Attention iTunes junkies: Paying $1 per song is absurd. Paying a monthly subscription fee for music through Rhapshody is equally as ludicrous.
Why? Well for starters when you purchase music through iTunes and/or Rhapsody there's restrictions that limit you from doing whatever you want with your music, referred to as Digital Rights Management (DRMs). In Rhapsody's case, these restrictions prevent you from burning subscription music to a CD - you can only burn purchased and imported music. For iPod, these restrictions prevent you from downloading your music to any player other than iPod and from playing your music on other computers.
The second reason why purchasing music online should be a thing of the past is because there's this thing happening on the web called "Internet Radio". That's right folks - radio... on the Internet. Quite fascinating... It's actually been happening for a while... but within the past 6 months has become more seamlessly integrated into everyday life. And it's FREE.
Mobile devices streaming Internet Radio have facilitated this integration. There are two main types of players: fancy smancy cell phones and Internet Radio players.
The connection to Internet Radio is made two separate ways: 3G networks or WiFi.
Internet Radio via 3G Networks and Fancy Smancy Cell Phones:
To receive Internet Radio via your cell, you must own a Blackberry or an iPhone... or any other Smartphone in which you pay a monthly fee as part of your regular carrier service to receive unlimited data usage via a 3G Network.
For example I have a Blackberry Curve that connects to a CDMA2000 1X Ev-DO network, the 3G extension of CDMA. In other words, as long as there is a cell site within range, I am able to connect online to Internet Radio.
In comparison, iPhones run off a 3G/GSM/UMTS network. Both Blackberry and iPhone may or may not have WiFi as well. Whatever way and with whatever speed they connect online, once connected streaming Internet Radio is fast and free thanks to two main free apps available.
The two free Internet Radio apps:
Slacker and Pandora are the two main ones I've seen in the past month. Each app connects to your web accounts too. You simply play your app anywhere you want to. You don't have to pay for the music. Create your own stations, listen to zero commercials, and on average you get about 5 skips per hour. Not bad huh?
Other free Internet Radio apps: iHeartRadio, and here are 12 radio apps for iPhone...
The only bad thing I foresee happening in the future is if these services become more aggressive in monetizing their user base. In other words, more commercials. They may decide to require users to listen to more ads before proceeding to their station. But still the benefit of receiving free customized music far outweighs paying $1 per song.
With the iPhone, Blackberry, or whatever other fancy cell phone you have you can also connect your cell phone/player to your car radio via a car adapter kit, a chord that costs only about $30. If you're an audiophile you can invest in a mp3 player for your car and stream purely digital music from your player through your car system - that'll cost about $150 - $200 depending on the quality. The only flaw with this? Sometimes it takes a few seconds between songs to buffer when you're connected to your cell site.
Downloading Internet Radio via WiFi to a Player
But if you can't afford a fancy phone and the expensive monthly payments... and you don't want to wait for songs to buffer while you're rocking out in your car... Then perhaps the Slacker G2 Personal Radio Player is more your speed.
I recently helped my friend Susanne pick out a new player and instead of buying an iPod she found it more worthwhile to purchase a Slacker Player. It's different than the slacker app that you can download onto your cell phone because like an iPod, the Slacker Player is an actual device not just a service.
The great thing is you only pay $200 for the player and with that includes endless music from www.slacker.com. How it works: You connect to a WiFi spot to download the latest music from Slacker.com to your player. You can download at least 10 stations at a time. After downloading the music to your mobile device you don't have to worry about connecting and streaming from a WiFi or 3G connection because all the music has been installed on the player.
You only need to connect again if you want to upgrade your play list.
So there you go - for a new player you get endless customizable music for only $200 - no strings attached. You can stream the music through a car adapter, strap it to your arm for an evening jog, bring it to work and zone out all your annoying coworkers, or simply connect it to your stereo system at home for a weekend party.
Of course several of these capabilities can be accomplished with an iPod... iPod even has this very cool boombox player where you insert your player into a gigantic 1980s boombox and it will play it from the tape deck... How awesome!
