What’s the difference between iPad and iPed? Only $500!
Forget the fact that it runs on as much RAM as is required to power a rather limp lettuce sandwich, as cheap and nasty Chinese knock-offs go, this is quite impressive. Other than the head-turning $149 price tag, another redeeming feature is that fact that it runs on Google’s Android operating system.
So as another crap year draws to a close I thought I might proffer one final peice of inane literary tripe by exposing some of the sick and depraved who frequent Gobbledegeek 2.0. by summarising the search strings that lured them here during 2009.
The comprehensive visitor statistics gathered by WordPress detail, amongst numerous other things, precisely the site from whence you came, the browser you used, your IP address, and best of all, the search string you used (which obviously resulted in a link here)!
Without a doubt, the most frequently used search string in 2009 was any variation of ‘Nude photos of Julia Gillard‘ for Christ’s sake (original post). I still cannot fathom why anyone would be searching for nude photos of the Welsh red-headed politician (no offence J). The runner up is the very steady performer that is any variation of ‘simple pizza recipe‘. The one-eyed, almost but not quite, entirely unlike, quasi-serial killer ‘Barry Rochford‘ is behind bars in third (original post). For those in search of ‘telstra customer service‘, let’s face it, it’s an oxymoron (like ‘happily married’ or low calorie ‘chocolate covered bacon‘). You’re not going to find it. It’s like Shangri-bloody-la!
I would also like to highlight some of the slightly more odd searches that have resulted in your arrival at my doors! These are just a few:
So remember, if your Googling includes embarrassing search strings and you end up here, I have your IP address and I may just use it! You know who you are!
“So long and thanks for all the fish” or if you prefer, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
The guys over at Bendigo Web Design are offering the local community the chance to win from over $4000 worth of prizes!
Given the sensational deal and top rate support they’ve given me, I felt it only right to give them a plug and not just because I could think of anything better to post.
You have three chances to win from over 26 fab prizes including the web site, blogs, hosting, domains and email accounts. There are also 20 runners up prizes of 20% discount vouchers.
To be in with a chance (or three) to win, suggest a great domain name for your web site idea along with short description and answer the tiebreak question!
Read their most recent blog post for further details.
I reckon that even if you don’t win anything, the discussion forum alone is worth registering for with hints and tips and general discussion on all sorts of topics like web design, email, hosting, e-commerce and business, as well as general computer help. Other than Bendigo Forums, which strangely suffers from a bizarre lack of interest from the local community, the Bendigo Web Design forums are unique in the region and aimed specifically at the local community in addition to their clients. It’s free to register and open to anyone.
See you there!
If you are looking for a new external hard drive, Office works in Bendigo has a few of these designer LaCie 1Tb (1000Mb) drives available. Designed by the prodigiously talented and multi-award winning Neil Poulton, these babies are becoming a rarety. At $149 you had better be quick because I might get another one next week!
Shiny!
With the proliferation of wireless connectivity comes a disdainful breed of miscreant, the bandwidth leech.
Unlike much of the rest of the planet (and some remote areas of Turkmenistan), broadband is still an expensive commodity here in Australia and as such I would feel mightily aggrieved if some tight-arsed freeloader stole it from me. I would have no problem with sharing my connection if the telcos offered unlimited downloads or at very least, reasonably priced, but they don’t. We have to pay for every web page, e-mail, sound and image that is squeezed down the wire.
If it was free or at best cheap, I would have no real issue with allowing others to benefit while I’m not using it. This is how the concept of wireless community networks became a reality in the nineties. Unfortunately, Aussie bandwidth is not cheap. On a oddly related note, I am not currently using the petrol in my car but this does not give anyone license to siphon my tank.
As connection speeds multiply to cater for the ever increasing need for e-speed, the problem of leeching will doubtless disappear but all the while we pay for the amount of data, irrespective of what speed it arrives, bandwidth leeches should beware of salt; rock salt; actually just rocks.
If you are reading this, then the chances are that you are just slightly/somewhat/rabidly (delete as required) curious about Bendigo Forums or else very lost. The following information is for the benefit of the former, although the material is for general consumption and so encourage the latter to read on regardless. It goes some way to explain what the site aims to do, why it was created and by whom.
Created back in early 2007, this modest little site was born with communication in mind; the collation, discussion and dissemination of information. You might think that there is already enough of this sort of mundane tripe parked up and down the ‘Information Super Highway’ and that by adding to it, I’m merely wasting valuable bandwidth, not to mention burning a hole in my pocket. However, my mate Google informed me that Bendigo did not have any significant online discussion board or at least one that wasn’t affiliated with a commercial venture and so I took it upon myself to create Bendigo Forums.
