Episode 14 of The Haiku Podcast is Available
Sikosis finished up the editing portion of the the Haiku Podcast and has posted it on the site.
This time around we talk about the Google Summer of Code 2008 again, BeServed code being donated to Haiku, the Pineapple News Reader is being resurrected and much more! Of course, I am once again co-hosting the podcast.
I must say thanks again to Sikosis for bringing me on to the show. I’m really beginning to love this podcasting thing 
I am a TWiT
As most of you already know I am a super huge fan of TWiT and Leo Laporte. Someday I hope to be a guest on the show but that is not what this article is about (some may have wondered because of the title).
Geoff Smith of www.ringtonefeeder.com wrote a very cool song called “I am a TWiT” and posted it on YouTube. It’s pretty clever if I do say so myself. I think everyone should take a listed. Just remember, if you aren’t a TWiT fan then you won’t get it or find it amusing. See below for the video but I encourage you to go to the YouTube page and leave a comment.
eBay - The Glory Days
I’ve recently started listing items on eBay again and it got me thinking about the changes I’ve seen in the past 10 years.
When I first signed up on eBay, a little over 10 years ago, you didn’t need a credit card and there was no such thing as “Buy it now”. eBay was still full of Beanie Babies and Pez dispensers. At that time your user ID was your email address and it was publicly displayed, there wasn’t much worry of your inbox being harvested for spam.
At one time you could sell firearms, animals, and human body parts. Most of those categories were short lived because eBay soon found out there was lots of liability associated with them. Then there was eBay Motors, a separate place to sell your used cars and parts. There was no such thing as Half.com, Paypal, or Skype. You had to sit around and wait for a cheque or money order to show up in the mail and then hope it didn’t bounce.
When I first signed up, people used to actually take care when they left feedback. Buyers didn’t leave negative feedback on whim just because there was a speck of dirt on the box. Buyers and sellers actually communicated and solved their problems, what a strange concept. I remember when Safe Harbor was put into place, what a relief it was to have a way to solve those extra difficult problems.
So many things have changed over the years, some good and some bad came of it. The one thing I really do miss about eBay is the true sense of community. Now they have communities (forums and such) but you don’t make the personal connections you once did. I’ve made many friends over the years on the site but that happened mostly in the past.
~TheNerd
I’m going to create a business plan
Thanks to Nodatilu (who commend on a previous post) I’ve decided that I am going to try creating a business plan for my computer shop business idea. I never really thought of using that as a gauge to see how sound this business really is. I must also thank Mike Muise (who happens to be my brother in-law) for his words as well. They got me thinking that my dream of being my own boss might not be a total pipe dream.
I must admit, I’ve already started to fill out a template. It’s probably been seen by just about every financial institution but it was provided free of charge from the BDC on their website so I figured it must be fairly safe to use. If you would like to see what I got myself into click here to download a copy of the files.
It’s a good thing they also provide an example of a filled out business plan because I really know nothing about what I am doing. I guess it’s good and bad, at very least I will learn some new things about entrepreneurship. Also, there’s a second part, which is a spreadsheet, used to calculate all the financial stuff. I’m sure I’ll need help with that but I’ll tackle that part when I get there.
As of now, I am about 1/4 of the way through the first draft. I’ll try and post some updates as I go along so you can follow my progress.
Cheers for now!
~TheNerd
Follow up to “If I were a TWiT who would I want to be?”
In my previous post “If I were a TWiT who would I want to be?” I said I would like to be like Steve Gibson. While is is who I would like to be, I’ve been told that I am already like one of the regular TWiTs. Can you guess who? For those that know me the answer would be John C Dvorak.
Yes that’s right, I’m a cranky geek! (sorry for the trademark infringement).
~TheNerd
Is running my own business just a pipe dream?
The more I think of it the more I realize that I was never really meant to work for other people. I believe that my true calling is running my own business. Over the years I’ve dabbled in business off and on but haven’t really had the resources to make a true go of it.
My first business was called Harbourview Electronics and was based out of my parents house. I started it when I was about 16 years old and mainly sold things on eBay. My next venture came when I was about 17 years old. I started a company with a friend, we called On The Verge Technologies, Inc. Nothing much happened with that as we didn’t have much time because we were in high school.
