Well, once again I am apologizing for being unbelievably tardy with my postings here. So we went to CES and it was unbelievably crazy. Some of these huge corporations have entirely too much money if you ask me. I think they may need to start donating to random people. Maybe they should start with me? No? Well, worth a try anyways. The booths were out of control, and I felt tiny everywhere I went. We were actually exhibiting there to showcase the TechSelector system. Our booth was quaint but so well put together. We definitely had a ton of fun talking with all kinds of people there. There is such an eclectic mix of visitors and companies, so it really kept us on our toes (plus after hours of standing on your heels in uncomfortable shoes, we were literally trying to stand on our toes or sit down as much as possibly) Yeeowsers, as inspector gadget would say.
So Im not sure if everyone here has been to Las Vegas. If you have, then you’ve probably heard of the fine hotel establishments, Circus Circus and Excalibur. Now, in considering these two places you have to understand that someone actually put millions and millions of dollars into producing hotel monstrosities centered around the ideas of a super cheesy circus (wow is all I have to say for this one), and a polyester version of medieval castle living and felt good about that decision. It blows my mind every time I go to Vegas. We stayed at the Excalibur this time. It was definitely a few rungs up from Circus Circus (which pretty much just gave me nightmares from just walking around the place…) Did I feel like a King in my castle? Well saying no would be an understatement on that one, but my wallet felt pretty content so thats good right?
Quite possibly the funiest part of our CES experience was our position on the hall floor. Consider the following points on this:
-We were in the Venitian sands floor.
-Apparently this is the floor where the lower budget booths reside.
-I would say a third of our hall was taken up by conglomerates of little Asian companies lumped together which we aptly labeled “the flee market” because it felt like you were walking in a open air Asian food market or something
-The three booths to our left and the booth to our right didnt show up, so we were just sort of floating out there in the middle of our aisle which was funny
-We sort of likened our position to being in the bad part of town

It was pretty fun though regardless, and like I say, we really did get to chat with a lot of people. We are looking at making the system into a sales tool for retailers which is what we really wanted to talk to people about. So Ill keep you updated on anything that happens with that. The other thing we are looking at is making some changes that would allow us to make TechSelector systems for any product, from cosmetics to toys, so Ill also keep you updated on that one.!

CHEAS
-Pete

Bonjourno,
First I’m going to take a minute and recount my non-tech Thanksgiving…
Well, Thanksgiving is over and done with and I feel approximately 8 pounds heavier. No joke, Im pretty sure thats the realistic amount of Turkey that I imbibed this Thanksgiving. I went the “I take everything to the next level and beyond” route this year and hauled a 29.8 pound Turkey home. It was the biggest one I could find at the store basically. (Mind you this beast of a bird was intended for a party of 8, and we didn’t even get through a quarter of it… HA well, LOTS of leftovers) I honestly could barely fit this thing in the oven. It had maybe an 1/8th of an inch extra room in there.
I enjoy cooking, so let me explain how I went about tackling my nemisis, the overweight Turkey. First I made a brine of 2 cups kosher salt, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3 1/2 gallons of water, and a ton of different spices. Then I soaked the Turkey in that for about 20 hours while it defrosted. Then when it came time to cook her up, I stuffed the cavity with quartered onions, thyme, rosemary, salt/pepper. Then I made an herd butter rub for the skin. You mix rosemary and sage into 1 whole stick of sweet creme butter at room temperature. Then you take that and rub it all over the outside fo the turkey, and also seperate the skin and rub it all over between the skin and the meat as well. Throw it in the oven for 7 hours, basting it occasionally, at 350 degrees F. For the first 6 hours, cover it with tin foil, and remove the foil for the last hour to brown up the skin. Holy crap it was phenomenal. Ive never tasted turkey that good. The brine-soaking made an enormous difference.

So back to tech-talk. With Thanksgiving long gone and Turkeys everywhere taking a moment to sigh with relief, the Christmas season is fully upon us. How do I know this? Well I use a method called “walk-into-your-nearest-drug-store.” No one knows the seasons better than retail fronts that sell the accompanying possibly useless extras such as tiny santa keychain LED lights.
Now, with Christmas upon us, it is almost imperative that websites help people to make the decisions that they need to make. We find this is the perfect time to offer some interactive gadget buying guides to internet surfers. I mean, who doesn’t want help with figuring out which gadget is right for them, and the truth is that the vast majority of people trying to purchase things like digital cameras or printers, have no idea what they are really looking for. They simply know that they want it because they have heard from friends about how great that certain gadget is. Its a whole different story though when you get down to actually trying to make your decision out of 40 cameras…
By the way, did anybody see that Fusion pen? Looks right up my dad’s alley.

