whoa there tough guy, relax. Flash can be bad, but it can be good too...it's the knuckleheads that so completely overuse and abuse Flash that give it a bad name, for simple uses and some relatively targetted other uses, Flash is very effective and cool.
Every time some poor bastard does something a little too much, or gets to "into" something, they call him an addict...jeezuz, maybe these people are just friggin bored.
I am so damn tired of this "everybody is a victim" mentality society has today trying to label everything and worse yet treat everything with some sort of drug. Jeezuz, got off your fat butt, put down the mouse, go outside and talk to another human face to face...it's ain't that tough...maybe ride a bike, play some raquetball...
It's not an addicition, it's an ignorant and lazy lack of ambition to do anything because if you get labelled as an addict you probably qualify for some sort of gov't handout...from MY paycheck.
Grrrrrrrrr, grow up people...I spent many years wasting my life with meth, it's not like I am completely ignorant of the subject...ya just get off your butt, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do whats right.
Whew...that felt good, thanks.
Well, while I personally agree with your sentiment, it's obviously simply not true because ads sell things...false ads work...hell, look at politician ads around election time when they start getting desperate.
I put your thoughts up there with many I read here, many/.ers think that everybody thinks like them, works like them and shops like them, and it's simply not true,/.ers are, on the average, more technically proficient and savvy people, most don't know HWO to block ads and many shop with them, the statistics prove it...that said, stats can prove anything with the right number-cruncher:-)
Ask any marketing dept. in the world, all you need to sell something is a catchy little phrase...
I think a lot of you are placing blame in the wrong places...for every company willing to pay somebody to place a nasty popup, popunder, expanding flash, spyware injecting or moving target type of advertisement, there is also a lame webmaster that actually PUTS IT on their site...so, who is to blame, the company trying to buy it, or the webmaster that puts it online? I for one never accept those types of ads for my sites, for the reason you guys site, they suck...and are even dangerous...
don't hate the player, hate the game
While I can't comment much on how EFFECTIVE advertising online is, I have noticed in my home audio recording based community that there has been a significant increase by the industry in advertising on my site, and I presume others in my space. 2005 was pretty interesting, I was contacted by many manufacturers over the year, and now that it's toward the end of the year, many of the manufacturers I did enter into agreements with have now started talking to me about re-upping for next year, so really, I can only assume that the advertising has been effective for them.
But then, there are some companies that throw money at things without watching exactly where it goes...so it's anybodies guess...but since it's my site, I would like to think it's cuz my site sells stuff for them:-)
Bottom line: What I do know is 2005 interest picked up a lot, and they want to reup for 2006, with more companies wanting in...so, well, I see validity in the article.
It seems the average slashdotter has forgotten about the common user. Sure, many of us use google, or whatever our engine of choice is, it's rarely msn I would venture to say...but slashdotters are not the norm, and we should all know that because it's likely many of us are developers, sysadmins and the like.
The average user will, for ages, use the search engine that their windows computer comes preprogrammed to use, if msn is the default front page, it'll stay that way for a good long time with many, many users.
How soon we forget how simple the average user is.
I run a reasonable popular home studio recording community and FireFox is as high as 13% on that site with IE shrinking down to 60% this month...pretty damn excited to see IE shrinking at that rate.
Perhaps, but if P2P usage is notably down by any measure, that will break that argument, plus, if nobody is buying the product, they won't have the money, and when the money goes, so does the power and influence.
P2P is a great technology that has a lot of positive uses, it's quite onfortunate it's mainly known for these illegal uses. While the RIAA is getting WAY too carried away...ya break the law, well, the gloves can come off...these people that pirate are not blameless and shouldn't be made out as such.
I hate the big-label music industry, I deal with indie musicians every day at my site, http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/ and hear these same stories day in and day out there...it sucks, the industry sucks, it screws everybody it touches...but, they are still succeeding...until people band together and hit them in the pocketbook without breaking the law, nothing will change. That girl knew what she did was against the law, so I have little-to-no sympathy for her.
