Saturday, December 29, 2007

Affiliate Marketing

So I'm looking into a new way to make money with my blog: Affiliate Marketing. Basically, companies pay you to refer customers to them. People click on links from your site, which contains a special code that lets them know who referred the customer to them. If the customer buys something, you get paid. Sometimes you get a percentage of the sale, like 5%, or a fixed amount of cash per customer that you refer, like $5. A lot of popular sites have these kinds of referral programs, like Amazon, eBay, and Google.

I recently just signed up with a site called Commission Junction, which allows you to easily sign up and apply for many affiliate programs. I got accepted by eBay, and you my ad for them under the sponsored section on the right hand side of my blog.

Simple techniques like including affilate links in product reviews on your blog can be very beneficial. It provides an easy link to the product for readers, and if they purchase it, you'll make a few bucks.

I'll keep you posted as to how well I earn any money using this approach, and let you know if there are any programs that I recommend.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Pagerank...Blah

So in the short time that I've been learning about blogging, I've come to both realize and despise the importance of something called Pagerank.

Basically, Pagerank is a score, between 0 and 10, that Google gives your site based on a number of factors, such as links pointing to your site, and the Pagerank of the sites that link to your site. When you first make a site, your Pagerank starts at 0.

Unfortunately, it takes a while for your Pagerank to go up. Google apparently only updates it every few months, so new sites will be ranked 0 (or N/A) for a while no matter what. At least a couple months it seems.

So why does Pagerank matter? Well, there's one big reason that I've found so far, and that involves advertising. It looks like advertisers, including companies that pay you to post, depend heavily on Pagerank. Rather then just looking at your content, they decide how good your site is based primarily on your Pagerank.

I guess I'm just a little bitter at the moment that Google hasn't updated my Pagerank yet...let's hope that that comes soon.

Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!

Hey everybody, just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. This is probably my favorite time of the year. I hope you have a great holiday, no matter what you are doing. It's a great chance to go help some people too, and just be sure to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Take care.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Quick Bloggerwave Update

Add Bloggerwave to your list of paid to blog sites. I just received my first payment from them, via paypal, today. Unfortunately, I've only been given that one assignment, so it doesn't look like they're that active. I can now confirm that they pay, though, so go ahead and sign up. You'll get $10 for your first post, which is about Bloggerwave.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Global Test Market - Get Paid to Take Surveys

Global Test Market is probably my favorite paid survey site, if only because I've received the most money from them. Most surveys pay about 50 points, which is $2.50. You can cash out when you earn 1000 points, or $50. A really cool thing that they do is give you 5 points ($0.25) even if you don't qualify to take a survey; most companies wouldn't give you anything. They also recently re-did their website, and it looks better and is much easier to navigate now.

I actually received my second check from them today, for $100, so I can confirm that they do indeed pay. You'll get your check about a month after you request it. All-in-all, I really like Global Test Market, and recommend it to you survey fans.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Stuff - School and Blogs

Yay! School is finally over for the semester, so I'm taking a break and enjoying the time off. It was a fun semester, and I'll probably be ready to go back in a couple weeks, but it's good to have some time off to enjoy the Christmas season.

Here's a couple recent updates on my blog. First of all, I applied to PayPerPost, and was accepted. You can see my first post for them here. Your blog has to be 90 days old to be accepted, but they gave me $20 for my first post! They supposedly pay you after one month, so I'll keep you posted. I also tried to apply for Smorty, another pay you to post company. However, they rejected my blog because it currently has a pagerank of 0, and doesn't have enough pages indexed by Google. I thought I had quite a few pages indexed, but, oh well, I'll try again next month.

