tech ronin

Blogging: Improving the Quality of your Hits

Have you ever looked over the stats for your blog to see what people are reading? I have, and it's not pretty. Let me show you a random bit of stats for this blog compliments of Typepad:

These are almost all coming from Google and they are almost all about the latest *hot* gadgets. A more impressive term is personal technology, but still. I have to say that these *searchers* have good taste. Only the best for my google-based readers.

The truth is that I always have my ear to the ground for the best personal technology. It's really just me being curious and trying to get what I want. But, because of that, I track about 40 different sources with some regularity and hit places like Gizmodo, Engadget, The Gadgeteer, PDA 24/7, Russell Beattie, et. al. almost daily with my trusty newsreader NetNewsWire. I find stuff that's hot. And when I know it's new, hot and cool, I often write about it with my particular slant.

My blog name is Tech Ronin, after all. Tech is a major feature, whether it is gadgets or software or the impact or opportunities of technology. Anyway, the confession is that I do these little personal technology articles partly because I know they are going to get a lot of hits.

But what I really want is a following. And not just because I find cool technology. I really want the following to be about my authentic voice, my ideas, my writing. Stuff that's much more subtle than things you can find by putting a word or two into Google.

I guess you could say that my personal technology stuff is partly my loss leader. I'm really up to bait and switch. Maybe some folks who find me on Google will decide to subscribe. I want subscribers because that starts to feel like friends, associates, partners, community. It would be cool to gain financially, but that's way down the list.

OK, I think I promised to tell you how to improve the quality of your hits. Here's how. Don't sell out and narrow-focus your blog to the point that you forget that it's the added value, the personal touch, the writing, the connection and accessibility that will get you fans.

SpamSieve 2.2 Comes to the Rescue

I got my spam folder down to zero from over 7000 today. All because SpamSieve was upgraded to include coloring emails in different pretty colors to reflect how spammy they are! In Apple Mail, you can sort by color. That helps.

SpamSieve already had the ability to flag questionable emails that it wasn't sure was spam - somehow that uses a different algorithm because different colored emails could be flagged, not just the least spammy. Whatever. Anything to provide some relief.

Lately, I have missed two or three important emails. They had been filtered into the spam folder. I haven't been keeping up with reviewing it to make sure something good wasn't in there because SpamSieve is so good that it rarely makes a mistake. But I was pushing my luck.

Besides making it easier and quicker for me to review my spam folder, the colors are attractive and make the job less onerous. A little eye candy never hurts!

If you are using Apple Mail, I highly recommend that you try SpamSieve. You can try it free for 30 days. It sells for $25.

Blog Generalists Losing Ground?

I'm playing both sides of this fence these days with Tech Ronin being relatively general and my other three blogs being more narrowly focused: FileMaker Fever (FileMaker is my software specialty), Studio Manager Bulletin (about my software product) and Janet's Genealogy Blog (focused on genealogy). But, as a generalist at heart, I want to put in a good word on the generalist side of this debate.

Richard MacManus at Read/Write Web has confessed to being a generalist and says he's going to change his blog to be more focused so that he can advance his career more effectively.

I can see that... focus is good. But this piece, for example, on being a generalist is one of his best. He likes the big picture stuff and is willing to exert the effort to do some very interesting thinking about it.

I see the immediate advantage of focus. But, what if you could do the work you really want to do? What if you can be that person doing the really fun stuff and doing it with brilliance? I would like to see his short-term-oriented niche-thinking occur inside of a big picture for his next 10 years in his career.

A ton of people don't try for the really cool stuff because they figure - what are the odds? They go for the sure thing, thinking they need to grow up and be practical. But, some people are *crazy* and do the really cool stuff - become film-makers, for example. They persevere and their great passion and commitment prevails. They make a difference on the planet that the career professionals rarely do.

So, yeah, you can specialize now if you want, but maybe leave yourself some room to be *out there* every now and then. Or put 50% into the practical and 50% into the dream. I was going to say 75% into the practical and 25% into the dream, but I don't think you get the *big* dreams from the sidelines.

But that doesn't mean you can't start there. Marsha Sinetar, who wrote Do what you love, the Money Will Follow, wrote subsequent books that explained that it might not be a *lot* of money that follows but you get something better than money when you do what you love.

It's harder to go for what we really want. Much easier to compromise. That way we don't have to face the risk of the heartbreak of not making it. Coming up short. The inner critic always supports you in backing down from your dreams. Richard is clearly on the fence on this thing. He's ambitious and wants to really make a difference and make his mark in the world. I, for one, am cheering for him and the rest of us.

It seems that we pit money and career advantage against doing what we love. It's all the passion's fault (or in this case the generalist's fault). I say there's lots of room for improvement that we resist. Typically, we humans don't like to look silly or foolish. We'll do just about anything to avoid it. If you are willing to risk looking like a fool, you might get somewhere.

Dina Mehta said recently that she's willing to be a polymath. She excerpts several other posts, summarizes and comments. The ideas that I find convincing are:

In this world of specialists, generalists have a vital role to play.

It's in the overlaps between the specialties where the answers are, the breakthroughs.

The fix to career doldrums might not be to specialize but to renegotiate the contract of your job with your boss or angle in the direction of what you really want even if it slows progress in the short run. Richard's big thinking can be an advantage if he takes it seriously and devotes himself to finding ways to serve the company *and* be fired up and doing things that move towards his true calling(s).

I know all this talk doesn't pay the rent, etc., etc.. To me a blog is a GREAT place to move your *personal brand* in the direction of your values/interests/longings and passions. You get to experiment, sound off and be bold when you wanna be. If you can't do it with your blog, where can you do it?

