The Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD Battle is Over

With the recent announcement that Warner Brothers would be adopting Sony's Blu-ray HD format over Toshiba's HD-DVD format does this mean the end to the format wars that brought back memories of Beta vs. VHS?

According to the Bits blog at the New York Times:

"Warner Brothers is now going to throw its weight behind the Blu-ray format for high-definition disks. Warner has been the only major studio to publish its movies in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. Today, the studio announced that from now on, it would only issue movies in Blu-ray. "

This is the final blow to HD DVD because Warner Brothers is #1 in DVD market share. The impact of this announcement has sent reverberations through the industry. The HD-DVD group hastily cancelled press events scheduled for the upcoming CES trade show.

This move is a great sign for the DVD business as the battle was delaying the growth of HD disks. Now with Warner in the fold, Blu-ray can make some headway and the DVD business as a whole can look for brighter days coming down the pike.

Unfortunately those consumers who purchased their first HD-DVD player this Christmas are going to be a little un-happy. Maybe they can blow them out on eBay.

Great New Idea and its Green!

Looking for new ideas to improve the planet? Recycle your unwanted DVDs, CDs and Video Games for cash or charity at BuyBackDirect.com

SquidBids For You!

Squidoo announced today that they have launched a new promotional tool for eBay sellers called SquidBids. eBay sellers can use their eBay userID or eBay Store name to create a profile on their ebay business. It is a cool little tool and something even the big players on eBay should consider for their business.

I would love to see a SquidBid page for GrapevineHill, InflatableMadness, GothamCityOnline among others. Sellers need to reach out and find customers where they hangout and Squidoo gets tons of traffic. Here is an example of a SquidBid page from eBay Seller FreakNoodles.

Seth Godin does a much better job of explaining SquidBids then I would so here is a link to his blog post.

Combining SquidBids with the Red Door Store campaign that some store sellers have started might give eBay sellers some promotional juice.

It Pays to Squidoo!

I started creating lenses (pages) for Squidoo in March of 2007, not real sure what I was doing or how long I would be on the site. I like the idea of having my online content all over the web so it seemed to make sense to add it to Squidoo.

Now, after being on the site for 6 months it is clear to me that Squidoo is exactly how I would envision a successful online content site. I have content on Hubpages, Associated Content, my blogs and online newsletters but none have been as successful as my content on Squidoo.

Sure, my main blog gets lots of activity, with nearly 200 unique visitors a day but the revenue being generated through Google's adWords and Yahoo sponsored ads is minimal. I need to get the activity up to a 1,000 visitors a day before the numbers start to improve. In contrast, my monthly payout from Squidoo for July (paid in Sept.) was more than all of my other online content combined and even more amazing, it was 100% more than the previous month's payout from Squidoo.

Squidoo is both fun and profitable. The actual dollar amounts are small but the trend is fantastic as my payouts have grown exponentially from the $1.57 I earned my first month.

Squidoo is like Wikipedia on steroids. Just compare the Wikipedia profile on one of my favorite TV shows "Scrubs" with the best "Scrubs" profile on Squidoo.

Squidoo management isn't resting on their laurels either. They just recently launched SquidWho, a Who's Who on the net that has really taken off (read my take on SquidWho here).

You are not going to get rich building lenses on Squidoo but you can certainly earn some extra cash as you enjoy the process of building content on the Internet. In fact, I liked SquidWho's format so much I replaced my blogger profile with a SquidWho profile. Squidoo also is one of the top referrers to my blogs.

I think Squidoo and SquidWho are worth a look.

Death by Popcorn!

I was doing my normal websurfing this morning, looking for ideas (good or bad) when I came across this news article from the AP Doctor warns consumers of popcorn fumes. I hadn't even read the article before I brokedown laughing.

"A pulmonary specialist at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center has written to federal agencies to say doctors there believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years."

Okay, after all of these years of Microwaving popcorn this is the first case. Also, he developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years."

The doctor went on to say "We cannot be sure that this patient's exposure to butter flavored microwave popcorn from daily heavy preparation has caused his lung disease," cautioned Dr. Cecile Rose. "However, we have no other plausible explanation."

This is laughable, what other dangerous activities has this man been involved with in the past several years? Maybe, he got lung cancer from checking his own breath every morning after he brushed his teeth. I don't want to make light of the fact the man has cancer but for any sane person, let alone a doctor, to publicly proclaim that the fumes from popcorn may cause cancer, is ridiculous. Though it did give me something to post.

Microwave popcorn is now a high risk behavior please use caution and stop smelling the popcorn before you eat it. The Popcorn lobby will be up-in-arms and I'm sure Orvil Redenbacher is rolling around in his grave.

In fairness there has been some data that suggests a problem in the manufacturing of microwavable popcorn.

