Tech News

In the wake of the Tiger Woods scandals, a new iPhone app named TigerText allows you to send and receive text messages which can’t be traced later on. Or at least that’s how the story goes, but that story isn’t quite accurate.

The app doesn’t actually involve sending SMS messages over the phone network. Instead, the messages are sent exclusively through the app itself, meaning both the sender and recipient must install the software to get them. (The app itself is free and includes up to 100 messages in the first 15 days. After that the sender pays $1.50 for 250 messages or $2.50 for unlimited messaging.)

Of course, adulterous spouses could buy a package of messages for their secret lover, though whether that will be seen as a sweeping romantic gesture may be open to question.

The message never actually exists as such on the recipient’s phone. Instead, it is stored on the servers of the company running the service. They automatically wipe it after a time set by the sender, ranging from one minute to five days. After, this it becomes completely inaccessible, so if either the sender or the recipient wants to look back longingly at it later, they’ll have to take a photograph of the screen.

The theory is that even if it’s by legal action, the company would be unable to hand over any details of messages as the records would no longer exist. It does keep call records (who sent a message to who and at what time) by default, though these can also be set to be automatically wiped.

It’ll be interesting to see how this theory is tested in the event that people use the app to cover crimes of more interest than adultery to the authorities. Certainly an ISP that took a similar approach to e-mails wouldn’t find itself too popular with the security services.

The creator of the app told Time that the name of the app had been chosen before the Woods stories broke and that it is just coincidental. (He doesn’t explain where the name did come from, though a company FAQ says it is because tigers are difficult to track and also that it launches in the Chinese year of the tiger.)

He also explains that the motivation of the app is to increase privacy and allow users more leeway when they text something they later regret and would prefer there was no record.

Android and BlackBerry editions are in the works.

Related posts:

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When I stumbled on this this morning, I though that it would be another poorly composed amateur nerd-themed song, but boy was I wrong. Dave and Brian’s “The Dork Anthem” has to be one of the most awesome music video I’ve listened to so far this year.

I only have one problem with the name of the song… I mean, have you looked up the definition of “dork” recently?

USA pejorative slang for a quirky, silly and/or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends. Often confused with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same intelligence level. [Source: Wikipedia]

Maybe they should have named the song “The Geek Anthem” instead? It would certainly have sounded a bit less derogatory that way, wouldn’t you say?

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Whatever you get when you combine games, Star Wars, and Lego construction has to be awesome. When it’s big and useful, it’s doubly awesome! Stefan built a foosball table completely from Lego bricks and manned it with Star Wars minifigs, for Mocpages.

This is my original LEGO Star Wars Soccer Table, it’s fully playable. Two games have been played on this table – I lost both against my son, but the Empire will strike back.

Check out all the angles in this Flickr set.

[via Coolest Gadgets]

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How I used a blog to attract thousands of subscribers my first week.

Why I make six figures and you don’t.

How I quit my day job and now I work all day in my robe and slippers while my wife brings me lattes.

Ever seen headlines like these before? Find them at least a little compelling?

Like every good headline, they exist to attract attention and convince you to keep reading. They’re trying to get you thinking about how to use a tool like blogging to make lots of cash.

But there’s something in those big promises that misses the mark.

Now that I have some experience under my belt as a blogger making an online income, I’d like to talk about the missing ingredient of those pitches.

It’s not about your blog

Lance Armstrong has a great book out called It’s Not about the Bike.

In his case it’s about one of his testicles. To be more specific, the one he no longer has.

The book is about how his bike became a vehicle in a bigger race than the Tour de France or his Nike deal, how his bike is a metaphor for life.

Lance and his tragic disease wouldn’t be famous without his bike. And as an online entrepreneur, you won’t be famous, either, without your blog.

That said, it’s still not about the blog. Not at all. The day you realize that fact is the day you’ll turn an essential corner toward reaching your goal of making a living online.

So what is it about, if not the blog?

It’s about your business.

Your blog and your business are different, yet related, things. The former is a sub-set of the latter. The difference is sometimes subtle, but it’s a critical one.

Your blog is a strategy, a branding and marketing vehicle, a means toward an end.

Your business is the money-making model. A product or service for sale.

Your blog isn’t for sale. It may be of service, but it’s a service you’re giving away for free.

Which means, if giving out free content is all you’re doing, or if your blogging has become the core deliverable of what you believe to be a business, your strategy is upside-down.

There’s nothing magic about a blog

When I started out, blogging not only seemed like a good idea — especially with all the voices that suggested you could get rich doing it — it was also incredibly rewarding right out of the gate.

Not monetarily. It was rewarding because of how it felt.

Connecting with people. Helping them. Sucking up all that nice feedback. Participating in a community, being part of a meaningful dialogue.

Those are, and should remain, part of the reasons you blog.

