Challenge Buzz

Firstly for all those random visitors to this site, this is not a bizarre reality concept starring Buzz Lightyear but a serious attempt at eaves dropping on a particular brand in an attempt to identify what is being discussed on the subject making use of a myriad of online eaves dropping tools.

My chosen brand as should be evident already was Nokia, chosen primarily based upon my telephony experience and leaning towards the technological aspects of this Cyberchase course. In hindsight, I would have selected a less digitally prevalent brand to monitor, however just click below to find out more.

So how were we going to go about monitoring the 'Buzz' about Nokia over the coming weeks. First call was obviously our friendly neighborhood internet God (not big brother honest), Google and their Google Alert service. Having already been a user of this service, it was set up immediately and the daily feeds providing links to both news articles and blog pages are usually good, however the volume can be high and to be of use you need to develop the habit of scanning these articles daily before the backlog overwhelms.

Another potentially useful tool but in my opinion more relevant to identifying historical key dates relating to a particular search is Google Trends. This service can be used to plot; the search or news reference volumes of any specified key words going as far back as December 2004, it may not seem a long time now, but Google have been ahead of the game in keeping and tracking data. In my search to identify anything relevant to the current exercise it didn't prove useful as I was focusing on current 'buzz' not what was being discussed 2 years ago.

Given our new found embrace of 'The Blog', this seemed like the ideal destination to find out what people were really thinking and discussing about the brand Nokia so it was with the help of another useful online search engine that the Blogger world would be investigated, Blogpulse our window into the Blogosphere. The 107485 results this initially provided most of which were foreign language pages which did mean the time spent browsing was long and made much use of the 'back' button. But nothing worth doing is easy or free, and it did ultimately lead me to a glimmer of protest amongst, admittedly not just Nokia, but mobile users generally and I shall come to that shortly.

Firstly a couple more windows into the online world I peered through found myself nosing about more podcast and you tube videos courtesy of Everyzing and the world of message forums through Boardreader. Now my experience of the many many message forums that re out there covering almost every subject known to man varies from being a place for people just to moan and let out their frustrations to the occasional site supported by the helpful and friendly, lifes extremes as always can be found everywhere.

Anyway, having chosen a brand name absolutely prevalent across the world wide web, most links from everywhere and anywhere were buying and selling related. I did come across a few references to a service I had not heard of and that was answering a demand for something missing from the mobile market since the lovely interchangeable fascias Nokia used to provide. And that is personalisation. Our mobiles are still a status symbol and the manufacturers do cater for varying tastes and styles across the model ranges but nothing is truly personalised and we humans do like to be an individual and stand out from the crowd. So although not an incredible insight into the brand Nokia it is some advice they could heed and strengthen their brand before small services like the following grab the market. The first place I came across the service was via a google alert linking to a blog dedicated to the Nokia E-series and a gallery of personalised E-series phones can be see by clicking here

The primary modification provider many have referenced is company known as Gmask. Unfortunately not available in the UK or Europe yet, I'm sure we will see more of this in the near future, in fact it is already present in the clothing sector and Nike have introduced a similar ability to personalise within the trainer market, so if your after some unique footwear just click here.

For a glimpse of what Nokia are currently envisioning as the future of their mobile range the following is an interesting collage of clips released by them.

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Team Garibaldi

The Cyber chase mobile hunt kicks off today, so expect an update soon to this post. What is it all about? Who got lost? Where did we stop for a drink? Its going to be a scorcher out there.

With the teams announced you can details of who we are and where we're going at the Team Garibaldi page, or if using such a dated idea as a hyperlink just puts you off the whole web browsing experience check out the teams ShotCode.

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The Twilight Zone

Following my endeavor to develop a further understanding of the workings behind both these Blog pages and regular web pages, I decided to embed the code enabling Google Analytics to track the comings and goings to this seemingly obscure site known as Eye Dent. The results of this have led me to further development of the page but have also been interesting, just weird and strangely addictive.

The interesting aspect has been just how many people and from where, find themselves off the beaten path and here at my page, whenever I think about it I hear a faint yet familiar voice and the words;

"You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone"

So far the analytics performed by Google has revealed a few snippets into the source of my 'visitors' as well as another aspect of Blog writing I am sure is fairly common, that of popularity.