Cheers
-Pete

First off, here’s the link to the partner area on TechSelector.com where you can sign up:
Sign up and more Info
Hey guys whats up. Okay, this is tardy, I know. So Im going to finally explain the new service that we launched at Blogworld last week. Its essentially a portable version of our interactive buying guides, but here’s the thing, its not exactly like your run of the mill amazon store or api. We see the system that displays on your site as being one big very interactive advertisement that not only gives you a new PPC revenue stream, but also new space to place your own advertisments that you would normally serve. The PPC part of it is just sort of an extra bonus. What we are really after here is higher page impressions on your advertisements per user. See, a typical blog just doesn’t see a ton of page views/user, maybe 1-3 on average. But when you direct users through the buying guides, your going to see ad impressions of more like 6-10 per user. So you can take literally any advertisements you have, whether they are from an ad network, or a shopping widget, amazon ad, whatever… and place them in the ad spaces and serve them around the system.

What we are doing with this is on several levels, and thats why a lot of times people just don’t quite understand it at first. By placing one or several of these “interactive ads” on your site, you are giving your users a really cool service (that is actually going to help them!), increase your the ad revenue of your current advertisements, and also give you extra PPC revenue.
Its actually really simple to use and implement too.
First off, the system is javascript that you configure in the partner area, an then cut/paste into your site. This is a screenshot from the partner area:

Then you can click on the setup ads link and set up any ads you want to display in your ad space around the system. Once you set them up, you can then drag and drop them around the three spaces… its a really cool tool especially if you dont have a lot of programming skills. Check it out:

Okay so now that Ive done that, I can preview the interactive ad Ive created. In this case, Ive only chosen a few categories, Ive chosen to use the embedded version, and Ive chosen to put ads in all three ad areas. You also get a revenue share of any PPC revenue that is produced. That happens whenever a user clicks through one of the pricing links in the system. So check that out:

This is a ready-made solution for any blog, and yes I mean ANY blog. You don’t have to be consentrating on gadgets or on shopping for this to apply to your blog/website. There was a guy who came to our booth telling us about how he sold consumer electronics through his POLITICS blog… Totally unrelated subject matter, but everyone is interested in gadgets like these, especially because Christmas is coming up and its presents time!
Oh yeah, so another interesting point is this… We also have a referral program where you can get 10% of anything we make from new referrals for a year. You do that by just posting one of our “tagged links” and directing people through it to our registration pages. We automatically track everything.

So give it a try. Its ridiculously easy to sign up, its free, and the only thing it can do is help you on several levels on your site. If anyone has any questions, just email us at info@techselector.com

Cheers!
-Pete

Well, Blogworld was a ton of fun. I met a lot of great people, and found out about some really interesting things people are doing. I was really impressed with how well the show was put together for its first year. Aside from nice setup and asthetics of the show, it had a pretty impressive line up of speakers that I really didnt expect would be at a smaller show like this one. I really think that next year will easily be twice the size. There were a lot of company reps walking around, and one thing I definitely would have like to see more of is straight, pure bloggers walking around. Granted, I did get to talk to quite a few of them, but it would have been cool to see even more breadth of blogging backgrounds.
I think we represented the Select ta tha Tech pretty well. We had sort of an extremely multidimentional product that we were launching there, so it really took some explaining and demoing to get people to understand what we were trying to accomplish. Wait wait wait… I just realized that I havent even broken the news about our new blog revenue solution on our own TechSelector blog yet. That will have to wait for the next post though. Okay so where was I?… Ah yes. Explaining to people. It was funny because what we were explaining just totally clicked with some people, but others had a tough time grasping what we were doing there. I found the whole scene to be positive, mildly comical, and just plain fun. We were right next to the guys from Snap.com, and they were hilarious. (I ate a lot of their free mints, and let me just say that they were downright delicious…)

Well, its now somewhere around 2 am here. So its bedtime for me. My next post will likely be me explaining what we were actually at BlogWorld to unveil!