Until next time, Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Blogsvertise Update #2

I just wanted to update you on my experiences with Blogsvertise, the paid to post company. You can read my 2 previous entries here and here. I wanted to let you know that I have received my first payment from them, so I can confirm that they do pay (even though it took just over a month). I have only been asked to make 2 paid posts in the last month, both of which were about online insurance companies. Here's my overall feeling about them at this point: they're a decent pay you to post company that doesn't hand out too many jobs, but can be trusted to pay you. They're also willing to give new blogs a shot, something that most sites won't do. So while they're certainly not the best, I would give them a shot...just don't expect too much.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

SurveySpot - Free Paid Surveys

SurveySpot used to be my favorite survey site, but I'm not so sure anymore. They send out a mix of surveys that either guarantee you will be paid upon completion (usually $3-$5 for about 15 minutes of time), or just enter you in their monthly drawing. I never do the surveys that just give me an entry into the drawing; they're a waste of time in my opinion. The ones that you do get paid for, though, are great. I don't like that it takes up to 4 to 6 weeks to be credited for taking a survey, but you only need to reach $5 to cash out. The main reason that I don't like them as much as I used to, is because it seems that they are sending out more surveys that just give a drawing entry, and not as many that actually pay. I have received a payment from them, and can confirm that they do indeed pay. Overall, this is one of the better survey sites out there.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

PayPerPost - Making Money With Your Blog

I've been waiting for this day for a while...I am finally signed up with PayPerPost! I've heard a lot of buzz from bloggers about them, and now that my blog is finally old enough, it's been accepted into their system!

Basically, they pay bloggers to post about certain sites. You give your opinions, include a link and maybe an image, and after they approve your post, you get money! This gets the advertisers some publicity, so everybody wins. Plus, you'll get $20 just for making your first post! From what I've seen and read, PayPerPost seems to be the most reputable paid to post company on the net.

I like that they have a full disclosure policy. They require you to inform your readers of paid posts, which helps you to maintain credibility. They also have a ton of opportunities, so you should be able to find something that relates to your blog. If you're an advertiser, you can use PayPerPost to drive traffic to your site.

Oh, and one other thing: their customer service is called "Customer Love." That makes me smile.

I hope to use PayPerPost as a way to earn some cash while going through college, since I can post pretty much whenever I want. It's tough to balance both a job and schoolwork, but this is a perfect fit for me. I'll keep you updated on my success. And don't worry; my opinions won't be swayed by the fact I might be doing some paid posts. Because that wouldn't be cool.

Thanks to PayPerPost for sponsoring this post.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

IrfanView - Best Graphics Viewer and Lite Editor

IrfanView is one of those sweet little programs that I keep on every computer that I use. It's a simple, quick graphics viewer that can open almost any file type that you throw at it. I use it often to take screenshots, do a little cropping, resize images, and save them in a couple different formats. It's a great program to optimize images for your website.

I love the fact that it opens very quickly. You can open and save in a ton of formats, both common ones like jpg's and uncommon ones like pcd's. Everyone should have a copy of this program on their computer, in my opinion.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Hulu - Watch Free Clips, Shows, and Movies

Hulu is a site run by the folks in Hollywood, and allows you to legally watch TV show episodes, some movies, and lots of clips from various shows. Some of the clips are even in HD, and they are really pretty. Right now, they seem to have a lot of shows, including Family Guy, House, and The Office, which are available on their respective network's sites as well.

The site looks pretty and works pretty good, but it is still in beta. Thus, you have to sign up with your email address, and wait until the contact you when they're ready for more beta testers. I'm not sure if it will be a successful site or not, but I like what they've done so far.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

ThinkFree - View/Create/Edit MS Office 2007 Documents Online

I was in a bit of a predicament the other day. I had an Office 2007 Word document on my computer, which I needed to edit, but I didn't have Office 2007 on that computer. And, unfortunately, OpenOffice doesn't work with Office 2007 documents. ThinkFree.com came to the rescue.

This is a site that claims to be the online alternative for Microsoft Office 2007. It has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint editors, that let you create and edit files of those types. You get 1 GB of free online storage, and the ability to share your documents with whoever you want.

