September 27, 2008

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Watch Full Episodes

Missed an episode or two of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart? Well, have no fear. You can always catch up on your favorite satirical news television show online on Hulu. Hulu offers free streaming video of TV shows and movies from several different networks and studios.

Hulu has full episodes of over 400 TV shows and over 100 full-length motion pictures from content providers such as: NBC, FOX, Warner Bros. Television, PBS, USA Network, Oxygen, The Sci-Fi Channel, The SPEED Channel, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate Entertainment, MGM and Sony Pictures.

The streaming video content on Hulu is of course ad-supported, but most ads only run for 15 seconds or less and appear only a couple of times through the length of a program. That means you can watch a full-length half-hour television show in about 22 minutes flat. Ya gotta love that!

Anyway, and back to The Daily Show, here are two recent episodes. Enjoy!

Sept. 24, 2008: Actor Aaron Eckhart tells Jon about the film "Towelhead."
Sept. 25, 2008: "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer tells Jon about his new book, "Bob Schieffer's America."





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September 23, 2008

IntenseDebate Acquired by Automattic


Some news in the blogging world today...the blog comment system IntenseDebate has just been acquired by Automattic (the company behind WordPress). IntenseDebate is currently revamping its servers and features and has temporarily moved back into a private beta during the overhaul.

I got the announcement today from the fellas at IntenseDebate. Here it is in full:

"It's a very exciting day here at IntenseDebate! We're extremely stoked to announce that as of today IntenseDebate has been acquired by Automattic. That's right, IntenseDebate is now an Automattic Joint!

Don't worry, IntenseDebate isn't going anywhere. IntenseDebate is still the perfect comment system for your blog or website regardless of the platform it uses. We will still enhance and encourage conversation on your blog while we increase your reader engagement and community. We're just going to be a whole lot bigger!

You can expect our service to be quicker and offer a more robust feature set. We will continue to improve our service for all blog platforms including Blogger, Typepad, Movable Type, Tumblr, and others with more on the way. You can also look forward to advanced integrations with other Automattic products like Gravatar, Akismet, and of course WordPress.

This is good news all around, especially with our new distribution possibilities. Now we have the opportunity to put IntenseDebate in front of more eyes than ever before. You can expect more blog readers to already have IntenseDebate accounts and you will be able to comment on more blogs than you can imagine!

We love your support and couldn't have gotten here with out you! Thanks again for being so awesome and helping us spread the word! You can look forward to even more comments and page views in the future! Feel free to check out our acquisition post and leave a us comment.

Congratulations to everyone!
The Fellas at IntenseDebate"


Why It's Good For WordPress

This acquisition is definitely good for WordPress. It's no secret that WordPress has been in need of an updated comment system for quite some time. Now that need will no longer be there.

WordPress 2.7 will include some of IntenseDebate's comment system features by default, one of which includes threaded comments. I use IntenseDebate here on this blog, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that threaded comments rock!

WordPress 2.7 will also include a plugin that will integrate many of the other great IntenseDebate features, such as commenting across multiple blogs. With these new features and additions, I think WordPress users will be very happy indeed.

Why It's Good for IntenseDebate

On the IntenseDebate side, this acquisition means that you'll be seeing IntenseDebate a lot more often as the joining of the two outfits opens up distribution possibilities. This means that you should be able to use your IntenseDebate profile on a lot more blogs. A definite plus.

There will also be tighter integration with some of the other Automattic joints, such as Akismet (Automattic's distributed and learning anti-spam system) and Gravatar (their globally recognized avatar).

The IntenseDebate name and logo will remain the same, and you'll still be able to use the IntenseDebate comment system on many of the popular blogging platforms (TypePad, Blogger, Tumblr and Movable Type), with even more blogging platforms to be added to the mix.

Happy for the Future of Blogging

The folks at Automattic have already done some great work on projects like Akismet, WordPress.com, WordPress.org and bbPress, not to mention the many WordPress plugins they've written (Google AdSense for Feeds, Secure Admin, Secure Admin, No Self Ping and Batcache, to name a few).

They have an excellent track record and I'm really excited to see what the future of blogging holds for everyone. This is an acquisition that I am definitely pleased to see, so long as the two services remain separate, as they say they will.

Remaining "separate" is very important for many bloggers. For example, I use Blogger here for this blog...so the last thing I'd want to happen would be losing my IntenseDebate comment system due to some "corporate" BS. I guess we shall see. But so far, so good.


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September 17, 2008

Hump Day Humor - Automatic Confession and Steve the Mime

A little humor to brighten up your Wednesday. Automatic Confession and Steve the Mime.

