Cool, and I might even make a buck.

This is all well and good, but what about the obvious ethical implications of putting what really amounts to advertising on my teaching web site? I’ve been an Amazon Affiliate for some time — as well as having a Google AdSense account. I put ads on my web sites in various places (just glance to the right on this page), never really thinking that they would earn any money. And I’ve been right. I think to this day — after some years — I have a total of $29.62 in my AdSense account, and I’ve earned about as much from Amazon. The former is essentially unreachable until it reaches $50, so in 2015, Google might be buying me a bottle of Makers Mark.

I also have an affiliate account through my ISP. They actually pay pretty well. For each new account they get through me, I get $80. I’m not sure how they can even do that, since that’s about what they charge a year for web hosting. When I taught Writing for Digital Media a couple of years ago, I advertised for my ISP in various posts pertaining to the class, like this one. Nowhere did I require them to use my ISP, but I might have remarked that since I am familiar with how they work, and my experiences with them have all been good, that they could do worse choosing another hosting company. Many choose another company, but a few went with Midphase. The revenues I made just off that class paid for my year’s domain name renewal and hosting services.

In a world where everything is increasingly an advertisement, am I being naive in thinking that the system hasn’t been in the classroom for years now? Just look at the average price of college textbooks these days. Those “creative ways” that publishers use to make more money are likely not going away anytime soon. In fact, one walk around campus will prove that many colleges provide businesses with prime advertising spaces, not to mention that belovèd marketing to campus email systems — and I’m not even talking about penis-enlargement spam.

The bulletin boards are even in the classroom. I found myself lecturing in front of one the other day. Most of the flyers are for campus organizations and activities, but many are also for off-campus businesses, yard sales, guitar lessons, and spawn-care services. That’s in the classroom. I’m talking about a web site. My web site, funded by me, solely.

Still, if I were using paper syllabi, would I ever put an ad on it? Are required texts themselves an ad?

While you’re thinking about answers, you might as well do some shopping at my new store. Just click the advertisement below. Come again and have a nice day.

Google has added video chat to Gtalk. Now, I don’t need to launch a separate application to use the video and audio chat. Nice. And both the audio and video seem to work very well. (Granted, we were in the same room when we tried it.)

They also added Labs to Gmail: a cool assortment of add-ons, like a bevy of new icons to replace the generic yellow star, new colors for labels, and other functional plug-ins.

Last, but not least, they now have themes. I like planets, ’cause I’m a space cadet.

Check it out, and thanks Google.

Apple has joined Google in publicly opposing California’s Proposition 8, a measure intended to ban the rights of gay Californians to legally marry, and has contributed $100,000 to defeat the measure.

Way to go, Apple (and Google)! From Apple’s own web site about California’s Proposition 8:

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

For more about Prop 8′s attempted discrimination, see No on 8.

According to their press release, this application will “provide users the same fast and comprehensive search functionality they’ve grown accustomed to on the web to search the full text of all information on their hard drive, including e-mail, files, music, and photos.”

It seems to work much in the same way as Apple’s Spotlight, but it includes search for my Gmail account and Web, something that Spotlight does not do — at least not without some help. Like most Google software, Desktop is elegant and easy to use. It took a bit of time to index my PowerBook’s files, then after that searching was as easy as hitting my command key twice.

Thanks, again, Google.

I just set up a new domain name, grlucas.net, through Yahoo! Small Business. I received an offer yesterday that looked suspiciously like spam, but I’m glad I looked at it: they’re offering to register a new domain name for only $2 for the first year! I bought my domain for three years for about $22. Nice.

Once the order was processed, I was able to login and easily forward traffic to this site — all in under fifteen minutes. That was so easy, I thought I’d take it a step further and sign up for Google Apps, since I like the services they offer Earthshine. When I initially signed up for the service with Earthshine, it took Google about two weeks to get back to me. That was not my experience this time: even before I finished submitting the second form, they had set up my account.