As of now, it's still in beta, and understandably has a few bugs. But if you need to view or edit Office 2007 documents, and don't want to go out and buy it, give ThinkFree a look.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Meebo - Instant Message From Your Browser

Meebo is a cool little site that lets you IM people from anywhere with an internet connection. No longer do you need to download programs to send someone an instant message. Instead, just head to Meebo, enter in your login information for your IM network of choice (it works with AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN, ICQ, and Jabber), and you're in.

The interface is pretty clean. You get a window with your buddy list information, with who's signed in and who's not, and the option to add or remove buddies if you want. From there, you can start IM'ing people, all from the comfort of your browser. It's a pretty cool site overall, and if you're ever stuck without an IM program, or don't want to download one, then check out Meebo.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Bloggerwave

Bloggerwave is another site that will help you make money with your blog. You can sign your blog up and check out their opportunities, and then they pay you to post. They'll ask you to blog about a certain site, and maybe include some links, images, or videos. After they make sure that you've included all the necessary elements, they approve your blog, and you get paid!

Bloggerwave is great for bloggers, since we get paid to do what we do best: write. It's also great for the companies that want to be blogged about, since they get some exposure. The minimum pay for a single post is $1, but there is no upper limit. In fact, I made $10 with my first post!

If you want to try to make some money with your blog, then check out bloggerwave.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

The Ultimate Steal - MS Office 2007 (and now 2010) Cheap for College Students

I wrote in my previous post about a free alternative to Microsoft Office 2007. But if you really want MS Office, and you're a college student, then Microsoft has a pretty good deal (actually, a fantastic deal), which they call "The Ultimate Steal." If you have a .edu email address from your college, and are taking at least .5 credits, then you can get it for only $60! And it's the ultimate version, too, not the student version.

Check out the deal here, and here's some more info from Microsoft (if you're concerned about it being legitimate). I'm not a huge fan of the new Office, but for only $60, that's a nice deal.

August 2008 Update: Microsoft had stopped offering "The Ultimate Steal" for the summer, but they're now offering it again for the 2008-2009 school year...so check it out if you're interested.

2010 Update: Some of you might be thinking about waiting to purchase "The Ultimate Steal" until the new 2010 version comes out. Well, turns out that if you purchase and install Microsoft Office 2007 between now and September 30, 2010, you'll get Office 2010 free when it comes out. Nice! Check here for more info, or go to the Ulimate Steal site to get your copy.

2010 Update #2: Now that Office 2010 is out, Microsoft has changed the deal a little bit. The cost is now $80 (still an great deal), and now they're calling it "Office Professional Academic 2010".

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

OpenOffice - Free Microsoft Office Like Program

As a student, I have to write papers, make presentations, and do stuff like that, so I need an office suite like Microsoft Office to work with. But it's pretty expensive, especially for a poor student like me. That's why I love OpenOffice. It's completely free, and allows you to create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets that are compatible with Microsoft Office. It's not dumbed down at all, and actually includes some pretty advanced features. You can even open Microsoft Office files with it (except for the latest Office 2007 edition files). If you want to save some cash, check out OpenOffice.

Monday, November 26, 2007

I Got Tagged

Looks like I was tagged by Lifeonthemoon...that means that I'm supposed to share 7 random things about myself. Then I have to find 7 more bloggers, and they get to do the same. I'm in the holiday spirit, and I'd like to let you get to know me a little more, so why not? I'm not that interesting, but here it goes:

1) I love baseball.
2) I have been inside the Weinermobile.
3) My favorite fruit is the banana.
4) I love the TV show 24.
5) I have never been on a roller coaster.
6) My favorite cereal is frosted mini wheats.
7) I enjoy playing foosball.

Now I need to find some people to tag...

