I agree with Nathan Clarke on this one.

This is the natural outcome of far too many self-styled self-help gurus. I laughed out loud (really loud).

[via LiveLeak.com]

Thanks for sharing this post, I found this article while googling for some information on SQL, useful comments and great points made.

The title of the blog post in question? Apple Inspired by Disney from 2004. The topic? How what looks like a FireWire logo is in the floor of the ship in Flight of the Navigator. I doubt that post came up while googling for SQL info. What’s even more perplexing is the link provided by the spammer: www.musiclyricsnow.net/j/jayz/forever-young/

So, spammers & SEO idiots — still not awesome.

(via @dorkusaliorpus)

GrandPiano…

Hello I bookmarked this site. Thanks heaps for this!… if anyone else has anything, it would be much appreciated. Great website Super Pianoforte Links http://www.en.Grand-Pianos.org Enjoy!…

So here’s the deal… Mr. Piano Douche (as I’ve now dubbed him, though his real name is Tomasz Michalowski¹ according to his WHOIS lookup) seems to post everything from the IP 93.89.194.8. So if you want to block him, goto Settings:Discussion. There’s a blacklist at the bottom enter that IP on one line and “grand-pianos.org” on another (just in case his IP changes).

Oh, and Mr. Piano Douche, if you’re reading this, go to hell with all the other obnoxious spammers!

1. And according to Google, there may be many people with this same name.

(via @rmdembroski)

1. If you still don’t get it, say it out loud.

We don’t believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer. We have products that consumers want to hold onto.
[...]
Used books have never taken off. You don’t see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs.

I understand the point of view from the games companies. Used games mean people are buying games without the publisher getting a piece of the pie. But they’re not in the interest of the consumer? That last bit is just to show how out-of-touch Reggie might be. There are entire businesses selling used books, CDs, and DVDs. I know. I’ve been to them. I’m even — dare I say it — a customer of such stores! Oh, the horror!

Let’s look at it this way. A customer plays a game. They finish it… to the end. (Or, much to the dismay of Reggie they *gasp* might not like the game that much. More on that later.) That game can then either sit on a shelf and gather dust, with maybe the occasional play for old-times-sake.  Or, that game can be sold (either directly, or through a used-game business) to someone who wants that game.¹ The game actually get used, and it’s producing less waste as only one copy of the disc (and packaging) is used instead of two.

To me, that sounds like a pretty good deal for both consumers involved.

I believe what Reggie takes greater offence to is the very idea that someone might no-longer wish to own one of their games. “The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again,” he says. Now think about that. I’ll even repeat that in a quote block so you might re-read it:

The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again.

Did you catch that? In case you didn’t, let me break it down.

• “The consumer likes having a brand-new experience…” Okay, they like to experience new things. I get that.
• “…and reliving it over and over again.” But wait, I thought you just said they like new things?
• If they’re reliving said things, they’re not new anymore.
• If they’re not new, wouldn’t the consumer want to go and find something new?
• If they’re experiencing something new, do they have a use for their previous experience (game) outside of nostalgia?
• If they don’t have a use for it, why can’t they let someone else use it (for a price) to whom the experience would be new?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I still have a few of the games I completed. But most, I sell. Zelda: Twilight Princess? Beaten (by both me and the wife… yes, I have a wife). Sold on Craigslist. Super Paper Mario? Beaten, sold. Super Mario Galaxy²? Guess. I enjoyed those games thoroughly (especially Zelda). But I was done. I moved on. There’s no reason for me to keep them. Other games like Smash Bros. Brawl³, I keep as it has greater replay value. Though that can also be argued that the replay value of multi-player games like that does provide a “new experience,” and therefore not old yet.

In the end, the used games industry might not be a good deal for someone, but that someone is the publisher, not the consumer.

1. This is the First-Sale Doctrine.
2. Side note: what’s next? Super Mario Universe? That’s just silly.
3. Yes, these are all Nintendo games. That’s kind of the point.

Now, I’m all for having social-network links in blog posts. Hell, you’ll notice them below posts on this site. I think these links should be there if you need them, but pretty unobtrusive. I like to think they’re pretty subtle here. Hongkiat, apparently, has a different opinion:

This is what we call whoring. That image is only slightly narrower than the content column. The thing was (relatively) huge!  At least it wasn’t an insane list of sites a mile long, such as Real Tech News a few years ago. (The image was made for a fark post a long time ago. They’ve gotten much better since then.)

Remember kids, Sharing is Caring™, until you force the diabetic kid to eat a Twinkie because you think it’s good for him.

• Convo
• Za (as in pizza)
• Webinar
• Lifestream
• Funnest
• Natch
• Vaycay
• Staycation

And I’d like to add to that (in no particular order):

• Webisode (It doesn’t matter if it’s on TV, the radio or the Internet, it’s still a fucking episode.)
• Esurance (Shut the hell up already!)
• Mancation (What, it’s a different vacation if men are involved?)
• Blogosphere
• Manscaping (No, just… NO!)
• Guestimate
• Web 2.0 (Can we just upgrade to Web 3.0 and be done with it?)
• Long-tail
• Synergy
• Beta (Sorry Google, you have officially diluted the meaning of this word.)

Originally on Twitpic.