What people need to do is stop buying CD's from big label artists all together, hell, go back to duping tapes and CD's or recording music of the watered down pop music radio...any route besides P2P, THAT's where people are being stupid. If people break the law trying to "stick it to the industry", well, it's not going to help anyone.
I agree, MSN is much easier for SEO, but like it or not, the bulk of searches are still with Google, whether easy or not, if it's SEO you are concerned about Google can not be forgotten or ignored.
I am very happy with AdSense myself, the ads are often very relevent, and if there are some bunk returns or worse yet, competition, one can filter them out...revenue has been decent, though I am not retiring early.
As far as the inconsitency in revenue, I have always attributed that to the fact that some words are worth more than others, common words can cost a lot and therefore I assume the people like us that host the ads get a bigger slice o' the pie. Also, the content on any given page of your site could also be vastly different and therefore bring up greater or lesser valued words...
I have nothing to back these opinions up, just what I kinda figured the situation was...
I have not used RubberDuck, I'll have to give it a go. There are sooooo many of these things out there now in all prices ranges from free to hundreds of dollars, each having their strong points and weakpoints...even good ol' FruityLoops has it's place and it's highly tweakable, Cakewalk's Project5 has some great sounds and it's new Dimension synth uis incredible, Native Instruments makes some great digital synths, AbSynth is amazing...can't really throw a stone without hitting a softsynth.
I have been making music for years, ReBirth I always found fun to play with, show friends that are not musicians and they go "wow, cool" but I was never able to make it a productive part of my music making process...there are sooooooo many 303 sims as well as many better synths...the softsynth industry has gotten so big and over-saturated with products, there was justnot room for the ReBirth any more...it was fun in it's day, but technology moved past it.
Hell, I have been building my own rack cases for music gear, computer DAW's and such for years, It's quite simple and typically the home build case can be built heavier and stronger, you can drill and mount fans wherever you want...
My last was a full desk with rackmount cases on both sides made out of beautifully stained wood with a granite top...
Most rack mount gear whether it be for music gear, computer racks, industrial equipment or whatever is all 19", it 's not an IT standard, it's pretty much a global standard...
My wife is taking photography classes, and she is quite good at it. As part of an assignment she took pictures of my sister and her fiance' as "engagement pictures". My sister took them to Walmart to have a few dups made to send out to family to announce the wedding.
The clerk said they couldn't do it without the photographers permission, so my wife had to go in with her...
I understand personally. Professionals don't allow dups unless they do it and over charge you to do it. That's how they make their living. But, it isn't judged by being "too good" of a pic, it's often judged by if there is a professional backdrop, professional props in the pic or such things that are considered a giveaway that the pic was done in a studio...
Or, that's what I got out of the experience.
Funnily enough, about the comment about "if somebody spent a fortune"...a friend of mine, that has more money than brains sometimes, went out and spent a couple grand on a Marshal Half stack because "it's the same model Jimmy Page used". Tube, transistor, whatever it is, is quite possibly the worst sounding amplifier I have ever had the displeasure to play through.
There are good and bad of both worlds. As a rule I do think tubes are better if you are going for that sound, transistor amps work well for other sounds, it's all what you are after, the type of music being played through them, at what volumes, what the size of the amp is and many other factors.
IMO.
Hi, my website is the one linked from the word "is" in the topic paragraph, and I feel I have to chime in here.
I have tested, reviewed and used many software and solid-state based DSP's and none of them can duplicate accurately the sound of a hot, screaming tube. The Line 6 POD, IK Multimedia, Native Instruments and a few others have gotten close or at least made admirable steps for the better, but nothing can truly duplicate the warmth and dirt of an overdriven tube.
AT least that is my two cents...I use a Line 6 POD and sometimes Amplitube, because it's convenient when the kids are sleeping and such, but if you really want some grungy dirt, you have to get a hot tube and a microphone.