The July letter, made public Tuesday by a public health policy blog, refers to a potentially fatal disease commonly called popcorn lung that has been the subject of lawsuits by hundreds of workers at food factories exposed to chemicals used for flavoring.

"In response to Rose's finding, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association issued a statement Tuesday recommending that its members reduce "to the extent possible" the amount of diacetyl in butter flavorings they make. It noted that diacetyl is approved for use in flavors by the federal Food and Drug Administration."

Where is Steven Colbert when you need him. Please Steven get to the truth of this matter

Is SquidWho For You?

The site with a funny name just added a new wrinkle. Seth Godin recently announced it on his blog so I thought I would do him a solid and also mention it here.

Squidoo just announced a new Internet tool called SquidWho a virtual "Who's Who" on the Internet that doesn't limit who can be included like Wikipedia does. Have you ever wanted to see your name in bits and bytes? Do you want to recognize a special person in your life, maybe a teacher, pastor, friend or family member? Now you can with SquidWho. Here's what Seth had to say:

Are you notable enough? I think so.

It occurs to me that the web is redefining what notable means, and so are we. Famous used to mean Gene Kelly and Mae West, or Sandy Weil and Bill Gates. But with the long tail, notable means: you're the #1 player on your tennis team; you're the top of your marketing department; you're a blogger lots of people read and talk about -- you're the best and most" notable" in your niche, however small. That's the kind of famous that SquidWho is about...

This being the web and not the real world, we decided to take matters into our own hands and launch SquidWho. The people-powered open who's who online. If you think someone is notable enough to warrant a bio, then they are. Your call, not ours, not some invisible editor's.

If you don't like the bio you see on someone, build a better one. It's free. Royalties go to charity. Best one wins. (Here's a good one).

The obvious ones (Bono, Mother Theresa and Jaco) are already taken, but that's okay. Build a better one. Not to mention the room for six billion more.

So, take a moment to check it out. It's fun and stress free but watch out it can be addicting. I've already created several:

• Monty Python - The funniest comedy group of all-time! Don't Argue With Me!
  
• Nolan Ryan - My favorite ballplayer growing up.
  
• Will Smith - My favorite actor, always makes good choices for roles (except Wild, Wild West)
  
• Jessica Alba -Okay, before you start calling me a "dirty old man" this was a test to see how a popular name would do on Squidoo (BTW over 250 unique visitors so far) and I certainly enjoy finding pictures to post.

I know you are all very busy in your everyday life but take a few moments to check it out and create a SquidWho lens about your favorite person or group. Even fictional characters are acceptable.

Okay, one mention about eBay (I've got to stop doing that). If you are a memorabilia seller, why not create SquidWho lens on several of your hottest selling people and drive them to your eBay listings. Check out my lenses to see what I did, each of them links to eBay memorabilia listings as well as Amazon listings.

Monetize your RSS Feeds

When you start writing a blog you may not have any grand plans. Mostly, you want to get stuff off your chest or work on your writing skills, etc. After a little time though you find that you need to make some money at this blogging thing or you won't be doing it for very long.

Buzz Marketing with Blogs For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance))

So, you add Google adSense to your sidebar or a leaderboard, you sign up for Google referrals and add them to the blog and you look around for other ideas that will help you make some cash so, you add affiliate links to your sidebar as well in the hopes of incremental referral revenue. The key is to monetize the site without overwhelming the reader.

These are all great ideas but I wanted to take them one step further. I'm sure you've heard that adding images to your posts make them easier and more enjoyable to read and really help your RSS feeds draw attention to your posts. Many blogs have a high percentage of readers that read their feeds via an RSS reader so your subscribers never get to see your adSense ad's or affiliate links because they are not actually visiting your site.

So, why not wrap your posts around the picture of a great book or product that you recommend (like I've done here). This approach serves two purposes, it adds an image to the post to make it more visually appealing and secondly you can now monetize your RSS feeds because your subscriber can now see the product you are trying to sell in their RSS reader.

Google's blogger is not the best tool for this approach becasue it doesn't allow you to put Java Script inside your posts but it will let you include iframes. Why not use your Amazon affiliate account to add product links to your posts? I've seen a greatly increased clickthru on my affiliate ads when I've included them in my posts. This is a great approach but don't go overboard.

I'm sure there are many additional ways to monetize your RSS feeds but this is a simple and effective approach.

Great new idea from Google - PPA (Pay Per Action) adSense

Konica Minolta Dimage Z3 4MP Digital Camera with Anti Shake 12x Optical Zoom

I know, I'm not supposed to point out the advertisements on my blog as part of Google's TOS, but now that Google has launched the PPA network through adSense, I'll take a chance by pointing them out this one time.