But still... how much are you paying for your music? And is it really your music if you can't decrypt and/or transfer your own files?
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Convert String to Datetime: CDate and FormatDateTime
I maintain legacy apps at my work - built in vb and asp. I'm also pretty new to programming so when tasked to convert a string to a truncated datetime, I spent waaaaaay too much time figuring it out.
Here's the trick, although it seems pretty obvious now - just use CDate and FormatDateTime together.
This trick is useful for when you use a split to delimit data, as was my case.
For simplicity's sake, let's say this is my string: Jan 15, 2008 12:00 AM
My goal is to only display 1/15/2005
First, I need to use CDate to convert my string to datetime.
Let's say "Data" holds my date string. Since my string resembles a date, I can use CDate to officially change its datetype.
rs("Data") = Data
Data = CDate(Data)
Visually, you're not going to see a difference. I'm just changing the datatype of the Data field in order to use the next function >>> FormatDateTime
Next call FormatDateTime to convert the Data field to shortdate, which is represented by the number 2.
Call FormatDateTime(Data,2)
**VOILA** - that should do it!
To make things quicker, do it all at once:
FormatDateTime(CDate(rs("Data")), 2)
After looking for SQL techniques for changing the datatype, I've found that changing it in the presentation layer makes much more sense than attempting to format the date on the backend.
Here's the trick, although it seems pretty obvious now - just use CDate and FormatDateTime together.
This trick is useful for when you use a split to delimit data, as was my case.
For simplicity's sake, let's say this is my string: Jan 15, 2008 12:00 AM
My goal is to only display 1/15/2005
First, I need to use CDate to convert my string to datetime.
Let's say "Data" holds my date string. Since my string resembles a date, I can use CDate to officially change its datetype.
rs("Data") = Data
Data = CDate(Data)
Visually, you're not going to see a difference. I'm just changing the datatype of the Data field in order to use the next function >>> FormatDateTime
Next call FormatDateTime to convert the Data field to shortdate, which is represented by the number 2.
Call FormatDateTime(Data,2)
**VOILA** - that should do it!
To make things quicker, do it all at once:
FormatDateTime(CDate(rs("Data")), 2)
After looking for SQL techniques for changing the datatype, I've found that changing it in the presentation layer makes much more sense than attempting to format the date on the backend.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Who Watches TV Anymore?
I have a confession:
Since I got a new job and relocated, I've been cable-less. (gasp) I'm watching analog (GASP)
Everyone Loves Raymond, Deal or No Deal, Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, American Idol - that's my life until I receive my converter box rebate in the mail.
My coworkers make fun of me for not having cable. They say things like "Did you watch Damages last night? ...Oh, I forgot you don't have cable..." Very tongue-in-cheek.
But all jokes aside, my response is:
Who watches TV anymore?
TV seems so... old. Why pay so much money for channels you'll never watch - the golf channel, fishing channel, QVC, etc. The DVR certainly helps weed out excessive channels and commercials, but you're still paying more money than you should if you're only frequenting 20% of your subscription. It shouldn't even be subscription, it should be usage.
So why are people still watching TV? Well like I said, DVR makes it bearable. but it's also because the technology to stream TV shows, movies, etc. from online to TV is just not there yet. Consumers are really just waiting for the technology to come along. Right now it's not worth buying all the products necessary to stream video and TV shows from TV to your computer.
What products are we talking about? Well, mainly a media center extender. Microsoft, Linysys, and D-Link all create media center extenders, not to mention that Xbox360 doubled as a mce. But you not only need a mce, you also need other products depending on your connection and what kind of computer you have. You may need a special remote, network adapter, drivers, receiver, dual band 802.11a+g router, etc.
One awful drawback is that you can't stream whatever you want from the web. The two main subscriptions I know of are Netflix and Amazon's Video on Demand program. My main complaint with that? They offer a very limited selection of movies to watch, and they certainly do not make the newest films available either. Men in Black was so 90s, yet that's one of Netflix's feature Adventure films.