Firstly my 'visitors' are spread throughout the planet, with the reach of the internet stretching to almost 20 different countries. In honor of this diverse mix of languages I added the necessary code to enable the translation of my site at the click of a national flag (as always just post a comment or send an email if you would like further details on this or anything from my pages). For those multi linguists out there, this is always an entertaining process as the machine translations are questionable to say the least, but it is improving thanks to Google enabling user feedback in order to 'improve' the system by providing better suggested translations.

The weird, is what this Blog makes my visitors think of and how they exit the site. The most popular method for departure is a rather unceremonious closing of the browser window and this account for 76% of exits, however for one strange confused soul; their choice of exits was via the search bar and the word 'sex'. I have decided against tracking sources via their IP addresses.

The addiction, the development as a blogger of an almost obsessive behavior; addicted to checking the number of hits this week, have there been any new nationalities visiting, as well as furiously reading how others maximize their visitor numbers. Although I have not gone completely over to the dark side quite yet, which is evident in the frequency of my posting. None the less, learning what little tips and tricks can help optimize page views can only be good thing as we move further in the Digital Twilight Zone.

Additional thanks to Martin over at the Das E-Business blog for a very good post on the use of machine translation and Google, click here to check it out.

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The 1970's - a classic

I just had to put this here even if only temporarily. Yes its a sign of my age I'm sure but I have to believe the original did some good when I was sat cross legged in front of it for hours on end as a child. Beware I'm confident of its addictive qualities.

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Peekaboo View Coding

Just testing out a little code added to the template to try and demonstrate an expandable blogger post. Basically on the blog main page there should only be a summary, or to be more specific a defined first few lines or paragraphs visible, then below should be the 'read more.....'

Having clicked to read more, the rest of this text should appear, this should allow the main page to become a little easier to navigate, especially given my tendency to write and write the blog was starting to seem a bit much and I preferred and alternative to archiving. Well it all seems to be working though it did require a little more tinkering than I planned. Now to try it out moving forward and see how it goes.

Throughout the cyber chasing, it has become clear to me where my area of focus has been with regard to the whole blogging thang. Basically I seem obsessed with the imagery of the site, the layout, and behind that, all the gadgets and widgets and html trickery that makes a page interact better and visually appeal more. The finer details, like attaching a small image, a 'favicon' to the address bar when visiting a web page (although for me this only seems to be working in Firefox at the moment).

If you do see anything I have used and want to ask about it feel free to post comments or email me directly. I'm always available to help. Thanks go out to Ramani over at Hackosphere for their great page and work.

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The Ebay Experience – part 2

I have to be honest here and say that upon hearing the next challenge was to sell our previously purchased surprising items, my first thought was to scream. This was only because I had already had my fill of eBay having lost so many auctions during the buying challenge. On a positive note it might not be too difficult for me to complete a sale due to the item I finally landed, but for many who had purchased ‘buy now’ items that were sold as new from eBay shops, making a profit would seem a big challenge.

Anyway the challenge was set, so some further investigation into what I had actually bought was necessary to provide a more detailed sales description for eBay and get the item listed. The results of which can be found by searching for (auction number: 190095692961). It was clear with the many options available to help ‘market’ items why eBay are the success they have become. It also became clear that my seemingly unusual Rolls Razors were a little more common than I had first thought, in fact there is a constant stream of them available to buy both here in England and abroad on the other international eBay websites.

Those of you with well trained investigative skills and a thorough knowledge of our fellow cyber chasers will notice my first auction was won by none other than our own Der Forkmeister. However this was not a genuine interest in a piece of art deco memorabilia but a cunning ploy to sabotage the competition. Upon receipt of my invoice the self proclaimed dominating and narcissistic master of forks refused to pay. Forcing my hand to initiate an ‘Unpaid Item Dispute’, this was a fruitless process although it did mean the final sale fees charged by eBay would no longer be due, allowing me to re-list the item in the search for another buyer. Unfortunately none were to be found during the evidently quiet mid-week auctions as can be seen by searching for the re-list (auction number: 190097014507).