For bloggers (publishers) the ad units are called Google Referrals and on The Digital Napkin you will find them on the right sidebar, just under my subscription links. Feel free to click on them and and look around the advertisers site because they are no longer paying Google (and me) for the click, instead they are paying for a completed transaction (of course if you you do like what you see make sure to purchase something). In effect, they are removing any chance of click fraud.

This helps the advertiser control their ad spend, by tying a dollar amount to an action, (subscriptions, purchases, etc.) and it helps the publisher by paying a higher dollar amount for the referral. In essence, Google has created an affiliate network.

I wouldn't suggest that publishers get rid of their PPC (pay per click) adSense ads completely but this allows them to diversify their advertising inventory and should be a win-win for everyone involved.

This also represents an excellent opportunity for online sellers to manage their Google advertising dollars, by tying the advertising amount to a completed result. For example, let's say an eBay seller is currently paying eBay $2.50 for a completed sale, that amount can vary depending on conversion rates for that item. With Google PPA, a seller can sell that same item on their website and say they will pay $1.75 for a sale of that same item, give the customer a 25 cent discount on the sale and still make 50 cents more for the sale than on eBay. For media sellers, this is a savior because they can now afford to advertise with Google and draw traffic to their own website. Had this program been available in 2005 when Glacier Bay was trying to convert to web sales, I would have chosen to stay in business.

I'm really looking forward to this as a publisher and if I was still a seller I would be all over this.

Wow! It has Been Awhile.

I haven't written a post here at The Digital Napkin since May of this year. I apologize for being away so long. I have been busy.

Since I am starting fresh I thought I would change the look a little. I hope you like it. I've been spending a great deal of time over at Squidoo.com and I have to tell you I'm having a blast. The site is very easy to use and allows me to create as many lenses (pages) as I want. I'm also earning money every month which is nice.

Check out a few of my lenses:

• My StumbleUpon Gallery - This is a gallery of images, video clips, music links and links to travel destinations that I've gather from my stumbles. Please take a look and tell me what you think.
• My Personal Lens - In my opinion this is much better than the MySpace page I have and I get a more traffic to it. (Did I mention I also make money)
• My Squidoo Lensography - This simply a collection of my main lenses. A lens is simply Squidoo for a page.

Squidoo is addictive and allows you to really exercise your creativity. Any idea, is a good idea at Squidoo.

NBC Announce's New Programs!

Its a good day today as two of my favorite NBC shows will once again be saved from the dreaded cancellation. Scrubs and the Law & Order Triumvirate, have been renewed for next season.

Not that I actually watch these shows in prime time but I'm pleased to know there will be more shows for me to watch on cable. In fact Law & Order CI will actually first run on USA and then repeat on NBC (I'm not sure I get the reasoning behind that move)

Here is the story.

Failure Doesn't Suck!

Sir James Dyson on getting it right after 5,126 tries--and how to move air at 400 mph.

I think this is an excellent example of persistence :-) I thought it was an interesting article and wanted to share it with my Digital Napkin readers. Enjoy!

What the Hell is a Ziki?

I came across Ziki.com in my digital travels and thought I would test it out. It is very similar to other social networking communities but with a twist. Ziki, will actually buy Google, Yahoo and MSN keywords of your name or business and direct them to your Ziki profile where you can collect all of your online content.

Go ahead, type my name -- Randy Smythe -- into Google and you will see a sponsored link directing you to my Ziki website. I will soon be up on Yahoo and MSN as well. In my case natural search pulls up most of my content but it's still nice to see my name up in lights as a sponsored link. Best of all -- its free.

Why is it so Hard to get the Last Dab out of the Toothpaste Tube?

Okay, I’ll take a step away from Web 2.0 and ecommerce ideas today to talk about toothpaste. As I was brushing my teeth this morning I realized that I was close to being out of toothpaste – why I hadn’t noticed the night before is another discussion – while I began desperately trying to get the last dab of toothpaste out of the tube I began to wonder why the toothpaste companies can’t produce a tube that will allow you to get the last bit of toothpaste? Of course the answer is they can but why don’t they? They leave it up to entrepreneurs to develop the little widgets that do the job for them.

From a marketing standpoint I would think “getting the last dab” would resonate with their customers. Each brand now has 5 or more different types of toothpaste – with baking soda, whitening, mouthwash, etc. – why can’t they modify their packaging to get an edge with the consumer. I would think most single guys wait until the absolute last moment before they buy toiletries why not pitch a new man’s brand with last dab gadgetry? I’d buy it – at the last minute.

Self Publishing Using Squidoo!

