ajb{log}: learn something new each day

There is a new blog in town - Tech Blog Philippines (www.techblog.ph). I’m one of the contributors on the group of popular tech bloggers in the Philippines. There’s just a lot of them to mention here.

Tech Blog Philippines (TBP) just started and still oiling the engines to the blog and will soon be up to speed. We’re promising lots of new stuff on this blog.

TBP is being spearheaded by the same cool guys at PinoyBlogosphere. Watch this space, it’s gonna be fun!

To subscribe to the TBP feed, just click here.

–aj

Our site Mployd.com has been chosen as an honorable mention at the recent SEOmoz Web 2.0 Awards.

First off, I’d like to personally thank the guys over at SEOmoz (They. Are. The. Authority in SEO). I also like to thank the huge names in the industry — the judges. I appreciate it very much!

SEOmoz Web 2.0 Awards Judges

• Pete Cashmore
• Chris Pirillo
• Tony Adam
• Darren Rowse
• Ciaran Norris
• Duncan Riley
• Andy Beal
• Todd Malicoat
• Chris Winfield
• Christopher Null
• Dharmesh Shah
• Jeremiah Andrick
• Alexis Ohanian
• Tamar Weinberg
• Terry Ng
• Joost de Valk
• Guillaume Bouchard
• Spencer Rascoff
• Anil Dash
• Brent Csutoras
• Jeremy Schoemaker

This really came in as a big surprise for us here at Mployd HQ. Why? Just take a look at the winners at the Employment and Jobs category, not only you’ll see popular names like Standoutjobs ($2M funding) and Careerbuilder, but also the 800-pound gorilla Monster.com. And having Mployd behind these 3 big guys couldn’t be much more sweeter.

Again, to SEOmoz and the judges, thank you very much for this!

Have a great weekend!

–aj

Meet the new Last.fm killer (I still love you Last.fm) - Lala.

Cool interface, nice use of screen estate, awesome dashboard, all-in-one page actions, and yeah free to listen to music.

DRM free music starts a dime. Isn’t all of those cool?

I haven’t gone through every single thing inside Lala but obviously, I’m impressed!

Some suggestions to add:
* Radio station
* API
* Widgets

Great stuff guys. Keep the features coming.

–aj

By the way, I know people don’t like the word “killer”. For me it basically means a “very good competitor”.

Most website owners and webmasters wonder if the site they’re managing is on Google. We often search our domain, our company name, or even our own name and some specific keywords to see if the website we’ve done a few days back has been crawled and placed on the massive index of Google.

Yes, most SEO (Search Engine Optimization) professionals already know these things. However, for the newbies and for the rest of us, here’s a quick tutorial to know if your site’s status is in the Google index or not.

It’s a basic 2-step process to be in the know. But, you can further move forward enhancing your SEO efforts like verifying your domain, adding a sitemap, getting to know your search rank, top keywords search for a specific time, etc. at the Google Webmaster Tools.

Let’s start. Here’s how:

1) Go to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/sitestatus

2) Enter your domain on the input box (ex. http://www.mployd.com). Click on the “Next” button

Now, if your website is in the Google index, you should be able to see this notification

And you will be asked if you want to go and manage your website at the Google Webmaster Tool

If your website isn’t listed yet on the Google index, you should see something like this

Google will also suggest that you submit a Sitemap on their Google Webmaster Tools (which will eventually help your rankings on the Google’s search engine results).

Pretty simple huh? Go and check your website now if it’s listed and I hope it is.

Cheers!

–aj

I received yet another threat looking invoice from The Economist. For those who doesn’t know, it’s a printed magazine. They also have an online edition.

I got their so-called “risk-free subscriptions” from a popular website. The 6 RISK-FREE issues free trial advertised on tons of websites is not even a big secret. In face, you can easily find one with a simple google search “the economist trial subscription“. But beware though. Don’t even think of subscribing or even entering your personal information on their form. Or you might end up just like me.

Here’s what they tell people all over the net:

Subscribe to The Economist today and you’ll get 6 RISK-FREE issues as a free trial. If you wish to continue your subscription, you’ll receive 18 additional issues (24 in all) for just $49.90. That’s 65% off the cover price. You’ll also receive a free gift, The World in 2008 from The Economist, upon payment for your subscription. If you decide The Economist is not for you, write ‘cancel’ on the bill, return it and owe nothing.

That’s right folks. Write ‘cancel’ on the bill and you owe nothing. Yeah, right.

