It’s the silly season so it’s time to have a little fun. Oh, and it’s the season of sharing and love. Thus, I shall share with you all, something… I shall share my RSS subscription list. Isn’t that a kind gift?

Well, I don’t know about you but I love reading things like this. Peoples favourite books, music, RSS subscriptions (of course), restaurants, sock colour (?), etc.

Just to get started. I use Google Reader for all my RSS viewing. To be quite honest, I have never used any other similar tools so wouldn’t know if there are better viewers out there but use Reader simply because it’s a Google product (I love Google of course) and it ties in with all my iGoogle widgets. Now for the fun stuff:

At Ease - This is a Radiohead fan site. Probably the best of its kind on the web - in my opinion. Importantly, with a World Tour on the cards I have to keep up to date with the latest Radiohead news.

Ben Metcalfe - I forget how I found out about Ben Metcalfe. I don’t know much about him or his work either. I think he’s done some work with MySpace so thought he’d be an interesting chap to follow. He hasn’t added much new content of late - probably working hard at MySpace as presumed - so I will be patient with this one.

Branding Strategy Insider - Well, as a marketing major it sort of goes without saying why I am subscribed to this feed. Always interesting stuff on branding to be found here.

Carbon Planet - I love - or should that be <3 - Carbon Planet. Their purpose in society; their website; they blog; their people; they building - all mighty fine! David Sag, Carbon Planet’s CEO is always very interestingly read and covers the pressing issues. Very Australian focused but very relevant, globally.

College Startup - Always full of helpful stories for a budding blogger like myself. It has a nice for-students feel about it too, surprisingly.

EJ - Entrepreneurs-Journey by Yaro Starak is without doubt, one of the best Internet Business blogs/sites on the entire WWW. I must admit, his site has gotten a little commercial of late with stacks of ‘product reviews’ overtaking informative articles but they are starting to get interesting too as my knowledge and interest in the topic expand.

Gearfire - I have no idea what this blog is about from face value. I will keep you posted I guess. It must be on my list for a reason.

Official Google Blog - Australia - I don’t think I have to say much about this one. I think it would be foolish not to keep up with Google’s Australian focused news.

ifoApple Store - This is a news and information blog about Apple’s retail stores. Very much a narrow, underservied niche and I am sure one that could use just the one site - this one. It’s nice to be able to follow the development of cool Apple concept stores across the globe.

Internet Outsider - Another site I don’t know much about. I will have to keep an eye on it and see how it fares.

Naomi Simson - I have been following Naomi for a few years via BRW magazine in which she has featured a few times. Naomi runs Red Balloon Day, a highly successful gift/adventure/experience booking business. She’s very much a motivater and leader. I love this blog - she’s one experienced woman.

Official Google Blog - This is the worldwide Google blog and it’s more active than it’s Australian offspring. I read it for the aforementioned reasons.

Pajago - Well, as if I wouldn’t have my own blog on my RSS list. I do this primary to see how my posts look in Reader. Just to ensure they don’t go funky and all.

ProBlogger & ProBlogger Jobs - Only added these this morning. Can’t really say a lot yet.

Radiohead News - This is an auxiliary to At Ease - just incase one or the other crashes…

Ok, I am going to call this post 1 of 2. This post has turned out longer than I expected.

Stay tuned for part 2 which will be posted tomorrow during the week.

PJG

I do apologise for this not being new content. I haven’t had much time to tap away at the keys, you see. However, I have stumbled across a few really interesting sites and blog posts over the weekend and following, is one of them.

I found this post on a new blog I have subscribed to, Branding Strategy Insider:

What are the most powerful marketing words in the English language? Since the early 60’s researches in advertising and academia have presented various findings. All agree the power lies in ten to twelve words. Here are the results chronologically:

1961: You, Easy, Money, Save, Love, New, Discovery, Results, Proven, and Guarantee

Source: [Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), Nov. 1, 1963, p. 4; Lowell (Mass.) Sun, Nov. 4, 1963, p. 5; Northwest Arkansas Times, Nov. 7, 1963, p. 4; etc.]

