x

Archive for the 'thoughts' Category

Blackhole list is an useless idea

Published
by
Ken
on 19 June, 2006
in online and thoughts
. 0 Comments

Spam is a problem. But something what people do to get rid of spam is an even bigger problem.

Prime example: Blackhole list (which a**hole thought of this idea anyway?)

I had commented before that I’m not a fan of blackhold list.

Today, I’m totally mad at Jeremy Zawodny for not allowing me to comment on his post.

The reason?

He, of all person, decided to use a blackhold list to scan the commenter IP and protect his blog from spam.

And I’m not simply accusing him, look at what he wrote here.

Now we all know that “high volume senders” aren’t necessarily spammer

Maybe he should also know that “China IP” aren’t necessarily spammer.

Working in Yahoo, he should know that blackhole list is nothing but problem for sites that generate content, newsletters and whatnot.

You try to keep some bad guys out but ended up pissing many that supported you.

Looking for a backup strategy

Published
by
Ken
on 10 June, 2006
in online and thoughts
. 0 Comments

Backup is one of those thing that is constantly on my mind and yet I have not fully implement a good enough strategy.

Alot of my information are online. My email is with GMail. I have a number of websites, both personal and business, spread across different servers. These websites contain infomation in both files and databases
There are backup of these data but none of them are automated or regular.

At the same time I have data spread across my notebook, protable harddisks and CDs. In my office I have people with different information stored in different PCs.

Without spending too much money what are some good strategies?

  • Online storage.
    I explored them but found none to be suitable. Mozy looks to be the closest to what I want but I am not happy with its refusal to allow me to remove it from the taskbar.
  • Backup server
    I toyed with the idea of setting up a linux box, hook up a large harddisk and write some scripts to pull data into the server.
    What I need to do is to break down the task into biteable chunk.

Pieces falling into place

Published
by
Ken
on 1 June, 2006
in 59ideas, blogging, my ideas and thoughts
. 0 Comments

Still in the refocus mode.

One thing that I think about often is how many things I am doing (many!) and how they can eventually fall in place, forming the BIG picture.

Maybe you know what I mean, maybe you don’t.

To sidetrack a little. It is not coincident that this site is named 59 ideas. “59″ is to be read as “finite”. Finite Ideas. Yes I try to keep my ideas finite, countable.

Seeking revenue online and building my business offline, that’s what I’m doing. In between I slot in a few more things.

Believe me I do have a vague picture of how things will come together but the destination is an ever changing one. Some say it is the journey not the destination.

The line between the online and offline is getting blur. What is on-line and what is off-line?

Yet in reality, the world, the people that I meet on and off line are so different that segregation is still a must.

How will all the pieces of ideas fall into place? That’s my thoughts and the common theme that strings the random posts in this blog.

Reintroduce and refocus

Published
by
Ken
on 25 May, 2006
in 59ideas and thoughts
. 1 Comment

Thank you for visiting!

Visitors has steadily increase since 59ideas started new year 2006. It is an opportune time to reintroduce this blog and at the same time refocus, both for the readers and myself.

A little background.

59ideas started as a companion to my 2006 project to achieve revenue online. First started on WordPress.com, it was move to it’s own domain because access to wordpress.com is blocked in China. (Yes I live in China.)

At the same time another blog was started to keep track of my project at From 0 to Independence. This too had move to it’s own domain and rename Seeking Revenue.

Since then I has started a few more sites (like Ken and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance) and got in many things (way too many).

At the same time, my physical business (no, I’m not a full-time blogger) had improved (a good thing!) and little time is left for the online project.

As you can see many of the posts are now just my del.icio.us bookmarks.

So what is the focus of this blog? More importantly, what should be the focus?

Continue reading ‘Reintroduce and refocus’

Blogging for donation

Published
by
Ken
on 27 April, 2006
in my ideas, online and thoughts
. 2 Comments

Or rather, donating revenue from blogging.

You can read my report, I’m not getting much from my online activities although my target is to gain income from online activities by end of 2006.

A new target however is to donate part of my revenue to opensource or other free projects.
This idea comes about as I was using the Stress Free Webmin ‘Tiger’ theme.

When you sign on the this Webmin theme, the author ask for a donation. Normally I will just treat is as a nag. This time I paid attention.

Why?

Because this Webmin theme is a killer! If you are still using the standard Webmin theme, you shoud must get this. If you use it and disagree, I will pay you!

David, the donation is on the way once I get Google cheque.

Here’s what am going to do next,

  • make a list of opensource/free applications I use
  • donate a part of my revenue each time I get a cheque

Stay tuned. Share the love.

Calandar from Google. About time

Published
by
Ken
on 14 April, 2006
in idea sites, online and thoughts
. 2 Comments

I’m not sorry to be Google’s mouth piece again. Because this time they released what I had been waiting for a long time - Google Calendar.

Google Calendar

There was a sneak preview on Techcrunch in early March and now it’s out. Learn of it from my GMail web clip.

A while back, I started using 30Boxes but stopped.

Feature is one thing but integration is another. I’m not a person that would use one site for email, another site for calendar and yet another for address book, all because they are best of breed. Put them in one place please.

That’s why portal like Yahoo works before and Google is doing a fantastic job wooing me.

Yahoo, why can’t you open your all-too-great Yahoo mail beta to non-US users?

Nevermind, I’m using GMail now.

So let see when Google is giving me a better address book.

Blue Security - Stopping spam

Published
by
Ken
on 13 April, 2006
in idea sites, ideas and thoughts
. 2 Comments

Blue Security

Thanks to a tip-off by Vince, I learnt of Blue Security.

Put simply, the idea behind Blue Security is to stop spam by community pressure, what they called Active DeterrenceTM. Watch this flash introduction.

I’m focusing on the consumer solution here. They also have solution for corporates, email marketers and website owners.

You are required to download a software to install on your computer. As usual I’m reluctant. However SiteAdvisor has some good comments and the program is open source. So I believe they are bona fide and safe.
My thoughts?

While this will work with regular online retailers that want to maintain reputation, I doubt it would work with hardcore spammers that paddles viagra, porn, logo, ipod, make money quick, nigeria scams and what have you. Their sole purpose to existance is to spam.

If you have use it, what’s your experiences?

Adsense and Google Analytics

Published
by
Ken
on 13 April, 2006
in online and thoughts
. 0 Comments

Ever since I got Google Analytics installed, I noticed my Adsense revenue dropped by almost 50%.

I’m not complaining if it is true. Better do it right than get banned. Still 50% is a lot and I wonder if anyone has similar experience?