Owner: McGrath Dot CA URL:http://www.mcgrath.ca Join Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 07:17:31 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: I started this blog to be able to write articles/reviews about technology and entertainment and do "Spread the MIS spec. word" contests. I will also give news about my current 2 freeware MIS Info Video... Site statistics:Click here
News: Jericho will be back and Paris Hilton is out 2007-06-07 17:23:46 Good news from Variety, CBS announced that it will bring back its hastily canceled Jericho
for at least 7 or 8 more episodes next season (also on CNN or CBS). If the ratings are good, then more will be made. It’s NUTS!
Maybe they saw this post a while back
The bad news of the day is that ParisHilton
is out of jail. What kind of example does it show? I would go in jail in her house. Martha Stewart should be mad because she went to jail, her!
Anyway, Jericho is my entertainment good news of the day!
Bookmark to:
Read more:Paris Hilton
New plugin: MyBlogLog 2007-06-07 11:40:22 A few days ago, I created a MyBlogLog account but did not activated completely the plugin here at that time. My Wordpress and theme(default) were no compatible with widgets and I had to change a few things first. Note that Wordpress 2.2 is compatible with widget.
This morning, after copying over sidebar.php, functions.php but I did take a backup of both files before. I was able to see the new plugin. At first, I lost everything I had setup on my sidebar. It’s a drag and drop setup with almost no need to write code for the many widgets(post, page, search…). Once you setup the sidebar like you want, you can add a Text widget.
The key was to add a Text widget and insert part of the html from my old sidebar. I added a few of them. Once you understand the concept, it’s easy. The only thing I don’t like so far is that I can’t rename the widget. For example, I wanted “Publicity banners” instead of Text 2. Also, you should remove <li></li&
Is Pope Benedict safe? 2007-06-06 06:45:20 I just watched on CNN the security breach that involved the Pope.
A man jump the security barriers when the Pope was passing and the security team stop him. At that moment, I noticed three things:
the Pope doesn’t use the Pope mobile(he like to be more open)
he was not aware of the breach
and more importantly, most of the security team rushed to the back leaving 2 guys in front. The “new” back team had troubles in keeping him down for a few seconds.
My questions are:
Should the Pope use the bullet-proof Pope Mobile more now?
If not, should the Pope use a bullet-proof vest unless he’s wearing one now?
What if a second person targeted the Pope but from the front at the same time? 2 guys might not be enough then.
Unfortunately, I could not see how many protected the front(10-15 feet’s from the jeep) at that moment. Maybe someone could answer this last point.
P.S. Nothing to do with technology except for the bullet-proof stuff
Bookmark to:
Read more:Benedict
, Pope Benedict
Make an easy $10CAD and get a chance to win a min. of $75CAD 2007-06-11 09:50:16 I took an ideal from Kumiko’s contest and changed the cut and paste text. The minimal big prize is now $75CAD and you don’t need to create an original text. But the more words you write, will also mean more money(up to $200CAD)!
Plus, you can get $10CAD(no draw) by just being in the first 3 to enter the contest. It can’t be more easy than that!
Read more:chance
News: My new blog about movies and TV shows 2007-06-10 10:29:31 I have deleted all reviews, post and news about movies
and TV shows. I now have a new blog dedicated for that and moved them to it. So, come visit 2012movies.net.
The entertainment category will be for electronic devices like games consoles, DVD players….
Improve your Rankings and Google PR with Viralink 2007-06-09 08:50:14 Andy Coates got an ideal to improve your ranking(Jimmy Huen based ViralTags on this). Let’s see if that works but copy it from here because Andy don’t do it anymore. Wow! 2 in one day
———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions below this line———
Below is a matrix of 120 stars, I have already added a link to my blog onto one of the stars, all you need to do is copy and paste the grid into your blog and add your own link to one of the other spare stars, and tell others to do the same!
Viralink
********************
********************
********************
********************
********************
********************
New Addition: When I receive a ping back once you have added the Viralink to your site I will add your link to this grid, and each person who copies the grid from here will also link to your site!
———copy and paste the Viralink and instructions above this line———
Read more:Improve
, Rankings
, Google
Improve your Rankings and Google PR with ViralTags 2007-06-09 08:35:29 Jimmy Huen got an ideal to improve your ranking. Let’s see if that works.
