cnet's pages that divulges the trackback URI, (for example, this one, or this one), I can not select the text! Maybe this is CSS or JavaScript wizardry, or just a browser bug for IE users, but the bottom-line is, I can't easily get to cnet's Trackback URIs.

Which, beside making me have to really want to trackback to an article, sure takes all the fun out of it!

Topix bought up by Knight Ridder, Gannet & Tribune

SiliconBeat weighs in on this shakeup in the Internet publishing and news landscape, especially how it relates to a merging of old and new media.

"The Internet at every turn is about building scale and the ability to do things at an international and national level, but also at the local level,'' said Tim Landon, president of Tribune Interactive and Classifieds. "And that's what the intriguing potential is for Topix.''

Among other things, the article discusses how the newspapers and their subsidiaries can now use Topix to distribute traffic from and through their other sites such as CareerBuilder & Cars.com

See Tag Surf for related content on this.

Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Tool Dislikes Firefox

Apparently, Microsoft's new Anti-Spyware (define) tool wants to remove all traces of the Firefox browser from your computer, citing urgent security and privacy threats, though the browser has been hailed as a more secure browsing platform than Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Upon detection, the application warns you that:

Firefox "is a very high risk threat and should be removed immediately as to
prevent harm to your computer or your privacy."

Another odd item, to me, is that Microsoft ranks Firefox as a higher threat to your security and privacy than other items, such as oh, I dunno... KaZaA, an application known for its privacy, spyware and general security flaws (see screenshot).

Do you smell something stinking here?

Thanks to Switch Case for the link

Filed Under: firefox browser msie internet explorer ie microsoft security privacy spyware anti public

Blog Sees Traffic Increase... As Predicted

So, this blog is not the yahoo of the blogosphere by any stretch, but Susan Mernit was right.

Putting in play just a few of her helpful hints for growing your blog traffic, I've seen a noticable increase in response. (Hat tip, again, to Steve for the link in the first place)

I posted Susan's hints on the 19th, and since then things look good so far. Just for fun, lets see if you can see a graph here from StatCounter:
Through March 22nd:

Through March 23rd:

Re: Is Kazaa safe to run on my computer? Spyware?

Here is a series of links to articles discussing Kazaa's serious security flaws and privacy problems:

• News.com: Stealth P2P network hides inside Kazaa
• Robin Good: P2P - Kazaa Privacy Problems & Risks
• PCWorld: Kazaa Sneakware Stirs Inside PCs
• Unwanted Links: Serious Concerns about Kazaa Media Desktop
• Slashdot: Court Docs Reveal Kazaa Logging User Downloads

More info: See del.icio.us/tag/kazaa, Google, or Technorati Search

In short, buy the music, don't run the risk!

Who are you going to be, today?

26 percent of workers feel they are acting at work instead of being themselves, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey, reprinted by The Standard Times. Go get an acting job!

Other Interesting Numbers:

• Percentage of US Small Businesses (fewer than 500 employees): 99.7.
  • Percentage of US workers belonging to these small businesses: 50.1.
    (Private sector employees only)
  • Percentage of US GDP
    from these companies: 51.
• Percentage of computers in use in the world, per capita: 27.
• Percentage of US business leaders worried that obesity will affect revenue or productivity at their company: 27.

Filed Under: acting job career work life jobsearch search percentage statistics US market human resources hiring facts interesting public obesity weight loss lose

Noted Posts

• Susan Mernit posts on How to Grow Your Blogging Audience (via Micropersuasion)
• Melinama blogs about avoiding frustrations with Blogger and "Hello"
• Take your bookmarks with you with this FireFox-in-a-box extension
• There are some fun with light photos on flickr worth checking out.
• Blogging in Binary? See if you can understand this familiar nursery rhyme, then obfuscate your own quotes to binary using this site.
• SEO and Blog Abuse, a commentary

Career Builder Gains Ground in Classified Marketshare Wars

It's no secret that traditional newspapers are battling with online companies, both for readers' eyeballs and their dollars. Of course, newspaper still retains some of its high brow status as an elite source of news, but when it comes to the Help Wanteds and the Classifieds, there seems to be an all out brawl going on for marketshare.

Reuters recently published this article, discussing the tug-of-war going on between the newspapers and the dotcoms. Ecommerce giants like eBay are buying up classified outlets and drawing users to them that way. In retaliation, news agencies are purchasing ecommerce space.