-CHeAs

Pete

Well, we are at BlogWorld, and I am getting ready to go set up our booth. If anyone is at the event, our booth is 227, so come check us out. We have a brand new revenue solution. Im going to do an in depth posting on it tonight sometime, but here is the link to information on it for now:

So, I have to apologize once again for my tardiness in postings here. I’ve been sort of unaccessable and out of the country. I believe that I will be going to a brand new show, and for all of you Bloggers out there, this one is going to be awsome I think. The first real convention for Blogs. Its called BlogWorld Convention and its going to happen at the Las Vegas Convention center on November 8th and 9th.
TechSelector and myself are going to probably get a small booth there. We have a new revenue solution for Blogs that we’ve been cooking up. Its pretty cool, I must say. We are going to be promoting that revenue solution at BlogWorld. I spoke with BlogWorld’s CEO, Rick, yesterday for about 45 minutes. He’s super cool guy, and he seems to be very into making this convention the best and most informative for bloggers that it can possibly be. He’s actually a blogger himself, and he started BlogWorld because he wanted to learn about how to make money properly with his own blogs by going to the tradeshow for it. He found that there was no such tradeshow though, so he and his partners started their own.
In any case, there are about 85 exhibitors right now (86 if you count us in ) and about 2000 attendees so far. I think its going to be a LOT of fun.
Hope to see everyone there, check it out at BlogWorld’s website

CHEE-AAS
-Pete

So I know it’s a loooong ways away, and you probably haven’t even thought about it yet, but CES Las Vegas is coming up and I for one will be there. I have read that there are over 100,000 attendees at this freakin thing. I’ve never been so Im ridiculously excited about it. All the new gadgets to ponder, the ideas that make you say “Man thats a damn good idea” and those that make you say “Im super glad I didn’t come up with that one, because I’d be sweatin bullets right now.” Its going to be a veritable bonanza of technological fun in Sin City.
TechSelector.com is even kicking around the idea of getting a booth at the show. I’ve heard that there is possibly already a reservation on one and that they’ve got a few new services they are rolling out. I will investigate though, and try to report on that later.
Now here’s something that I have been wondering about since learning of CES and all it’s inherent wonders: when are they coming out with real Gravity boots. Im talking, put on your shoes, we’re going flying today Gravity boots. When I was a kid, they came out with these strange plastic snow shoe-esque contraptions with huge rubber bands stretched throughout the design. I saw the commercials for those things, with kids effortlessly flying all over the place. What a huge embarrassing letdown. These “moonshoes” I think they were called were clunky, awkward, and I pretty certain that I could probably jump higher without them. If CES is all its cracked up to be, perhaps Ill find some Gravity boots…
Okay, sorry about that tangent. Back to to serious gadget talk now. People are PISSED off about the iPhone dropping their prices. I was extremely excited to pick one up for myself when they came out, until I found out that I was still locked into my contract for another YEAR!!! Aaaargh! I guess things do happen for a reason though, because apparently I would have paid entirely too much for it. The thing with cellphone contracts is that it’s like your switching from one torture to another when choosing a carrier. It’s like “would you like the rack? or are you more in the mood for a little drawn and quartered?” Yikes, no please and thank you. I’ll tell you one thing. I am waiting for wireless internet to sweep seemlessly around the world so that I can just use a vonage cellphone. What a great freakin idea that is. Especially if your a student with almost constant wireless internet connection everywhere you go. Come to think of it, why the heck didn’t I think of that when I was taking classes… Oh well, Ill just wait for the world-wide internet connection concept then.

Wow, that was post was just as the title suggests… a mishmash of tech-speak.

Well, so long for now.

