Nour.ish a popular rss to newsletter tool on the web has been down for a while making me switch many of my sites i have made to feedburner to distribute newsletters. Great news came out today, you can read the letter below:

Dear Nourish user,

You may have been aware that the founders of Nouri.sh fell into some financial difficulties over the last few months and the service was neglected. Knowing how much you will have missed it, we are pleased to announce that Nouri.sh has recently been acquired by Web-Translations and will be back online from Friday 3 July 2009.

When you log in, you will see that your campaigns and distribution lists are as you left them but as a result of the acquisition, no billing information transferred so all accounts have been set to a free account, which uses the default template and is limited to 1000 emails a month.

Over the coming weeks, we will be working through and fixing some of the bugs that have been a cause of frustration on the forums.

We will also be adding some new features to help make Nourish even better. We would therefore appreciate you taking a short survey, which should take no more than 5 minutes of your day, to really help us improve the service and add the features you want:

http://www.nouri.sh/survey/part1.php?uid=229

Thanks for your patience as we try to make the transition of Nouri.sh as smooth as possible and don’t forget to:-

1) re-register from Friday 3 July;

2) help shape the service through the survey;

3) select a new payment plan. http://www.nouri.sh/register.php

As an incentive to act now, the first 50 customers to complete the survey and sign up for an annual subscription will receive an additional 25% discount!

Kind regards,

Laura Palmieri
Operations Executive

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

So you’ve heard of google right? Yea i thought so. But have you heard of Bing? Nope, i thought so to.

Bing is a new search engine, a new engine from the big guns, Microsoft.

Bing is an attempt to win back some market share from google and on first appearance looks very much similar to google’s design.

So whats difference? How are they going to try and win back some people?

• Well for starters, they give you a random big picture that looks rather nice. Cool. All i can say is more bandwidth, right?
• Short name. Instead of typing 5 characters, you get to type 4. That will totally save my fingers and hands from getting RSI!
• Searches are fasted they have ever been for microsoft, i did a quick test however, and google still won :)

My 2 minute quick conclusion? Stay with google…

For more info visit these sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bing_(search_engine)

http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2009/05/29/our-first-look-at-bing-5-things-that-stand-out.aspx

http://www.customerthink.com/article/cbm_news_may_29_2009

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=18952

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

Nearly every day someone asks me why is twitter better, or why get twitter when facebook does the same thing?

In a quick overview, twitter is simply facebook status’s but with a more public view and live photo streaming.

Side By side comparison:

Facebook: Requires two-way verification for full sharing between two people. If someone doesn’t accept your friend request, you most likely can’t see what they are up to, because most people stick with default strong privacy settings. Facebook is more for your tight circle of friends where you can share events such as birthday parties and share pictures of them and yourself.

Twitter: You can follow just about anyone you want, Obama, Kevin Rudd, major celebrities and your friends. Just click follow and you see a real news feed from everyone your following.

Tags & Replies:

Facebook: Facebook doesn’t have tags, only replies, and these replies aren’t seen unless you visit the repliee’s wall.

Twitter: You can use tags such as #event which is sort of like a reference of where you are or what your doing. People can search for the tag and see everyone else tagging the same thing. For Eg. Your at a conference, search #conference and you can see all the other tweeters bagging the speaker out and discussing it further. To reply to someone just write @name at the start of your message to reply to someone’s tweet.

Photos:

Facebook: Can share photos and tag people in them and create albums of specific events. Not as “live” as twitter.

Twitter: Live Photo tweeting. At a cool place, or skating in the park, take a photo on your phone, and tweet it and everyone can see it live as it comes through on their feed.

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BOOM!!!

Yes, it has arrived. My new accounting niche blog.

“OzAccounting brings you the latest updates from the ATO, Advice and general tips on saving you money.”

www.ozaccounting.com.au

Let me know what you think, or any improvements that could be made.

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

This site, Gender Analyzer, looks at the content of your site and tells you if it thinks a male or female has written it.

Mine says, “We think http://www.ardorpes.com is written by a man (81%).”

I must be doing something right, maybe my grammar and poor spelling is what gave it away??

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

Who do you follow on twitter? Well dave had a good idea of following some comedians that could give you a chuckle when your out and about on your phone.

So heres a thought I’d colate a list of some of the best tweeters to follow.

