I’ve looked at many “prosumer” video cameras, (not quite “professional”, but a bit more than a “consumer” camera) and – in my opinion – most have one major feature missing; a ‘chicken leg’ electronic viewfinder at the back of the camera. Most models rely on the flip out LCD screen, which isn’t ideal in bright sunlight unless given a hood to sheild it.
About the only model that has this feature – and which has got rave reviews – is the Panasonic HCX900, (and is cousins the TM900 / TM700)
This section is devoted to one of my other interests: video production.
Whilst I do create the odd “screen capture” video, or simple ‘to camera’ videos for marketing purposes, my main interest is in creating fiction type films. I’m currently editing with Adobe “Premiere”, and have FX Home “Hit Film” for generating special visual effects. I also use RealIllusions 3D “Iclone” to create the odd 3D actor for illustrations etc.
As some of you might be aware, I recently tought about retailing “Adobe Photoshop”. I’d found a wholesale source, and had big plans. After all, the retailers have got to get their stock from a wholesaler, so maybe I’d hit the jackpot.
I ordered the stock, and when it arrived, all looked well. They were in printed boxes, sealed in cellophane wrap and appeared to have a hologram on them.
I installed one of them. Yes:great. The software installed, and the serial number was accepted. “These are legit” thought I!
On December 1st 2009, it became a FTC “requirement” that all websites carried legal ‘Disclaimers’ and ‘Privacy Policies’. In a nutshell, it meant that anyone visiting a site had a right to know what the webmaster intended to do with their information.
For example, when you downloaded that free ebook, and joined their mailing list, did it give them the right to sell your email address to their friends? What sort of ‘personal information’ about you would they store in their databases. What would happen to your credit card information. So on and so on. In short, the user had the right to know what you intended to do with their information.
Have you ever visited what’s technically called a “squeeze page” ?The idea is you enter your email address, and get access to get a free ebook you can download? The webmaster then relentlessly bombards you with an endless stream of marketing emails. It’s reached the stage now where I instantly click away as soon as I see one of these opt in pages.
Or at least I did … until I discovered a loop hole today. (The marketing types are gonna HATE this tip – but serves them right for using insecure code!)
I have just visited a website that – thanks to Paypal’s basic payment button format – allowed me to download every report that the vendor was selling!! (Don’t worry, I informed the webmaster of my ‘hack’, and we worked out a deal) But it set me thinking. How many other vendors are losing sales via similar links?
UPDATE: It appears that PayPal have also noticed this glitch as their Button Factory now hosts the actual HTML sales code on their server. Now, instead of pasting the full button code on your web pages, they provide you with a secure HTML link (_s-xclick) that you paste on your sales pages. But I’m sure many sites are still using the older link (_xclick)
IS TWITTER THE FFA FLOP OF THE MOMENT?
For people who are fairly new to the internet, an F.F.A. is a “Free For All” advertising network that was once “hot” and “in vogue” … and then went into demise. Will Twitter follow the same fate?
Let’s explain the concept of the FFA network, how it crashed and burned, and how I relate it to Twitter.
The original concept of the FFA was fine. You posted a FREE advert, and people read the ad. Great.
WHY I’M SUSPICIOUS OF THE TWITTERS WHO FOLLOW THOUSANDS OF OTHER USERS
Does your inbox get flooded with a few hundred spam emails everyday? Do you read ‘em – or delete ‘em? I reckon I know which!
You’ll see why I mention spam email in a moment, but for now bear with me on this as this gets a little confusing.
Lets call the the user a “Guru”. All Twitter accounts have two parts; the number of people that person is following (whom we’ll refer to as “Guru Following User”), and the number of people who are following that particular user (whom we’ll call “Guru Followers”).
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Beware Fanning The Flames Of War
By webmasterNo CommentsAfter a few years in the wilderness, my blog finally got three comments … although they were not exactly complimentary.
Basically, the comments said that my site looked like something from the 90′s, and I was so self-opinionated that I was “full of it”. And as such, my products were probably crap anyway, so why should he even consider buying any of my products. I wasn’t interested in helping people make money, but was only in it for the profits I could get from other people. (Show me a trader that DOESN’T adopt the latter option!) I might add that the poster did not have his own website, nor did they leave a legitimate email address!