Posts Tagged ‘listeners’

1938 – Orson Welles shocks the nation with radio broadcast of “The War of the Worlds” by H. G. Wells. A large number of listeners who tune into the program ten minutes late, start to panic. They missed the disclaimer at the beginning.

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Other Historical Tech items

• First Fibre-optic cable
• Oracle Websystem
• Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor says “Take my music”

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TSO - Twitter Search Optimization

Most have heard of SEO – search engine optimization. It seems to be a common phrase nowadays. Every now and then I even hear ads on the radio that promote SEO because it is a viable thing for anybody’s website. The better it is searched, the more traffic that can come to it.

However, there is another trend that has been creeping up. The same ideals, but this time In the microblog field. Something that could easily be known as TSO – or Twitter Search Optimization. Some practice this new ideal and others are even really good at it; but no matter what – if you are ignoring TSO, then you are ignoring a lot of new readers, listeners or viewers.

Take a look at this 140 character statement:

@geekazine #Twitter #network tool. We are a #blog #podcast and #news site. Check out the #website http://www.geekazine.com (#Geekazine)

What have I done here besides murder my 5th grade grammar? Well, I’ve simply made this into a TSO statement. Geekazine, which is mentioned twice as a Hashtag and a reply, the keywords: Twitter, Network, Blog, Podcast, News and Website. For those who are not sure, Hashtags are simply keywords that others can search on. So I could easily be scanning these 6 words to try and get response or new followers. I might then see:

RT @geekazine #Twitter #network tool. We are a #blog #podcast and #news site. Check out the #website http://www.geekazine.com (#Geekazine)

RT means that someone has re-tweeted my original post. They have then exposed their viewers – which could be 100 or 100,000,000 – to my statement. If the 1/100 rule applies (for every 100 sales pitches, you will get one sale), then I could pick up anywhere from 1 to 100,000 new followers.

Last year, when coming back from the Consumer Electronics Show, I started posting video. When I pushed over to Twitter, I used the Hashtag: #CES09. What happened in return was the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) noticed I was pushing #CES09 and re-tweeted any post that was #CES09. The end result was more followers, possible viewers to my site and listeners of my podcasts.

This tweet got me a lot of response:

You can become a Fan of something on #Facebook, but I want to become an enemy. That would be kewler.

I used only one Hashtag in Facebook, but I got several RT due to the nature of the post. Then again, if you follow #Facebook on the searches, you will see my tweet.

I have a program called Tweetdeck that lets me create special groups. Some of them are certain podcasters. Others are searches for keywords. I have a search (for example) of “Geekazine”. Just in case someone posts a tweet like ” Dude. you should listen to geekazine”; Since it’s not @geekazine or #geekazine, I may never see it. But by putting a special search on it, I will see the post.

I can find the trends on Twitter right now simply by going to search.twitter.com. There I will find out the top trends today are Pirate Day , Mayweather , Jennifer’s Body , Jay-Z , Marquez , Ahoy , Roc Raida , Texas , Google This and Bing.

If I go to Hashtags, I can find out what was said about a certain tag. I know that in the last month, the term “CES09″ has been slightly active, while only 2 people have used “CES10″.  Of course, come January, CES10 will be used a lot more.

Want to see trends of Geekazine on Twitter? Then go to a site like Trendistic. This will show you what I’ve been doing in the last month. I can check on the recent spikes, or compare Geekazine to microsoft, if I wanted to.

Last year I decided to put a method to my twitters when I posted my weekly podcast. I would do this:

#PODCAST – Ep. 104 – The day that almost made me stop podcasting http://bit.ly/JO2Ou (#Geekazine)

The first hashtag would be to search on podcasts. The second would be Geekazine’ s hashtag. I use a feature of Plurk with the parenthesis. Basically by putting the Hashtag in Parenthesis, Plurk will turn that hashtag into a link using my bit.ly/jO2Ou. While the parenthesis idea didn’t port over to Twitter, I still continue this practice. I think this is a well organized, TSO filled tweet. It tells you this post is about my Podcast on Geekazine.

Recently, a power-twit (someone who uses twitter to excess), we’ll just call @noname,  was in the local news for various legal issues. Nonetheless, their profile had 40,000 followers. @noname was tweeting several times a day and pushed items back to their website.

