Daily archives: November 20, 2006

Review Me- paid reviews

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by

Earlier this year there was a big fuss in the blogging community over services that paid bloggers to write reviews of products. There was no disclosure, and positive reviews were expected. Obviously, the ethics of this were questionable and the backlash predictable.

ReviewMe is another site offering bloggers money to write reviews, but they demand a bit more transparency. Bloggers are expected to announce, prominently if not upfront, that they are being paid for the article and they are expected to give honest reviews. I’m getting $30 to write this, by the way.

I’ve signed Spinneyhead and How to Save the World for Free up to ReviewMe. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of products and services get oferred to How to Save the World, and just how Green they really are.

Joining is easy enough, blogs are accepted based upon a start rating system- which also affects how much you can expect to be paid for a review. The system draws on Alexa and other information about the blog. I was surprised to get a two out of five stars for both my submitted blogs. I must be more influential than I thought. (But, obviously, not as influential as I’d like.) Once you’ve been accepted you just sit back and wait for the advertisers to contact you with offers. There is one review you can do right at the beginning. ReviewMe has an advertising budget of $25,000 (since raised to $100,000) dedicated to getting reviews of the service, hence this piece. I learnt about the service from one such post, and I’ve seen another since signing up, so they’ve already proved effective.

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So Much To Answer For- Part 13

This entry was posted in Fiction Manchester So Much to Answer For on by

There was a dark shape hovering over Joe. It seemed to be talking to him.

A couple more dark shapes moved around behind the one that was talking. There were blue lights flashing. Joe’s right side was cold and uncomfortable.

“…..your name?”

“Joe.” He was lying on his side on a hard, cold surface, he realised. He tried to sit up, but a gentle hand on his shoulder discouraged him. “The streetlight is my home.”

“What?”

“Sorry. Lyrics. I don’t know where the came from. Joe Wilkinson. My name’s Joe Wilkinson.”

“Okay.”

“Why am I on the ground?”

“You were attacked. Your neighbour scared them off and called the Police. Do you want to try and sit up?”

“Okay.” With help, Joe struggled up. The other shapes resolved into a policeman and one of his neighbours whose name he couldn’t remember. The policeman came over.

“Hallo sir. Can you remember what happened?”

“No. I was texting. Then. No, can’t remember.”

“Is this your phone?”

“Yes.” Joe checked his pockets. “I’ve got my wallet and keys.” He pulled the wallet out. “Don’t think anything’s missing.”

“So you’re not missing anything?”

Joe looked around. “My back pack. I’m sure I had it with me.”

“What was in your backpack?”

“My camera. Some sketchbooks and note pads. A water proof. Puncture repair kit….” The policeman was looking less and less interested as the items became less expensive. Joe felt like adding ‘cuddly toy’ but restrained himself.

The paramedics decided to take Joe back to the MRI, to close a cut above his right eye and check for concussion. He wasn’t concussed enough to argue. The policeman took his details and issued a report ticket.

Sitting in the waiting room at the MRI Joe read the ticket half a dozen times. Hopefully on this visit he wouldn’t have to look at a dead body or be treated as a suspect.

A nurse sealed the wound over his eye with glue, a junior doctor tested his responsiveness and decided he didn’t need a scan, and then they sent him home with nothing more than a prescription for pain killers. He got on another 43 Magic Bus, the same one for all he knew, got off in Withington and paid careful attention to every single shadow. Safe, but stressed, he made it home, collapsed and finally got to sleep at four in the morning.

Part 14
Part 12
Part 1

NaNoWriMo Progress

Other fiction- check out Heavensent, the propeller-punk sci-fi war novel I recently wrapped up, or download Another Education/Ruby Red or Ten Years Asleep.

Donate Now I’ve started writing again I’m unlikely to stop, but it would be nice if I could eat during my breaks. So please feel free to donate some money to my starving author fund by clicking on the PayPal button below.




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Taking gaming to a new dimension…..

This entry was posted in sex Sex Toy on by

Ian was talking about actually building his sex toy at the weekend. Just to give him a headstart, I have managed to get hold of a spare PS2 controller (with vibrate function) from ebay. I have also located a programming guide for the PS2 (which does involve soft modding a PS2, of which we have access to 2), from PS2 DEV.

I do have a few ideas on what the software should ultimately do, but I will be happy just to get the vibration thing working to start off with.

Somehow I don’t think Sony are going to let us license this product….

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