Floodle

Refinancing Mortgage

2008-10-26T06:49:00.000-07:00

An evolving site about getting a Refinancing Mortgage, how best to do it, tips and tricks etc.

http://www.refinancingmortgagestop.com/

Horse Pizza - Context relevant Amazon Recommended Product Links

2008-09-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

So you have a blog, and you want to display relevant Amazon ads on it, but you want them to relate to the post, not just to the blog in general.
When you create Amazon product banner ads, you enter keywords relevant to your content to make the products relevant to your readers. The problem with this is the same products show on all pages and may not be relevant to an individual post.
So I had a thought of making an amazon banner ad display ads relevant to the page context instead of keywords that I told it. So the plan was to pull some content from the page and use that to dynamically generate the code to trigger the Amazon ads. In this example I used the page title.
The process
1. Capture the page title
2. Take a couple of keywords from it
3. Generate the Amazon ad code with the keywords injected into it (using simple string concatenation.
4. Generate the HTML in javascript.
Here's the finished script

<script type="text/javascript">
pagetitle=top.document.title;
splittitle=pagetitle.split(" ");
search_text=splittitle[0] + "%2C%20" + splittitle[1];
iframe_string='<iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=floodle-20&o=1&p=14&l=st1&mode=books&search=' + search_text + '&fc1=000000<1=&lc1=3366FF&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" width="160" height="600" border="0" frameborder="0" style="border:none;" scrolling="no"></iframe>';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.write(iframe_string);
</script>

Here's the explanation.
Line 1. pagetitle=top.document.title;
Purpose. Get the page title and store it in a variable named pagetitle
Line 2. splittitle=pagetitle.split(" ");
Purpose. Split the title into an array of words separated by a space " "
Line 3. search_text=splittitle[0] + "%2C%20" + splittitle[1];
Purpose. search_text is the text we will inject into the ad code, in this case I'm only using the first 2 words from the title and separating them with a space "%2C%20"
The next part inside the iframe is simply the code generated from the Amazon website where I've removed the keywords and injected my generated keywords instead.
Go to https://affiliate-program.amazon.com and login, Choose Build links and select Recommended Product Links and generate a sample in the format you wish to use - enter a dummy keyword, this is what will be replaced dynamically.
Last Line: document.write(iframe_string);
Purpose. Creates the html dynamically.
Other sites this may be good for would be forum - change line 3 to include more words as required.
It's not a perfect context but It's a start, you could also change line 3 so that one keyword is always there, then the rest are pulled from the title.
e.g. To have the word pizza always there, plus 2 others, use
search_text="Pizza" + "%2C%20" + splittitle[0] + "%2C%20" + splittitle[1];

Click this link

http://floodle.blogspot.com/2008/09/horse-pizza-context-relevant-amazon.html

To see the post with it's title and Amazon ads about horses and pizzas

Online todo.txt editor

2008-09-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of the todo.txt file, I have used it for years for tracking everything - only recently did I realise how many others use this method.

I use it for everything, taking notes during phone calls, noting down things that I hear people say that may be useful, any thoughts or ideas I have - pretty much anything that I see and hear at work that may be interesting or relevant gets noted.
I'm then left with a searchable archive of everything, people's names, tasks, general information - people I spoke to and what we spoke about.

The only issue with it is that it lives on my work PC which isn't always accessible which is why I created a simple online todo.txt editor which you can download and use if you want from ...

http://www.garven.net/todo

You need a web site to host it on but it's a single file install.

Adsense - we're all banned

2008-05-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

It just struck me - you can be banned from adsense for having information on your website regarding subjects like gambling, pay to surf, pay to click etc. - however Google serves ads with these exact subjects so in theory the Adsense team could review your site, see Adsense ads for gambling and pay per click programs, and ban your site from having Adsense ads on it.

Phonetic Alphabets

2008-04-14T19:32:00.000-07:00

I got bored with using the standard Phonetic Alphabet at work so decided to make a few themed ones :)

http://www.phoneticalphabets.net/

Awesome but curious

2007-06-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

A while back Seth godin linked to my website in a post at
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/my_karma_ran_ov.html
which was great :)

One thing I found strange was the part he wrote saying "(which has ads, by the way)" referring to the fact that floodle.net has ads. Not that I mind - just curious as to why the comment was included.

I wonder if he'd write the same thing if he linked to the New York times website, or yahoo, or MSN etc..

Free Ebay ebooks

2007-01-03T01:34:00.000-08:00

(Almost) All the ebooks that are for sale on eBay are available free at the following site

Free Ebooks

So stop buying them !!

Corruption on www.moneysavingexpert.com

2006-11-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

I'm a big fan of www.moneysavingexpert.com and often get quie a bit of traffic from the forums there and was getting quite a lot today until someone pulled the thread that mentioned my website.
The thread was at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=295243 but is now gone.
I can only assume that the person who pulled the post did so because they sell the ebooks I give away free on www.floodle.net and didn't want the forum readers to get them free.
Maybe the people who moderate the forum should disclose any conflicts of interest they have and hopefully stop deleting threads based on their personal choice - not really in keeping with the etos of the site.