Your computer also has to be compatible with the extender... For example, the Windows XP Media Center Extenders are not compatible with Vista OS. So if you upgraded (or in my opinion downgraded) from XP to Vista, then you have to buy a Vista Media Center Extender. All this means you have to be a bit of a techie just to select the correct hardware.
And all of this isn't cheap either. A media center extender costs about $300.
Another lowlight? These extenders only work well through hard wiring (not wireless signals) and you if have to be a bit of a techie just to purchase the correct hardware, then imagine the skill required to set everything up!
For now it just seems like too much work. I've read reviews of different media center extenders and there are complaints that the connections are defective, slow and finicky, and basic menu functions (like fastforwarding) just simply are not available until the movie completely downloads, which may take some time depending on your connection speed.
Right now, as far as TV technology goes - company's are just not delivering.
But if you have a little extra money and you're up for the challenge, then I dare you to set up a mce and prove me wrong!
Since I got a new job and relocated, I've been cable-less. (gasp) I'm watching analog (GASP)
Everyone Loves Raymond, Deal or No Deal, Two and a Half Men, King of Queens, American Idol - that's my life until I receive my converter box rebate in the mail.
My coworkers make fun of me for not having cable. They say things like "Did you watch Damages last night? ...Oh, I forgot you don't have cable..." Very tongue-in-cheek.
But all jokes aside, my response is:
Who watches TV anymore?
TV seems so... old. Why pay so much money for channels you'll never watch - the golf channel, fishing channel, QVC, etc. The DVR certainly helps weed out excessive channels and commercials, but you're still paying more money than you should if you're only frequenting 20% of your subscription. It shouldn't even be subscription, it should be usage.
So why are people still watching TV? Well like I said, DVR makes it bearable. but it's also because the technology to stream TV shows, movies, etc. from online to TV is just not there yet. Consumers are really just waiting for the technology to come along. Right now it's not worth buying all the products necessary to stream video and TV shows from TV to your computer.
What products are we talking about? Well, mainly a media center extender. Microsoft, Linysys, and D-Link all create media center extenders, not to mention that Xbox360 doubled as a mce. But you not only need a mce, you also need other products depending on your connection and what kind of computer you have. You may need a special remote, network adapter, drivers, receiver, dual band 802.11a+g router, etc.
One awful drawback is that you can't stream whatever you want from the web. The two main subscriptions I know of are Netflix and Amazon's Video on Demand program. My main complaint with that? They offer a very limited selection of movies to watch, and they certainly do not make the newest films available either. Men in Black was so 90s, yet that's one of Netflix's feature Adventure films.
Your computer also has to be compatible with the extender... For example, the Windows XP Media Center Extenders are not compatible with Vista OS. So if you upgraded (or in my opinion downgraded) from XP to Vista, then you have to buy a Vista Media Center Extender. All this means you have to be a bit of a techie just to select the correct hardware.
And all of this isn't cheap either. A media center extender costs about $300.
Another lowlight? These extenders only work well through hard wiring (not wireless signals) and you if have to be a bit of a techie just to purchase the correct hardware, then imagine the skill required to set everything up!
For now it just seems like too much work. I've read reviews of different media center extenders and there are complaints that the connections are defective, slow and finicky, and basic menu functions (like fastforwarding) just simply are not available until the movie completely downloads, which may take some time depending on your connection speed.
Right now, as far as TV technology goes - company's are just not delivering.
But if you have a little extra money and you're up for the challenge, then I dare you to set up a mce and prove me wrong!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Facebook, Privacy, Future Identity Issues
I couldn't help but write a response to Facebook's recent attempt to lay claim to users' account info - including pictures, videos, etc. - even after facebookers cancel their accounts. This new privacy policy would give Facebook the power to horde all users info even after they cancel their accounts. And by horde, I also mean publish for profit any pictures or videos you uploaded at any time. Read the cnet article.
Of course due to the uproar this caused in the online social networking community, Facebook backed down and from what I've heard they have revised their privacy policy to be more reasonable. But I don't doubt they will attempt once again within the next year to gain ownership over users' data and certainly to sell that video of you and your college buddies playing drinking games - you know, the one you thought you deleted once you got that really good job?