Within the classified markespace, Help Wanteds are generating some serious chess matches as well. Reuters reported:

The help-wanted market may be a harbinger for the future push and pull between the online and offline worlds.

Newspaper job listings were the first to feel the heat from Internet rivals like Monster.com and Yahoo's Hot Jobs.

Most newspaper chains during 2004 continued to lose online recruitment market share to rivals... But there were some bright spots. Online recruiting site Careerbuilder, jointly owned by newspaper publishers Gannett, Knight Ridder and Tribune gained market share, as did Hollinger International and Pulitzer.

Filed Under: career jobs careerbuilder recruiter monster yahoo hotjobs public resume helpwanted classified jobsearch

RE: Blogspot has more traffic than NY Times?

Susan Mernit commented that NYTimes is offering a better return right now, figuring that Blogspot pages are monetized at about $1 per page, while the Times' pages are probably bringing in something like $20 a page.

My comments to Susan are that the math can't be that easy--there's a few other things to consider.

Less Overhead = Better Profit Position
First of all, blogspot has to pay considerably less per page it puts on the web. In fact, I can't imagine the cost to serve each page topping more than a few cents each.

Without a large staff, writers, editors, assistants, etc, to pay, if blogspot only brings in $1 per page, but 90 cents of that is pure profit, it may be better than what the Times is making per page.

Grocery Store Economics
Second, though traffic between the two sites may be similar today, blogspot has a much faster potential for growth as they have the equivilent of thousands of writers, posting passionate articles about microsubjects.

The Times has what I consider a practical limit on the amount of content they can generate because of logistical and monetary constraints. The editorial process itself causes a limitation to the content-generation process. This barrier is not necessarilly a problem, in fact it is essential in some degree as the gateway role of the mainstream media, a distinction important to note here.

However, from just a monetary standpoint, the viral growth potential Blogspot has due to blogging's killer-app popularity has the potential to hand Blogger and unbelievably huge lump of cash, thanks to some Grocery Store Economics, which basically says:

You don't have to sell your products for a huge profit to make a huge profit--you just have to sell a lot of your product.

Think about it. If the Stop & Shop around the corner can earn 10 cents of pure profit per item in your shopping cart (after all their expenses, salaries, etc.), andyou have, say, 15 items, they will make $1.50 on your business today.

If they can checkout an average of 5 customers every 3 minutes, they will make $150 pure profit, per hour, per lane. If they can have enough customers to keep an average of 3 aisles open all day and they are open just 12 hours a day (half-as-long as most stores these days), shareholders will earn $5,400.00 of pure profit each day.

That's just under $2 Million dollars per year of pure profit for one store. Not bad for tomatoes.

Other conversations on this topic: Rick Bruner started it, Susan Mernit (who I am commenting back to), Steve Rubel, PC4Media (interesting!), and Joe Malchow chimed in. And, Technorati proves there are others.

Filed Under: nytimes blogspot blogger traffic citizen journalism alexa public micropersuasion susanmernit

Wooden Laptop

The PlasterCITY Soapbox blogged about a wooden laptop made from an old case of precious sicilian wines, leather, pine wood, oak, beech, iron and brass screws. Quite unbelievable.

You know, I wonder if it the wood is a better insulator against the chassis getting hot?
Filed Under: random odd wood laptop public

Micro Persuasion: A Del.icio.us Screencast

Steve Rubel posted A Del.icio.us Screencast, saying:

"Jon Udell from Infoworld has put together a killer screencast that shows the power of using del.icio.us as a backup brain and as a link sharing service."

Udell's mastery of del.icio.us makes the whole tool make sense. Plus, I finally know the difference between pidgin and creole!
Filed Under: micropersuasion del.icio.us screencast cool web public bookmark

Power Downloader: RoboForm is Most Practical Download

I found the following note about RoboForm on Power Downloader's "best of" page.

Most Practical Being a superhero involves a lot of red tape. Before he found AI RoboForm, Power Downloader spent more time filling out forms than fighting crime, so this password manager easily became Power’s choice for most practical application. The software pulls double duty by storing all of Power’s account information and automatically filling in any Web-based form. All the usual form fodder, such as credit card numbers, billing addresses, and usernames, can be safely entered on any Web page in just a couple of clicks. If Power ever comes across a specific form he knows he’ll need to fill out more than once, he can save the whole thing locally and reuse it whenever he wants. The utility even uses a dash of artificial intelligence to automatically fill in fields. Best of all, it uses triple DES encryption to ensure that all of Power’s personal information is kept under lock and key.