The problem with having a great website...

2006-08-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

...is that people wont just link to you, the sell links to your site instead

this page with links to www.floodle.net
http://the-money-maker.com/doc/More-eBooks.html

is being sold on ebay for £50

£50 ($90) just to buy a link to my website!

Smoothie Recipes

2006-08-05T00:57:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmmmm...

just added a fantastic Smoothie Recipe ebook for free download

enjoy !!

Do traditional media take their websites seriously?

2006-04-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

I was reading an article on the website of The Telegraph, a well respected newspaper in the UK.
The article in question is here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2006/01/14/mfsmart14.xml

The fourth word in the article is spelt incorrectly, the article begins "A British vehicle porducer", what's a porducer?, do they not have a spell checker.

This is so typical of old media not taking new media seriously.

This paper is one of the most respected newspapers in the UK, to make a mistake like that and leave it there since 14th January 2006 is unforgivable.

Of course I'm allowed to make as many spelling mistakes as I want, it's almost expected, but a newspaper - nope, not allowed.

BTW, the article is quite interesting but I'll believe it when I see it, the company involved doesn't even seem to have a website which is not a good start.

Google Adsense changes

2006-04-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense has changed the way commission is earned. Instead of a simple Pay Per Click model you now get paid for impressions as well and the PPC rate has dropped significantly.

So now instead of placing your adverts where they are most likely to be clicked you may as well move them to a less obtrusive place, and make sure you have the maximum ads allowed (3) on every page to maximise impressions.

For me this has meant a significant drop in revenue as my site is most relevant to people most likely to be purchasers (and hence ad clickers) - i.e. young astute adults.

Sites that have large volumes of younger people who are much less likely to click ad's like myspace and digg.com will likely see a significant increase in revenue.

I guess this means click fraud will be replaced with refresh fraud.

The Digg effect part 2 - with graphs

2006-03-25T09:23:00.000-08:00

A visual representation of the Digg effect
The first graph shows hits only, note the spike on the 5th is from being mentioned on Digg. On the 16th, www.floodle.net was mentioned on an online forum.

The second graph shows the hits and the page views, note that visitors from the online forum viewed many more pages than Digg visitors.

Phil

The Digg effect

2006-03-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

A story that hit front page had a link to http://www.floodle.net in it and as a result I got a part of the Digg effect though not the full force. I like to analyse my stats when this happens to get a feel for different types of users, here are my conclusions for Digg users. Statements are generalisations of course but are for the average Digg user..

Things I know (in general):
Digg users don't click ad's (partly due to ad blockers, the ad click ratio plummeted and the ad total barely moved if at all)
Digg users mainly use firefox (over 50%)
Digg users don't use Linux (about 2%)
Digg users don't browse sites, they only look at the one page submitted
Digg users appear to be quite young based on type of stories that get dugg
Digg users don't return to dugg sites after the initial visit so getting dugg is not a way to get regulars.
Digg comments are never as in depth or as technical as slashdot comments
Digg comments are also much lower in number than slashdot comments
Digg.com, by asking users to feedback on their advertisers, is virtually begging users to click it's ads. Another sign that digg users are not generally consumers.

Things I suspect:
Digg's Alexa ranking is overinflated because Digg allows people to post story links to users own sites and people who own sites are more likely to use the Alexa toolbar. Most slashdot users would not install Alexa because they consider it spyware.

Conclusions
Having a story or web page dugg makes a peak in your stats but it is a very steep up and down spike with little after effect.

Not being a technical site it's unlikely floodle.net will ever be "slashdotted" however I would welcome any comments from site owners who have been as to their conclusions.

Phil

The eBay feedback system

2006-03-09T02:19:00.000-08:00

I've never been badly scammed on eBay though I have been in the situation of leaving a positive feedback comment when a negative was due simply because I didn't want a revenge negative.

When dealing with high volume sellers, one negative for them makes little difference whereas one negative for you can have a major impact on your feedback rating. If a high volume seller gets too many negatives they will simply drop that account and start a new one, quickly building up positive feedback selling very low cost items like eBooks.

A quick search of the net for users views of eBay's feedback system produces a near unanimous opinion that it is virtually useless except in the most extreme cases. Users are very unlikely to leave a negative and in fact will not even leave a neutral as that will usually trigger a revenge negative.

There is now a solution to this problem, http://www.ohrep.com has been created to provide an anonymous feedback system for eBay and other online auction sites.

Users who wish to make a negative or neutral remark about an eBay seller but prefer not to do so through eBay's own feedback system can now do this without the risk of a negative in revenge.

