This is sort of a followup to my post "Spammers Beware".

I recently found 4 or 5 users all called freevicodenonline or free{insert drug name here}online spamming on Mixx. This got me thinking. Spammers have been pushing drugs and perscription drugs and "cheap drugs" online through countless sources most notably the CH34P V14G4R4 emails I'm sure all of you have seen either in your inbox or your junk folder. These spammers have been doing this for so long it makes me wonder why they even bother anymore.

Seriously, who has not seen one of these emails offering cheap drugs, fake rolexes, or hell knows what else? This shit has been so rampant for so long, you wonder how many people actually pay attention to or fall for them. They've been around for so long people should know by now that these emails are complete and utter crap and anyone with 1/10th of a brain can see right through it.

Yet they continue to push their shit everywhere. E-Mails I can pretty much just ignore now as they find their way straight to the spam folder so I never really see them, but now these assholes seem to think that this time putting their shit on Mixx and social media sites will actually produce different results. I got news for them, no different results, no accomplishments, just wasting our time.

Good Riddance

Tags: socialmedia, spammers, mixx

So I'm thinking about starting a tech-related podcast, would anyone be interested in co-hosting?

Tags: tech, life, podcast

A couple of months ago, I finally gave Last.FM a try after hearing some good things about it and finally running out of excuses to try it. I was impressed by it. I found a bunch of new bands with a lot of good music. I liked the social aspect, although I never got around to using it. The idea behind it seemed pretty solid and had a pretty good variety of bands and music.

Fast forward to yesterday. Last.FM now has a big competitor in the form of Pandora. (yes Pandora has been out for much longer, but I just decided to try it out yesterday) Pandora is similar in many ways to Last.FM but in several key ways its different. You can create seperate radio stations adding different artists to "pool" from, in other words, Pandora with the help of the Music Genome Project finds artists similar to the ones you select. Also, if you want you can do a QuickMix which allows you to listen to music found from whatever stations you select as if they were all combined into one. I could go on and on about how good Pandora is, but suffice it to say I'm quite impressed. There is a lot of music in their library and it is a great way to hear and discover new bands.

On a side note, to any Pandora user who happens to own an iPhone. If you haven't already done so, download the Pandora App from the App Store. It's free and provides access to your stations while out and about. And if you have the first gen iPhone, don't worry, its been streaming for me just fine over EDGE.

Tags: music, pandora, internet, radio

I've noticed that a lot of times, in Social Media sites like Digg, Mixx, and the like, that a lot of stories that get votes, not so much on their merit, but simply because the poster's friends blind voted them. I believe I've seen it happen to my postings, and I would wager I'm not alone in the category.

Bloggers like me write about our thoughts and feelings on a wide variety of topics, and while I can't speak for others, I also write about things to hear other people's thoughts on the matter at hand. I have my opinions, but at the same time, I like hearing other people's thoughts to possibly get a better understanding of things, or even receive something that makes me completely rethink my stance. I may hold one opinion or thought, but most of the time, I'm not so closed minded that I'd be unwilling to rethink my position. It's happened before, and I'm sure it will happen again.

I mean for me, it's not so much about the traffic to my site, as it is the conversation. While traffic is nice, I'd rather open up dialogue on my thoughts and musings, or compare and contrast ideas and opinions. I know I always like to see comments about my postings, be them from my site or other sites. And in terms of my site, I don't really care whether comments are posted on sites like Mixx, or on my site itself. Either way, I get what I want, other's thoughts and opinions.

In voting sites like Mixx, everyone wants to see their posts voted up, but for me anyway, I'd rather have the dialogue. Blind voting probably won't go away, but just take a minute to look at what you're voting. So what do you think about blind voting when it comes to social media?

Tags: Array

Some of those that know me could possibly call me a fanboy of both Apple, Linux, or the XBOX (yes, I know the last one is almost a contradiction in terms since its made by Microsoft and I tend to favor Microsoft's competition over its Windows OS). I however take a different stand. I don't consider myself a fanboy of Apple, Linux, or XBOX. Yes, I love my Mac, my iPod, my iPhone, my Linux server, and my XBOX 360, but does preferring one platform over another really make you a fanboy?

So this leads me to my question: What exactly constitutes a fanboy?

I've heard some people say that if you prefer company A's product over company B's, then you are a Company A fanboy. I don't believe this is true. To be a fanboy in my opinion, you must love a product so much that you will jump on any opportunity to badmouth any competition, ignoring anything that the competition might actually be doing better than your product. Fanboys tend to be relatively close-minded on issues surrounding whatever it is that their product or company is involved in. We'll take the gaming consoles for the example. A Microsoft XBOX fanboy would be so into the XBOX that he would be blind and try to find a negative spin on anything that Sony or Nintendo might come out with for the PS3 or Wii, even if what Nintendo or Sony does is better than how Microsoft happens to do it for the 360.

I'll say it first, being ignorant goes nowhere, and fanboism is no exception. Take me for example, I much prefer OS X over Windows, hands down, no second guessing with pretty much no competition. Do I hate Windows? Do I hate Microsoft? No, I don't. I don't like some of the things Microsoft does, I don't like some of the ways Windows does what it does, but that doesn't mean I hate them. And even though I love OS X, I still dislike some of Apple's practices. And this is pretty much the core reason why I don't consider myself a fanboy. I recognize Windows strengths, despite my fondness towards both of it's competitors, OS X and Linux. And the same goes towards Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii compared to my preferred console, the XBOX 360. In the end competition is what drives markets, and operating systems and gaming consoles are no exception. Without competition, there would be less motivation for companies to improve upon their product lines. Can you imagine still working on machines with Windows 98 if Linux or Mac weren't around and Microsoft was less motivated to come up with something new? I'm sure that's an extreme situation that probably wouldn't have happened, but competition drives innovation and innovation leads to improvements. So the next time you immediately want to bash a competing site, product, or company, look at it and see what it is all about. Don't just jump to conclusions and bash it blindly. It may be competing with your sacred product, but it may have its own strengths, and in a roundabout way, may very well lead to improvements for your side of the fence.

Tags: xbox, microsoft, fanboys, apple, linux, ps3