But if they aren’t your real objective, your end game — if making a living is an element you want to add to that mix — it’s time to take stock. Because it’s so easy to get lost in all that community stuff, the warm and fuzzy elbow rubbing, the sense of doing something helpful and worthwhile.

Which doesn’t pay you a dime until you actually sell something.

There will come a day when it hits you

You’ve been getting up in the middle of the night to perfect a post that will go out via Feedburner at dawn. You’ve sweated the syntax of your opening line and polished those nouns and verbs until you found yourself dreaming of your old high school English teacher.

You really care. You’ve become your blog. Just possibly, at the expense of your business plan.

It hit me recently in a post from David Risley, who is one of those “pro bloggers” who, if you don’t read him closely enough, or if you only hear what you want to hear, could lead you to believe that blogging will be the source of your new income, and sometime soon.

But on this day I did read closely, and what I saw there rocked my blogging world.

David, in essence, said this: blogs don’t make money. Businesses make money.

(You’ve seen that message here on Copyblogger as well.)

Your blog is the face of your business, the voice of your brand, the bait that attracts a following.

And yes, you give away as much as you can with it, selflessly and abundantly.

But until you have a product or service to sell, and until the blog connects to that enterprise in a way that actually begins to generate actual revenue in addition to pumping up your online reputation and ego, your blog is nothing other than you expelling positive energy into the universe.

Or, to put it another way, just so much hot air.

Looking for a free online resource that will teach you to think like a businessperson, not just another struggling blogger? Check out Internet Marketing for Smart People, the Copyblogger email newsletter.

About the Author: Larry Brooks is the creator of Storyfix.com, an instructional resource for novelists and screenwriters. His book, The Six Core Competencies of Successful Storytelling, will be published by Writers Digest Books in early 2011.

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Always wondered what the other half was?

Now you know!

[Via Nerduo]

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What's it?

Why do you need to feel like something in order to do the work? They call it work because it's difficult, not because it's something you need to feel like.

Very few people wake up in the morning and feel like taking big risks or feel like digging deep for something that has eluded them. People don't usually feel like pushing themselves harder than they've pushed before or having conversations that might be uncomfortable.

Of course, your feelings are irrelevant to whether or not the market expects great work. Do the work. Ignore the feelings part and the work will follow.

-Apple admits using child labour
Apple has admitted that child labour was used at the factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones.

-HDTV Test: Does 1080p truly matter?
When it comes to TVs, the size of the display certainly matters, but for those of you who were wondering whether most people can really tell the difference when it comes to “full HD” and 1080p versus as 720p, we tested out two sets that are on the “cusp” of truly showing off true HD quality, at 42 inches.

-Amazing 3D Pavement Art
I thought Julien Beever was good, but Edgar Mueller takes 3D chalk pavement art to a new level!

-15 Awesome Google Services You Never Knew Existed
Most of the mega company’s services are either full blown web applications readily available to the public, or secretly tucked away behind a door in the Google Labs. However, even those wearing their Public Beta scrubs are readily available to play with.

-Five Best Music Streaming Services
The internet has revolutionized nearly every form of media, and music is no exception. This week we look at the five most popular music streaming services to see how people are getting their music fix.

-10 Dumbest 911 Calls
Some people call 911 for very strange reasons and often get in trouble for it. Meet ten 911 stories you won’t believe.

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Traffic Light Feedback, an instant feedback service, is giving away 3 annual accounts ( £180 GBP/account) to WebResourcesDepot readers.

Details on "how to winning the licenses" can be found at the bottom of the post, but before that:

What is Traffic Light Feedback?

Learning what your users are thinking on a subject (a new feature you're planning to add, how the support was, etc.) is so important to better shape products, services or plans.

However, nobody is interested in filling forms that requires time & focus.

And, this is where Traffic Light Feedback comes in. It offers a very simple way of getting feedback from users: asking a question & having 3 clickable responses (green, yellow and red) where users don't have to fill anything.

You can create an unlimited number of templates (that carry your logo) to be sent anytime you want.

Every feedback gathered can be viewed from your dashboard & it is possible to set different e-mails to be notified for every traffic light clicked (which is great for taking proactive measures "for ex: customer support contacting the user if the feedback is red).

Adding customer lists to Traffic Light Feedback is very simple with the "import from spreadsheet" feature. And every e-mail sent has an "unsubscribe" link attached for allowing your customers to unsubscribe themselves.

The service also has a SOAP API for seamless integrations with 3rd party softwares.

How to win the licenses?

Commenting to this post is enough to join the giveaway & winners will be selected randomly via the query below on 8 March 2010 (1 week later).

SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_id=1486 AND comment_approved=1 AND comment_type='' GROUP BY comment_author_email ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3

Good luck to all : ).

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