Friday, November 23, 2007

Gottadeal - Find Deals and Helpful Forums

Since it is the day after Thanksgiving, which is known for people going to extremes to pick up good deals, I thought that it would be a good day to tell you about one of my favorite deal sites, GottaDeal. On their homepage, you'll find a bunch of bargains that they've picked out from across the web. You can also personalize the results, choosing what types of products you want to see, if you want free shipping, and stuff like that. As helpful as the homepage is, my favorite part is the forums. You can post deals that you find, and even ask others to help you find the best deal on a product. They also have a really good forum related to paid survey information, if you're into that type of thing.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey guys, I just wanted to take a break from my normal posting schedule to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I've got a lot to thankful for, and I bet you do to. I'm also thankful for you, and everyone that has checked out my blog. You are the reason I'm still doing this 3 months after I first began.

I hope that you take some time today to think about everything that you're thankful for. We are truely blessed with many things, and we often don't realize just how much we really have.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Brightspot.tv Shut Down

A while ago, I wrote about a cool program called Brightspot.tv. They basically paid you to watch advertisements. Unfortunately, I'm here to say that after 14 months, it has officially shut down. While the program seemed to be well received by users, they apparently could not get enough advertisers to support the program. They had some big names, like McDonald's and Ford, but I guess it wasn't enough. You can see their final message at their website, brightspot.tv.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device - The Kindle


The Kindle is a new E-Book type device created by the people at Amazon.com. It's roughly the size of a book or PDA, and lets you purchase, download, and read books, magazines, and blogs. They claim that it has a high resolution display that looks very much like printed paper. The cool part is that you can download books to it wirelessly; it uses the same network as cell phones, so you don't even need a Wi-Fi connection. The not so cool part: it costs $400! It does let you preview the first few chapters of some books, though.

The Kindle is an interesting idea, but I won't be buying one anytime soon, mainly because of the cost. You have to shell out $400, and then pay even more for the books. I'll stick to getting my books the old fashioned way, but some might be interested in this device.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Digg

Digg is one of my favorite websites, and I check it pretty much every day. Basically, people submit cool stories that they've found online, and readers vote for them (called "digging" them). The ones that people like the most are moved to the homepage, for everyone to see. It's a cool concept, and helps you find neat sites that you would never find otherwise. If you're ever bored, then check out Digg, because you find something new all the time.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Blogsvertise Update #1

I mentioned a while ago that I had signed up for Blogsvertise, a site that pays you to post blog entries about certain companies. I've received some assignments, completed them, and they've verified them. They promise to pay you (through PayPal) one month from the day that the post is approved, so I'll let you know when I get paid. But as of right now, I'd recommend them. If you're looking to make a few bucks off your blog, and at least cover hosting expenses, give it a shot.

Ameripan Insurance Alternative

This is a paid post brought to you by http://www.ushealthpackage.com/.

Ameriplan is a company that prides itself on providing insurance alternatives and medical benefits. With the high cost of health care today, they're goal is to save you money. They sell a basic health package for $30 a month, and a premium total package for $60.

They do make some compelling arguments. Health care is expensive, and especially for those just getting out of college, it can be hard to afford. Self-employed people might also want to take a look a company like Ameriplan. Their services do seem cheap.

I can't say for sure how legitimate Ameriplan is, but I suppose that those looking for cheap health plans would want to at least give this site a look. Ameriplan is also an MLM and work at home company.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Free Paid Surveys

The first way I really made some money online was with paid surveys. Basically, you sign up with a company, and they send send you surveys. You answer a couple qualifying questions, like your age and interests, and if you're the type of person they're looking for, you can take the survey, and get paid. It's really easy, and you can do it on your own schedule. It's great for college students like me.

Most surveys pay between $2-5, which might not seem like a lot, but they usually only take 15 minutes or less, so it's actually pretty good pay. Lots of sites require you to reach a certain payout threshold, like $5 or $50, before they send you a check.

There are tons of sites that you can sign up for for free. However, some survey sites require you to pay to join. My advice: don't join those. They usually just give you links to the free paid survey sites. Sure, it might save you a little time researching, but that's about it.