Phil

New fair movie downloads

2006-03-07T15:27:00.000-08:00

I propose that the MPAA make the first half of all movies available for download.
If it's enjoyable then you pay to see the second half, if not then you don't bother. There have been a few films I've watched all the way through just because I'd paid for them, if they had just been on TV I would have changed channels.
I think they'd get more sales that way as loads of people would download all the latest movies and watch the first half, then want to see the second half. It's a bit like shareware for software where you can try it for a bit and if you like it, pay to continue using it.
By increasing the volume of sales significantly they could trim their prices to a point where piracy would become pointless.
Anytime a product is expensive to obtain there will always be people trying to sell cheap versions because there is a margin for profit in it, the only way to avoid this is to remove the margin or make it so small it's not worth it.

When Google adwords go bad

2006-03-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

I like the idea of Google adwords being displayed in line with the content on a webpage but sometimes Google kinda misses the point a bit.
Here's a site
http://thesurrealist.co.uk/
with loads of strange text generators, the google ads displayed are for the other kind of generator.
Anywho! - there's a link to yer site mate - since yer probably gettin nowt from yer ads.

Interesting issue on digg.com - attack of the buriers

2006-03-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Someone posted a link to some information which happened to be on my website (I saw my counter whiz round and checked the access logs to see what was going on)
The story is here:
http://digg.com/technology/How_to_hack_a_Coca_Cola_machine
It picked up a lot of votes quickly and was well on it's way to the front page when it vanished.
By searching for it I found it had been buried.
I realise that the information is something that has been around for a while and probably on digg in the dim and distant past however the fact that it was picking up so many diggs shows that there were still a lot of people who didn't know about it.
In essence, a relatively small group of people who already knew about it had the story buried which denied many others from reading the information.
Is this in line with the ethos of digg.com?, where a small number of users govern what the rest of the users get to see?
Maybe it's a bit of a conspiracy theory but what's to stop a group of people getting together and performing a manual "denial of service" attack on stories not in their interest?

Phil

Free ebooks (not spam)

2006-02-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

I am now taking requests for ebooks, any you see on ebay let me know and I'll make them available for free download at (assuming I have them)
http://www.floodle.net/extra/ebayinfo/

enjoy !

Pepsi almost as expensive as petrol

2006-02-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

In the UK, a 2 litre bottle of Pepsi from Tesco is currently £1.41
My nearest petrol station sells 1 litre of petrol for 84.9p ( approx £1.70)
This means that Pepsi is only 17% cheaper than petrol.
In the US (wal-mart) 2 liters of Pepsi is 79 cents (44.5 p)

..and you thought fuel was a rip off in the UK

Automatically Generate Performance Reviews

2006-01-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

Sample:

Performance Appraisal for Mr. X:
Mr. X appears ever productive and has been seen dropping in at off hours and he does the kind of work you don't expect to see today.
Mr. X never appears stressed about his work. He works behind the scenes. His worth to the company can only be imagined and he is willing to take risks. Many wonder at the extent of his knowledge and he prefers to work under minimal supervision. He actively pursues relationships with his coworkers.
Mr. X shows an interest in related tasks not assigned to him.

Guaranteed accuracy in some cases

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/games/career/html/questions.html

Digg goes slowwwww

2006-01-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

Why has Digg.com suddenly gone so slow?, initial reports suggest it may have been Slashdotted ...

www.digg.com

:)

Ambulance chasers pay big bucks for Adsense

2006-01-18T07:38:00.000-08:00

According to various sources, it seem 10 out of the top 11 highest paid google adwords are lawyers trying to get clients.

The top 11 are:
mesothelioma $84.08
mesothelioma attorneys $80.93
mesothelioma lawyers $69.04
malignant pleural mesothelioma $55.95
Asbestos Cancer $54.17
mesothelioma symptoms $53.66
peritoneal mesothelioma $52.27
trans union $51.91
lung cancer $43.12
search engine optimization $30.19
mesothelioma diagnosis $28.70

Seraching for these terms in google of course comes up with all the lawyer sites on the right hand side - they must make a fortune to pay so much for advertising.

How to make a million

2006-01-14T04:14:00.000-08:00

Here are a 3 methods to make a million pounds / dollars / whatever currency you prefer.

1. Find a way to make 1 pound and do it a million times

2. Find a way to double your money, start with 1 penny an double it every day for a month - a 31 day month will give you 21.47 million pounds

3. Get a job earning 12 million a year and quit after a month

Just don't spend it all at once !

www.v3.com goes up and down at the same time

2006-01-11T05:07:00.000-08:00

According to Alexa.com, this week v3.com has gone up in ranking by 18,000% and down by 45% at the same time

Might not be true but it is possible

2006-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

A guy named Ken Smith posted this on a newsgroup.

"The new technology that it is claimed lowers EMI by dithering the frequency of the CPU clock and the monitors refresh rate are not actually for that at all. Windows XP uses the CPU clock and the refresh rate to FSK out all of your personal data and a list of all non-Microsoft programs you have installed. "

However I don't think it would work for LCD monitors :).

It's well known that TV licensing companies can view exactly what's on your TV screen, I assume then they could do the same for your PC screen, so "in theory" Microsoft could code something into Windows to work like the Timex Data Link system that sent out a hidden signal listing anything.
Not saying they would / do, just saying that in theory it may be possible.