In under an hour, I had all the numbers changed (CNAME, MX records, and such) in the easy-to-navigate Yahoo control panel that point to my new Google services. Easy as shopping at Amazon.

What will I do with this new site? I think I’ll use it as a links page: all about yours truly. All the stuff on the side f this blog will be transferred there, so this space will be exclusively for my ranting. I may even pick up another name or two before I’m finished. If you’ve always wanted a place on the web, now might be the time. Yahoo offers a full line of web hosting services, too. However, their fees are a bit high, in my experience, but that could be a way to go for someone just starting out.

Don’t pass up this deal. Get your brain out there.

[grumble]
Really cool, Google. Well, when I went to save this entry on Blogger — a service owned by Google! — I get the error that the “tag is not allowed.” Sheesh. I guess they mean you can use it on any site, but Blogger. Thanks.
[/grumble]

Since my reader is all new, I have been reading a bit more. I’ve discovered a couple of sites worthy of mention.

The first is Solution Watch, a site that “surveys the new generation of the web, reviewing and providing in-depth walkthroughs of today’s best products and services.” Great idea. A current entry addresses educational solutions for tech-savvy educators and students. Many of these I knew about (and some I use), but I am happy to see that inroads are being made into an online grade book, something I’ve been wanting for a while, not just for my own use, but as a place where students can view their progress at any time.

Chalksite looks like an excellent solution, with one huge drawback: apparently the creators do not understand that teachers (including most professors) make next to nothing, so making us pay for this service seems a bit ridiculous. Teacher! looks like it has potential, but is still apparently in the beta phase, and they are not presently taking new accounts. I might try Engrade.

Also linked off of Solution Watch’s report is Emurse, the web-based résumé creator with an unfortunate name. I got an account so I can post my vita. I mean, who knows when having an online vita might come in handy? Emurse allowed me to create a cv from scratch, and when I’m finished, I’ll be able to post it online. It even allows me to password protect it, if necessary. I’m right in the middle of porting my cv, but so far Emurse is working well. I may even pay the few bucks to get more templates.

It seems like Emurse would be great for teaching professional or technical communication, too.

So far, I’ve been pretty impressed with the simplicity and power of Writely. I’ve already uploaded many documents in rich text and Word formats, and I have not had a problem yet. I’m glad something like this came along, since I have been meaning to go through my various backups of my documents folder for some time now to sortsortsort. I know: I need another like project like I need more students in my composition courses, but uploading and cleaning up can be done while zoneing in front the teevee. I’m sure I’ll have more to say in the next couple of days, but between Google Notebook and Writely, I should have all my word processing needs taken care of for a while.

Damn, and I just got Pages 2.

To me, this is what the Interenet should be: slick applications and plenty of server space, especially for applications that have bridged the gap between the world of paper commnication and digital networks. It seems that programmers and those web 2.0 startups are finally starting to get it. While a word processor used to be where I spent most of my time on a computer, Firefox now occupies the front position on my monitor. With sites/applications like Flickr, Wikipedia, Del.icio.us, YouTube, Digg, FeedBurner, and all those Google resources — Gmail, Calendar, Analytics, Notebook, Videos, Reader, Bookmarks, Help (thanks for the link) — using the Internet is actually exciting again. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I launched a word processor, and I’m an English professor!

I’m happy to say that my Mac has been Microsoft-free for over a year now. Much of this I credit to Apple, but lately, Google and those others I’ve just mentioned have eclipsed Apple as the true software innovators. Apple, what have you done for me lately? .Mac? Pluh-leese. Google might have replaced Apple as my favorite tech company. A shame, but damn they deserve it.

Writely is presently not taking new members until they’ve moved to Google servers, but you can bet I’ve asked to be notified.

BTW, if you’re not using Gmail and want a kicking address (ANYTHING@earthshine.org), talk to me. This means you, Bilderback.

	Science Fiction – Lucas
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