Comedians:

• Chris Walken
• CK Louis
• Paul Scheer
• Max Silvestri
• Jonathan Coulton
• William Shatner
• Borat Sagdiyev
• Steven
  

Locals Tweeters:

• Wyong Shire Council
• SMH News
• Kevin Rudd
• Guy Sebastian
• Dr Karl

Celebrities:

• Shaquille O’Neal
• Steve Jobs
• Barack Obama
• Snoop Dogg
• Bill Gates
• Adam Sandler
• ElijahWood

Other:

• Mark Driscoll
• Google

All i can think of at the moment, if you have more, please comment them and ill consider adding them to the ultimate list.

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

My latest works includes a new kayak factory warehouse on the central coast @ West Gosford.

Challenges in the next 2 weeks will be trying to climb the rank on google as quick as possible, i have spent alot of time on the SEO and building up back links. I have to try and beat 2 sites with a google page rank of 3 which is tough, when the domain is only a couple of weeks old.

Kayakfactorydirect.com.au sells high quality brands and can can offer unbeatable prices as they are the direct importers, therefore no middleman.

Upon the site launch (starting right NOW) all kayaks have 20% off, so grab yourself a bargain if your in the market for a new kayak.

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

Now that you know what RSS is, time to learn how to start engaging with it and using software to subscribe to RSS feeds.

There are three types of software that you can use to subscribe to RSS Feeds

1. Browser Integration (My Favourite)
2. Online Software
3. Offline Software

What solution is right for me?

1. Browser Integration is best for people surfing the net all the time, who want to keep right up to date with their RSS and like it all in one neat bundle.

2. Offline software is best for people who aren’t the biggest fans of RSS and only want to check for updates now and then, or who are busy and don’t want to be distracted by updates when they have free time. (Probably best for work lunch breaks)

3. Online Software is best for people who want to view their feeds right around the globe from any computer there on, great for people traveling.

NOTE: Options 1 & 2 with certain programs can sync with online solutions which may be another option for keen RSS’ers

Ok, now which software and how do I use it?

1. Flock is the best Browser with RSS Feed integration (Windows). Click here for flock reviewed. How to add a RSS feed with flock:

When a feed has been detected in flock, the rss icon will glow orange next to the address bar.

When you your feeds have a new content, the rss icon on the flock toolbar will glow orange, click it and your feeds are displayed.

There are many other cool social web features that flock offers as well, for tutorials and information, type “about:flock” into your address bar.

You can change in flocks options how often to check for new feeds as well.

Other Software:

• Opera – Click here for tutorial.(Recommended for all other operating systems)

2. Google Reader has been rated the best online feed software. Some advantages include mobile compatibility and many plugins that work with operating systems and software, designed by google themselves.

Sign in or sign up if you don’t have a google account and start adding feeds, or watch this easy tutorial video from youtube.

Other Software:

• Bloglines

3. Feed Reader 3 is a great offline RSS Reader. Similar to google reader in features but in a separate offline software package.

Other Software:

• Newzie
• FeedDeamon

What do you use? Have i missed any software solutions? Is there anything else about RSS you would like to know? Please let me know…

<—– Part 1: What Is RSS

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

If you have been alive in the last 10 years & you actually have a life, you would of noticed this thing on websites called RSS. What the heck is it? Well I’ll explain in my two part series.

Definition:

Stands for Really Simple Syndication & is used to publish frequently updated works including blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video. For History of RSS see here.

Why Use RSS?

RSS solves a problem for people who regularly use the web. It allows you to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites you are interested in. You save time by not needing to visit each site individually. RSS Readers list all your favourite sites and highlight new posts and events so you can look into them further.

How to recognise RSS?

Many sites now implement RSS, to keep readers informed and updated. When browsing, look for RSS icons like this one. When you click it, you are redirected to a .xml file which can be copied and added to your feed reader. Some browsers even have indicators when a site has a RSS feed available, read more about this in part 2.

Examples Of Using RSS:

• You read a blog, but don’t want to goto the site all the time to see if a new post has been added. RSS informs you when a new post is available.
• You like buying vintage surfboards on ebay. Set up a filter on ebay so that you only can see boards with vintage in the title and are located within 25km of where you live. Subscribe via RSS and have all the new boards listed right in front of your eyes and never miss a bargain.
• Your friends upload photos & videos to social sites such as Flickr & Youtube, subscribe via RSS and get notified when a new item is uploaded.

—–> Part 2: Engaging With RSS Feeds

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog

I’ve created another feed, which encompasses everything in the lifestream, which might be better for some people to subscribe to as you get the usual feed plus everything else such as youtube favourites, delicious bookmarks and twitter updates.

I managed to make it using a site called Friendfeed. It lets you combine all your social sites and many more into one nice clean feed. Check it out.

Post From Ardorpes | Rhys Evans Blog