DISQUS

Is disqus the only bug story?

Testing

Google doesn't need people to hang around it's website any longer than they already do. the way google's advertising based business model and search application is build, and should be - because it works, is that people can find what they are looking for and get there, fast.

Doesn't look like it's in stock at zappos right now. did you try www.ebags.com ?

Cassie,

While they don't "officially" offer free overnight shipping, there have been reports ever since they discontinued the offer of them surprising customers by shipping orders overnight.

Exactly, the transition may be slow, but I'm sure it will happen. Imagine a year from now, one may be texting a comparison shopping site for the prices for a product just seen at a store - and get an SMS with prices and offers on that product available online, AND within a one mile radius of your current location!

I know someone who'd be interested and is fantastic at SEO writing, and writing for the web in general (used to work with us before we started outsourcing copywriting work), but he's based in india (most probably willing to re-locate) - let me know if that's fine, I'll ask him to send you the resume.

Hey Vlad! Welcome back! :)

It's a fantastic theme isn't it? makes a blog look really clean and professional.

Oops, thanks for clearing that up. I'll edit the post.

Now that's one absolutely fantastic blog post about the calacanis keynote. Six figure checks are not pathetic if it's six figure checks that make you happy!

A Buddha (or replace with saint, yogi, whatever) once said to a new disciple seeking enlightenment - "Why do you want enlightenment? you may not like it!". Some people realize that and don't go for their respective nirvanas, and that's as cool as buddhahood. To be happy is nirvana. For some (myself included ;) ) happyness may mean success at work (lots of money, lots of work, lots of ideas, trying to change the world, etc) for some others, happyness is much simpler (spending time with family and friends, enjoying a good meal, etc).

Happyness - no matter how complex or simple, isn't pathetic.

Maybe I'd have had a better idea of what you were implying if I was actually there (or seen a video). you did seem to make too many generalized statements - from what I read in the the transcript, at least, - to make all affiliates look like payperpost.

I don't think it's much too different online as well,

Zappos has it's own market of over $1B in sales per year - by offering shoes and handbags (and now few other related niches) along with great customer service.

They did start off as a small niche e-retailer few years ago, For any business to sustain, it has to have growth, When zappos started, Amazon had already begun selling apparel, but zappos, shoebuy, shoes.com, ebags etc found their own markets and are growing every year. There is room for everyone in online retail, as long as e-retailers are not just in for the money, but to build something that online shoppers will appreciate and like.

This "something" can be anything. Sometimes, it is simply a range of products that can't be found at the big stores, sometimes as simple as great customer services, quicker delivery or even a very well designed website,

Ultimately, I think niche e-retail is not about running a small business and surviving in the midst of bigger players, but about starting a small business and making as big as it can be.

smithie,

when I posted this, MLS was showing a message that my browser (firefox) is not supported. when juik commented about a day after the post, that firefox is available, I re-checked MLS. and firefox was, indeed an option at the time.

I use ubuntu linux mostly (I've mentioned this in the post), and when i re-checked the mylivesearch website a day after making this post, as I have mentioned in the update - there is, as of posting that update, and yet, as of posting this comment, no linux (or mac) support - checkout the screenshot at the bottom of the post above!

Looks like google are indeed doing something very similar to what .Mac has been offering for a few years now: offering large amounts of adjustable storage space in the cloud for email and photos (and other things probably soon to come)

http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-08-10-n90.html , http://mashable.com/2007/08/09/gdrive/

So I guess as you said, an apple/google partnership on this front might actually be in the works!

Thanks for the comment, Philip.

I have a very strong conviction that the pay to contribute model will be an huge part of the next generation of social networks.

In the "Web 2.0" era, people contribute a whole lot more than they did when in the early days when such pay to contribute models first started and later failed. I think it is the way the incentive is packaged and marketed is what will be the deciding factor in which startup or internet giant will effectively leverage this model of internet usage to their favor.

In this packaging, if a social network treats their users and contributers as partners rather than freelance workers, that would work a whole lot better. Contributions can be incentivised in terms of an algorithm based on popularity and effectiveness of the contribution. "Making Money" can never and should never be the central theme of such a network - it should be contribute the best you can, and both, the creators and managers of the platform and the user/contributers are rewarded as partners in content creation and monetization. In such a scenario, users would contribute not because they want to make money out of the netowork, but because it is their own network - to the extent of their contribution. whatever they contribute, is their own, and makes them money, too.

Welcome to the world of freedom, Vlad :D .
Now that you are on ubuntu. here's something that will make it even cooler -

http://www.beryl-project.org/

using beryl, you can add stuff like OS X's exposé effect and make your windows look feel much better overall.

Welcome to the world of freedom, Vlad :D .
Now that you are on ubuntu. here's something that will make it even cooler -

http://www.beryl-project.org/

using beryl, you can add stuff like OS X's exposé effect and make your windows look feel much better overall.

Scott,
I agree. shoppingwords is unimpressive at best. but it does still bring in a concept to the social shopping web that could make some sense by exploring into further, either by shoppingwords themselves or some other company. something as simple cleaning up the website design and interface should help to begin with...

Yeah, that's something I didn't think about .. readers can just roll over a link, know more about the product you are talking about see the images etc, read on. and then, if they so decide, click on the link for even more info or to buy.

Happy Birthday, Vlad!
Why not just download ubuntu linux instead? :)

Happy Birthday, Vlad!
Why not just download ubuntu linux instead? :)

Testing Again!

Testing the math comment plugin

The "stop" and "go" is exactly what I first thought about and went with the green for now!, red seems pretty bold as shannon says and somehow matches well with the overall layout. heh, I am still confused. the poll is with 50-50 results!

P.S: getting rid of akismet right away, it seems to be blocking more and more actual comments from being posted for some reason.

Shannon, not google, ebay themselves have come up with this cool widget.