Aluminium Foil Helmets

2006-01-09T12:08:00.000-08:00

Research at MIT has shown that instead of protecting you from radio waves, wrapping your head in Aluminium foil actually amplifies the signal by as much as 30 db.

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/

Where would we be without the guys at MIT?, nice to know they're finally doing something useful with the millions of dollars worth of high tech equipment they have at their disposal.

Care In The Community

2006-01-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

A UK govenment initiative to allow nutters to roam the streets.
Seeing the new helpdesk operators we now have on the IT helpdesk it seems that the scheme has now extended to care in the workplace. It's scary how stupid people can be allowed to be put in roles where they are advising and supporting others.
Has the UK contract market for helpdesk people really gone this far down hill?, is an IQ greater than 95 that much to ask?.
I get served by brighter people at the local supermarket.

Blind Waiting

2006-01-09T03:24:00.000-08:00

"Blind Waiting" is bad - everyone hates it and often don't even realise it.

"Blind Waiting" is when you are waiting for something but you don't know how long for or why, some examples are:
1. Telephone queue system with no information on how long you need to queue for
2. Website messages like "site down for maintenance" - but no date / time for when they'll be back, or reason they are out like system maintenance / upgrades etc..
3. Closed sign in a shop window without a clear sign of when it will reopen
4. Coming soon signs - when is the service coming.

If you have an outage / closure or have customers waiting for any reason, always try to give them the following information
How long they will have to wait
Why they are waiting
Ideally, a better time when they will get a faster response.

Junk Mail postage paid envelopes

2006-01-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

In this article http://www.vertical-visions.com/_temp/postagepaid/index2.html, a guy explains how to use postage paid envelopes to send up to 72lb in weight which will be charged to the junk mail sender.
His solution is just to put any old junk in there however perhaps a better option would be to send junk that you would normally have to pay someone to dispose of like old computer equipment (not hazardous waste like Asbestos though).

Interesting WIFI Hot Spot Concept

2006-01-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

The idea is to make it easy for you to make money by sharing your wireless broadband

http://www.mywifizone.com/

You install this software, and when the system goes live your wireless broadband becomes a wireless hotspot which people pay mywifizone to use and you get a cut. I guess it's a lot more useful for those who live in city centers, could be a nice little earner if you live in a flat near a business part of a city.

Blogs without Comments

2006-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

Should blogs have comments?, I prefer it when they do but I believe they can still be blogs if they don't have comments. A blog is a web log, not a discussion forum, people use blogs for various different reasons and some simply don't want any comments - it's just
their opinion, they don't want to discuss it or argue about it, they just have a need to vent.
I have a blog (this is it) which allows comments, no one has ever left a comment - does that mean it's any less a blog ?
Here's a scenario: I've read quite a few blogs on this exact subject and I want to comment on it - so where do I do this?, in my own blog?, in the comments section of one of the other blogs discussing this?, which one?. If I add comments to an existing blog entry that's a few days / weeks / months old - will anyone ever read it?

Search google for "Blogs without Comments" and you get over 300 hits - and that's just for one way of phrasing the subject, there may well be over 1000 separate discussions on this subject with many comments in reply. There's simply too much repetition on the internet.

However...Create a single area for discussion on a subject and what would you get?, a huge long list of comments like on slashdot. If you find a post that you wish to comment on and see there are 300 existing comments you have to read them all before posting in case you are
covering old ground which is very time consuming and with that many comments it's unlikely. At least comments on slashdot are hierarchical - unlike most comment systems.

The solution? - I don't know - please comment :)

2 reasons people leave comments:
1. The just have an irresistable urge to and feel they have someething valuable to contribute (5%)
2. Give them an excuse to post a link to their website (95%)
First 2 examples I picked are full of posts from other Bloggers (I'm not saying it's a bad thing)

http://joi.ito.com/archives/2005/11/24/deconstructing_bloggers.html

http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2005/10/29/mr-blogger/

Comment on the entire internet

2006-01-02T08:58:00.000-08:00

Add comments about any web page on the internet

http://www.floodle.net/comments/index.html

I feel a little invisible

2006-01-01T03:50:00.000-08:00

I'm desperately trying to get google to index
http://floodle.net/comments/last30.php
but it just wont!!!

aaaaarrrgggghhhhh
http://floodle.net/comments/index.html as well
maybe putting it here will help

New Year's resolutions

2005-12-31T12:23:00.000-08:00

You can tell it's the new year, the supermarkets are full of fitness equipment and half the ads on TV are for "quit smoking support" products.

My good deed

2005-12-31T12:06:00.000-08:00

I was out getting pizza for dinner and I saw an old guy with a white stick and a dog lead with no dog. 4 feet behind him is a golden retriever sitting quite happily while the old guy shouts
Pedro!, here boy! , c'mon Pedro!.
The dog just site there quite happily.
A blind man with a deaf dog - maybe not the best combination - the dog probably wasn't deaf, it just couldn't be bothered to move.
I told the guy his dog was just a few feet behind him but he didn't seem too interested in moving, he held out the lead to me and said "can you put that on him please" which I did and dragged the dog to him.
"I hope I've got the right dog" I said - "golden retriever" he said; don't know what I would have done if it hadn't been the right dog - laughed my head of probably.
Made me smile.