Zire 72 leprosy not fatal

I finally did it. I spent about 20 minutes and scraped the flaking blue coating off with my fingernail. It looked pretty bad at that point covered with a thin, hard and sticky residue which remained after the blue coating peeled off.

Next stop, the hardware store. I bought a can of Nevr-Dull for $5 which is cotton swabbing material soaked in a *polish* called "Magic Wadding Polish". It's advertised to clean metals including silver, gold, brass, copper, pewter, glass, steel, aluminum and chromium. Says it "removes rust and corrosion instantly".

The PocketFactory forum posts I referred to in my first leprosy post said Brasso works. Same kind of thing, so I figured Nevr-Dull would work even though I've heard that the case is made out of plastic - seems like it might be metal to me. And it worked. (I tried to avoid getting it on my skin and washed my hands after because I got some on my thumbs.) It immediately dissolved the residue and I was able to wipe it off. And it didn't damage the case in any way.

Now it looks like the photo above. It looks quite good anyway but has lost the fun blue color and rubbery texture. If I want to be fussy, I can spend a little more time removing the blue coating from the cracks to finish the job. The Zire feels like it could slip out of my hand now - oh well.

Onward and upwards! The latest thing now to spiff this baby up would be one of the gorgeous new Vaja Classic leather cases PalmOne has just introduced. Pricey but great-looking.

I like the two-toned models that go for $75. There are all sorts of color combinations. I think I would like the dark or lighter brown leather with black or dark green perhaps. Next time I'm in the mood for a $75 treat, I'll know where to go.

Except for one thing. There's competition for my Zire-targeted *treat* dollars right now because PalmOne has finally introduced a wifi SD card for the Zire 72 and Tungsten 3. Those are going for $130. If I thought I would keep this little machine for a long time, I could more easily justify either of these two purchases. For a gadget geek like me, this is a tough decision. The leather case offers beauty and tactile pleasure (not to mention protection) but the SD card offers a potent convenience: self-sufficient net access. These are the kinds of problems I like.

Genealogy Blogging

I caught the genealogy flu in May and it's getting worse. So what does a resourceful blogger do? Create a blog about genealogy, natch! I know, I know. I already have three blogs: this one, FileMaker Fever and Studio Manager Bulletin. Isn't there a limit? Maybe, but I don't feel I've reached it yet.

Since I know how to blog and have unlimited blogs coming to me with the Pro plan here at TypePad, it's easy. When I'm interested in something and the interest sticks and looks like it might stick for a lifetime, I'm going to create a blog about it if it doesn't fit into one of my existing blogs.

There you have it. Introducing Janet's Genealogy Blog. Go check it out if you are curious or happen to be one of the many, many genealogy buffs out there.

RSS+blogs give me so many eyes and ears

One of my pet interests of late is the Getting Things Done (GTD) ideas and lore of David Allen. So, I subscribe to a feed from PubSub that searches in blogs for GTD and I get a list of those entries as they are written.

Today I happened upon a really great little article that James Fallows of the NYTimes wrote called Programmers Devise New Ways to Make the Pieces Work Together. Notification about this article came from my GTD PubSub feed which found Marc Orchant's brief blog piece on theofficeweblog pointing to the NYT.

Those are the facts. What struck me is how great it is to be able to find out about this stuff in a timely manner. I doubt that I would have ever even found this excellent little piece without my RSS reader and all the blogging community and the NYT working together on my behalf.

We are all so busy these days. We rely on our network to clue us into things we should pay attention to. I used to rely on my own browsing efforts and word of mouth from my personal friends. Not any more! I feel so connected and in a way protected. People are looking out for me. People I haven't met... Thanks.

Sidekick II still on my mind

If last week's story about the HP6315 wifi-cell phone wasn't enough, now David Pogue is singing the praises of the Sidekick II due this fall from T-Mobile for $300. Sometimes I think I will wind up with 4 essential devices in my pockets going out the door:

1- digital camera - I'm a *very* amateur photographer and a good little camera like my Dimage X takes much better pix than the phonecams. I hate to miss a spur of the moment good shot.

2- *big screen* Zire 72 as my organizer, e-Reader and minimalist surfing tool. The 320x320 screen has almost 3 times the pixels of the 160x240 Sidekick.

3- small (preferably flip) cell phone with bluetooth - still a better phone than a sidekick and with bluetooth it can be my away-from-wifi internet connection.

4- Sidekick II - the ultimate texting device. See my recent detailed post.

I tell you, cargo pants have never been so essential. Of course, sometimes you just can't take all of these devices with you. That's where the Sidekick II may come in with it's phone if required, camera with flash, minimalist organizer capabilities that synch to an online backup in the background.

Now, if you've got a second pocket, you can decide whether you would rather be able to take a high-quality photo or be able to do some e-reading. I'm going to a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday. I think I'll want the digital camera as the second device. I won't be able to get away with cargo pants.

There's always purses and little bags if you must. I've got a cool little leather Ameribag shoulder bag that seems designed to carry my collection of devices plus all the other junk like wallet, keys, glasses, pens (highlighter, 4-color ballpoint), and extra SD cards - like my Britannica. It's tough being a gadget freak!

Kitchen Sink Cell phones

This graphic by Stuart Goldenberg says it all. It refers to the upcoming HP6315 with wifi/cell/bluetooth/infrared et al. David Pogue has written a great little firsthand review for the New York Times. It's called A Palmtop as Wireless Omnivore. The truth that hit home for me is that "when you shop for palmtops...you are really shopping for compromises."

David says that the HP6315, expected out on August 26, switches seamlessly from one brand of wireless to another. But admits that you may look and feel funny using it as a phone. Again, the graphic tells the story here. He says you'll smudge the screen holding it up to your face. I wrote about this PDA/phone myself last Tuesday. Even if you read mine, I gotta say there's more, different and better-written in this NYT piece.