“How very altruistic and philanthropic of you.” I hear you think but the truth is that my family and I were new to the region and tools such as the Interwebthingy and Bendigo Forums, enable us to network, discover the region, answer questions, share views, discuss local and national issues and who knows, maybe even make real friends (As in ugly bags of mostly water as opposed to the virtual ones who exist only in Cyberspace).
Forums, sometimes referred to as discussion boards, are unlike conventional chat room facilities in that participants are not required to be present at any given time in order to take part. They can log in and read or join in the discussion when it’s convenient for them. Also, each individual discussion has its own unique thread which is in turn filed within the relevant subject category. These categories are created in advance by me or the nominated Moderators but should demand prove it worthwhile, additional categories can be easily added. The various topics are saved so that they might be visited at any time in the future and thus serve as a useful archive.
The great thing about forums is that as virtual meeting places, they do not discriminate against race, religion, age, sex, disability or even which AFL team you follow. Forums and their users are neither affected nor restricted by time or location. They are open to anyone at anytime from anywhere on the planet (with the possible exception of Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam who have recently been ‘blacklisted’ as ‘enemies of the Internet’ by human rights group Reporters Without Borders 
).
Bendigo Forums aims to be a family-friendly, fun and informative free resource for anyone and everyone with an interest in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia and as such, I encourage you to pop over there now and sign up for your free membership and get posting now!
Above all, I hope this site will be of some use to someone, somewhere but if nothing else have fun!
You might also like to read Bendigo Forums.
….dead in the water or simpy ahead of it’s time?
The development of an online community can be seen soul-destroying given the amount of work that one can put in for such little initial reward, and by reward I mean satisfaction and not financial gain. The methods employed by commercial and non-commercial social networks to increase participation are often very similar but for very different reasons.
Increasingly, companies are integrating social networking concepts into their online presense to build brand loyalty, push products and services and generally increase their market. Very few Australian businesses have recognised the potential of integrating a simple discussion forum into their sites, for example (obviously where relevant). There are examples in Bendigo, including one that did but paid very little attention to its importance.
When your customers form alliances with others to share their views, business needs, and interests, it can forge stronger emotional ties to your brand. These social networks grow virally and exponentially after customers invite their friends and colleagues to join and so on.
However, while the ‘IT business that shall remain nameless’, will no doubt come back with a more fully-featured, interactive community section having seen the potential of a rival site (their words not mine), there will always be the presence of commercial fluff to distract the user. This is the obvious aim and one which should be pursued as it will eventually pay dividends for them and rightly so.
Bendigo Forums is not commercial. Other than possibly introducing a few Google Ads to help pay for the running costs, that is the way I intend it to stay. Bendigo Forums aims to encourage a social network based on a mutual interest, Bendigo. The potential for local government, business and the community in general to benefit from a site like this is great and probably the reason others will hurry to jump on the band wagon once they realise.
I’m a social entrepreneur by nature, with very many fewer self-serving interests than your average businessman and no corporeal product or service to sell but I do believe Bendigo Forums has the potential to offer something to the community in terms of the general concepts of social networking.
As the numbers of those who engage in online communities grow, more and more look towards forums and discussion boards when researching a product or service. After all, wouldn’t you like to talk to the customers rather than just the sales staff driven by the desire to sell? With this in mind, it is increasingly likely that those in search of information pertaining to Bendigo and the surrounding region will look for discussion groups and forums related to the area.
With relevant content, visitors will stay long enough to read and glean the information they require. With healthy debate and discussion on all aspects of the subject matter, visitors are more likely to sign up and participate. Visitors need a reason to return and their involvement in discussion is just one. There are numerous other methods of promoting ‘stickiness’, from offering chat facilities and interactive games, to regular competitions and multimedia sharing facilities.
The attitudes of most of those who have already been invited to participate in Bendigo Foruns are disappointing and there are alarming parallels in the attitudes, delivery and uptake of Information and Communications Technologies in the region, to those in rural Wales over ten years ago! I was very much involved in the development of the ICT infrastructure for rural regeneration and development in Powys, Wales and so I’ve seen it first hand.
For the moment Bendigo Forums is little more than a hobby I’m willing to share with anyone who’s interested and not a conscious effort in community development. It could be though! With a little effort on my part it could take off very quickly.
And so if you have an interest in Bendigo and the surrounding region, get yourself over to Bendigo Forums, sign up and start posting. It’s free and very simple.
Read about Bendigo Forums.
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