Unfortunately, if you have fallen to their trap and subscribed - they will start to mail you (after your 3rd or 4th magazine) invoices stating (or looked like) you owe them. I wish I still had those mails so I can scan them and show it to you.

I have the “final notice” invoice though to show you how threatening (look like) they are if you don’t pay (read: subscribe).

Here’s the scanned invoice:

Lets take a closer look at the invoice and let us analyze it word for word they use to…

1) Make it look like you owe them something (look for “Outstanding Debt”)
2) Use terms to look like you are in trouble (look for “reinstate your “GOOD” credit status”)
3) Tell and scare you if you don’t subscribe to their magazine your file will be flagged as a “BAD DEBT”

Wow! What a way to treat someone from trying your magazine which you advertise (see above) and then force them to subscribe (pay) to their magazine. Most people receiving these kind of invoices will fall prey to their scheme. Please don’t be that person.

Ok. I know what you are thinking, “You should have mailed them to CANCEL your account! Moron!”. In fact I did (I just honestly didn’t know if it should have been ‘Cancel’ or ‘cancel’ or ‘cANCEL’, it might have been case-sensitive.

Also, I felt something on my gut that that wasn’t enough so I even used their online contact form and asked them to CANCEL my account ASAP (even before I received the invoice above 01/04/08). This time though, I used ‘CANCEL’. It might just work, I told myself.

Then I received an email confirmation (below) I got that I’m out (supposedly) of their mailing list (that was Dec 17, 2007):

Neodata by the way, is a company they use to outsource their direct marketing service. More here.

My original request was:

Please remove my name, address and my information out of your database. I keep on receiving invoices with “financial obligations” requesting me to pay a subscription. Get me out of that list. Please.

Yes, my friend, “The Economist” kept on mailing me invoices to settle my “Financial Obligations”. See how they use words to seemingly scare and force you to pay? I’d bet my cats life I am not the only one receiving these kinds of invoices.

Risk-free trial is good for business. If the customer really wanted the magazine, they will subscribe (heck, I am getting Business 2.0, Forbes and Fast Company for pete’s sake!). However, if they feel it wasn’t worth it or didn’t like it (especially if he has opt-out, CANCELled), get that customer out of the mailing list. And DON’T send them that kind of invoices your Credit Department send!

Alright, this post is now becoming a TV drama series.

Seriously, don’t ever subscribe to them if you are unsure you really want the magazine. It is going to be one hell of cat and mouse to get out!

Let me end this by quoting a famous person who said something about “The Economist”.

“I used to think; now I just read The Economist.” - Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle Corporation

For the rest of you, maybe you need to think again. And again… and again…
–aj

5 Deadly Sins Guaranteed To Kill Your Link Requests
by Eric Ward

Link Week Here in the Link Week column, we mostly discuss intermediate to advanced linking related subjects, but I’m compelled to cover a very basic topic this week. Link requests. The link builders are out in force this summer. The proof is in my inbox. Over the two weeks since my last LinkWeek column, I’ve counted the number of link requests I’ve received. The total? Forty-two.

This is both funny and tragic. It’s funny because I do not give out links, I do not swap links, I’ve never had a links page, and the only place I’ve ever provided outbound links is within my LinkMoses blogscroll, and even that is limited to about twenty-five other sites, all of whom are run by people I know and have great respect for. So any link builder seeking a link from me has either not visited my site, does not know me, or does not care who he/she spams. Funny!

It’s tragic because you would think that with all the attention link building has received over the past few years, people would better understand the right and wrong way to ask for a link. For me, the single most important rule of all is to realize you must respect the person on the other end of your email. You must send a different link request to each person based upon the site and context you are seeking a link for. I don’t send a casual all lowercase email to a college professor and I don’t send a formal three paragraph grammatically perfect email with a Microsoft word attachment to 14 year old blogger. But the links from each are just as important.

There are many ways to screw up your link requests, but I’ll start with the following four Deadly Sins of link request emails. Why are they deadly? They are deadly because they each occur before I’ve even considered reading the body of your email. You have treated me like I do not matter before you have even gotten your URL in front of me. That’s deadly.

Deadly Sin #1

The email address you used to reach me does not exist anywhere on my site. Since my server is set to catchall, I get every email sent to my domains. However, there are only 3 or 4 specific email addresses to be found on my site. If you sent me email to an address that is not one of those addresses, then you’re a spammer, and you have been deleted.

Deadly Sin #2

Your subject line has an exclamation point in it, usually “Check out my site!!!!!”

Deadly Sin #3

Your subject line does not have an exclamation point but says any of the following:

* Check out my site
* Let’s swap links
* Link request
* Press Release
* Awesome new site
* How much for a link?