Who would they sell to? Oh, I don't know - perhaps advertising agencies? We've already seen the youtube campaigns come to life in the last two years. It only makes sense that this new trend in advertising will only grow as web content exponentially increases due to users' ability to create and upload content through endless free web hosting services.
I was just having a discussion about the issue of privacy with a co-worker last week before the Facebook debacle unfolded. I was telling her that soon and very soon privacy will be a luxury that everyone wants and very few possess. The web is just that transcendent and invasive.
Sure people will still have online profiles and will twitter their every move away, but people will also begin to realize that they have increasingly less control of the choice to be private or public. By that time, it will be too late. Those that desire to return to a private life, will no longer have that option.
For the transitional generation, those that experienced life prior to the explosion of the Internet and who have had to adjust to the Digital Age present day, privacy will be like innocence or youth, a lamented state in which you once existed but can never return to.
In response, people will do anything for a veiled existence - change their names, buy private identities, fraud. You might even say that in the long term those that are more mysterious and less visible to the world will also be more desirable, a rich cyber virgin.
But even as I write this cautionary futuristic tale, I will continue to create my individual web presence online, complete with a facebook profile that establishes my personal digital identity and my own web site that speaks of my professional abilities and accomplishments.
Privacy as we know it today will not be as we know it in the next 10 years. How could it be with an additional, shared network/layer we call the web? And how can we as individuals expect continued privacy when the seven seas and Mars are not even safe from the 'EYE'? View a video of Google Earth 5.0.
You can, however, preserve some of your privacy by not putting yourself on blast, but how much fun would that be? ;)
Of course due to the uproar this caused in the online social networking community, Facebook backed down and from what I've heard they have revised their privacy policy to be more reasonable. But I don't doubt they will attempt once again within the next year to gain ownership over users' data and certainly to sell that video of you and your college buddies playing drinking games - you know, the one you thought you deleted once you got that really good job?
Who would they sell to? Oh, I don't know - perhaps advertising agencies? We've already seen the youtube campaigns come to life in the last two years. It only makes sense that this new trend in advertising will only grow as web content exponentially increases due to users' ability to create and upload content through endless free web hosting services.
I was just having a discussion about the issue of privacy with a co-worker last week before the Facebook debacle unfolded. I was telling her that soon and very soon privacy will be a luxury that everyone wants and very few possess. The web is just that transcendent and invasive.
Sure people will still have online profiles and will twitter their every move away, but people will also begin to realize that they have increasingly less control of the choice to be private or public. By that time, it will be too late. Those that desire to return to a private life, will no longer have that option.
For the transitional generation, those that experienced life prior to the explosion of the Internet and who have had to adjust to the Digital Age present day, privacy will be like innocence or youth, a lamented state in which you once existed but can never return to.
In response, people will do anything for a veiled existence - change their names, buy private identities, fraud. You might even say that in the long term those that are more mysterious and less visible to the world will also be more desirable, a rich cyber virgin.
But even as I write this cautionary futuristic tale, I will continue to create my individual web presence online, complete with a facebook profile that establishes my personal digital identity and my own web site that speaks of my professional abilities and accomplishments.
Privacy as we know it today will not be as we know it in the next 10 years. How could it be with an additional, shared network/layer we call the web? And how can we as individuals expect continued privacy when the seven seas and Mars are not even safe from the 'EYE'? View a video of Google Earth 5.0.
You can, however, preserve some of your privacy by not putting yourself on blast, but how much fun would that be? ;)
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Myspace and its Lack of Integrity
Background: I recently created a Myspace account because I wanted to discover new indie/folksy/garage-sounding music that you can only find there. Just to give some background, I've been a facebook user for the past 4/5 years. But one would never expect my acclimation to Myspace to be so... difficult and... aggravating... and just lacking integrity completely.