Of course, that person used #Followfriday for one of the marketing plans – which has gotten out of hand. The idea was to highlight a few people so they could get more followers. Some abuse the system, turn around and post all their followers every Friday. Still, there are some that use this to the best of their ability. If I use it, I do it like this:

#followfriday @caffination – #podcast about caffene and Tech, @norbtek – podcast about Cool #tech, @davewiner – post about ReverseHTTP

This gives meat and potatoes into a reason to follow this person. Not because I follow them.

Like I said, I have keyword searches I do in Twitter. They could bring up possible leads, they could bring up new listeners to my show. If I incorporate this into my website, that could bring more viewers faster than ever before.

That is why this Twitter will be called “#TSO – #Twitter #Search #Optimization and how it’s like #SEO http://bit . ly (#Geekazine).

Busy Week
Thanks for coming to the site. We had another great week – busy week. It was a lot of fun and really productive.

Post – HPTF

Of course, we went to Vegas the week before to cover the HP Technology Forum Expo. Andy McCaskey, Kara Karsten and myself were working hard with interviews, product reviews and more. This week was planning to get some of the videos out to you. So far, we’ve posted the HP POD video on Friday and have a lot more coming soon.

Summer of Podcasts – Podcast Carnivale

This is what really took up the majority of the week. The last month I have been working hard in getting prizes together. Now it’s time to put a contest together. That is where the Summer of Podcasts comes in. Each week, Podcasters will be giving out codewords during their shows. We will be giving away a USB wireless VGA from IOGEAR (See the video below), a WebAround Web privacy screen and a lot more. The best part is a lot of prizes are from the Podcasters themselves. Caffination is giving some Coffee, Bageltech News gave a NYC canvas print, Bwana.org is giving Team Fortress 2 for PC and a T-Shirt, SDRNews is giving a MagicJack, Techpodcasts (Geek News Central) is giving an iPod Touch: there is a lot more.

Wednesday, July 1st is when the contest starts. Check out the site before hand to which shows are giving codewords for the week.

Bands

It’s summertime, so the band ramps up in it’s playing. It’s all well and good – I enjoy taking the trips and playing the gigs. This last weekend I played 3 shows and it wasn’t even Sunday. This afternoon is one more show. Next week is just about the same.

Interview

This last week, I was interviewed on the Isthmus – a local tabloid – style paper in the Madison area. The interview will be out next week, when that happens, I will post it.

PC/Mac Smackdown

Had lunch with Cal last Wednesday. He said – “Hey, why don’t you come on the show”. I said “Sure, why not?”. Therefore, I was on the PC / Mac Smackdown with Cal Davis and Rachel Baker.

Windows 7

Pre-Orders of Windows 7 means a significant discount. I have Windows 7 RC on my Dell D600 and really like how it works. What is even more interesting – Windows 7 works a lot better on that machine than when I put on Ubuntu 9.04. Ubuntu would lag when I was working – and I mean REALLY Lag. I would litterally select something, count to 5, then watch it execute.

I am really impressed with this OS, so I am excited this is coming out.

MJ, FF and EM AND BM

It was a sad week for a lot of people. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson took the Trifecta this week as all three passed. Ed McMahon was the sidekick of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, Farrah Fawcett was the poster girl of the 70’s and of course, Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. While I was never a big MJ fan, I do appreciate his music and also how he let Weird Al Yankovic to make fun of his music.

I remember when I first heard “Eat it” 0n the radio. While I never listened to “Bad”, I did have the “Even Worse” album which featured “Fat”.

*Update – Just as I published this, the Internet found out that Billy Mays – the Oxy Clean promoter (as well as Mighty Putty, Big City Sliders, Kaboom and a lot more) was found dead at his  home. He was 50. I guess it’s more than a Trifecta…

Studio

This week was a lot of work with the studio. Only problem – I can’t find my staple gun. I had it, then it dissapeared. I am not sure where it went. AUGH!

Still, the new studio is doing well. I am hoping to record the first video there by Mid-week. My bedroom is getting cluttered with PC stuff and that needs to head down to the Dungeon. The door to that room is the main reason why I call it the Dungeon.