Advertising on money

2005-12-31T06:19:00.000-08:00

Coins can circulate for up to 50 years, usually one side is reserved for a particular image, in the UK this is currently the queens head. The other side is usually the same however often special coins are released to commemorate specific events.
When there are no events to comemorate, why not sell advertising space on that side of the coin?, or maybe design notes to have a small advertising square built in to the design that companys can pay to advertise on?.
I know most people don't really like advertising but this type isn't as "in your face" as most other methods like tv, radio, billboards etc. If the money wass all given to a particular cause - perhaps in the UK it could be the NHS - then I think people wouldn't mind.
It would also give coin collectors something else to collect.

What percentage of content on the internet is unique?

2005-12-31T05:58:00.000-08:00

I was looking at www.boingboing.net and at the end of each post is a link to technorati showing all the blog comments for that item.
So I clicked on this to see what people were saying about a particular item and found 8 posts that mentioned the item; only ONE of the blog entries actually discussed the item at all, the other 7 "comments" were simply verbatim reproductions of the item.
What is the point of blogs that just reproduce other blogs?, does it take so much effort even to add just a few words to give your view on an item?, if not then why blog?
Also the one blog that didn't just copy the original item only reworded it, no other views / opinions / information was added.

Alternatives to traditional advertising for Retailers / Merchants

2005-12-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

Some musings on a subject I know little about :)

10 Alternatives to traditional advertising for Retailers / Merchants
1. Product placement - on TV, in films, in video games, have a famous person be seen using your product (note: give your product to a few famous people who you think may use it)
2. Normal Reviews (send a sample to a high volume review site / blog)
3. Paid reviews (pay a high volume site to do a review - a good review if possible)
4. Blogs - retailers own blog
5. Sponsorship - sometimes hard to separate from adverts but generally links a retailer / product / service to a popular item.
6. SEO (search engine optimisation) - If I search for beer, which breweries will get the highest ranking?
7. Word of mouth - viral marketing, If you sell pizza's, go to the pizza websites and the pizza newsgroups and follow them for a while, find out who the most respected members are and send them some free pizza's to ask for their opinion. If you open a pizza shop in some town then find a newsgroup about that town and do the same, a free pizza for the 10 most prominent members.
8. Affiliates - like adverts but the advertiser only gets commission on actual sales, not on views / clicks - vet your affiliates carefully as affiliate spam can be damaging.
9. Branded items, a pen with your logo and phone number on it will cost about 20p (6.5p* each for the really cheap ones) if you buy a few thousand, why not give one away with each pizza order? (people love free pens)
10. Vouchers, not used so much in the UK, but offer 10% off your next order using a voucher (add an expiry date so that the customer comes back sooner rather than later)

P.S. If you do plan to give away free pens then feel free to send me one, I may even post a picture of it here on this blog that no-one reads.
* 6.5p (around 10 US cents) for quantities of 25000

Comment on websites that don't allow comments

2005-12-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few big websites out there that post information / opinions but don't have any method for the reader to provide feedback.
There is now a platform for feeding back which allows you to comment on items on these websites.
The following websites are currently supported
www.theregister.co.uk
www.boingboing.net
postsecret.blogspot.com
www.gizmodo.com

The comment site can be found at:
http://www.floodle.net/comments/

Shortest day of the year

2005-12-21T04:15:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo !, it's the shortest day of the year which means from now on the days just get longer and longer.
I hate going to work in the dark then coming home in the dark too - I barely see daylight.

I feel better now :)

Search Google, Yahoo! and MSN all at once

2005-12-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

Save time !! - cool new search engine shows results from Google, Yahoo! and MSN all one one page.

The 3 top web search engines all on a single page; get the best results every time.

http://www.floodle.net/ssearch.php

Search Ebay for Misspellings, mispellings or even misspelings.

2005-12-01T01:32:00.000-08:00

0.37 % of US sellers on Ebay can't spell, it's amazing but true. You'd think people would spell items correctly to make it easy for you to find them but they don't.

for example, searching for playstation on ebay.com returns 59103 items, searching for miss spelt versions of playstation on ebay.com returns 217 items, so
On ebay.co.uk it's 15783 and 112 which is 0.71 % so UK Ebay sellers are much worse spellers that US sellers.

To have a look yourself go to http://www.floodle.net/extra/ebayinfo and select the "Ebay Spelling Mistakes" link - you may find some bargains or at least have a bit of a laugh.

Control the internet, you can have an impact.