Filed Under: cool software tools utlilites passwords & security

Six Tips for Making Progress in Your Job Search

Job-Hunt.Org posted this article along with many other good ones about excelling in your job search:

Particularly if you've been unemployed for an extended period of time, as so many people have in this economy, it's easy to be discouraged, and do anything else that feels like it is an accomplishment. But, you can get that same feeling of accomplishment and move your job search forward at the same time by following these 6 simple steps... more

del.icio.us Tags Sized By Popularity

Thanks to falsepositives for linking to this new view of del.icio.us' tags, ranked and sized by popularity, like Technorati does (and others), and colored according to green for related tags and red for tag intersections.

It would be sweet to drop in some VRML or something to get a response like ThinkMap's ultra-sweet Visual Thesaurus

Chris Pirillo (not Prillo): Lockergnoming 101

In relation to various posts between Chris Pirillo and Steve Rubel, Chris posted this article, a small, clickable dissertation on driving traffic through Google's spellchecker:

Driving traffic to a server... that's Lockergnoming. Has been since 1996. Well, I've put a new twist on the word - and am setting out to define it further...

Thanks for the details, Chris. It's just the kind of distraction I needed for a Friday afternoon...

Maybe I should try this

Steve Rubel's post, Micro Persuasion: Chris Pirillo is Brilliant, makes me wonder where I could try this...

Tips For Posting Your Resume Online

The Pittsurgh Tribune-Review carried this article from AP which discusses the pros and cons of posting your resume online through a job search service.

"The major job destination sites such as Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs aggregate thousands of job leads for you, while letting recruiters sift through thousands of resumes easily, potentially finding yours."

Yet, posting your resume online is not all you need to do

"Don't forget that finding a new job takes hard work, dedication and focus. There's no easy route to a greener career pasture, Internet or no Internet. And many people wrongly assume that posting a...resume...is the bulk of the effort.

Get Your Numa On

Wait for the flash to load, and then press PLAY. With Subtitles is the best:


See the Flash by itself or the page it came from.

Mastering Email Overload

Thanks to Del.icio.us, I found this great article on the Harvard Business School's website, written by Stever Robbins about dealing with email madness.

"Fortunately, being buried alive under electronic missives forced me to develop coping strategies. Let me share some of the nonobvious ones with you. Together, maybe we can start a revolution."

Please don't worry about emailing me to tell me you liked it. Post a comment instead, if you don't mind.

Filed Under: email tools cool article web business efficient productive productivity work ideas suggestions

Leave the Driving To Us

Aweber's unlimited autoresponders are driving sales and creating opportunities I wouldn't have time to create myself.

It's almost like I have a new employee so customer-focused that he or she just can't bear to let anybody slip through the cracks. They've just got to keep in touch with our clients and prospects:

"Are you happy?"

"Do you have any questions?"

"Is there anything you need?"

Of course, I don't have a new employee, but Aweber's autoresponder tools have been working miracles with my existing client base as well as driving sales and creating opportunities from my new clients and prospects that I simply wouldn't have time to create myself.

Test Drive Aweber's tool here, or visit their website for more information:


I took a block of time early Saturday morning two weeks ago to create my follow-up messages and set Aweber to work.

As each new prospect requests information, they are automatically put in queue to receive automatic, timely emails from us promoting to them our products and the value of calling us to get started.

If they become clients, I transfer them easily to another list which automatically sends out our welcome letter and other information I want all new clients to have.

Since I have unlimited lists I can create, I modified my new client list and created an "old clients" list for clients that are not ordering right now. Aweber copied my messages from one list to the other in one click. Then I edited them as appropriate, and now I am getting web traffic and phone calls from clients I haven't spoken to in years.

"Thanks for your email," one of them said. "I have been looking for your contact information. Somehow I lost it, and couldn't remember your website address! I am so glad you took the time to write!"

Of course, I didn't write just to her. But Aweber's personalization features made it work out perfectly, striking up a relationship that now has turned to cash-flow, and--with Aweber helping me out--I am sure it will continue to stay that way for a very long time.

Filed Under: Email communications service care marketing CRM relationship public relations PR

Test Drive Aweber's Follow-up Tool

You can test drive Aweber's follow-up tool by entering your name and email address in the form, below. You'll get put into a simple queue that will send you sample autoresponses like your clients would get if you had an Aweber account.

