Vingles

What are "vingles?"

With the rise of ipods and other hand-held media with video capability, "vingles" are apple's newest trend du jour. Similar to a "single" --or song released as a single-- Apple calls vingles a "bundled offer of video and its corresponding single" according to yahoo news.

Offered through itunes, apple expects video collections to be a growing trend.

Since ipods with video screens are now the standard, once shuffle and other non-video-screen ipod users are in the market for a new mp3 playa', they'll likely adopt one of their fav brand's new listening devices.

Also, with the rise in popularity of google video and video podcasting, I can't see how apple's prediction will be wrong.

Powder

The last time I can remember gliding through knee-deep powder on 7th heaven must have been in grade 7 with my friend Gwen. Saturday was one of those skiing days which doesn't come along often. Indeed, I did ski 7th heaven and once again had the awesome opportunity to wind my way through Blackcomb's heavenly powder -large bail and all.

Since we got to the mountain early, we were among the first few people up the series of lifts which take you to 'heaven.' Therefore, not only did we get to enjoy heaven's powder, but we were also lucky enough to experience it sans crowds.

To top the day off, apres-ski we enjoyed drinks and nachos in the bright mid-day sun, followed by a wonderful dinner (and weekend) with friends.

What I like about whistler/blackcomb:
-even on a sunny, powdery Saturday you can ski parts of the mountain and not contend with crowds (but you need to choose wisely)
-the amount of areas one can ski -each different and each unique

What I don't like about whistler/blackcomb:
-the 4km cat-track from the glacier/spanky's to the excelerator chair
-the icy patches (even after collecting a large sum of snow)

Flawging

Further to my last post on flawgs, I'd like to drill a little deeper into the concept. These days, it seems as though the vast majority of 'business' bloggers and a good chunk of 'personal' bloggers monetize their blogs. In essence, this the true kind of flawg.

Alternatively, a fake or bad blog is built with 'dummy' content solely for the purpose of making money through sketchy means.

Today, if you have a business or personal blog with medium to high traffic and are not monitizing your blog, you are losing out on an opportunity to make money. Of course, the amount you'll make depends on traffic, as well as the nature, location and conversion power of your links.

Many internet marketing gurus have found that by simply changing the copy, location or format of their affiliate links, they can significantly impact their profit and loss.

Lastly, if you're going to seriously monitize your blog, think of industries that are propelled by the web. In other words, think of products that people are apt to buy online since there are still many retail sectors where people do research online and then convert--or buy--offline.

Flawg

The other day, someone close to me brought up the term 'fake blog' referring to bloggers whose sole intent is to create a blog to make money.

Let me make a distinction: it seems there are two types of fake blogs. The first pertains to those whose only intent is to make money through google adsense or affiliate links via fake content. The second type pertains to those who have a blog about their life or an aspect of their business/area of expertise, and subsequently have relevant affiliate links and google adsense to capitalize on the suggestions they make.

A 'fake blog' is much more easily stated as a "flawg" -not to be confused with "flog", which has negative connotations.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with having a flawg since well-intended flawgs are essentially a derivation of 'word of mouth' or viral marketing. For example, if I check out a fellow bloggers' post about a new album they really enjoy, listen to it and then buy the song through itunes via a link in their post, what's the harm in that? That blogger has made buying a good album easier for those who read their blog.

Therefore, although the idea of flawging may be a horrific notion to some bloggers, it seems like a natural and largely resourceful evolution of blogging. Flawging has become a marketing trend that will likely stick around for awhile -at least until it evolves into a different format when the next trend in technology rears its head.

"The Loop"

Yesterday my husband and I discovered a new tv show: The Loop. Although a little quirky and crass, it's quite funny, notably because there is at least one aspect of the show with which every young professional can identify.

Given its uber competitive time-slot, I seriously hope that this show does not get the boot. Sadly, this year many of the shows I like are getting cancelled. So long Love Monkey, Alias and Jake in Progress -it was fun while it lasted.

Now, I'm at the mercy of the Amazing Race, CSI, The Block and Las Vegas to name a few shows which attract my regular attention. A TV show getting my regular attention is something which I could not attest to a few years ago. During university, I got out of the habit of watching tv and thus continued that trend once I was done school.

Although I do feel a little sheepish about having 'regular shows' on my weekly roster, I do like the escapism of indulging myself in a fabricated tale or not-so-reality-show.

I cannot remember the source, but according to some tv-related research I remember reading way back when, apparently our brain activity diminishes when we watch tv. I suppose this may be a factor in why I consider tv-watching relaxing -because I'm not actively engaged in thinking.....

Once again

Okay, so let's try this one more time. I got pretty interested in blogging back in February, but like with many things in life, my interests momentarily shifted. Now, for many reasons, I'm back on track.

Until recently, I've been a 'late-adopter' of many things in life. Possibly becuase that's safe. However, rather than contemplating 'the whys'; in lieu of my industry, I've recently changed my ways. I've decided that being an early-adopter is a much more fantastic and interesting way to go through life.