In a some future posts, I'll let you guys know about some of my favorite free paid survey sites.

If you want to see my other posts about free paid surveys, including some sites that I recommend, then click the "paid surveys" label below.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Online bitmap to vector converter

If you do anything with logos or graphic design, then you'll want to check out Vector Magic. It's made by Stanford, and lets you convert bitmap pictures to vector files. You just upload your graphics, pick a few options, and let their program do the work. I was very impressed by the results. My sample picture turned out great, very sharp and very accurate. It's the best freeware converter that I've seen. Too bad they don't have a downloadable version.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Advantage Life Insurance

This is a paid post brought to you by http://www.advantagetermlife.com/.

There are a ton of life insurance companies out there, and it seems that many have sprung up on the web recently. So I decided to check one of them out: Advantage Term Life Insurance.

When I first went to their site, I really liked the easy access to an insurance quotes service; just fill in a short form, click a button, and get some rates.

I also thought it was cool that you can get a ton of different kinds of insurance policies from them, including term, whole life, and smokers.

I don't know a whole lot about insurance, so I can't necessarily recommend this company, but you might be able to save money on insurance if you check online. I hear that cheap online hosting is supposed to be good if you're just starting out on your own, and don't have a lot of cash.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Blogsvertise: Get Paid to Blog

Ever since I started blogging, I thought that it would be neat to make some money from my blog. Blogsvertise is a cool site that allows you to do just that. Once you sign up, you'll be assigned tasks in which you create a post about a certain advertiser. After your entry is submitted and approved, you get paid! You usually get around $5 - $15 per entry. If your blog is new, they might put you on probation status, and you get $2 per entry until your blog is established.

Blogsvertise is also a great way for companies to advertise, and get their links out there, all over the web. If you're interested in advertising your site on some blogs, and willing to pay, then take a look at Blogsvertise too.

If you're looking to get some money from your blog, or even advertise your site, check out Blogsvertise. I'll let you know how it works for me.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Stumbleupon

Stumbleupon is a cool little website that I recently discovered. Basically, you download a toolbar that takes you to random websites (according to your interests), and lets you vote for them - thumbs up, or thumbs down. Based on what you tell it you like, like sports or funny stuff, it will take you random pages that it thinks will interest you. It's pretty fun when you've got nothing better to do.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

FTP Publishing Programs

I've been transferring a bunch of files to my website, recently, and I realized that I needed a good FTP client. I had been using the web-based transfer program in cpanel, but it just takes too long when you have a bunch of files. So I did some research, and found 2 great free FTP programs for you guys.

The first is SmartFTP. It's free for non-commercial use. It has a very pretty interface, and is pretty easy to use. The one annoying part is that it has a splash screen that pops up, and forces you to click OK before the program starts.

The other is FileZilla. It's open source, and although it's not very graphically pretty, it's still easy to use.

Which would I recommend? If you need a pretty interface, go with SmartFTP. Otherwise, I think FileZilla does a great job, and it gets my recommendation. But you can't go wrong with either one.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

My Thoughts on Paid Posts

I just wanted to let you know that I am considering using sponsored posts in my blog. These won't make up the majority of my posts, but I might use them, and here's why:

1) College is expensive. Therefore, I am poor. Therefore, I need to make some cash somehow. Paid posts allow me to do the work whenever I have time, as in, whenever homework is light.

2) It takes a lot of effort to run a blog sometimes, and it feels good to be rewarded with cash to post.

Don't worry, I'm not going to sell out and just praise random companies. Even the sponsored posts will be real, and I'll make sure to tell the truth. And I'll still be posting my regular posts. Thanks for understanding.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Brightspot.tv

Update: Unfortunately, it looks like Brightspot.tv is no more. Read more here.

