Dr. Phil gets Octomum to fess up - Admits The Kids Were a Mistake

Nadya Suleman's admission that having more children was the wrong choice.

Watch Now: The Credit Crisis Visualized...

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo

Here is a short video by Jonathan Jarvis. He uses his artistic talent to illustrate and explain the current credit crisis in a very simple and effective way.

From the Author:

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

For more on my broader thesis work exploring the use of new media to make sense of a increasingly complex world, visit jdjarvis.com.

Which Is Better - A Blog or a Website?

Blog vs. a website … which one should I have?

This is a recurring question I get asked again and again and, it really is a valid question … one I asked before setting up my own blogs.
First of all, I need to make this ultra clear … a blog IS a website. In fact, I want to take that a stage further and say that blogs are “dynamic” websites. You can have pages on a blog and, with some of the great blog software on the market today, it can sometimes be difficult to tell some blogs and websites apart.
For those of you who may not know what a blog is, it’s short for web log, and is a frequently updated website consisting of blog posts, or entries (more often than not, dated entries) that are arranged in reverse chronological order. So when a reader comes to your blog, they see your most recent article or post first.
The advantage of a blog is that blogs allows you to post written text, audio and video and have it online within minutes, unlike traditional static websites which can take hours to update and cost you each time - unless you’re familiar with building or editing web sites.
I put up a new website over the weekend for one of my new services. I was using a template (something I rarely do) and, it came with very clear step-by-step instructions. Now, I hit some snags, which I eventually resolved, but the one thing I had to do which drove me crazy was sit at my PC for hours writing content for the site since I couldn’t upload it to the server without ensuring everything was right first.
And to me, this is the one of the biggest ”plusses” of having a blog … you get the site up, write your first post (I always recommend 5 to start with though) and you are ready to do business online and invite the search engines to come visit you.
This brings me to another Big plus of having a blog …

Optimizing Your Site For The Search Engines is Much Easier With a Blog

Each time you publish a blog, you do what is called “pinging” the update services. In other words, you automatically notify the search engines (sometimes indirectly) that there is new content on your site so “come and take a look!” This gives the search engines occasion to come and visit your site to index it. So, another benefit is that blogs tend to be indexed much more often than traditional static websites and, blogs show up 10 times more often in organic searches than static websites do.
On a tight budget?
Then a blog is something you should definitely consider. Blogs are cheaper to build than static websites and even if you get your neighbor to build you a website for free, you will still need a budget to maintain the site and keep the site updated. Also, there is no “pinging” with static websites so you have to do much more of what is called “on page” and “off page” search engine optimization than is necessary with a blog, if you want your site to show up in the natural search engine results.
And don’t think just because you paid thousands of dollars or worst thousands of UK pounds (real money!! Sorry my US friends) to have a website built that you’re going to get people flocking to your site. In fact, I’m going to dare say that most designers have no clue whatsoever about search engine optimization. Their strategy is to make your site look good … “build it and they will come.” And, I’m not exaggerating here … I had one designer tell me this! But, I’m not using that example as a generalization … just do a Google search for web designers and take a look at their offerings and you’ll find that most of them will sell on “look good” rather than “get found.”
One more benefit (though there are many more) before I “bust” some myths … Bloggers establish credibility much faster static website owners because blogs by their very nature build a stronger and more vibrant knowledge base. Sure you can do this by adding articles to your static site but it comes down to cost again and in my view, “findability”. Finding articles on a blog is usually much easier than navigating your way through a static website.
With a blog, you log into your back office, write your blog post and click the “publish” button and your article is on the world wide web ready for anyone who cares to read it and, you can categorize your posts making it easier for people to find you both online and, when they reach your blog.
With a static website, you have to open up your editor, such as Front Page or Dreamweaver, write the article (and, I’m assuming you’re using the existing website template), update the page properties before uploading that page to your site using FTP software. Once you’ve done all of that, you have to “wait” until the search engines do their rounds again, visiting your site to get it indexed. This could take months, depending on the strategies that you employ.
I have had one of my clients blogs indexed within 36 hours and all they did was post about 10 blog posts which were mainly snippets from her book. The crazy thing was that the posts were not even properly optimized but, her blog got the attention of the search engines.