1970: The 12 most persuasive words in the English language are: you, money, save, new, results, health, easy, safety, love, discovery, proven and guarantee. According to the claim of researchers in the Yale psychology department.

Source: [Fresno (Calif.) Bee Republican, Jan. 20, 1970, p. 7; Yuma (Ariz.) Daily Sun, Jan. 20, 1970, p. B6; Burlington (N.C.) Daily Times-News, Jan. 20, 1970, p. 6A; etc.]

Here’s an Associated Press item from January 1972, in which the list takes on significance by being quoted from the Canadian Consumer Magazine:

The Canadian Consumer Magazine quotes a research report saying that the 12 most persuasive words in the English language are: You, money save, new, results, health, easy, safety, love, discovery, proven and guarantee. Note that the three-letter word “sex”, didn’t make the top 12.

Source: [Gettysburg (Pa.) Times, Jan. 17, 1972, p. 9; Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Jan. 31, 1972, p. 12; etc.]

Bill Gold repeated the list in his Washington Post column “The District Line” in July 1978.

In a recent issue, Trends reported that a study by experts had identified the 12 most persuasive words in the English language. They were listed as: “money, save, new, you, results, health, safety, easy, guarantee, discovery, proven and love.” Trends also mentions that public relations people and advertising copy writers are wondering how the study managed to overlook “free,” which along with “new,” was long considered one of “the best-selling words in the language.”

Source: [Washington Post, July 27, 1978, p.12]

Enjoy,

PJG

A short while ago Amazon released its ‘revolutionary’ eBook reader, the Kindle. When I first saw it, I didn’t know what to think. I kind of agree with Zack Klein, in that it looks surprisingly like the ‘Pontiac Aztek of e-readers‘. Well get this - but watch the video first… If you want:

Amazon’s new Kindle ebook device sold out almost immediately after going on sale. And there won’t be any more available until after Christmas:

Kindle Availability
Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is sold out. Because orders are prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. Your Kindle will not arrive by December 24th. Note that Kindles cannot currently be sold or shipped to customers living outside of the U.S.

The device, which sells for $400, also is unavailable outside of the U.S. So if you want one now, you have to go through eBay or another second hand retailer.

And it isn’t going to be cheap. Prices range up to $1,500 on eBay. The average final price is $830, and one person paid $1,500 (see Terapeak). So if you want one, you’re going to have to pay.

Couldn’t help myself; had to show you the hideous, hideous Aztek. Believe it or not, this is the 2005 model. Looks at least a kajillion times its age in terms of design.

Source: TechCrunch

One of my favourite Get a Mac ads.

“Mapping out routes for its drivers, drastically reducing the number of left-hand turns they make helped the company shave 28.5 million miles off its delivery routes, which has resulted in savings of roughly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons”. - According to the NY Times…

Prime Minister Helen Clark has entered the blogosphere, posting a rebuttal to The Press political reporter Colin Espiner’s On the House blog over her criticism of journalism standards.

Source: Stuff.co.nz

I always thought geeks were obsessed with Windows computers but this assumption changed over time. Before too long, Linux seemed to be the geek OS (operating system) of choice.

Well, after working 5 months at my current workplace, the assumption has changed again, Apple OSX seems to be the geek OS of choice. I reckon at least 75% of our (my workplace) 300+ strong workforce are Mac users - oh that stat impresses me, so so much.

There are many arguments in circulation as to why people choose Macs. Some say it’s because Mac users are little snobs with nothing better to do than obsess. Others say it’s because they are employed in the film/music/design sector. Well, I think the following, rather lengthy and book-like explanation is spot on:

I want to share with you all a profound moment of clarity I’ve had today.

I was buying a Mac keyboard for my sister for a Christmas present. My sister has a Mac and wanted a Mac keyboard. So there I was. I got to the checkout and I found myself slightly ashamed to be actually buying a Mac product. I mean $69 for a really basic USB keyboard??? It’s worth half that.

