studiowhiz ramblings

Carrying on in the trend of giving out some beta invites I was this morning granted some invites for dropbox. DropBox is an online storage system that integrates with your desktop.

I have installed it on my Mac, and It’s simply shows up as an extra directory for me. With 2.0 GB of space and a great drag ‘n’ drop interface DropBox couldn’t be easier to use.

Your files are put into a secure & private file store - however  you can through the DropBox meu get a public URL for files you store in your Public folder.

There is a very clean web interface for DropBox that allows you access to your files from anywhere, and you can connect more than one computer to any given account.

So, anyhoo - I have a handfull of intvites to give away - so if you are looking for simple online solution for file storage - with 2.0GB free (no word yet on upgrades or expansion packs), drop me a note in the comments and I’ll hook you up.

A while back now I issued a challenge to my mate at WebHelp.co.nz - who I consider to be New Zealand’s top Search Engine Optimisation expert - to race to 250 contacts between LinkedIn an StumbleUpon.

I figured it was about time for an update

Me:

• LinkedIn: 142
• StumbleUpon: 42

WebHelp:

• LinkedIn: 68
• StumbleUpon: 175

So you can see I need help - I don’t want to shut WebHelp lunch, I want to eat lunch.

Sadly WebHelp needs 7 more people to beat me to 250, me, I need 66. So, all of you - please help. Follow me on LinkedIn - simply drop me a note via linkedin (you’ll can email to webmasterATstudiowhizDOTcom) and I’ll add you.

Or you can follow me on StumbleUpon!

Help me thrash WebHelp!!

All the ways you can follow Studiowhiz.com:
» LinkedIn
» Twitter
» BrightKite
» Flickr
» StumbleUpon
» FriendFeed

Following on in the tradition of giving out invites. I was recently invited to Brightkite - a new online service, sort of in the same vein as Twitter. While Twitter is all about what are you doing, Brightkite is about where are you.

Brightkite has the ability of course to integrate with Twitter, and you’ll notice now that my Twitter feed has the occasional update about where I”m at.

Anyhoo, I have a few invites to give away - so if you would like to join up, you can - just drop me a note in the comments.

Now a little brightkite tip - for those of you outside the USA, who want to add some local places - for me this morning it was adding the fav. coffee shop - it’s easy to do. In the Places search you simply enter

1 Something Street, My Town, My Country [Business.or.place name]

If you want to follow me:
» Follow Studiowhiz on Twitter
» Follow Studiowhiz on Brightkite

Those crazy folks over at SitePoint.com have released a new Photoshop book, a book I’ve heard positive things about.

Okay you say, that’s nothing new, Sitepoint relese books often. Ah yes they do, but this one is FREE … as in nadda, zip, nothing.

So why don’t you head over to sitepoint.com & download your copy of the Photoshop Anthology today - oh yeah, it’s a LIMITED offer.

Evernote is an interesting concept. You pass notes, images etc to Evernote and their very clever system will store them, helping you to remember everything and anything.

The great thing about Evernote, is the fact that it can read and index your images. I’ll give you an example. I had a brochure that I needed to store digitaly but it was a printed copy. So I simply hold it up to my iSight and snap a pic - not very good, as the page was curved.

I sent the image to Evernote and badda bing they index it. What do I mean by index? I mean they scan the image and find words in it. Now 2 weeks later I’m looking for this document, I simply type in some keywords I remember from the brochure and Evernote brings the photo forward for me.

Invites:
Currently in beta only Evernote is not easy to get into. Matt sent a Tweet out this morning asking for an invite. I’d forgotten I had any. Anyhoo, I have a handful of invites for Evernote left, so drop me a note in the comments if you’d like one.

PS:
Yes I’m now on twitter.

Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, you’ll find most western countries are not facing recession. The United States - if looked at from a purely business point of view is bankrupt, New Zealand can’t be far behind. For those in business today are finding it very hard to get by. The only business I’ve heard of that is doing well at the moment, is those in the debt collection business. Read the rest of this entry »

So you are ready to create a email campaign and like any good company you target it around an event on the calendar - eg: mothers day.

It’s important to read the message, heck get LOTS of other people to read it and make sure it is correct. I opened my email just now to see an email from PayPal. The message says

Save this Mother’s Day with exclusive offers from PayPal

Scanning my email I thought “Hmm when was mothers day in troulbe & why do I need to save it?” followed by “Wow these offers must be so good if it can save a day that is in trouble”

Okay so maybe this is a bit silly, but there is no context in their subject to let me know what save is in refernce too. The way it is written you assume it applies to the day that is Mothers. For all I know I could be saving the rain forest, monkeys or cash.

Maybe a better line might have been

Exclusive Mother’s Day offers from PayPal

Or simply add the word money to the sentence.

Right, I got sick of the old look not working right - lazy developer I am, couldn’t be bothered fixing it. So when I updated to Word Press 1.5 and took the opportunity to dump this new template onto the site.

Now I screwed up when I did the update and lost all my images (stoopid stoopid stoopid) , so you’ll have to forgive me for that. I might have to ask a couple of authors to update their posts again.

Now off to update my plugins too

Right, time to get back on deck and write again. You will see a change or two here in the next couple of days as I get myself back on board & writing again.

Juggling time is always an issue - but i need to push through and keep going.