I've been toying with the idea of using a blog to publish a book while generating revenue through Google's AdSense and affiliate programs. This is not a new idea as “Blooks” and “Blovels” have been available for several years. Obviously if you are an established author this may not be the route for you to take but if you are an author having trouble finding a publisher it is much better than letting your book take up space on your hard drive.

My father is an established author in media related topics with several published non-fiction books under his belt but he has written his first novel that he calls “Speculative Historical Fiction” from a Christian perspective and he’s had a hard time finding a publisher willing to take a chance on the manuscript. The book is entitled “To Kill the Christ” and is the first book in a trilogy called “A Kingdom called Long Reach” So I decided to publish the first book for him using both Squidoo and a blog. This will be a test as to which platform works best. The hope is that there is sufficient interest in the novel that a publisher is willing to publish the entire trilogy. The second book is complete and he has begun work on the final book in the trilogy.

I have launched the first book on Squidoo calling it a “Squidovel” (clever huh?) and will be adding a blog shortly so please check it out. There will be a place for your comments and he welcomes any points or observations you might have.

I Love to Stumble - Searching for the End of the Long Tail

I just launched my new Squidoo Lens and wanted to share it with my Digital Napkin readers. The concept is to search the web every day for new and interesting site, stores, photography, art, videos, cool apps, etc. I believe their's gold at the end of the Long Tail and I'm searching real hard to find it. So please stumble on over to my new site and let me know what you think.

The Digital Napkin also Celebrates Talent!

I stumbled upon this video clip of a 11 year old girl singing an amazing song on some talent show. What will amaze you is the range of a singer who is only 11. Enjoy!

Amazing 11 year old!!!
Uploaded by bernynab

I Stumbled Upon This!

I just started to use Stumbleupon.com and my first couple of stumbles I actually voted down because they took too long to load but then I stumbled across this great picture.

It is a beautiful cityscape and when you move your mouse around the picture it changes the view. It's a twist on timelapse photography. Check it out here.

I would like to know the city, so if any of you can identify it let me know. It could be Seattle but I can't tell if that is the Space Needle.


Also, you might try using Stumbleupon to promote your blogs, website, webstore, eBay store, Squidoo Lens, etc.

Squidoo a Great Social Networking Tool for Online Sellers!

I normally don't copy and paste posts from my other blogs but since I think Squidoo is a fantastic idea I thought I would break that little rule and post something I wrote for My Blog Utopia. I would live to hear your comments.


I've been playing around with MySpace 2.0. Oh, that's right, it's not called MySpace 2.0 its called Squidoo.com

Sure, right now there are fewer than 100,000 profiles on the site (Squidoo calls their profiles Lens') but they have developed an excellent tool for online content creators and especially online sellers (eBay sellers in particular). MySpace is certainly still much more fun then Squidoo and my guess is the average age of a Squidoo member is much higher than on MySpace but Squidoo is geared to helping content creators make some extra cash. You aren’t going to get rich on the site but if you have a blog, website or eBay store it will provide you with the tools to promote those assets. Imagine what would happen if MySpace added that capability.

Check out my “Lens” for an example of what you can do. Since I don’t currently sell any items I have added links to other stores, websites and my blogs. … compare this to my MySpace Profile Traffic is building at Squidoo.com and of course the site is the brainchild of uber marketer Seth Godin so check it out and develop a taste for Calamari.

The Geico Cavemen are Coming!

The Geico Cavemen are getting their own TV show.

The sitcom is in development at ABC and the copywriter who created the spots for Geico is writing the Pilot. This is a fantastic idea. I'm not sure the concept has legs but it is certainly worth a shot. If "Alf" could have a 4 year run this show has a shot. Supposedly the concept revolves around the lives of three 30-something Cavemen who deal with Caveman bigotry in their daily lives.

At press time there was no word as to whether they would cast real cavemen or use actors with make-up.

Ripped From the Headlines!

In one of my recent posts on The Digital Napkin I posted the following comment: "How many times have you had an idea that you thought was unique just to see something similar to it in a store or advertised somewhere? It happens to me frequently and I feel a short moment of pride that I had an idea that would have worked. The reality is, ideas are like oxygen they are just out there floating around."

Well, I was watching TV tonight and I saw the new Law & Order. This weeks episode is called "MURDER BOOK - A HIGH PROFILE PUBLISHER IS FOUND MURDERED - When a publisher is found murdered, after publishing a controversial book, Detectives Ed Green (Jesse L. Martin) and Nina Cassady (Milena Govich) are determined to find out whether this was a random homicide or connected to her work.

If you saw the show on Friday night please read my post from November and see how similar my idea is to the episode that aired. I don't believe anyone associated with the show ever read my post. I just feel proud that my idea was good enough to make it onto the small screen. "The reality is, ideas are like oxygen they are just out there floating around." and that is what The Digital Napkin is all about.