2005-11-19T04:31:00.000-08:00

Download the alexa toolbar (no I don't work for Alexa - honest), this way, the sites and types of
sites that you like will get better rankings on search engines that take into account Alexa rankings when returning results. It may only be a small effect but it does have an impact.
Sites that rank higher in web searches will do better - more sales, more advertising revenue and hence more chance of survival.
Also, never click on the ads on sites that suck

Floodle super invention number 1

2005-11-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

Problem:
Every day in the UK, 400 people put unleaded petrol into their diesel cars. (not good)
Solution:
RFID chip embedded in fuel filler cap and RFID reader on fuel hose - if unleaded fuel hose detects diesel RFID chip then no fuel will flow - and vice versa of course.

Tattoo, tatto or tatoo ?

2005-11-17T04:06:00.000-08:00

According to Lycos, nearly half of tattoo search requests are spelled wrong, whether as tatto or as tatoo.

How these "make millions on the internet" sites work

2005-11-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

Ever seen such sites as http://www.freeadguru.com or http://richjerk.com/ ?, ever wondered what they're selling?, what their system is?

The system is here - and free !! - oops, I hope I don't upset them ;)

http://www.floodle.net/extra/ebayinfo/millions.html

Information for sale on Ebay - get it all free

2005-11-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

Don't pay for this information on ebay, it's all available here
http://www.floodle.net/extra/ebayinfo/

Current list is:
Watch TV on your PC
Lottery System - System X
Win at roulette (doesn't work but at least you didn't find this out
after paying for it - 3MB pdf file)
Free Top Up Credit - Orange, O2, Vodafone, T Mobile
5 STEPS TO ROCKET YOUR NECTAR POINTS BALANCE
Ultimate Boot CD Download it free
150 Tesco Clubcard points for £1 spend
Become a Mystery Shopper
*HOW TO MAKE 35,000 POUNDS PER YEAR ( lots of these that are all
basically the same )
Unlock your DVD player make it multiregion
The Basics of Starting an eBay Business
HOW TO STOP SMOKING FOREVER
Unlock Sky

Note: the one marked with a *, there are loads of these that are very
similar, pretty much all the items listed on ebay stating "make x
amount per month" are touting this same information - just slightly
re-worded.

http://www.floodle.net/extra/ebayinfo/

Americans to drive on the left

2005-11-11T00:04:00.000-08:00

American President George Bush has declared that during 2006 the US will switch from driving on the right to driving on the left in a move to align better with the UK. Realising the huge impact this will have, President Bush has proposed a staged change over, from the 1st January 2006 all buses, trucks and other service vehicles will switch, then on 1st June 2006 the rest will change.

Turn left on a red light

2005-11-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

Why can't drivers in the UK turn left on a red light?, in the US you can turn right on a red light and the only impact it has is to reduce traffic congestion - I'm gonna start a petition !! - so there !

Statistics

2005-11-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

In a recent survey it was discovered that 43 % of statistics are simply made up!. In the same survey respondents were asked if they understood statistics; 73% said yes, 29% said no and 11% preferred not to answer.
Of those who said no, 4% said that while they didn't understand statistics they did know they didn't like the electric shock they got from it.

GPL version of Windows XP

2005-11-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

Apparently if you cross your fingers when you click "I agree" during software installation then you are legally exempt from the license agreement, it must be true if it's written on the internet.

Google add URL word of the day

2005-11-09T00:34:00.000-08:00

Well I wasn't expecting to see THIS when I tried to add a site to google search

Disclaimer: Image may have been modified (badly) for humorous purposes ;o)

So you think you would know a scam if you saw it?

2005-11-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

Notice anything wrong with this ATM ?
Now look at the picture below - spot the difference?; if you put your card in the top machine your card has just been cloned and a pinhole camera mounted nearby has captured your PIN number.

Scary huh ?

Mr Shouty!

2005-11-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

Why do people shout on phones!!? - the whole idea is you don't need to shout - technology eh!, so you sit in your open plan office and yell at the phone because no-one else wants to work, we all want to listen to you - shouting.
Who invented open plan offices anyway? - a chicken farmer?; they don't work, continuous distractions are always around, it must knock productivity down by at least 30%.
My job sucks - which is part of the reason I started a blog !

What every pirate wants for Christmas

2005-11-07T03:13:00.000-08:00

If only my wife would let me have one of these - oh - and if I had a spare $85,000,000To get yourself this little runaround visit http://www.eBay.com, item 4586999052.

Blobbies Selected As Greatest Product Of 2005 By IParenting

2005-11-06T03:31:00.000-08:00

The Blobbiemorphers(TM) line of transforming plush toys has received seven iParenting Media Awards for 2005.
More Details

Link to floodle.blogspot.com to win $15 Amazon Gift certificates

2005-11-04T05:56:00.000-08:00

It's simple, put a link from your website to here http://floodle.blogspot.com and on 30th November 2005 I will pick a site that links here at random. If I pick your site, I will send you either a 15 USD Amazon Gift certificate for amazon.com or a 10 GBP Gift certificate for amazon.co.uk, whichever you prefer.
Rules: Winning site owner should be easily contactable, site will be chosen from http://www.technorati.com/ at random, judges decision (mine) is final, winning site will be announced and linked to from floodle.blogspot.com, no alternative prize is available.