Thanks for reading,

And CHEERS!!
-Pete

Oh man its been far too long since our last posting. I truly apologize for that. If I could, I would likely blame it on someone else, but that just wouldn’t be ladylike…
So. Jumping right into things, there is a Gphone apparently on the way. Thats right. A phone from google that could perhaps revolutionize the way we tote around internet. The Gphone is fairly theoretical at this point, and certainly won’t be out any time soon. However, if the Gphone does actually ever make it into your grasp, it is likly to be pretty neat-o (for lack of a better term). So the Gphone is said to incorporate all of Google’s big and small coolest features and services. It makes you wonder how they are going to run all these crazy applications on their new phone. Which operating system will they use?? Well, Google is apparently working on their very own operating system, which doesn’t really suprise me because Google is far to cash-heavy and far too tech-savy to not work on their own operating system. I don’t know why they don’t just start buying countries and get it over with. You know, start with something small like, say… Cuba, then work their way to Mexico/Canada. They’re taking over everything anyways, so for all you Canadians out there(Im half Canadian), just go with it.
I personally am waiting for Google sunglasses. Sunglasses with google applications built right into the lense to make things extra dangerous while I’m driving. Need to know the weather? No problem, Ill just slip on my Google sunglasses to see what the weather is cookin up for the next few days.
So I think the big question is whether this fabled Gphone is going to try to compete directly with the iPhone. I would say yes. I think that there is a very new and lively market for these super-application-filled, multi-functional phones. It is only natural for a monster like Google to try to extent their reach into it and crush everyone else by making everything semi-free. I have a friend who works with a large financial services firm. She was presented to by Google’s team on their future plans and why the firm should push Google as an excellent stock purchase. She said it was the craziest, but most facsinating presentation she sat through. Instead of powerpoint presentations and business suits, they had this enormous concept map of everything. Here and there in the concept map, there were funny things like “Kidnap genius programmers” and “take over the world.” Their consistent goal with everything was to make ALL services free for internet users and let the companies figure out how to make money off of each other. The point here is that Google is creative and powerful enough to do the Gphone correctly to really make it work and destroy everyone else at the same time. I could see them coming in with something that blows all cellphones/fun PDAs out of the water in their first try. Needless to say, I am REALLY looking forward to it…

Cheas (Cheers in a British Accent)

-Pete

Well, I finally got around to trying out the Nintendo Wii. The hype is pretty justified. It is SO much fun. Even if your the type of person that doesn’t particularly like video games, you will likely enjoy this one. The differences between playing a Playstation 3 or Xbox and playing the Nintendo Wii is like night and day. The console is TINY. Is uses hardly any energy (if your even interested in that), the controllers are wireless and they work from a solid 25 to 30 feet away from what I have tested. The games are actually fun too. The way you play the games is so different. It is a physical experience. You actually get up, move around, and do all the actions that you normally would when performing the same action in real life. For example, when you play tennis, (which is so funny to watch by the way) you actually stand up, and do all the same strokes that you normally would, you can hit the ball harder with a harder swing, or direct the ball with your shot angle. It is really cool. I can see how people are getting tennis elbow and sore muscles and other complaints from the Wii. It’s addictive and physical… The perfect recipe for soreness and all kinds of entertainment. The best is watching two people box on the boxing game. You hold two controller pieces and punch just like you would normally punch, so it looks ridiculous when you watch the players boxing so intently against… well, nothing.
The graphics aren’t going to be ridiculously good like the 600 dollar PS3, but thats okay when you are paying A LOT less. To me it just makes more sense for the average user. The Nintendo Wii has outsold all the other gaming consoles. Why? Well, when you have more fun, more interactive, more suited to a larger group of consumers + CHEAPER= More Sales of Nintendo Wii!

Cheers,

-Pete

So here’s the problem. I love my SLR. It takes great pictures, the zoom is fabulous, the details are crystal clear. Unfortunately, it also weighs a ton. It isn’t the kind of camera you can toss in your purse and take out on the town very easily. This past weekend I had a wedding to attend which was over 2000 miles away. Of course I wanted to be able to take pictures of old friends there but the prospects of dragging that huge and expensive SLR with me across the country in a small weekend bag (that would basically fit ONLY the SLR), then trying to figure out how to cram it into my elegant evening bag, and worrying about losing or breaking it the entire night, seemed so daunting that I left it behind. I thought maybe I could count on friends to back me up but when I arrived I found out that one didn’t own a digital camera and the other had no batteries for hers. Hence, we ended up buying a $10 film camera from the local drugstore. It was then that I realized that perhaps I needed another camera. Something small and inexpensive that I could fit in my pocket and wouldn’t worry too much about losing. Luckily there are a lot of new cameras on the market that fit the bill. Initially I worried that the quality of these cameras’ pictures wouldn’t compare favorably with my SLR, but technology, I quickly realized, has come quite a long way. If you aren’t looking to take National Geographic quality shots of Uncle Jim downing his 10th shot at the family reunion, a pocket cam is a must these days even - or especially - if you already own a top SLR.

– Cari