Slashdot Mirror
whoa there tough guy, relax. Flash can be bad, but it can be good too...it's the knuckleheads that so completely overuse and abuse Flash that give it a bad name, for simple uses and some relatively targetted other uses, Flash is very effective and cool.
Every time some poor bastard does something a little too much, or gets to "into" something, they call him an addict...jeezuz, maybe these people are just friggin bored. I am so damn tired of this "everybody is a victim" mentality society has today trying to label everything and worse yet treat everything with some sort of drug. Jeezuz, got off your fat butt, put down the mouse, go outside and talk to another human face to face...it's ain't that tough...maybe ride a bike, play some raquetball... It's not an addicition, it's an ignorant and lazy lack of ambition to do anything because if you get labelled as an addict you probably qualify for some sort of gov't handout...from MY paycheck. Grrrrrrrrr, grow up people...I spent many years wasting my life with meth, it's not like I am completely ignorant of the subject...ya just get off your butt, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and do whats right. Whew...that felt good, thanks.
Well, while I personally agree with your sentiment, it's obviously simply not true because ads sell things...false ads work...hell, look at politician ads around election time when they start getting desperate. I put your thoughts up there with many I read here, many /.ers think that everybody thinks like them, works like them and shops like them, and it's simply not true, /.ers are, on the average, more technically proficient and savvy people, most don't know HWO to block ads and many shop with them, the statistics prove it...that said, stats can prove anything with the right number-cruncher :-)
Ask any marketing dept. in the world, all you need to sell something is a catchy little phrase...
I think a lot of you are placing blame in the wrong places...for every company willing to pay somebody to place a nasty popup, popunder, expanding flash, spyware injecting or moving target type of advertisement, there is also a lame webmaster that actually PUTS IT on their site...so, who is to blame, the company trying to buy it, or the webmaster that puts it online? I for one never accept those types of ads for my sites, for the reason you guys site, they suck...and are even dangerous... don't hate the player, hate the game
While I can't comment much on how EFFECTIVE advertising online is, I have noticed in my home audio recording based community that there has been a significant increase by the industry in advertising on my site, and I presume others in my space. 2005 was pretty interesting, I was contacted by many manufacturers over the year, and now that it's toward the end of the year, many of the manufacturers I did enter into agreements with have now started talking to me about re-upping for next year, so really, I can only assume that the advertising has been effective for them.
But then, there are some companies that throw money at things without watching exactly where it goes...so it's anybodies guess...but since it's my site, I would like to think it's cuz my site sells stuff for them :-)
Bottom line: What I do know is 2005 interest picked up a lot, and they want to reup for 2006, with more companies wanting in...so, well, I see validity in the article.
Rather than waiting for somebody else to plant adware on your computer Microsoft will do it right out of box, that saves people a lot of trouble.
Pink Floyd Classic, The Final Cut.
It seems the average slashdotter has forgotten about the common user. Sure, many of us use google, or whatever our engine of choice is, it's rarely msn I would venture to say...but slashdotters are not the norm, and we should all know that because it's likely many of us are developers, sysadmins and the like. The average user will, for ages, use the search engine that their windows computer comes preprogrammed to use, if msn is the default front page, it'll stay that way for a good long time with many, many users. How soon we forget how simple the average user is.
I run a reasonable popular home studio recording community and FireFox is as high as 13% on that site with IE shrinking down to 60% this month...pretty damn excited to see IE shrinking at that rate.
Perhaps, but if P2P usage is notably down by any measure, that will break that argument, plus, if nobody is buying the product, they won't have the money, and when the money goes, so does the power and influence. P2P is a great technology that has a lot of positive uses, it's quite onfortunate it's mainly known for these illegal uses. While the RIAA is getting WAY too carried away...ya break the law, well, the gloves can come off...these people that pirate are not blameless and shouldn't be made out as such.
I hate the big-label music industry, I deal with indie musicians every day at my site, http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/ and hear these same stories day in and day out there...it sucks, the industry sucks, it screws everybody it touches...but, they are still succeeding...until people band together and hit them in the pocketbook without breaking the law, nothing will change. That girl knew what she did was against the law, so I have little-to-no sympathy for her.