Now for some myths about blogs and blogging:

1. Blogging takes too much time. What!! Do you know how much time it takes to properly maintain a website!? If you’re building a business then the act of blogging should be an aspect of your marketing so spending 2-4 hours each week researching and writing blog posts should be seen as a plus, not a negative. That is not to say you have to post so often … I don’t but I had to in the early days to build my credibility.
   
2. Blogs are fads and will die away soon. Boy … you would have thought these proponents would have cried off by now. But, let’s forget about them … just take a look at the direction the online world is taking and you will see that it makes sense to have a blog EVEN if you decide to build websites too (and, I do encourage both … more on that later) because blogs make podcasting, videocasting and social networking a lot easier if you are non technical.
   
3. No one reads blogs anyway. This is what some of speakers of The Professional Speakers Association used to tell me when I asked about building a site for my services. Now, I will tell you what I would tell them if they were to give me that same “cookie cutter” answer today … No one reads YOUR blog! If this is you it’s time to spice it up. Give your blog a voice, not a corporate makeover! Humans work in corporations so even if you’re targeting them, they have a sense of humor, they don’t all have MBA’s and use long “inarticulatable” words (like this one I just made up) and, they want information they can use. So save the Guardian style editorial for your press releases but give them great tips in your blog.

I could go on, but I hope I’ve given you enough information to make an informed decision on whether you should have a blog or a website.

Watch Now: Mom Scares the Gay Out of Boy...

Maybe he really is gay, or maybe he is just bi-curious (south park)...but I'm sure he shit his pants. Singing and dancing to Britney Spears - Baby Hit Me One More Time...

Ann Coulter Does Not Know What She's Talking About...

The only thing she knows is hate and ignorance. I'm glad the GOP is getting shut out. They're looking stupid and Ann Coulter is not helping them any. She looks like a narrow-minded dumb blond cheerleader for Team Republican.

See Leaked Picture of Rihanna - Her Bruised and Battered Face...

This is sad…

Wow, Chris Brown did all that to Rihanna …he messed her up for real!
He’s going to wake up today (February 20, 2009) hating his life and where it’s about to take him…

His PR folks have a lot of work to do – they don’t have too many options now that the evidence has been leaked - which I’m sure TMZ paid $$ MILLIONS $$ for, so whomever leaked it could care less…

How is this little 19 yr old boy going to beat on a woman like that?
I think I hear more sponsors dropping his butt…it's too bad in this day and age you can’t cover anything up, even your personal life – this technological society has everyone by the balls (and ovaries)...

Chris Brown certainly dug his hole deep and the media is deep all into it… maybe you’ll find his butt checking into Ridgeview - the rehab hotspot in Atlanta.

WORK-AT-HOME SCAMS

Consumers need to be vigilant when seeking employment online. The IC3 continues to receive numerous complaints from individuals who have fallen victim to work-at-home scams.

Victims are often hired to “process payments,” “transfer funds,” or “reship products.” These job scams involve the victims receiving and cashing fraudulent checks, transferring illegally obtained funds for the criminals, or receiving stolen merchandise and shipping it to the criminals.

Other victims sign up to be a “mystery shopper,” receiving fraudulent checks with instructions to cash the checks and wire the funds to “test” a company’s services. Victims are told they will be compensated with a portion of the merchandise or funds.

Work-at-home schemes attract otherwise innocent individuals, causing them to become part of criminal schemes without realizing they are engaging in illegal behavior.

Job scams often provide criminals the opportunity to commit identity theft when victims provide their personal information, sometimes even bank account information, to their potential “employer.” The criminal/employer can then use the victim’s information to open credit cards, post on-line auctions, register websites, etc., in the victim’s name to commit additional crimes.

If you have been a victim of Internet crime, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov.

A must have iPhone Application for Music Producers Worldwide...

Produce music straight off your Smart Phone or iPhone!

CNN's Reynolds Wolf tells of a new application that brings the power of the music studio to your smart-phone or iPhone.

Google Search ...the Saturday Glitch...

If any of you were working or trying to do a search on Google.. well around 11am you would've seen a random message saying the link could be harmful...

Now watching this... (as a web developer) I can totally understand that how a missing "/" or any random symbol can totally screw up a site...it is quite funny hearing the anchors as it as a "geeky explanation" ...lol *sigh*, I love being geeky!