So I started complaining to my wife on the way home that I just don’t get Mac users and their over-priced hardware. And what I was really thinking as I was driving was, ‘What a bunch of noobs.’ Anyone who is a PC enthusiast has thought it at least once. Go on, admit it! You think they must just be thick or sucked in by the slick marketing and minimalist packaging.

But we are wrong. And this is my revelation…

Their entire view of tech is fundamentally different to us…I mean on a fundamental level. It’s different. And here it is in a nutshell:

‘They don’t care about technology. They just care about what they can do with it.”

Let that sink in for a bit. Now I’m going to take you on a guided visualisation. Close your eyes…well maybe not…

Now imagine that you’re a second-gen digital native. Home computers existed well before you were born. You’ve never used a camera that requires film. You text so much your thumb is your most mobile digit, you live on Facebook, and you would rather lose your wallet than your mobile phone. You don’t even have a landline.

You want to view your photos, edit HD digital videos, play your music and generally bum around on-line. You probably use a laptop cause you want to do it all from the couch. Tech is everywhere, pervasive, omnipresent. You don’t really think about it. You just use it.

That’s a Mac user, because that’s exactly what Macs deliver. Macs (in all their forms) are friendly, welcoming, stylish (they are…admit it) and they work. You can do all the things you want to do in a tech world and it’s all pretty simple. I mean half of what they want to do is already built into the operating system.

And here’s the beautiful thing. Say someone wants to do something new with their Mac. Like setup a wireless network in their house. They go a shop. Probably a Mac shop. And there is one thing to do it. Airport Extreme. Not twenty variations with various driver issues and all sorts of dohickys and thingemebobs. Just one. I couldn’t believe it today when I was looking at the Airport Extreme (something else my sister was coveting). $259. I saw that it supported wireless N and I’m thinking there is no way my sister had wireless N. So I ask if there is a wireless G version that costs less. Of course not. I’m not thinking Mac. One thing. It’s that simple.

So they buy the Airport Extreme. They take it home. They plug it in. It probably gives them a hug the first time they turn it on. And it works. They plug in an external hard-drive. And there they go. Home network with remote storage.

It’s really a wonderful thing actually. Macs allow all the people who don’t have the inclination to pour over a myriad of hardware or software reviews (which I love to do as I’m such a geek) access to all the same cool tech tools (in a hardware and software sense) as we have. Sure they may not be the best in their class, or the cheapest, or the most efficient. But overall they work, they are hassle free, they are easy to use, and they look nice to have around home.

See you’ve just got to look at it like they do.

I like my car. I have a CRV. It’s good. It drives well, I can fit stuff in it, its relatively safe and it looks alright. While I have a general interest in how it works, I’m not really interested in modifying the suspension, or adjusting the computer controlled fuel-injection system, or whatever else it is that car heads do. My car is a Mac. Most cars are really. But to a car head….what am I? A noob.

So don’t denounce our Mac using brothers and sisters, embrace them! For they are tech lovers just like us. They have just come to the same place via a different path. And next time I buy my sister a pressie that’s white and glossy, I won’t be ashamed. I’ll feel warm in the knowledge that she has found her own way to the place where I live.

What can I say to that. Not a lot. Pretty accurate I think.

Source: Whirlpool

Ok, the time has come for me to ask a favour. If you, my loyal readers have any suggestions at all as to what you would like to see, read or experience on this site, please let me know. Please flick an email to:

suggestions@pajago.com

I’m happy to reply to any queries as well. Come on guys, let me know.

Thanks for your loyalty, PJG.

One of my favourite websites, Valleywag, today commented on Apple’s intention to open an additional 40 stores in 2008. Currently, Apple operates over 200 stores internationally. It’s likely that next years expansion efforts will focus on the international markets. To support this assumption, Apple is in the process of building a flagship store in Sydney.

Ron Johnson, Apple’s Head of Retail recently told the media that there ‘will be a larger number of international stores among the 40 or so that will opening in fiscal 2008′.

Bec and Lleyton Hewitt apparently have a stake in online venture, eSwap.com.au. I wonder how it goes for them.