========= Copy and Paste below this line ==========
Instructions:
1.) Copy and paste the matrix of “ViralTags” below courtesy of Founders Cafe (to support Jimmy’s quest of launching his own Internet Startup with a shoestring budget, please consider subscribing to his Full RSS Feed to see his triumphs and struggles in real time).
2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the “Viral Tags” in the matrix with your anchor text of choice with your blog’s URL. Please keep anchor text to a max of 3 words to keep the matrix size manageable.
3.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their “Viral Tags”, practice good karma by copying his/her Host Tag’s anchor text (automatically the associated link will also be copied) and paste it over one of your “Viral Tags” below.
4.) Encourage and invite your readers to do the same and soon this can grow virally.
Host Tag: Steve Read more:Improve
, Rankings
, Google
When a ReviewME goes wrong: A Warning to Advertisers 2007-06-09 06:59:14 After a disappointing result with traffic (i.e. 3 visits) from 10 open review($30USD/each) on ReviewME, I decided to pay more and get a review from a technology site. This experience should be read by advertisers and bloggers. Unfortunately for me, it went wrong and here is the chain of events:
May 21(Monday): I made an offer($250USD) to a publisher for a review of the MIS Specification. It was almost the same description I gave for the 10 reviews. I added a few things that would help the reviewer but the goal was the MIS specification. Here is the main task.
Review Details: MIS specification (text file metadata)
Background on the MIS Specification
I want you to concentrate on what the MIS specification could do if used with electronic devices(DVD player, Media player, MP3 player). The MIS specification is free for non-commercial projects I have an open competition for freeware/open source projects.
I even left my email if the reviewer wanted to contact me.
May 22(Tuesday): Offe
Improve your Traffic, Rankings and Google PR with ViralPosties 2007-06-14 08:33:35 Andy Coates(ViraLink) created the first matrix and then Jimmy Huen(ViralTag) the second matrix. Because, I had success with it, I decided to create my own version but with a Category + Post Title instead and with a smaller matrix. Thus, you will only need to look at the ping back of the your own post and you can also visit interesting new blogs. It should be easier to track and bloggers won’t have to leave a comment most of the time. I change Jimmy’s text to my own needs and he did a good job on it(Thanks).
========= Copy and Paste below this line ==========
Instructions:
1.) Copy and paste the matrix of “ViralPosties” below courtesy of Steve’s Tech Blog
2.) Substitute the Host Tag and one of the “ViralPosties” in the matrix with the URL of one of your Category plus Post Title.
3.) When you get a ping back from someone that has your link in one of their “ViralPosties”, practice good karma by copying his/her Host Tag’s anchor text (automatically the associ Read more:Improve
, Rankings
, Google
AdesClrPicker in special for $10 (50% off) 2007-06-12 08:52:32 A few weeks ago, I did a review of this tool(capture colors). At that time, I did not think that I would need it(needed RGB only). Since then, I often needed the HTML color code for my blog/site/MIS Info Video. So, today I went to buy it and found it was 50% off(now $9.90USD). I jump on that offer, got out my credit card and bought it.
If you have a blog or site, now is your chance to get it. For example, You could use it to match the Adsense background to the background of the new template that is not white.
Here is the description:
Do you still use Photoshop to capture colors? Now you don’t have to, because with AdesClrPicker you can do the same much faster. With our small and fast color picker tool you don’t have to wait for Photoshop to load just to capture one color from the screen.
Upgrading to WordPress v2.2 2007-06-12 06:21:07 I just upgraded to WordPress v2.2(at last). It corrects security issues and also let me use widget(i.e. MyblogLog) without using a third party widget plugins. I also saved a backup of the database(first one) on my computer.
Even if I’m a programmer, I’m also a user first and the WordPress instructions a easy to follow. It was my second upgrade and I’m sure that in time, I will be used to it like all bloggers before me.
P.S.
It seems ok but if you notice weird stuff, please contact me at: webmaster @ i2mfan.com or leave a comment
The blog is moving 2007-06-17 11:55:15 Yes, I decided that the time had come to move the blog to it’s own domain name. I will take a major “hit” in my rankings but it would be better on the long run. It will a take a few days but the name will be shorter and easier to remember than going via a subdomain like I’m doing now. I will be able to merge i2mfan.com and the blog into 1 eventually with the new domain. I may be using the same database or create a new one and look at redirecting current traffic(site and blog) to the new one. Haaaa, the pleasures of moving
Tip: When creating a domain in your host package(3 free domain included), create it in a subfolder from the start. I made that mistake when I took over it in December 2006. It’s much cleaner that way and better when you add other domains or subdomains.
host/i2mfan
host/2012movies
host/mynewdomain
Thank you for visiting me and will see you later
P.S.