Deadly Sin #4

Your email begins with:

Dear Webmaster…
or
To Whom it May Concern…

or, as Mike Grehan has said many times, Dear Mr. Inquiries…

Deadly Sin #5

You apologize in the first line of your email, and/or write this:
I apologize if you are not the correct person to handle this inquiry. Please forward it to the proper person.

That’s five Deadly Sins—and I haven’t even started reading your email yet.

Eric Ward has been in the link building and content publicity game since 1994, providing services ranking from linking strategy to a monthly private newsletters on linking for subscribers. The Link Week column appears on Mondays at Search Engine Land.

We are inviting all employers and job seekers to test drive our beta site, Mployd.com.

What does Mployd offer job seekers?

• Create unlimited resume profiles
• Job alerts and RSS feeds (soon)
• Public and employer-only resume
• Get Vouched by friends and colleagues
• and more features to come…

A screenshot of the job seeker dashboard (still under development but works). What’s your favorite theme? I love the black and plum!

Here’s a screenshot (below) of the employers’ dashboard. Still pretty bare, but I’m working on it. Expect a lot of features that will be added over the next couple of weeks.

What does Mployd offer employers?

• Unlimited job posting (until 01 03/01/08)
• Unlimited resume search (TBA)
• Job management (update/re-post/put on-hold)
• Job seeker applications management
• Connect with job seekers and setup interviews
• and more features to come…

According to thejobbored, “January is the busiest month for hiring and job searching. If you begin the process now, you can get in ahead of the rush.” One of the reasons why we’ve opened this early.

Hope you like the new free service. It’s a “David” that will take on the “goliaths” out there.

Bugs, comments, feedback on Mployd.com is most welcome, please email me at ajbatac (at) mployd.com and I will reply to inquiries ASAP. And oh, please be gentle.

Visit it now at www.mployd.com

Thanks!

–aj

P.S.
And just for fun, while experimenting with iMovie last night I made this video. Don’t know why it’s stopping before it even ends. Oh well, newbie.

Here’s a quick walk-through using Thunderbird 2.0 to download emails from GMail on your private computer.

1) Download the latest Thunderbird 2.0

2) Install Thunderbird, then launch the application (a wizard should popup during the 1st run. Choose Tools >> Account Settings >> Add Account to launch if using an old install.)

3) Enter your name andGMail username (name before the @gmail.com)

4) Click Next and select Finish

5) Enter your GMail password and you are done!

Thunderbird should download your emails from GMail.com immediately. If you have a large inbox, you will have to wait a little bit longer to complete downloading all your messages.

If you prefer to use IMAP. Refer to this help document from Google.

Hope this small tutorial helps.

–aj

Zune 2 Launches

Fact: 25 iPods for every 1 Zune sold. Still a long way to go huh? But at least iPod has a competition. It’s always hard without one.

Zune 2.0 Social Network, anyone?

More scoop here

Google Reaches $2000 and TechCrunch Sells for $100M

TechCrunch scorns Blodget’s claims. Says Henry Blodget is crossing a line.

Sony BMG Says Burn Just One Song Your a Thief

Under oath, Gabriel asked if it was wrong for consumers to even make just one copy of music which they have purchased. Jennifer Pariser’s reply, “When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song.” Making “a copy” of a purchased song is just “a nice way of saying ’steals just one copy’,” she said.

Whole story at Geek.com.

Lifecasting at Justin.tv just became popular

You can now create a channel for yourself and broadcast. Unfortunately the site’s traffic is continually surging and all I can see is…

Sorry Justin.tv isn’t working for you! Please email info@justin.tv for help.

Yahoo! Updates search adding search assist, keyword suggestions, related concepts, embedded videos and pictures on search results and more.

Head over to ysearchblog for more.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta opens up to pre-registrations.

Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta is an online place to store, access, and share documents and files just like Google Docs which is already available and Zoho and docstoc etc.

Speaking of Zoho, Zoho Brings Database & Reporting Online

Zoho DB lets users easily create, share, and collaborate on database applications and reports online (yes, web based!).

More here

Internet can be dangerous, that’s why Myanmar regime shut it down

But don’t worry. We still have IRRAWADDY to see what’s going on over there.

Over here, it’s going to be a long-weekend again. Happy Thanksgiving!

–aj

There was a magazine today and it had an article about the top 50 startups in Canada. I took a snap of a part (forgot the name of the mag) and I would like to share to you the key ingredients in startup expansion.

Read on.

–aj