Thursday 3rd November 2005 Headlines - Kermit shock confession

2005-11-03T03:46:00.000-08:00

In a statement that has caused a media frenzy of levels unparalleled in recent seconds, Kermit the frog has confessed that he is, in fact, Yoda's love child.
In the past Yoda has been quoted as saying "Always two there are, no more, no less: a master and an apprentice", is this a hidden message to his long lost son?

Background noise - shhhhhhhh

2005-11-02T03:38:00.000-08:00

I work in an open plan office and I often find it very hard to concentrate with so many distracting sounds, e.g. phones ringing, keyboards clicking, people talking so I've found some software that simulates more consistent background that helps block out other sounds - obviously I only listen to it through headphones but it really helps - and it's freeware - yay !.
You can get it from
http://www.serenesound.com/
Other uses are if you live in a noisy neighbourhood and have trouble sleeping because of that then this will help block out the noise by playing a noise that is easier to sleep to - apparently it's also good for getting babies to sleep and cheaper than an anechoic chamber.

Google add url Word of the day

2005-11-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

Currently Google search gets no hits for this word, first site to get a hit from google on this word wins a prize !!.
Well - when I say prize I mean a link to their site from here - woo hoo !!.

I'd like to thank my friends and family

2005-11-02T02:59:00.000-08:00

I've just signed up to Technorati and already my blog is at position 884,547 - I couldn't have done it without your support ;)
http://www.technorati.com/search/http://floodle.blogspot.com
http://www.technorati.com/account/

Yahoo! - what time is it

2005-11-02T00:32:00.000-08:00

OK, it's Wednesday and the clocks changed very early Sunday morning so everyone knows the time now right? - wrong... - here's todays top searches from Yahoo!
Today's Top Movers Overall
Rank Subject 1-Day Move
1 Gerard Depardieu Breakout!
2 What Time Is It +1069.37%
3 Official US Time +655.92%
4 Time of Day +542.76%
5 Extreme Makeover: Home Edition +457.24%
6 Atomic Time +448.23%
7 Correct Time +408.47%
5 out of the top 7 are people trying to find the right time - 3 days after the clocks changed !!, hmmmmm...

Lycos assumes the worst in people

2005-11-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

I've just been over at http://50.lycos.com/ having a look at the top 50 searches for October and it has the term along with Lycos's description of the subject e.g.
Term : Description
Halloween : All Saints Day
Poker : Roulette
Paris Hilton : Simple wife
Pam Anderson : Top of Decade
but at number 8 it has...
KaZaA : Music Theft
Theft !!! - way to assume the worst of a large percentage of your customers; "Hi, welcome to Lycos, what would you like to steal today?©"

Halloween - yum

2005-10-31T01:11:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the radio on the way in to work today and they were discussing trick or treater’s. The DJ complained that if you're too generous then word soon spreads through the trick or treating underground of rich pickings to be had at your house and you end up with all the kids within a 5 mile radius at your door.
One caller had the solution, she always gives out Brussel sprouts covered in chocolate or 'candy cabbages' as she calls them.
Oh to see the look on the kids faces when they ate them - hehe.

Boost your brain power

2005-10-30T04:22:00.000-08:00

I've often wondered if sounds at different frequencies and different lights / images could be used to stimulate the brain into different states, ideally to do useful things like increase intelligence; kind of like the lawnmower man but without becoming a psychotic nutter. :)
A company named "Volition Thought House" have developed a series of music CD's which are designed specifically for this purpose, they sound just like normal music CD's but have hidden frequencies which stimulate the brain.
Research seems quite positive so far and the pictures are pretty cool too.

At just under 90 dollars it's not cheap and I don't normally believe the hype on these kind of things but they have some pretty big hitters supporting them so who knows..

Make your own mind up here

Caption Competition

2005-10-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Captions Please...

Google add URL Word of the day

2005-10-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

OK, since you struggled with the last one, here's an easier one - definitions please.

Rainbows and Toast

2005-10-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Every rainbow is unique - each rainbow is formed from light hitting your eye at a very precise angle. Someone standing next to you will see light coming from a slightly different angle than you and therefore see a different rainbow.

But much more importantly, a bolt of lightning contains enough energy to toast 160,000 pieces of bread. Unfortunately the bolt only takes 1/10,000 of a second – so turning the bread over might prove difficult.

http://www.einsteinyear.org/facts/physicsFacts

Apple iPod nano

2005-10-29T01:58:00.000-07:00

Comes with free laser engraving - no thanks, I'll just scratch it myself.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000080064508/

Google add URL Word of the day

2005-10-28T01:55:00.000-07:00

Post your thoughts on what this could mean in the comments section. No rude ones please :)

Skoda Drivers

2005-10-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Why do Skoda drivers try so hard to show their cars aren't complete rubbish?, such a huge chip on their shoulders makes them thrash the lives out of the poor little things in an attempt to justify their choice.
Is anyone fooled? - nope - it's a Skoda, either take the abuse or get a real car.
The poor little fella I was following to work this morning was in a 1 year old skoda with lots of nice smoke coming out the exhaust when he changed gear - what do you expect? - they're only designed to last a couple of years.
If you wear an anorak and have no friends then feel free to buy a Skoda but don't drive like a nutter to try to prove that Skodas have improved! - noone cares.