AWeber Demo

You Hate to Follow Up Mind if we do it for you? AWeber's unlimited autoresponder follow up increases sales, lowers costs, builds lasting customer relationships, and increases your profits! Find out how with Unlimited autoresponders.

Cool Blog Button Maker

Thanks to Paul Bausch for the link to Adam Kalsey's button maker.

Amazon RSS Feed Generator

Thanks to the Amazon Web Services Blog for the link to this tool which helps you create an RSS feed of content at Amazon based on search masks you specify. Very cool.

LinkedIn Jobs Insider Helps You Get In

Looking for work? Need a paycheck upgrade? If you've been looking for long, someone had probably shared pearls of wisdom like the following about the value of your personal network:

"It's not what you know, it's who you know... and what you know about who you know."

Well, LinkedIn wants to give you a free download to help you know more about the people you know as you're looking for work. It's called LinkedIn Jobs Insider, and you can get it here, free.

Screenshot:

From LinkedIn:

See your inside connections to the hiring manager and companies for any job online with the LinkedIn JobsInsider.

Automatically appears when you are looking at jobs on Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, and more.

Shows you who you or your friends know at the company who can help you get hired.

Filed Under: Jobs, jobsearch, networking, Linked In, public

Password Manager Wins "Best Supporting Web App"

RoboForm 6.1.7 popular
Download Now
Free download: 2.26MB
Downloads: 1,968,017
Estimated Download Time (Dialup): 5 minutes
Estimated Download Time (Broadband/T-1): 24 seconds

---

The web used to be lazy. We used words like "surf" and "browse". Now, its all work, and if you're not seeing serious ROI for your time, you're outta there--even for personal stuff. Bottom-line: It better be the best information, at the best price, and it better load faster than a sugar-rush from too much Dr. Pepper or it's CTRL-ALT-See Ya Later.

Enter RoboForm, the Mag-Lite® of the online "helper-apps" category, a secure, well-thought-out password manager that got on a serious ego-trip and decided to simply be the best all-around eSidekick any serious computer user can have.

Seriously, except for my mouse, RoboForm is the most important accessory on my computer. I go illiterate on any other computer.

"What?" I say, "I have to login manually?... and I have to remember what
my password is? Puh-leese! I'll wait until I get back on my laptop..."

Now, RoboForm is winning praises from web powerhouses, too. For example, Download.com's super-savvy editors had this to say about RoboForm:

You can reduce the time you spend filling out Web forms and logging onto subscription sites with RoboForm. This major update improves usability significantly and replaces the old, clunky autofill window with a less-obtrusive toolbar. If you don't like the standard toolbar placement, you can run it at the bottom of the browser instead. That's the standard placement for Mozilla-based browsers. The program uses triple DES encryption to protect your data, and includes a password generator. You can set up multiple identities with different credit-card numbers, passwords, and contact information. The trial limits the tab instances on each identity to three, but you can make plenty of identities.

Our favorite feature is Login, which with one click will go to a Web page, fill in a form, and submit your information. The program handles check boxes and radio buttons, and supports about 20 languages. The new Search field in the toolbar makes finding and accessing any information quick. Besides returning matching logins and other RoboForm entries, the search box will offer to search Google, Yahoo, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary for your term. RoboForm will save active Web users a lot of time.

Download it, use it, love it! You'll never want to use the web again, without it!

Filed Under: cool software tools utlilites passwords & security

Hypertag Enables Free Media Transfers

Billboard Post Play, a new blog about digital media, posted this article about Hypertag, the new technology enabling short range transfers to cellphones, pdas, etc.

As an example, "a user activates the infra-red or Bluetooth on their phone, holds it up to the Hypertag and receives content such as vouchers, business cards, ringtones or games."

A benefit to marketers is that the transfer does not incurr wireless per-minute fees to either the advertiser or the user because it uses the short range bluetooth/IR technologies rather than costly SMS.

The company website promises the technology will:

• Improve brand recall
• Reinforce brand positioning
• Increase direct response
• Stimulate sales
• Improve your return on outdoor advertising investment

Seems pretty cool to me. I admit if I saw a poster with the hypertag, I would try it. I can see it being cool if you could then share the content with others, say if the free ringtone or game or coupon is pretty cool, you could get some pretty nice viral response out of it!


Filed Under: mobile content marketing advertising public