the air

After writing a fairly lengthy review of John Chow’s blog, I was asked by Mr. Jeff King to review his blog and offer my opinions on it. I have never heard of Mr. King’s blog until he posted a comment on my review of Mr. Chow’s blog, so I am not sure how effective my review can be. Nevertheless, he has offered to pay $1 towards Product Red, a campaign to promote awareness of issues pertaining to African countries. How can I refuse a review that actually helps those who are continually struggling to make their own environments better?

To give myself some supporting grounds to discuss Mr. King’s blog, I spent a good hour reviewing some of the content found on Mr. King’s blog. Although I suspect that my review may change over time, I offer this review as a “First Impressions” approach. It is my intent to share my initial thoughts and feelings about this site.

Layout

Mr. King’s blog is powered by a three-column theme. The first column (left most) is home to the actual posts themselves. The middle column deals with the archives, links, contact information, and the different static pages part of the blog. The right most column is mostly RSS and administrative. From a personal point of view, I have never been a big fan of a three column layout. To me, it feels that the content is congested and not very intuitively laid out.

Design

The overall design of this blog is quite interesting. It has the aura of a very progressive and forward thinking blog. In addition, Mr. King’s blog is able to blend the different colors very well. I do wish that the URL’s would all follow a uniform color, rather than be different. For example:

If you notice in the picture above, the post title URL is in blue. However, the “December 2006″ archive URL is in green. In fact, the archive URL right above the “December 2006″ is also in blue, but not a URL. From my experience, I look at color to determine whether or not a specific text is a possible URL. I realize that when the mouse hovers over the URL, a line will appear, but I think it is a much better case to keep all URL’s a uniform color. In this case, Mr. King may want to consider turning all URL’s into a blue color while keeping non-URL titles in green.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of Mr. King’s blog is the variety of choices you have when it comes to subscribing to his blog. At the time of this writing, you may select from:

• Bloglines
• NewsBurst
• Google Reader
• My Yahoo!
• Newsgator
• My AOL
• Rojo

That right there gives any reader the flexibility they need when it comes to aggregating their RSS feeds into one reader. In addition to the aforementioned readers, you may also subscribe to feedburner. With so many choices, Mr. King is really giving his readers a wide flexibility.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I did not see any advertisements on his blog. I find this to be very interesting since many blogs use some sort of advertising to help offset hosting costs. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, please realize that I, myself, am not a strong supporter of advertising. My own blog does not and will not implement advertising till I can no longer afford to run my blog without additional revenue. I have nothing against ads. I completely understand the fact that those ads help make numerous content on the internet free. However, I have noticed that many people do not realize how important it is to implement ads in a functional and discreet manner so that readers are not frustrated by your ads. In addition, ads should not grab readers’ attention away from your content. I may be mistaken or my reasoning flawed, however, that is the way I perceive advertising.

The Posts

For some reason, it appears to me that Mr. King may allow other people to post to his blog. The content on his blog can be perfectly complemented by other posters. This format would be similar to what you may find on TechCrunch. The posts themselves seem to take on a very professional touch. I think Mr. King does an excellent job of exposing the reader to a variety of suggestions that would improve visibility to their own sites. I am also intrigued by the way the posts analyze a variety of different website content and show the readers the pros and cons.

It also appears to me that Mr. King’s blog is fairly new to the scene. Although he does claim to have extensive experience, I am assuming this blog is his way of contributing his invaluable advice to other bloggers and readers for free. There are numerous posts here worth reading, however, their effectiveness can only be determined by those who actually follow his suggestions. As for my view, I find his posts well written and offer a good blend of criticisms and suggestions.

My Conclusion

I realize that this review may not be as in-depth as it should be. However, I have not had the luxury of reading Mr. King’s blog for the past few months. In fact, it appears to me that Mr. King’s blog has only come online this month. Nevertheless, his blog is filled with interesting information that can be very useful if followed. He offers great flexibility when it comes to subscribing to his blog and the different colors offer a unique touch to his blog.

My only two suggestions would be asking Mr. King to consider moving away from the three column format and to the more conventional two-column layout. I think this would clear up the congestion on his blog and make great use of cushioning between content. I feel that the “Pages” section in the middle column is redundant and not quite essential, as the links are already prevelant in the header image. Secondly, I feel that the URL’s should follow a uniform color. That way, when users visit Mr. King’s site, they will know, by color, what text is URL. Again, these are some changes that I am proposing, but in no way essential for Mr. King to implement. A blog is representative of your thoughts and personality. Therefore, you should only implement changes that you, yourself, are comfortable with. I think I will be reading Mr. King’s blog regularly from now on and I hope to offer an updated review of his blog in the future.

Another thing that I noticed was that Mr. King’s blog did not use any categories. I am not sure why, but I think categories will help differentiate the different topics and allow for a more cleaner presentation. However, that is a trivial issue right now and perhaps Mr. King may add them in later.