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Having livened up the circumstances surrounding my first attempted eBay sale, I should provide a few further details concerning the alleged sabotage by Der Forkmeister. This in fact, was a not so cunning plan, hatched over a beer after work to ensure we received at least a bid to get the ball rolling. Unfortunately in the case of my auction the bidding exploits of Der Forkmeister were clearly too rich for other interested buyers. This did however demonstrate another example of how trust online is so easily abused. Remember, trust everyone, just dont trust the devil inside them.

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The Ebay Experience - part 1

Having never used Ebay before, this was an interesting challenge. However it has not converted me into another one of the millions of regular users. The reasons for this I will come to shortly, for now you can see the eBay items that got away in this slide show, as you can see they are a motley bunch of the weird and wonderful.

So having missed out on everything from a prosthetic eye to a kangaroos paw, I found myself wondering why. Often it was just because the final bid went just beyond our fifteen pound limit. However in some cases something strange was afoot in the world of ebay, some bidders seemed able to place a bid hours before mine without it ever showing until the auction closed. I suspected the influence of outside software. Regardless the hunt had to continue although I became more wary and found myself checking sellers feedback in more detail often seeing duplicate feedback artificially raising their ratings. I futher investigated the value of this feedback by asking the seller of the item I finally won, if they could provide me with good buyer feedback even before payment was received. They obliged willingly.



Another aspect of Ebay I became aware of, and personally didnt like or expect, was the high number of resellers, shops using Ebay as a sales channel. It was not their presence but their number that I was disappointed to see and it eroded my experience as the 'uniqueness' and 'value for money' became increasingly difficult to find.

Finally and after many lost auctions I did settle on what I considered suprising value for the money, an antique Rolls Royce 1920's silver plated razor at the bargain price of £6.50 plus delivery (ebay number: 250088793917). That being said, I am still awaiting delivery.



So the issue of trust had revealed itself. And within the digital realm this can be seen across so many layers; from the personal identity and how they portray themselves, through to the apparent authenticity of entire websites. Even Microsofts latest releases for internet explore attempt to combat this threat using anti-phishing protection.

Another face of trust that is becoming a greater threat to those choosing e-commerce is the security of credit or bank card details and the use of digital certificates within the SSL. Major players in the industry such as Verisign have developed trust, but as with all 'identities' there are others providing far less protection. As with everything online, the complexities of identity continue into the complexities of trust, ultimately we must all follow our own paths.

"It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust." - Samuel Johnson

"I trust everyone. I just don't trust the devil inside them." - The Italian Job

Well it finally arrived and was wrapped to prevent all but the most persistent of buyers from actually gaining access to what they had bought. I was exhausted having fought for 5 minutes against the adhesive powers of several hundred meters of masking tape, doubly exhausting when having broken throught the first layer I was faced with yet another individually sealed against hazardous materials box.



Eventually I was face to face with what had caught my eye online, and ignoring the fact I am easily entertained, was surprised to find it was even better than I could have imagined as the box containing the razor was actually an integrated sharpening stone and leather strap. A marvelous example of quality products from a bygone time.

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An eBay Method: 13 Steps to Profitable Auctions

A useful article I found prior to beginning the eBay challenge, some personal recommendations to assist anyone in achieving profitable auctions courtesy of J.D. over at the Get Rich Slowly Blog, the full article can be found at [read all of My eBay Method: 13 Steps to Profitable Auctions]