First, you'll be pleased to see that the Catholic Church has finally taken the steps to embrace technology and update their centuries-old confession process with a new, high-tech automatic confessional. No more embarrassment from having to speak your dirtiest sins to another living person...the priest who knows your voice and KNOWS who you are.

Nope, nope, nope. Automatic Confession takes away all the pain and embarrassment of the traditional means by which to avoid your eternal hell sentence, and replaces it with a system so quick and easy to use that you'll be more than happy to confess your sins and receive your punishment...I mean, penance.

Just speak your sins into the microphone, press the keypad to confirm, and you're done! Confession has never been easier...or has it. ;)
Automatic Confession

And now, for some unparalleled performance art, I give you Steve the Mime. Steve the Mime will absolutely AMAZE you with his exceptional miming skills. No second-rate entertainment here, folks. When it comes to miming, this guy's got everyone beat...hands down. :P

Steve the Mime


For more great videos like these, check out SorryIAteTheBeans.com.


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September 15, 2008

A New Breed Of Autoresponder: Auto Message Setup

Posted by Tom Kulzer (AWeber CEO)

The concept of the follow up autoresponder revolutionized Internet Marketing. Now, “Auto Message Setup” promises to bring the field an even greater degree of efficiency.

This recent innovation lets experienced marketers painlessly transfer marketing know-how to their entire downlines. A marketer can now provide each of his downline representatives with a follow up autoresponse system that is already packaged with the marketer’s pre-written messages.

The result? Just a few minutes of work on the part of an experienced marketer, and each of his reps is set up with the same tried and true marketing messages.

Case Study: Marketer Matt and the New Breed

For example, take a look at the case of a fictional network marketer named Matt M:

For years, Matt has been successfully marketing All Natural Pharmaceuticals using a follow up autoresponder. In fact, much of his success can be attributed to the set of seven messages e-mailed to all of his potential customers. Matt has carefully crafted those messages over the years, and they’re really great.

Recently, Matt has been trying to pass what he’s learned along to his downline representatives. He explains his marketing principles over the phone, and he knows that several of his reps pass his follow up messages around amongst themselves.

However, Matt finds that his pearls of wisdom rarely survive this ‘telling and retelling’ intact. He knows his reps aren’t getting anywhere near what they could out of his knowledge. He wishes there were a way to harness today’s technology, and put it to use for the greater good of his downline…

Enter Auto Message Setup

Using an Auto Message Setup system, Matt’s downline reps can order their own follow up autoresponse accounts that are already packaged with Matt’s pre-written messages. They can reap the fruits of Matt’s experience with ease.

Each rep will customize Matt’s messages for himself by logging in to his new follow up autoresponder account, and entering his own contact information.

Here is Matt’s original autoresponse message:

Hi LEAD NAME,

Thanks for stopping by the All Natural Pharmaceuticals web site today! We hope you come back soon!

Best Regards, Matt M.
matt@all-natural-pharma.com 918 Awl St.

Natural, PA 22314

Notice that the message greeting uses a variable, (LEAD NAME). The variable ensures that each of Matt’s leads will receive a message personalized with his or her own name. Notice, also, that Matt’s name and address are at the end of the message.

Case Study: Downline Dan and the New Breed

Dan is one of Matt’s downline representatives. He’s ordered his own follow up autoresponder through Matt. Since Matt is using Auto Message Setup, Dan’s account came pre-packaged with Matt’s marketing messages. Dan personalized those messages to himself by answering a few questions in his Online Control Panel. Now Dan is sending his own personalized version of Matt’s messages to his customers! All of the basic content is Matt’s, but Dan’s contact information is on the letters. Here is the autoresponse that Dan sends to his potential customers:

Hi, LEAD NAME

Thanks for stopping by the All Natural Pharmaceuticals web site today! We hope you come back soon!

Best Regards, Dan D.
dan@pharma-ceuticals.com 5 Farm Way
Sootuh, TN 88457

Notice that the contact name and address at the end of the e-mail are Dan’s, but that the greeting at the beginning of the message still includes the name of Dan’s lead.

Mission Accomplished

With Matt’s experience in hand, Dan is now marketing more successfully than ever before. And he isn’t the only one - Matt’s entire downline is now using his marketing messages! Matt’s commissions are growing exponentially.

Matt and Dan’s situation is not unique. Any network marketer with an established downline can take advantage of the opportunities available in an auto message setup system. There’s no better way to put more auto in your autoresponder.