What people need to do is stop buying CD's from big label artists all together, hell, go back to duping tapes and CD's or recording music of the watered down pop music radio...any route besides P2P, THAT's where people are being stupid. If people break the law trying to "stick it to the industry", well, it's not going to help anyone.
IMHO
I agree, MSN is much easier for SEO, but like it or not, the bulk of searches are still with Google, whether easy or not, if it's SEO you are concerned about Google can not be forgotten or ignored.
I am very happy with AdSense myself, the ads are often very relevent, and if there are some bunk returns or worse yet, competition, one can filter them out...revenue has been decent, though I am not retiring early.
As far as the inconsitency in revenue, I have always attributed that to the fact that some words are worth more than others, common words can cost a lot and therefore I assume the people like us that host the ads get a bigger slice o' the pie. Also, the content on any given page of your site could also be vastly different and therefore bring up greater or lesser valued words...
I have nothing to back these opinions up, just what I kinda figured the situation was...
I have not used RubberDuck, I'll have to give it a go. There are sooooo many of these things out there now in all prices ranges from free to hundreds of dollars, each having their strong points and weakpoints...even good ol' FruityLoops has it's place and it's highly tweakable, Cakewalk's Project5 has some great sounds and it's new Dimension synth uis incredible, Native Instruments makes some great digital synths, AbSynth is amazing...can't really throw a stone without hitting a softsynth.
I have been making music for years, ReBirth I always found fun to play with, show friends that are not musicians and they go "wow, cool" but I was never able to make it a productive part of my music making process...there are sooooooo many 303 sims as well as many better synths...the softsynth industry has gotten so big and over-saturated with products, there was justnot room for the ReBirth any more...it was fun in it's day, but technology moved past it.
Hell, I have been building my own rack cases for music gear, computer DAW's and such for years, It's quite simple and typically the home build case can be built heavier and stronger, you can drill and mount fans wherever you want...
My last was a full desk with rackmount cases on both sides made out of beautifully stained wood with a granite top...
Most rack mount gear whether it be for music gear, computer racks, industrial equipment or whatever is all 19", it 's not an IT standard, it's pretty much a global standard...
My wife is taking photography classes, and she is quite good at it. As part of an assignment she took pictures of my sister and her fiance' as "engagement pictures". My sister took them to Walmart to have a few dups made to send out to family to announce the wedding. The clerk said they couldn't do it without the photographers permission, so my wife had to go in with her... I understand personally. Professionals don't allow dups unless they do it and over charge you to do it. That's how they make their living. But, it isn't judged by being "too good" of a pic, it's often judged by if there is a professional backdrop, professional props in the pic or such things that are considered a giveaway that the pic was done in a studio... Or, that's what I got out of the experience.
HUH? What was that you're sayin'! :-)
Funnily enough, about the comment about "if somebody spent a fortune"...a friend of mine, that has more money than brains sometimes, went out and spent a couple grand on a Marshal Half stack because "it's the same model Jimmy Page used". Tube, transistor, whatever it is, is quite possibly the worst sounding amplifier I have ever had the displeasure to play through. There are good and bad of both worlds. As a rule I do think tubes are better if you are going for that sound, transistor amps work well for other sounds, it's all what you are after, the type of music being played through them, at what volumes, what the size of the amp is and many other factors. IMO.
Hi, my website is the one linked from the word "is" in the topic paragraph, and I feel I have to chime in here. I have tested, reviewed and used many software and solid-state based DSP's and none of them can duplicate accurately the sound of a hot, screaming tube. The Line 6 POD, IK Multimedia, Native Instruments and a few others have gotten close or at least made admirable steps for the better, but nothing can truly duplicate the warmth and dirt of an overdriven tube. AT least that is my two cents...I use a Line 6 POD and sometimes Amplitube, because it's convenient when the kids are sleeping and such, but if you really want some grungy dirt, you have to get a hot tube and a microphone.