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Ted decided to brave the chilly temperatures of a Chicago winter and do a postie patrol. This was a pretty unique postie patrol since HP was sponsoring it and so there was sort of a theme and there was also much better give aways.

The funniest part of the whole video was when the postie had to tag herself with I (heart) HP on her forehead. Of course her comment after was that she should have done it earlier, because then more people would have probably helped her. Take a look at the video for yourself. It’s a little long.

I’m not sure how much I’d really like a postie patrol. Sure who wouldn’t like to get some cash and some HP gear and do some Digital Photo Printing, but it would depend a lot on what I had to do. I guess I’m just not adventurous like that. We’ll see. Either way, I’m pretty sure that PayPerPost won’t be choosing me for a postie patrol.

Brought to you by HP

Tagging is all the rave these days. All sorts of cool web 2.0 sites are using tagging to classify information. I can’t say that tagging isn’t a great idea. I actually really like a lot of the concepts of tagging.

The thing I don’t understand is what’s the difference between technorati tags on my blog and just categories which for all intensive purposes are tags. There’s even a Wordpress Category Technorati Tag Plugin. That’s a mouthful that doesn’t make much since. If I put a long list of tags at the bottom of my post am I really going to get any more traffic from technorati? My guess is no.

Now if you really want to see a great implementation of tagging using categories you should look at Wordpress.com’s tagging system. Take a look at the tag for my favorite (at least one of my favorite) TV shows So You Think You Can Dance. That tag has driven thousands of people to my blog. Now that’s the real power of tagging.

Everyone knows that I’m addicted to reality tv. It’s pretty much evidenced by this blog with all its reality tv and my other fully dedicated reality tv blog.

Of course being a techie, I’m even more interested in a reality TV show that is being shown completely online. It’s called RockStartup and basically follows Ted Murphy as he starts a new company. Oh yeah, it hits entrepreneurship which is another one of my interests (see my high school sports fundraiser idea).

Well, take a look at the third episode of the only reality tv show online (at least the only one I know of):

I like this episode quite a lot. It gives a nice insight into starting up a company. They already have rockstartup episode 4 out and I’m not as impressed with that episode. I’d like to see more start up and less drag, but that might just be me. I can’t wait to see more of this show as it progresses.

This post sponsored by:

I ran across one of the neatest ideas I’ve seen in a while. It’s called Line Rider and could be a tremendous waste of time to those artists out there. I think engineers would love line rider too. It took me a minute to figure out exactly how it worked, but it’s pretty neat. The basic ideas is that you draw lines and then a little animal on a sled goes riding down the lines you’ve drawn. Pretty neat. I would love to see some people’s drawings or should I say luge tracks that they’ve created. I know you can save them, but I’m not sure if you can share them.

Every person that owns a home should really look at mortgage refinancing. You never know how much money you could save if you don’t spend the time learning about it. The reality is that refinancing a mortgage is just a mathematical question. There’s really nothing more to it. As far as lessons learned from a mortgage refinance.

-It’s much easier to refinance than it is to get the mortgage in the first place. Especially if you have a house that has a decent value
-Find someone who really knows what they’re doing and has your best interest in mind
-Don’t be stressed if a refinance doesn’t work out. It’s ok. You’ll probably have another chance to do it again if you’d like.
-Take the time to look at all the numbers to make sure you’re making the best choice possible
-Find a good mortgage calculator to help you get the information you need. Information is power

This post was sponsored by Personal Home Loan Mortgages

This last week the good people over at Cambrian House held a contest to see who could send the most prezzles in a 24 hour period. The top 3 senders got $1000. Well, I guess there is one time that it pays off to have a large family and a lot of email addresses.

Although, I must admit that sending a Prezzle was actually great for my wife and I. It gave us the ability to send a little Christmas letter to our family and friends and say how much we loved them and miss them. It didn’t cost us a thing and a prezzle is a pretty neat little online gift giving package.

I’m excited to see what’s done with Prezzle. I think there are a ton of cool things that can be done to develop the idea and make it an incredible product offering. More importantly, I think sending a Prezzle to someone is the perfect gift for the late shopper who needs to get a present to someone on the other side of the country.

If you post a comment I’ll send you a Prezzle and you can see what it’s like to get an online gift as a Prezzle.

I’ve always found great commercials quite entertaining. In fact, in one of my marketing classes in college the teacher would often bring in commercials that he had gathered to demonstrate some form of marketing.

Well, now I just watch this type of commercial for entertainment purposes. I guess one day I might need the marketing skills too, but it’s mostly entertainment for me. Well, I came across a really funny and well done James Bond 007 La Femme Nikita Style video for a Jewish Dating website. It’s quite entertaining.
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I ran across this video. Actually, I think someone sent it to me. I can’t remember. Either way, get ready to get dizzy. This video is absolutely nuts.

124 spins!! That’s nuts. The balance that it takes to do something like that is amazing. My only question is if it’s real. Can someone really spin like that? I’m not sure how you’d rig it, but the way he spins seems almost impossible.This Spinboy Aichi of Japan is something else. Does he have a flat head or something? It’s absolutely amazing when he starts to slow down and doesn’t fall over.

So, is it real?

I think there is something really interesting and unique happening online. People that could never have produced a TV show are now able to product a TV show and put it online at relatively low costs. I think that’s pretty neat.

Ted Murphy of MindComet and now PayPerPost fame is one of those that is testing this new media by creating an online reality TV show about him starting up a new company. I must admit that I’m completely interested in this type of web reality show. I love most of reality TV and since I have the heart of an entrepreneur I find it fascinating watching Ted go through starting his company. I have to admit that he seems to perform for the camera a little too much. At some points you can really see what Ted is really like and at others you can see Ted playing up for the camera.

What I like most is seeing some of the methods he uses to promote his business. It’s awesome to see a marketing person start a company. When I was doing my undergraduate degree at BYU I quickly learned that marketing was the key to any successful business. There are two people that are worth every penny you pay them if they are good. The first is a graphic designer. Creating a good looking site that funnels customers to the right places is worth it’s weight in gold. The second is the marketer. I don’t care what product you have, there is no such thing as a product selling itself. It’s a myth. There are products that are easier to sell than others, but they all require effort to be a success. This is a long story of why I think Ted is so interesting. He knows marketing well and while not all of his marketing efforts are a success, he’s always thinking about the next way to market an idea.

Here’s the latest two episodes of Rock Startup. I enjoyed them. I think you will too:
Episode 1 - The Setup (8:34min)
Learn about the background of the show and what it’s all about. Take a trip with Ted and Britt to New York to setup for a tradeshow.

Episode 2 - The Trade Show Boogie (8:25min)
Ted and Britt tackle The Today Show and Ad:Tech in New York City. Tag along to see Ted get a little nervous.

I can’t tell you how exciting it is to see one of my ideas be realized in an actual website. I sat down and came up with an idea that I would personally find useful and it has actually been created. It’s called Spoil My Spouse and it is a great way for a husband to do something nice for their wife and a wife to do something nice for their husband. I’m sure I’ll be blogging more about how you can participate in Spoil My Spouse in the future, but I wanted to show everyone a banner that I made tonight.

What do you think of the banner? I’d love to have feedback. I really have no skills in banners, but I just chopped up the images from the Spoil My Spouse website.

I think I’ll be placing it around in a number of websites that I have and that have people interested in spoiling their spouse. I really think that if more spouses were spoiled then there would be much happier marriages. That’s my real goal for this website.