Looking at Phones

I have to admit, I have been looking at the iPhone 3GS. The one thing I like is I have fatter fingers. I was able to use the screen a lot better than with the 3G. For instance, when I hit the “N”, on the 3G, I would always miss and hit the “M”. However, with the 3GS, I have not done anything different and seem to be hitting the “N” key and actually getting an “N”.

I still have some tests to go. I am also looking at the Palm Pre, but in order to do that, I would have to switch to Sprint, which I don’t know if I am ready to do. Android is a possibility, but I really don’t want the G1. I am waiting for the Lenovo version.

—–

That’s pretty much it this week. Keep watching the site for more info on the contest. Of course if you want to give a prize for the contest, let me know.

The best part is this is the last snow of the season and hopefully it won’t be as bad as they say. Just wet slush. Just a small annoyance, then warm weather.

Now on to some cool stuff. I stopped by SWAP – Surpluss with a Purpose the other day. Basically, it’s a shop that gets furniture, computers and other interesting stuff from the University and other government offices. They then refurb and resell.

I was at the shop the other day and picked up a couple SATA hard drives for a few bucks. I went there looking for office chairs and couldn’t resist the deal. Didn’t get a chair though. Keeping my eye open for the right one.

We have some cool stuff happening. The big news on Tuesday in which I cannot really talk about, but some other great news is that we are starting another website on the Portal. Will be talking more about that soon…

Had some great numbers of listeners for Week in Tech History and the Podcast. Thanks to all that downloaded and listened to both shows. Next week we’ll be introducing a new sponsor.

Frank has been doing some great stuff on the site. The Dell Mini video has been watched by a lot of you. Expect some more cool stuff from Frank.

Started up the other videos for the upcoming weeks. Should have the first one next week. Also going to be recording some video with Andy McCaskey in the next few weeks. Should be a lot of fun.

Band has a few weeks off. Good timing, too. I have a lot of work with the new site coming up.

That’s it for now. Keep tuned in for the special announcements next week.

For a while I have been wondering what I should do with my old Podcasts – After all, they should be somewhere for access, but where? Today I decided to put up Episode 1 on the Internet Archive; a collective for archiving the World Wide Web.

It’s not a be-all/end-all for where my older shows are going to go. For now I will still have the old Podcasts in the exact same area as before. However, it’s always good to have another spot if you want to check out how the show has progressed. For now I will be putting up the first few shows on the site.

If you listen to the 1st show, you will notice it is called “The Show”. I didn’t have “Geekazine” just yet. It also contains the intro of my previous Podcast – “The Independant Music Podcast”. It’s a good meter of where the show has gone since October 2007.

Internet Archive is also responsible for the Wayback Machine – a website that Archives your website. I have a few websites archived there. You can see how a web site was like up to 10 years ago. This is great for figuring out if your website had a previous life.

Thanks to all involved for having a great outlet in the Internet Archive.

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…For 2008 that is…

Finally feeling Normal – Las Vegas – New Years – More Panelists on the LIVE Show

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HTML clipboardPlugged Ears – 24 Hour Podcast – CES – More Snow – New Blog – A little annoyed with iTunes – Site move to 2.7

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We are back on the wagon, it was a tough WITH to produce because of this cough.Nonetheless, we found some great history and are reporting to you.

December 16th 1988, Kevin Mitnick is charged for breaking into and stealing software from DEC. He also gained control of MCI codes in England and LA. Mitnick became a martr for some computer geeks as he bucked the system in ways people were unsuseptable to .  My personal favorite is how he got free pizza.

Other events that happened this week – Suspenders were patented by Mark Twain. Microsoft stops supporting IE for the Mac. The Altair 8800 kit is first released, Symantec and Veritas merge and a lot more. Of course to get all the events, you’ll have to listen to the podcast.

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Still ill – SNOW! – CES issues – Last weeks Show Apology – ATI cards not that great.

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*Have to apologize, I think I was a little too close to the mic and some distortion occured during the show. I listened through and sounds decent so I decided to publish. Let me know if unlistenable and I’ll re-do.

Sick week – Turkey Day – Video – New LIVE Show Format – uStream weigh in.

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I am under the weather, so we are going to make this as short of a show as possible.
Another project – CES Swag – Printer Giveaway – Interviews and Reviews

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