Please, don’t leave comments about viralink, viraltags…. because I
Can you make more money with Adsense? Week 2 results 2007-06-16 08:15:56
My weekly update concerning the average per click for the month of June since I made the change. I did not have many clicks on the blog itself but people downloaded MIS Info Video(freeware) and clicked on ads(a few times).
Overall for June: $0.53
Week 1-7: $0.63
Week 8:-15 $0.47
I did got $0.01 a few times lowering the average for week 2.
Read more:Adsense
, results
Create a blog and you may win up to $200CAD 2007-06-16 06:16:44
If you were on the sidelines for awhile about creating your own blog, then here is your chance. I have removed the restriction for a blog of being 2 months old. Just follow the instructions of the contest.
Get 120 Links From 40 Blogs For $25 2007-06-21 08:44:26 Are you looking to increase your Technorati authority by 40 (varies) and receive 120 backlinks to your site in just a day? If so for just $25.00 for a limited time you can receive 120 links from 40 different blogs. See my result below with 2012movies.net. When I first bought the offer, I took a link for mcgrathinfosolution.com. It won’t affect Technorati but still created backlinks to it and improved the Alexa. Used it for both my blogs.
The Rules for Submission:
$25 - an article written by you will be posted on all 40 blogs (maximum of 500 words)
a) no more than 3 links per article.
b) no porn, no warez, no illegal content.
c) no more than 500 words.
1) Send payment to my Paypal account:
support@mcgrathinfosolution.com
2) Paypal not required major credit cards accepted click buy now!
3) Email me the HTML as an attachment for the article(s) meaning included URL(s) and anchor texts in article.
4) I will then verify your payment by matching it to your email.
5) The turnaround ti Read more:Blogs
This blog is back!!!!(Almost) 2007-06-20 20:07:01 I finally decided to split the post of Steve’s Tech Blog and MISfan.com in to blogs. The ideal came after reading a recent post on Dosh Dosh. They will still be strong blogs but with a few change.
Steve’s Tech Blog: Like before with it’s own contest, reviews ….
MISfan.com: All things related to the MIS specification, Info2MIS and MIS Info Video and contest related to them.
For now, I have post on both places and will need to do a cleanup. Don’t leave a comments for now. My connection is on/off(bad weather) and can’t do work for now. It’s a pain just to write this post.
Read more:Almost
Review: Did you IBackup today? 2007-06-24 11:30:09 This is a sponsored review
Backup is something many don’t do until something bad happens to their files. The common way is to use a backup software or simpler yet, just burn the files to CD/DVD or copy them to an external hard drive. This method is better than no backup at all but still not safe. You must keep a copy to an external location(family, friend, office) or one other way would be to use Online Storage to make the steps more secure.
This is where IBackup
come into play. They offer a secure drag-n-drop method of copying your files via a map drive. For example, the drive letter “I” in Windows Explorer could be you Ibackup drive. Because most files can be compressed(30-50%), the software will make uploading the files faster. It can compressed even more a database but not much multimedia files(mp3, avi, wmv…).
They have many pricing plans starting at $9.95/month for 5 GB. They also have many software options like: IBackup for Windows, IDrive for MAC, IDrive multim
Can you make more money with Adsense? Week 3 results 2007-06-24 08:31:32 My weekly update concerning the average per click for the month of June since I made the change. I did not have many clicks on the blog itself but people downloaded MIS Info Video(freeware) and clicked on ads(a few times in support).
Overall for June: $0.46
Week 1-7: $0.63
Week 8:-14 $0.44
Week 15:-21 $0.35
I did got $0.01 with no clicks a more times lowering the average for week 3. Also, the site was redirected a few days to MISfan.com
Read more:Adsense
, results
How much is your blog worth? 2007-06-24 07:12:12 The recent sale of Career Rambling for $20 000(started in November 2006) reminded me of a tool to get an estimate for a blog. In my case, the only one would be 2012movies.net because the others are branded.
