Reality checks apparently still aren’t working for celebs

So, Chris Brown is in anger management, huh? Well, that’s good and all, but it certainly doesn’t make up for a fraction of what he allegedly did to Rihanna. Apparently, he’s taking the anger management classes, as requested by his new publicist, to repair his image.

Maybe that’s how celebrities go about things these days, but in the real world, most people go to anger management to, oh, I don’t know… control their anger? Or maybe talk about the whats, whys, and whos of their anger. Possibly even to seek help for their anger issues? I think right now, Chris Brown needs to worry more about himself than his image.

Moral of the story: Stop worrying about what people think of you; instead, worry about yourself and those around you.

Social networking events and you, er, I mean, me

My first-ever social networking meetup, which just happened to be a Twitter-focused event organized by Chris Pirillo, went quite well, as if you couldn’t tell by my facial expression.

Tomorrow night, there’s a larger event organized by Social Media Club – Seattle in the Microsoft Redmond campus. Unfortunately, the tickets were sold out before I found out about it. But hey, at least there’s no cap on the after-event gathering at the Matador in Redmond! I’ll totally be there with high-school-partner-in-crime, Eric Nguyen.

Thanks to Jean-Luc David for the picture!

Seattle-Area Tweetup on Wednesday, February 18!

Tomorrow, I’ll be going to my first Twitter-based meeting. I’ll be dragging along rookie Twitterer and long-time friend Eric Nguyen to further introduce ourselves to offline social networking events.

We hope to see you there!

Blog advertising and business

I’ve been blogging casually since my days as a third-year college student. I think I had a total of four people who I knew read my blogs every day or at least once a week. Now, I’ve jumped on the whole Web 2.0 bandwagon and been more active in social networking. Some believe that sites like Twitter, which I enjoy for short updates, will take over blogging, but blogging really creates more personal expression. In business, it adds even more than what a simple micro-blogging site can do. If done correctly, blogging can be a powerful advertising tool.

Here’s what I think bloggers, specifically business and manager-level bloggers, need to do to effectively draw readers to their blog:

1. Fresh content. Bloggers should update their blogs three or more times a week for them to be truly effective and continuously attract visitors.
2. Personality. Most of the blogs I read give probably between 50 to 90 percent personal thoughts or ideas while the rest is dedicated to the facts of what they’re talking about.
3. Accuracy. Giving accurate information—bonus points for providing a hyperlink that opens in a new browser window or tab—is key in making a blog credible and worth following.
4. Clean content. Blogs don’t necessarily need superb grammar, but they have to be readable. Using spell check can never hurt.

For people to visit a blog that contains these four fundamentals, the blogger needs to invest some time in blog advertising. This can be done in a variety of ways online, such as through social networks, search engine optimization (SEO), and e-mail signatures. Another good way to promote a blog is to frequently leave comments on newsgroups, forums, and articles. Tons of people read comments, so that’s a sure-fire way to attract a new audience.

Cake the man in peanut butter and let the seagulls have him

I hope Stewart Parnell, Pleader of the Fifth and President of the Peanut Corporation of America—the company responsible for the current salmonella outbreak in delicious peanut butter products—gets prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Maybe not to the extent that this ex-health and drug official in China got punished, but hopefully to the maximum extent of the U.S. law.

Justice system, don’t fail me now!

Going the monetization route, but not entirely

In an effort to help with funding of this Web site, I’m going to start placing ad links in certain blogs that I write. The links will not be cost-per-click links; instead, they will be affiliate links, similar to the image ads on the Ads page. Not each post will have one, so if you’re really against this subtle, almost passive marketing technique, don’t worry.

If I mention a neat product or service like, say, a moderate interest rate on a savings account from ING Direct, then I would add a link to the company’s name, directing you to the site in a new window or tab. (Speaking of which, I just signed up for an Orange Savings Account through this bank last night. It’s definitely worth a look!)

While this is going on, I’m continuing to market this site to a larger audience. Comments to blog posts are always welcome, especially if you have an idea to expand on or to introduce.

Thanks for helping to keep this site running. It’s been a lot of fun so far!

Video submission for a mobile Web site and mobile browser contest

Last week, I stumbled on a Web site called PocketNow, a Web site dedicated to mobile phone news. One of the articles was a contest for readers who could come up with the most creative ways to use Skyfire, a mobile browser for Windows Mobile. The winning submission would receive an HTC Touch Diamond (a pretty sweet and expensive phone) and the runner ups would receive a Skyfire t-shirt.

I thought my entry was pretty innovative, but I guess I didn’t have the best scenery, which is what they were looking for. Oh well, at least I got a t-shirt! :D

Creative writing was never my strong point, but today, I felt a little inspired

Update: Oops, I guess I should’ve included the picture that I was commenting about… it might provide more context to the picture above.

During my late lunch at work today, I found an article on Engadget that featured captions for an image about Best Buy’s price-matching policy that the editors found. I left a comment, and here’s a reply that I received shortly after.

Don’t judge me. :)

Get with it, people!

I'm going to just come out with it; I don't agree with President Obama's decision to postpone the digital convergence from February 17, 2009 to June 12, 2009.

People, we've had two solid years to figure out how to individually handle this transition, either by buying a new TV that meets the new digital requirements, buying a digital converter box, or, hell, requesting a voucher for a free one. I think most people didn’t felt any sense of emergency or just were confused, but really, there’s no excuse for not being prepared. The Internet is for research, and even for the few that don’t frequent the Internet to do research, all you have to do is ask a friend, inquire about it at an electronics store, call your cable provider. There were/are so many resources for people to figure out what’s going on, but nobody takes advantage of them.

Companies like AT&T and Verizon have spent, and now possibly wasted, millions of dollars waiting for the analog TV airwave to become available so that they can use it to develop new technologies and services. Because of this five-month delay, we’re taking a step back not just in technological innovation, but in building new opportunities for our economy.

We've got other issues to tackle, isn't that right, Ashton Kutcher?

Seems as though Ashton Kutcher agrees with others and is sticking up for Michael Phelps's extracurricular activities.

Seriously, though, I think we have other things to worry about than an Olympic gold medalist who set world records last summer doing what approximately 33 percent (or more) of Americans do in their own time.

I am in no way condoning drug use, but c'mon, kids should be looking up to their parents, and not setting their goals so high, only to be "let down" when things like this happen to their "role models."

Note: In case you were wondering, I have never partaken in any illegal drug use. I'm just a supporter of doing whatever you want in your own free time, whether that involves recreational marijuana use or watching FOX News. Just don't get me involved.