A few years later I bought out a carpet cleaning business from a friend and started running that in my spare time. At that time I had a full time job and didn’t have the energy to work a second job in the off hours. I eventually traded my gear from that business to a car dealer in exchange for a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier (along with my truck). This business actually paid for itself though :).
So now I have another small business called Nerfd Technologies. This one, I run out of my apartment in my spare time. I’ve been doing relatively well actually, but it’s just part time and more of a hobby than anything. I sell computer equipment, design and maintain websites, and provide general tech support for home and small business users.
What I really want is to be able to focus all of my energy on my own business. I want to open a computer store (or some other sort of store) and be able to run it full time. I have family members who are in business and have been very successful so I believe I would have some resources there to draw upon for help and advice. The only problem with this idea is that some people don’t think it’s a good idea or that it’s too risky. I’ve always been a risk taker and that is part of the appeal of a new business.
I know I have the experience needed to start a computer business. I’ve been working in the IT industry for 5 years now and I’ve got just about all the experience I need for this type of venture. Anything else I could do through contractors. The biggest part, that worries most people, is the up front financial cost (duh!). I know it would cost at least $20,000 to get me going. This should cover a few months rent as well as the initial stock for the store. I would have to pay myself an hourly wage of some sort but could get away with a small amount (enough to pay personal bills) until the business started making enough money to allow for a bigger payout.
Some days I feel like this is just a vague pipe dream. Will it ever happen? I don’t know but I sure hope that it does. I’ve always wanted something to call my own and have the freedoms that come with an established business. As I mentioned earlier I am intrigued and interested in the risk associated with the whole idea as well. The though of it is invigorating.
~TheNerd
Top 10 reasons I hate Facebook
- Everyone knows what I am up to - Does “John the Janitor” at my old elementary school really need to know what I’m doing?
- All the notifications are annoying - I know you can turn them off but that’s not the point.
- People upload and tag photos of you - then you have to approve or deny them (takes too long)
- It’s the only way to communicate with some people - What happened to email or the telephone?
- It’s ugly as hell! - enough of the blue already!
- Too many applications that are useless yet people still spam you with them
- Beacon - the Facebook boogyman
- People get angry when you don’t accept their friend request
- Everyone assumes I log in to Facebook as much as they do and think it’s the only way to contact you. If you have notifications turned off you may never know you were invited to “Joe and Betty’s Super Cool and Totally Rad House Party”.
- Last but not least… Zuckerberg. It bothers me when he speaks, he should stay behind the keyboard.
…but for some strange reason, I keep logging in. It’s beyond me. I guess that’s why it’s been nicknamed Crackbook.
~TheNerd
BitTorrent and the Legitimate Use of P2P
Joe Stewart wrote a short article about BitTorrent and the legitimate use of P2P networks. It was written back in 2004 but I believe it still speaks of things that are relevant today.
It seems that some people still think that BitTorrent is evil but do not understand that BitTorrent is simply a protocol and nothing more. It allows developers to create clients that can download pirated software, movies, and music. Ultimately, it’s the people using these BitTorrent clients (like uTorrent) that download the pirated software.
As explained in the article there are many ways to use the BitTorrent protocol legitimately. If you don’t believe me just check out LinuxTracker.org, it provides a central location to download open source software such as Linux and BSD distributions.
Cheers!
~TheNerd
Google’s market share hits almost 70%
“Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today announced that Google accounted for 67.25 percent of all U.S. searches in the four weeks ending March 29, 2008.” (Source)
Here is a breakdown of the top search providers.
- Google - 67.25%
- Yahoo! - 20.29%
- MSN - 6.65%
- ASK - 4.09%
It doesn’t appear that Google’s momentum is ready to slow down anytime and this goes to show that maybe all these Google nuts aren’t crazy after all 
~TheNerd
Yes, the comments are moderated
Just in case you were wondering, I do moderate the comments on this blog. You wonder why maybe? Well I would have to say that at very least 90% of all comments posted here are complete spam. I guess this might be because I display the “You Comment I Follow” logo and have the Do Follow Word Press plugin installed.
As long as your comment pertains to the post there won’t be a problem with me approving it even if you post a link to your site. But, if you’ve commented here and it never showed up it could be that I thought it was spam and deleted it. If you think I have wronged you feel free to drop me a line and let me know.
Cheers!
~TheNerd