WebTrafficDaily has a great vibe too it and it can really help people out. I think the site is well designed and definitely worth reading. So give it a shot, you’ve got nothing to lose.

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As Christmas is right around the corner, many of us will be unveiling our digital cameras and getting ready to shoot pictures of our beloved ones. Many digital cameras offer their users significant number of settings to ensure that their picture is truly worth “a thousand words.” Unfortunately, many people, myself being one of them, do not really understand the numerous features present on a digital camera. I am the proud owner of the Canon Powershot S70, a 7 mega-pixel point-and-shoot camera. This remarkable camera hosts so many features that even I myself have a hard time knowing how to use it. Luckily, I know enough of the camera to take some great shots. I found this article that talks about 16 different tips to help improve your shooting ability. I think you truly will be surprised how effective your digital camera can really be.

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According to this MSNBC article, Toyota has announced a production goal of 9.42 million units. This marks an increase of four percent over Toyota’s 9.04 million expected units for this year. GM, not surprisingly, does not release its production goals, but they are estimated to have produced approximately 9.2 million vehicles this year. In addition, GM is expected to further reduce their total production for next amid falling sales

Toyota’s success can be credited to more fuel efficient vehicles and a better image. GM has said that customers’ view of its vehicles being gas guzzlers is “unfair and inaccurate.” Unfortunately for GM, they have recorded over $3 billion worth of losses in the first nine months of this year.

Toyota is already the second largest automaker in the world, surpassing Ford in 2003. It is expecting to sell 9.34 million vehicles next year, up from 8.8 million expected for this year. However, Toyota is also facing its own issues in the race to surpass GM. Recently, Toyota vehicles have seen rising quality issues that have forced some recalls that could dampen Toyota’s image of producing quality vehicles. Katsuaki Watanabe, Toyota president, had this to say, “‘There will be no growth without quality’”. I think that comment right there sums up the fact that he realizes that Toyota’s quality is starting to face some heat and should be focused on rather than quantity.

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I’m sure many of you have heard about John Chow. He is self-proclaimed dot com mogul and his primary cashcow is his TechZone website. In addition, he also has a personal blog aptly named John Chow dot com. In the few days leading up to Decemeber 21, 2006, Mr. Chow requested paid reviews of his blog using PayPerPost Inc. services. Due to some technical difficulties that reviewers were having, Mr. Chow extended this option to all bloggers and readers of his personal blog. To give you an idea of how popular his blog is, it is ranked 1, 529 on Technorati out of at least 2.2 million claimed blogs. In addition, his blog is one of the most widely read blogs on the Internet. As an added incentive to all writers who are not participating through PayPerPost, Mr. chow is offering a chance for the writers’ blog to be linked by his blog and a chance for the best reviewer to win an ADS Tech MiniTV USB. After the enticing offers, I decided to write my own review of Mr. Chow’s personal blog.

Before I go any further, I just want to say that I am writing this review out of my own free will. Mr. John Chow has not in any way offered me any compensation for this review. Furthermore, I explicitly will decline any monetary based offer from Mr. Chow. That means, I am not going to accept the MiniTV if he should decide to award my review as the best.

I first heard about Mr. Chow’s blog approximately a month and a half ago. I was at the time starting to begin a new blog and I had “accidentally” come across his blog. My initial impressions of his blog were:

• professional looking
• well written
• functional layout
• Nothing too distracting

Mr. Chow’s blog hosts (at the time of this writing) eight (8) different categories. They are as follows:

• AGLOCO
• Cars
• Fine Dining
• Investing
• Ramblings
• Technology
• The Net
• Videos

Most of his posts tend to focus on Ramblings and The Net. These two categories are perhaps most relevant to Mr. Chow. Since it is his personal blog, it makes sense to discuss his personal thoughts and feelings. In addition, since he is a dot com mogul, it is only appropriate that he discuss and share his expertise on internet related topics and enterprises.

The Layout

Mr. Chow’s blog is laid out in the familiar two-column page layout. However, unlike most personal blogs, Mr. Chow’s blog is laid out in a functional and professional manner. The right column hosts “containers” for RSS, bookmarks, archives, recent comments and posts, categories, and text advertisement links. The left container plays hosts to the actual posts themselves with ads placed at the end of each post and towards the top of each post. Many of the ads in the left container are quite poorly placed and leave a sour flavor while reading the post. In addition, there is a banner ad at the top of the left column. This banner ad detracts from the reading and unnecessarily attracts the readers’ attention away from the main articles. An example is shown below:

My personal favorite about his blog is the Featured Sites container in the right column. This design allows the ads to be presented in a discreet manner that also makes it clearly visible to the reader. I find this type of advertising to be non-intrusive and pleasantly tolerable. In addition, by making his RSS feeds immediately available to the right of his first post, a reader has the immediate opportunity to quickly bookmark or add the RSS feed to their favorite RSS reader and continue reading. This is a concept that I too have adopted for my own blog.