So, how much is 2012movies.net worth?
2012movies.net is worth $121,940.64.
How much is your blog worth?
Using the same tools, Career Rambling is worth $225,816.00(at the time of this post). Based on this, it got 8.8% of the estimated value.
In theory, I should get $10 000 for 2012movies.net. Any buyers?
It’s just a fun tool for you and your ego to try and don’t read too much into it. Anyway, the rule of thumb I have seen is about 10 times the monthly earnings. What about your blog?
John Chow troubles with Technorati rankings 2007-06-24 05:23:17 John Chow has troubles with his Technorati
that affect is ranking on ReviewME thus possible earnings. I was surprise to see on how high you have to get on Technorati to the have the 5 stars on ReviewME. Btw, he has a rank of 63 but got 133 from ReviewME .
Here is mine:
They will fix it but I would like to know how much is needed for each thing(Alexa, RSS…).
I guest I will have to work harder and be patient to get the $400 review.
Review: 10 000 visitors to your site for only $9.95! 2007-06-22 07:16:54 I’ sure that you have seen those ads often advertising that they can send you 10,000 visitors for only $9.95US or even 1 Million. But do they really work? Have you been tempted?
After doing Review: “Blast your ads” to x Millions, I decided to see if that other method would work and paid $9.95USD for non targeted traffic. You will pay a little more for targeted traffic. It did not take 24 hours before I started receiving visits. I waited a few days to give it a chance and gather some results.
Show me the numbers
First, I went to see how much they had send me from there control panel: 327 visits updated in real times. I then proceeded to freeze the campaign so that my tracking tools could keep up. Google Analytics is always a few hours late.
After one day, I went to see how much Google Analytics would show: 47 visits
“What is this?”, I asked myself. I emailed them and they replied:
Our traffic is from multiple sources and it goes through severa
Contest: Tell me about the media player you use and win up to $50 2007-06-28 11:45:32 It’s my first contest for the blog. The other contests are on MISfan.com. It will be very simple and you need to answer this questions:
What mediaplayer
do you use?
Do you play movies full screen most of the time?
Have you tried MIS Info Video(my free media player
) with/without a .MIS?
Do you take time to look at ads and click on one that you like to show support for the free software?
2 Prizes:
$25CAD for leaving a comment
$25CAD if you mentioned this contest on your blog
A person could win both.
You need a Paypal account.
The comment winner is:
The blog winner is:
Here are my answers(don’t copy it):
1- I use MIS Info Video(Windows)
2- Yes! Are they any other way to watch movies other than full screen?
3- Yes and only with a .MIS. I use Info2MIS(free) to make one in only 2 clicks and I get the .JPG to go along.
4- Yes even beforeMIS Info Video went free, and software authors, like me, appreciate it when people do so.
P.S.
If you want to see what you could do w Read more:Contest
Info2MIS v.2.0.0b14 is out! 2007-06-26 13:26:32 At last, I got an integrated help system for Info2MIS. Soon, I will be out of “beta” because I waited for the help to be finished. Beta seems to scare people but it should not in this case.
A part from the help, a lot of small things were added, changed or corrected.
This version is out because of some minor trouble when extracting the episode information from TV.com.
P.S.
If you never used Info2MIS before, it’s a free application that will create a .MIS(metadata) for a movie or TV show to be read/played with MIS Info Video(also free). You can create a .MIS for movie in 2 clicks! See an example for movie here .
Get a mini review and PR5 backlink from Ed 2007-06-26 10:09:24 If you want a mini review
of your blog from Ed, then participate to his MyBlogLog Sunday. Ed change the rules this week: you must leave a link of your best post of the week in the comments. I think it’s better this way and will involve the blogger more and take less time for Ed.
It’s nice of him plus you get a free PR5 backlink.
See my mini review and others here
P.S.
Sorry Ed, I was very busy in the few last days.
What would do with a 1TB hard drive? 2007-06-26 08:59:45 Seagate announced it’s 1TB(1000Gig) drive
to compete against Hitachi and Samsung. What would you do with that kind of space? Is it too much?
Let me tell you how it could be use:
Transfer your DVD collections without additional compression(around 150 DVDs.)