My Review:
The navigation on Myspace is absolutely frustrating, but at least they've ameliorated that somewhat with the new upgrade. Paging through photo albums is frustrating. You can go back to albums now with the upgrade, but you can't easily go back to thumbnails. The dropdown menu is organized poorly. Friend Requests should be under Friends, not Mail. Bulletins should go under Mail, not Friends.
Oh, and I didn't realize it but apparently when you upgrade to 2.0 all of your privacy settings get thrown out the window and you don't even get notified of it. All myspace tells you when you upgrade is that you'll have better privacy features with the new layout.
***But they don't tell you that you'll have to reset them all.***
Gee that's a tid bit of useful information don't you think - unless you want to broadcast to the world where you work and live and where your kids play and what sexual orientation you really are and kinds of other information that were only meant for your private network of confidantes.
I don't know ANY web-based application developer that defaults your personal data to be open and accessible. Facebook defaults your privacy settings to secure your information, not to put it on blast.
And let's also not speak of viruses - just make sure you have an antivirus program. (You can download free/safe ones at cnet.com.). While browsing the music area my browser completely shut down because my computer detected malware.
And what about the little things? Like the fact that I shouldn't have to set the time my blog is published, it should be date-stamped by the server. Sometimes less control is more pleasant for the user. My blogs should also not be set to default to be viewed by the public. Neither should my photo albums without me knowing it!!! GRRRR.
The only good points about myspace is that 1. the music and 2. the ppl. In reference to the latter, myspace is home to more latinos, black folks, and lower income people than facebook, making it more "American" and less elitist than Facebook, which started out as a social network exclusively for accredited universities. On the other hand Myspace completely lacks integrity as far as how it treats its user's info. Users get a work out from all the exercises they have to perform to secure their info. Click this box, go over here and click this pencil. After uploading a new album make sure you go here and here and then click options and click Only Friends... It's a lot of work - there should be default privacy settings that cover all blogs, all pictures, all videos, etc. all at once.
One last thing. If you ever created a myspace account and you no longer use it, you might want to go ahead and cancel it. Here's why. You may think that you have this anonymous profile floating around in Internet land, but in reality it is directly connected to your email. When new users create a new Myspace account, Myspace gives them the option to harvest all their friends via their email address book. So basically if it was your friend that had your email address in their email account, they could go in and see that yes, you do have a profile and all the private information that you thought was secret is now suddenly out in the open. Hello!
Another thing - this will be my last I promise. It is very unfortunate that people are still using the old profile outlay. It's so excruciating to navigate through. Facebook boldly made their migration to their new format all at once. Every user had to use the new look and feel. Sure there was resistance at first, but it was so good that people soon learned to love it. Myspace on the other hand offers this new upgrade, but doesn't just go ahead and make the change. Many users don't know about the new upgrade, how to do it themselves, and what they're missing out on.
One last thing. For real this time. What's up with the 200px height banners? That means that every page I go to the first thing I have to do is scroll down. That gets old very quickly when you're on a laptop! Facebook was smart - they put them on the right side of the page. Myspace - take some notes, or at least go to the social network meeting with pen and paper to make it look like you care.
All in all given this comparison I don't think I'll be on myspace for long unless I'm convinced otherwise. :(
My Review:
The navigation on Myspace is absolutely frustrating, but at least they've ameliorated that somewhat with the new upgrade. Paging through photo albums is frustrating. You can go back to albums now with the upgrade, but you can't easily go back to thumbnails. The dropdown menu is organized poorly. Friend Requests should be under Friends, not Mail. Bulletins should go under Mail, not Friends.
Oh, and I didn't realize it but apparently when you upgrade to 2.0 all of your privacy settings get thrown out the window and you don't even get notified of it. All myspace tells you when you upgrade is that you'll have better privacy features with the new layout.
***But they don't tell you that you'll have to reset them all.***
Gee that's a tid bit of useful information don't you think - unless you want to broadcast to the world where you work and live and where your kids play and what sexual orientation you really are and kinds of other information that were only meant for your private network of confidantes.
I don't know ANY web-based application developer that defaults your personal data to be open and accessible. Facebook defaults your privacy settings to secure your information, not to put it on blast.