Who links to me

2005-10-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

No-one - woohoo !

Click the link below to see a full report :)
Who Links Here

My mission this year is to boost that all the way up to one. Link to me and I'll be your friend forever - honest. I'll even link back if you don't mind the sudden jump in traffic you'd get, I don't want you to run out of bandwidth.

How to increase traffic to your website

2005-10-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

I was searching on google for this and came up with thousands of sites selling search engine submission tools etc, but none simply stating that putting interesting and useful information might help.
Of course that rules this site out for most sane people but that's not the point !.

Global Warming

2005-10-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

A lot of people assume that global warming is simply a matter of the average temperature increasing everywhere, but it's the changes that this causes that have more of an impact. Most Americans are now only to aware of the impact of global warming with all the recent flooding and amplified hurricane activity.
However, I'm hoping that when we run out of oil in 50 years or so the earth will settle back down again - it may get a bit scary for a while but the earth does seem to have an uncanny knack of regaining equilibrium.
Almost all modern diesels can run quite happily on 100% bio-diesel so there's no problem with running out of oil - maybe that means that farmers with plenty of land for growing crops for fuel will be come the next generation of billionaires just like the rich land owners in Saudi did as a result of oil.

RFID scanning in supermarkets

2005-10-27T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hopefully someone can clear this up for me; at a supermarket checkout with barcodes it's easy to ensure you only scan things once but with RFID it detects tags within a field of space so what's to stop it scanning things twice?, or accidentally scanning the tin of carrots the old lady behind you has in her basket?.
Radio waves are very difficult to control so I don't see how you can be sure they're limited correctly, if a pringles tin can be used to create a long distance wifi antenna then who's to say that in the right circumstances it wont extend the range of your checkouts scanning signal?.
I don't see what's wrong with barcodes in that situation that creates the need for RFID, if you need to store more info in the barcode then just use a datamatrix - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datamatrix

Ranked number 30 !!

2005-10-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yay - this blog's only been alive less than half a day and already Alexa is ranking it at number 30. I don't know what all the fuss is about trying to get people to visit your site - it's easy!.

It must be my highly intuitive comments that are driving millions to this site.. or maybe it's a bug at Alexa.
hmmmmm
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/?url=floodle.blogspot.com

Curiosity

2005-10-26T06:55:00.000-07:00

Out of pure curiosity I'm interested in how much of this google caches, so I needed a word or phrase that was unique in a google search.
Easier said than done - I won't list all the rubbish I tried but it's kinda scary what was there.
Anyway - one thing that wasn't there is floodlefloodle
the question remains if it ever will be ...

Animated adverts

2005-10-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

I hate animated adverts, there I am reading something on a web page and ther's this stupid flashing box telling me I've won something; how annoying.

So I've taken the plunge and deleted flash from my PC and disabled web page animations - flash is good but abused by idiots.

This is why google adverts are much better, they're just text and I don't mind clicking them - I will never click an animated advert simply out of principle.

The uncertain world

2005-10-26T04:48:00.000-07:00

Search google for the word definitely and you get 92,800,000 hits, search for probably and you get 307,000,000, over 3 times as many.
I wonder why that is; are people just not sure about things? or are they just non-committal.
My theory is that it's the nature of the web, people like to disagree and have their voice heard so if you say something that isn't 100 % correct then people love to correct you. So saying probably gives you a way out.

I would just like to say that my theory is definitely right.

Million Dollar Homepage

2005-10-26T04:39:00.000-07:00

Well, when I first saw this I never thought it would amount to much
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com
Boy was I wrong - I still think it's a bit daft and that advertisers aren't going to get their moneys worth but hey - I've been wrong before (so many times...).
At the time of writing this the guy's sold nearly half the page, so he's made nearly half a million dollars for pretty much doing nothing. Originally set up to pay for his college education, if he makes it to a million I'd say forget college, if you can think of ways to make a million in a couple of months then why work for it?.
I'd rather be a multi millionaire with no education than have a degree and be hugely in debt paying mortgages etc.
I am sooo jealous.

Conclusion

2005-10-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

I've already come to the conclusion that I (probably) have nothing interesting or unique to add to the internet - sad huh.

One thing I would like to add is that the word probably should be replaced with the word prolly - since that letter combination is available for use and is much easier to say and write I see no reason why not.
:)

The Beginning

2005-10-26T03:22:00.000-07:00

Well it's time for me to have a blog, everyone else has one so why shouldn't I? - so there !. And it's free. And I know you shouldn't start sentences with 'and'. or or.

Maybe one day I'll have something interesting to write and then it'll all be worth it; until then I'll just ramble and mis-spell to my hearts content.