The Design

On December 18, Mr. Chow redesigned his blog for a more personal touch and differentiate it from the hundreds of other blogs that use a similar theme as his. In his goal to present a much more professional looking blog, Mr. Chow resorted to using a shade of blue for the background and presenting the URL’s in his blog in a blue shade as well. Choosing the color blue is quite interesting because it is psychologically synonymous with trust and caring. In addition, the color blue has a tendency to attract the eyes and creates for a more appealing design. I think Mr. Chow’s blog does a very good job of giving the aura of trust and care. In a facetious twist, Mr. Chow’s blog also has a blue Corvette in its header image. My only complaint is that I had hoped that Mr. Chow would allow his blog layout to have more pronounced divisions rather than a light gray line dividing the different segments. Perhaps a black border around his blog would create a more structural design. However, I do think that it is a trivial issue and a personal decision reflective of his thoughts.

The Posts Themselves

What good is talking about the layout and design if the content themselves are lacking in depth and creativity. This is an area where Mr. Chow shines. Being a college student, I find that some of his posts are quite irrelevant to me since I cannot enjoy some of the expenditures or financial choices he encourages his readers to explore. Of particular note are his posts about how to increase revenue from credit cards that offer rewards for every dollar spent. There is also another interesting post about how banks trap their customers by various marketing schemes. To summarize, I believe that there are many posts that Mr. Chow writes that relate to many different types of consumers. In fact, I strongly believe that many college students can benefit from his expertise and advice in a variety of tech-related topics and investments. As of recent times, Mr. Chow has been writing extensively about AGLOCO. As I am not an expert on AGLOCO, please forgive me for not talking about them any further. What I enjoy most about reading Mr. Chow’s blog are the different topics he chooses to write about. Although most of his writings are geared towards the Internet, I feel he does a great job of balancing his personal thoughts and his objectiveness. This allows for a more adaptable reading landscape while ensuring the reader will return for future posts.

Conclusion

This review is not about simply saying that you should or should not read Mr. Chow’s blog. This decision, is ultimately, left to you, the reader. Although Mr. Chow’s posts are quite intuitive and interesting, he has been banned from Digg. What impact does that have? I do not think it has any significant impact on Mr. Chow, however, it does impact those who are not aware of his blog and thus may not realize some of his invaluable advice. Mr. Chow’s blog has inspired me greatly. As an avid writer, I have longed for motivation to continue writing for my blog. After discovering his blog, I have learned how to organize my writings and thoughts and share them with the world. As I continue to grow, I continually look to Mr. Chow’s blog for ways to not only improve my writings, but also my blog. Where appropriate, I credit him for this newfound inspiration.

I am in no position to argue what Mr. Chow should do to improve his blog. That is a matter best left for him to decide. I offer my own thoughts and advice for whatever value others might agree upon. In addition, I am biased towards sites that use advertising as a revenue source. This is not because I am envious of others’ success, but rather, my own opinion. I am open to the idea of having advertisements on my own blog should the need arise. However, my goal is to be able to sustain my blog without any advertising. Nevertheless, Mr. Chow’s blog does an excellent job of presenting the ads in a non-obtrusive manner. However, I do question the placement of some of the ads on his blog. In terms of advertising, I am strong supporter of text-based ads versus any ad that uses graphics.

Mr. Chow’s blog is quite insightful and definitely worth reading. I encourage all of my friends to at least take a look at his blog and see what they think. Some have chosen to read his blog daily and others simply disdain his writings. So for those of you who want to know my final word, give it a shot. See for yourself how John Chow’s blog can help you. If you are looking for ways to find your million on the Internet, you cannot afford to surpass an opportunity to read the miscellaneous ramblings of a dot com mogul.

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Earlier this spring, Microsoft debuted an ambitious initiative that they hoped would revolutionize the computing market. Initially it was code-named Origami, but it eventually came to be known as UMPC (ultra-mobile personal computing). UMPC’s are basically, in my view, an evolutionary step of tablet PC’s. UMPC’s are like tablets, but they lack the keyboard and are much smaller. Regardless of how ambitious Microsoft’s vision was, the entire fiasco was met with staunch criticism as the debut devices were overpriced and underpowered.

C|Net has an excellent article about the second generation of Origami devices that will be debuting at CES in January 2007. The new devices have been codenamed Vistagmi since they support Windows Vista. These new devices will offer a much more varied approach to UMPC such as models with keyboards and different styles.

I think UMPC’s are slightly ahead of their times. As the C|Net article points out, the two biggest factors impeding the success of these devices are battery power and price. UMPC battery life must be able to sustain the device for close to 8 hours or more in order to truly function as a device for the business professional. In addition, the price tag that these devices command is comparable to laptops and many mid-range desktops. Once these two issues are worked out, I can see UMPC quickly supplanting Tablet PC’s and actually becoming more useful and practical for business professionals and consumers.

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