And let's also not speak of viruses - just make sure you have an antivirus program. (You can download free/safe ones at cnet.com.). While browsing the music area my browser completely shut down because my computer detected malware.
And what about the little things? Like the fact that I shouldn't have to set the time my blog is published, it should be date-stamped by the server. Sometimes less control is more pleasant for the user. My blogs should also not be set to default to be viewed by the public. Neither should my photo albums without me knowing it!!! GRRRR.
The only good points about myspace is that 1. the music and 2. the ppl. In reference to the latter, myspace is home to more latinos, black folks, and lower income people than facebook, making it more "American" and less elitist than Facebook, which started out as a social network exclusively for accredited universities. On the other hand Myspace completely lacks integrity as far as how it treats its user's info. Users get a work out from all the exercises they have to perform to secure their info. Click this box, go over here and click this pencil. After uploading a new album make sure you go here and here and then click options and click Only Friends... It's a lot of work - there should be default privacy settings that cover all blogs, all pictures, all videos, etc. all at once.
One last thing. If you ever created a myspace account and you no longer use it, you might want to go ahead and cancel it. Here's why. You may think that you have this anonymous profile floating around in Internet land, but in reality it is directly connected to your email. When new users create a new Myspace account, Myspace gives them the option to harvest all their friends via their email address book. So basically if it was your friend that had your email address in their email account, they could go in and see that yes, you do have a profile and all the private information that you thought was secret is now suddenly out in the open. Hello!
Another thing - this will be my last I promise. It is very unfortunate that people are still using the old profile outlay. It's so excruciating to navigate through. Facebook boldly made their migration to their new format all at once. Every user had to use the new look and feel. Sure there was resistance at first, but it was so good that people soon learned to love it. Myspace on the other hand offers this new upgrade, but doesn't just go ahead and make the change. Many users don't know about the new upgrade, how to do it themselves, and what they're missing out on.
One last thing. For real this time. What's up with the 200px height banners? That means that every page I go to the first thing I have to do is scroll down. That gets old very quickly when you're on a laptop! Facebook was smart - they put them on the right side of the page. Myspace - take some notes, or at least go to the social network meeting with pen and paper to make it look like you care.
All in all given this comparison I don't think I'll be on myspace for long unless I'm convinced otherwise. :(
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Google Friend Connect
I was recently "whitelisted" by Google Friend Connect, a set of new web developer tools that allow you to easily add social and network widgets to your web site. Google has not yet released permission for everyone to use Friend Connect. If you're interested, you can either wait until permissions have been rolled out to the entire general public or you can go to their site to request permission while they're still doing beta tests.
More about this new product...
All you have to do is upload a few files to your server - which include some javascript libraries and some customizable css... Next you simply copy and paste snippets of code.
For an example, view my home page. I have added the member and social gadgets. With these embedded devices, users can easily become members of my site and leave comments.
Do you like what Google has done here? I'm not sure if I do. At some point, you have to feel like Google is doing too much. At the end of the day, I know how to copy and paste code in the right spots and that's it.
Yes, Google saves us time and gives us free products... But I would rather learn how to create a database driven application such as the comment box from Friend Connect, rather than have it automatically generated for me. The same goes for this blog, but since it was free and readily available to use, I never created an original one.
With Google creating everything for us, the future of web development seems grim. Web developers will not be needed as Google creates more customized apps for different markets. Maybe I'm being a little too apocalyptic here but I fear that an entire profession may be outsourced by a single, code generating conglomerate company. Only the chosen few working for Google will be able to enjoy the art of programming.
Does no one feel the same way?
More about this new product...
All you have to do is upload a few files to your server - which include some javascript libraries and some customizable css... Next you simply copy and paste snippets of code.
For an example, view my home page. I have added the member and social gadgets. With these embedded devices, users can easily become members of my site and leave comments.
Do you like what Google has done here? I'm not sure if I do. At some point, you have to feel like Google is doing too much. At the end of the day, I know how to copy and paste code in the right spots and that's it.