Compress all movies(DVD, Recorded from tuner card) using DivX(around 1400 movies)
Record without additional compression(MPG2) with your media PC (around 500 movies or 1000 TV series)
This is one way to have an easy access to a movie collection. And for those with small kids, protect the original DVD from harm
Notes:
You could have more or less depending on the compression level
I think DivX is in sale now(I paid more than $19.99USD in 2005) and take also the MPG2 plugin. I needed it when I wanted to convert a DVD and video(MPG2) I had captured with my Hauppauge WinTV-250
Get Dr. DivX(free) to make it simple to convert your movies and play them on standalone DVD/Divx player. Just rename movie.divx to movie.avi
If you wa Read more:hard drive
Got my Technorati Top 10K 2007-07-02 07:13:23
Yes, I got my 10 000 badge on Technorati
(9,721 to be exact) . I should mentioned that I started the blog in February 2007 but really started to blog more in May. I since split the blog in 2.5 and transfered post to 2012movies.net and MISfan.com(0.5 ). The main goal is to be near it and, of course, go lower but I don’t plan on doing something special about it from now on.
How did I achieved it so fast?
I participate in ViraLink and ViralTag(still do) and I even started ViralPosties but moved it on MISfan.com(for an experiment). But the biggest boost was when I sent a release in a many blogs to tell readers about my blog. It was worth every cent.
Why is it important?
Because some paid for blogging services(i.e. ReviewMe) take this as an indicator. The lower it is, the better your ranking and the more you can ask per review. Of course, I only made 2 paid reviews so far(at $5/each ) and did not do those for the money alone. I did them mostly for the experience. If you
Contest: Happy Canada Day! and win $25(Got a winner) 2007-07-01 06:59:00 The winner
is: TheDuke84
You can win $25 Canadian.
This is a 24 hours contest. Comment must be dated before July 2 at 8:00AM. I will draw 1 winner.
You need to do 2 things:
1. In the page for a bunch of movies, email me the number of seconds where it’s written “Don’t resume if less than”.
2. Leave a comment(1 line is ok and don’t put the answer here or it will void the contest for all) and tell me if you would like your DVD, media player, mp3 player or on your current software media player to support the MIS specification(.MIS). No wrong answer here but you must leave a comment.
You need a Paypal account.
Keep the predefined subject because I will use a filter.
Check here for my other contest for $50 and ….. If you have a blog, please participate to this other contest on MISfan.com, more money . You can use part of your comment as a basis if you want.
Read more:Contest
, Happy
, Canada
Can you make more money with Adsense? Week 4 final results 2007-06-30 06:08:03 My weekly update concerning the average per click for the month of June since I made the change. I did not have many clicks on the blog itself but people downloaded MIS Info Video(freeware) and clicked on ads(a few times in support).
Overall for June: $0.51
Week 1-7: $0.63
Week 8:-14 $0.44
Week 15:-21 $0.35
Week 22:-21 $0.65
I did got $0.01 with clicks/no clicks a few times lowering the average for week 4. It was the same for previous weeks too.
Average of previous months:
March($0.10)
April($0.28)
May($0.19) (More and more $0.01)
June ($0.51) Including yesterday
Conclusion
By using Competitive Ad Filter, I got a 268% increase versus May(this is across all my sites). I put a bigger number for a dramatic effect but it’s not even close to pay for my latest contest. Yes, it’s all from my pocket for now.
Now, I just need more people to come visit my sites, see what you can do with bunch of movies , podcast or pictures with a .MIS and earn a living from the freeware/M Read more:Adsense
, results
Is Google going to buy or start a paid for blogging service? 2007-06-29 09:28:38
First, Google
bought Blogger.com and recently FeedBurner. Now, what they lack is a paid for blogging service. If they do, they will be able to undercut every one and bring there current catalog of advertisers. But which one should they buy or should they start they own? What ranking system would they use?
To Buy or not to buy? Which one is the question?
I know of other services but those are the ones most often mentioned.
ReviewME: Many top bloggers use this one and we see the badge often but if your read my previous post, it’s not perfect yet for advertisers. Also, Text Link Ads is also operated by the same company according to nice4rice and would be in a grey area.
PayPerPost: Not perfect but getting there. Another recent round of funding may attract more top bloggers and advertisers.
Start me up!
They could start from scratch and I’m sure that bloggers would look at it. They would look at what others did and what did not work and start with new rules. Gett
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