Brightspot.tv is a neat little website that I found about a month ago. Basically, you get money added to your account every time you watch a commercial and answer a couple short questions about it. You get between $0.25 and $0.50 per commercial. You can then apply the money to specific providers that they list. I was able to get a free month of MLB TV, so I could watch all the baseball I wanted online for a month. It saved me $20 for some pretty easy work. Check it out.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Linkreferral - Free Traffic and Reviews for Your Site

In my quest to get traffic to my site, I came across a pretty neat website: Linkreferral. It's a large directory of sites, but with a twist: you can visit other member's sites, review them, and increase the ranking of your site. It's a good concept, and I've seen good results from it. The more sites you visit and review, the better a ranking your site gets. So not only do you get visitors for your site, you also get people reviewing it, and giving their opinion on what needs improving. You can also refer people, and they'll give you more traffic for that.

If you're looking for traffic, and even some people to review your site, then check out Linkreferral.

Monday, October 15, 2007

CREAMaid Update

A few posts ago, I told you that I experimented with CREAMaid.com, which allows you to earn money by posting on a specific topic that they give you. I told you that I hadn't made any money with it. Well, I made some today: $1! Thrilling, isn't it? Like I said, you probably won't make too much with CREAMaid, but know that they do pay.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Getting Traffic is Tough

I told you about my website, Aaron's T-Shirt Review, a couple posts ago. Well, I'm having a tough time getting much traffic to it. It has been increasing in each month that the site has been up, but it's not where I would like it to be. Google is by far my highest refferer right now. I guess I just need to keep making content, improving the design, and tweaking things. If you have any tips, I would welcome them. I'm off to research some traffic techniques, and I'll post the results sometime in the future.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Freeware

Being a college student, I'm poor, and need all the free stuff I can get. That's why I love freeware. Freeware is just software for your computer that is free, as in...costs nothing! It's great, because software can sometimes be expensive. Instead of going out and buying it, you can find some great alternatives that are just as good, if not better, than the stuff you would pay for.

I just wanted to let you know that I might be blogging about freeware in the near future, and letting you know about some of the coolest free programs on the web. So stay tuned!

Friday, October 5, 2007

CREAMaid: Make Money Blogging

I recently discovered a site called CREAMaid, which pays you to write blog entries. Unfortunately, you're not guaranteed to get paid. Basically, you go to their site, look for assignments that interest you, and write. You only get cash when your entry is featured in the little widget that you insert after every post, or if someone else posts through your widget. I tried this out a few days ago, and haven't made a cent. I can't really recommend this site, but go ahead and try it out if you want. I wouldn't expect to make much, if anything, though.

Monday, October 1, 2007

Best Buys: Side by Side Service Comparisons

When I first stumbled onto Best Buys, I thought it was a cheap site trying to get clicks from users that meant to type in bestbuy.com. Looks like I was wrong. Most of the site is in a generic comparison shopping type format, but because I found a pretty neat little section too: Comparison Reviews.

They actually pick two competing services, such as Blockbuster and Netflicks, and compare the products head on. Their reviews could be a little more detailed, but the strengths and weaknesses are pointed out, and a winner is chosen. I have been contemplating purchasing a movie rental service, which would be great while I'm stuck at college, and found this comparison to be quite helpful.

Their list certianly isn't exhaustive, but it is a helpful start. I would like to find more of these types of comparisons online, as they seem to be pretty helpful in choosing what to buy.

Saturday, September 29, 2007

MLB.TV - Watch Baseball Online

If you're a fan of baseball, then you need to know about MLB.TV. It is a service on MLB.com that let's you watch and listen to almost every MLB game online. It costs $15 or $20 month, and that also gives you access to Gameday Audio ($15 a year if purchased separately), which lets you listen to every single radio feed from every baseball team. The streaming is very good quality, and it's great for watching games away from home, especially if you're away at college, like me. You have to be careful about blackouts, though. You can't watch games with teams from cities that are nearby. For example, if you try to watch the Mariners games while you're in Seattle, it won't work. You can check on their website if you're blackedout from a certain team.