1. Research the hell out of each item you post. Dig through eBay to find what similar items fetch (and how often they sell). Check other places (Amazon, abebooks.com, and other forums) to see what they charge for the item.
2. Use low starting bids. Low starting bids cost less to list, and they encourage participation. The more popular you expect an item to be, the lower you should set the starting bid. If you expect only a few bids, start bidding closer to your minimum desired sale point. For example, I sold some Tolkien videos on VHS that I thought would receive few bids, so I set my minimum bid at about $10. Do not use a reserve.
3. Start your listings on Thursday afternoons and evenings. Run ten-day listings. Time your auctions to end on Sunday evening between seven and ten Eastern (four and seven Pacific). This gives two weekends to attract bids.
4. If needed, pay the extra ten cents to prepare listings in advance and schedule them to start on Thursday evenings. Prepare a group of listings in advance, then schedule them to start within a couple of hours of each other. (Don’t have your listings end closer than within two minutes of each other.)
5. Offer free shipping and delivery confirmation. You could charge for these, but free shipping builds goodwill. Delivery confirmation gives you peace of mind. Free insurance is of dubious value; I sometimes offer it, but generally only on expensive items. You might offer it as a customer-paid option.
6. Offer a money-back guarantee, but only for when the item is not as described. (Not for when a person changes his mind or makes a mistake.)
7. Craft your auction title with care. For example, I recently sold a book entitled The Hidden Game of Baseball by John Thorn and Pete Palmer. I could have put all that into my auction title, but it would have been a waste. My title was geared toward keywords that I believed interested buyers would use: HIDDEN GAME OF BASEBALL Thorn Palmer SABR Bill James. Bill James had nothing to do with the book, but fans of Bill James would be likely to purchase it. You want many people to see your items in their search results.
8. Write a good description listing the strengths and flaws of your item. Write things like “I think this book is in great shape, but be aware that the cover has a small tear and the previous owner’s name is on the flyleaf”, etc. Try to place additional keywords in the description, but sprinkled into conversational sentences. For example, in my auction for the Tolkien animated films on VHS, I used the names of Peter Jackson, Liv Tyler, etc.
9. Be thorough. Many people advocate short descriptions. I disagree. I think that long descriptions are best, especially if they use bold text and highlighting to emphasize the important aspects of your auction.
10. Refuse to accept bids from headaches: people with negative feedback, people who haven’t been paying, foreign bidders. (Note: foreign bidders aren’t a headache for everyone; if you love ‘em, let ‘em bid!)
11. Take photos and post them in the description. Use the 35-cent gallery feature so that your photo appears when people browse listings. If condition is a concern, use many photos to convey the state of the item.
12. Answer questions. You will receive many questions about your items. Some of the questions will be stupid. Answer them anyhow. If it’s a question that many people are likely to have, post your response publicly.
13. Be amiable! A friendly, easy-going persona is going to receive better response than a brusque, business-like persona. Make jokes. Show enthusiasm.

Best of luck with all your eBay selling.

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The Beginning

So here we are, venturing outside of mainstream media, or what we used to call mainstream and embracing the digital age. We all have varying experiences of the plethora of new online channels, but we are all utilising them either personally or for entertainment and reference each day, perhaps without realising. Their reach and penetration is growing almost unnoticed by the casual user. Daily I am aware how front page BBC news now links directly to a journalist blog as a finished article, including the public discussion that comes with each and every comment. How often have we searched for some information online and ended our journey on a Wikipedia page, or been sent an email redirecting us to one in a million YouTube videos, full of laughs or shocking content. Behind all this content are a growing number of diverse online identities, although the authenticity of these identities is beginning to blur just as much as their purpose and reason for being varies.

My own experiences of the new MMS channels has been more as a reference, in fact to some degree my involvement has almost been voyeuristic during this explosion online, until this week I had no online identity myself but have spent many hours reading and watching others contributions. Perhaps this will change. To that end the creation of an identity was demanded and in my mind this was a single question, well two actually. What would I contribute online, and would I wish to remain anonymous?

These questions were difficult before I decided to focus on what I respected most from what I had seen online; the creative talent, the embracing of debate and a willingness to share. So in some unusually creative manner I too would voice an opinion on something in a not too distant future, time and weather permitting of course. My medium outside of this blog was to be YouTube, well something specifically visual. Having decided to create my own media channel I needed a logo, it was this word that gave my identity a direction, indentifying my content rather than me personally. So having glimpsed an idea and patiently awaited a few random sparks of imagination, eyedent™ was born.

Next I thought I should check its availability and make sure I would not be entering the digital age by jumping headlong into a virtual turf war that would almost certainly cost lives. Google reassured me that, apart from a multi-threading Daemon for Win95, my path was clear. Identity decided, personal avatar created, email and blogs registered I begin on a path promising enlightenment and much potential embarrassment.

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Identity 2.0

A compelling and dynamic introduction to Identity 2.0 and how the concept of digital identity is evolving.

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