Yes, Google saves us time and gives us free products... But I would rather learn how to create a database driven application such as the comment box from Friend Connect, rather than have it automatically generated for me. The same goes for this blog, but since it was free and readily available to use, I never created an original one.
With Google creating everything for us, the future of web development seems grim. Web developers will not be needed as Google creates more customized apps for different markets. Maybe I'm being a little too apocalyptic here but I fear that an entire profession may be outsourced by a single, code generating conglomerate company. Only the chosen few working for Google will be able to enjoy the art of programming.
Does no one feel the same way?
Friday, October 3, 2008
Ziggs - Create Your Online Portfolio and it May Help you Land a Job
As the extensive title suggests, this blog entry will review www.ziggs.com, a FREE online tool for developing your web presence and getting that job you need.
But first I want to give some background as to why I think ziggs may be important for those seeking employment. I recently got a job (yay for me). I can't say with any confidence that I would have acquired this job without having an online profile. Having my own web site that lists my accomplishments and samples of my work was imperative because I am an entry-level webmaster. I needed to demonstrate my web skills and my ability to design a clean, sleek layout, all while showcasing other online projects I have contributed to. So being able to write a cover letter in response to a job posting and include links to my web site was essential.
Having a portfolio on the web may not be essential to all, but if you're applying online for a position and you really want to steal potential employers' attention by showing that you can go above and beyond, then having an online profile may be helpful.
So if you've been applying to jobs online for a while now and haven't had any bites, then this blog is for you.
Ziggs allows you to create a FREE online portfolio that includes information such as your biography, background, resume, interests, education, contact info, favorite books, calendar, and an email account with customized signatures that direct employers to your online profile.
In general when applying to a job online, there are two ways: directly via email and indirectly through forms. In either instance, you can link to your online ziggs profile.
For example, imagine you are applying to a job via your Ziggs email account. Ziggs provides you with your own email account and email signatures that link back to your profile.
Example:
So when applying to jobs via email - ziggs gives your potential employer the immediate opportunity to view your professional profile.
If you're applying to a job online using a form (this is the case for most jobs now), then you can still include a link to your online profile in your cover letter. It doesn't look the greatest, but still it gives your employer the opportunity to see that you are serious about getting a job.
Example:
For details about my most recent work and to learn more about me, please view my online portfolio at www.ziggs.com/?uid=107868&cfrom=107.
If you're moderately skilled in pdf or Microsoft Word, there's an easy way for you to highlight text and link it (all you have to do is highlight and right click). So instead of the ugly www.ziggs.com/?uid=107868&cfrom=107, you can simply hide the ugly domain name behind selected text:
Example:
For details about my most recent work and to learn more about me, please view my online portfolio.
Next step? Just save and upload your .doc or .pdf cover letter when prompted to do so.
Ziggs also provides analytics. Analytics are a way of tracking visitors to your site. I use Google Analytics everyday to see who's visited my site. While I can't see "who" visited my site, I can see what city they're located in, how many minutes they spent on my site, which pages they viewed, etc.
Ziggs' analytics are much more limited, but the stats it provides will still come in very handy when trying to figure out who has viewed your profile. It lists the number of profile views you've had per month and from where the views came from - google search, email signatures, etc. You should set goals according to this data - such as how many views of your profile you would like to accomplish in one month. As you work to increase these numbers, you also increase the likelihood of someone hiring you, or at least calling for an interview.
Now Ziggs is still in its beta version, but hopefully in the future it will develop more analytic tools for its users - especially a geographical map of where your visitors are accessing your online profile. This will be ideal if you apply to jobs throughout different locations and want to see if they've viewed your profile yet.
But for now Ziggs is the only social networking program I know of that features analytics so they're on the right track.
Overall, creating an online portfolio and making yourself visible to potential employers is a must. Just keep in mind - this isn't facebook or myspace! Keep it professional.
One special note in regards to setting up your account with Ziggs: During set up you will have the option to buy your own domain - www.yournamehere.com for about $15. Click "No Thanks" and continue with setting up your profile. Don't be suckered into purchasing a domain name thinking that will be the location of your ziggs profile.
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