Overall, I've been using this service for 2 months now, and it has been great. If you're away from home, and love baseball, I can highly recommend this service.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Amazon.com's New MP3 Download Service

For those of you who want another service to download music from besides iTunes, you'll love Amazon's new mp3 store. The best part: the songs are coded in 256 kbps bit rate, and are DRM free. That means you can play them in Windows Media Player, iTunes, or any other player/portable media player. And the songs are only $0.89-$0.99, or about $8 per album, making this much better than iTunes in my opinion. It says it's in beta, but it looks good.

Check it out here.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Google Pack - One-Stop Shop Freeware

Because I'm a college student, I don't have much money. Therefore, when I can get free software, I take it. I found out about the google pack a little while ago. It's basically a one-stop download for solid free programs. You can get Google Earth, Picassa, Spyware Doctor, and a bunch of other programs. I like that you can pick exactly which programs you want, and then download them all at once. If you like freeware, check out the Google Pack.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Great Forum for Webmasters

If you're like me, you've got your own blog or website. But sometimes you need a little help, or want to converse with some other webmasters. If so, check out the Digital Point Forums. It's the most active webmaster forum I've seen. You can ask for reviews of your site, talk about ways to market your site, or find out the best ways to insert ads into your blog. I've learned a ton from hanging out there...you should too.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Ruckus: Free, Legal Music for College Students

If you're in college, and want some free music, and you want it to be legal, then you need to know about Ruckus. All you need is your .edu email address to get started. You have to download their player, which shows a few ads while it plays. Then you go their website, and download all the music that you want, encoded at 192 k, which is pretty good quality. And these aren't no name bands, either: these are the real things. The are only a couple catches. First, you can't put your music on an mp3 player, because of DRM. And second, you must renew the licenses to your songs every month (free of course), which is really easy, basically just clicking a button.

Learn more at http://www.ruckus.com.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Write Reviews, Earn Money

SharedReviews is a site that pays you to write reviews on pretty much anything, ranging from mp3 players to video games systems to deodorant. For every 5 reviews you write, you get $10. And the reviews don't have to very long; just 750 characters. I've submitted 6 reviews so far, and not one has been rejected. Click the button below to join, and you'll get one free review credit (worth $2). Or you can just go to SharedReviews.com, click join, and enter my nickname, tribefan, to get your free credit.

Join SharedReviews

Monday, September 10, 2007

Sweet T-Shirts

There are tons of t-shirt sites on the web. So what are the best places to find cool, crazy, and funny shirts? Here are my favorites:

1) Snorg Tees - This is my favorite t-shirt store. They have tons of funny and creative designs, focusing mostly on popular culture. And there's a new shirt every week.

2) Nerdy Shirts - If you're a self-proclaimed geek, than you'll love Nerdy Shirts. They have a lot of computer/video game related shirts that all computer buffs will appreciate. Plus a 30 day money back guarantee.

If you're interested in finding more great tees, or want more in depth reviews, then check out my other site, Aaron's T-Shirt Review.

Think I missed a great t-shirt site? Leave a comment and let me know.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

New iPods!

Apple announced a few new iPods today! Every iPod has a new version coming out, some as soon as this weekend. The shuffle got new colors. The nano got a better screen, and you can now watch movies on it. The iPod classic has an enormous hard drive. Best of all: the touch-screen iPod! It looks like the iPhone, only a little slimmer. Probably the coolest thing is the support for WiFi, and the inclusion of the Safari browser! That means you can surf the web, watch YouTube, and download tunes right from your iPod!

Visit http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/05/steve-jobs-live-apples-the-beat-goes-on-special-event/ for more info about the press conference.

Check out some pics of the goodness: nano, iPod classic, and touch-screen iPod!



Hey

Hey guys, my name is Aaron, and this is my blog. I'm hoping to let you know about a bunch of stuff, including cool websites, new technology, and any other sweet things I can find. Stay tuned, and I hope you enjoy it.