I went to Affiliate Summit West 2009 and loved it, so it was time to go again. I scored a pass from John Chow, but quickly realized I had an extra, so I ended up giving it to a buddy of mine who doesn’t even own a computer. I was apprehensive, but I knew everyone was nice and would accept him even though he’s a techno-turtle.

Friday

As many of you know, I live in Vermont, so the Hilton in NYC is about a 5.5 hour drive. I left with Charles from Perfectly Grand because I convinced him to go and check out this “affiliate thing”. We left Vermont around 2PM and ended up reaching New York City around 7:30.

Saturday

The Audience Conference was amazing. The small feel of the whole thing made it really easy to approach the big kids in the industry and start a conversation. Talking with people like Jason Calacanis or Chris Brogan was really great. It’s an awesome feeling when Jason can pick me out of a group and ask what I do. Brogan did a great speech. I think he was funnier than some of the comedians. Great job Chris. We all really owe Loren Feldman a standing ovation.

Saturday night I hit the sack early because I knew the next two days would be crazy.

Sunday

I caught the Meet Market around 10AM, and then hit up a couple of sessions, but none of them were really ground breaking. The Affiliate Tactics one by Kim from PlentyOfFish is notable because it was that bad. I wish I had gone to Podcasting 101. I heard that one was great.

ShareASale party was great. I think it was at the Empire Hotel and spent most of the night hanging out with a guy named Zon relatively new to the industry. He’s already ripping it up doing PPC, and just hanging out with him, I have a ton of new ideas. The party was great and the view was awesome.

Ben, a great friend from Hill Farmstead Brewery, showed up Sunday night around midnight and that’s when the fun really started. We hit up Old Castle around the corner and got some drinks. We ended up drinking until about 3:30 in the morning with this guy Steve. Fairly standard drinking night.

Monday

What a night. They day was pretty normal, but what a night.

During the day, I missed breakfast, but caught the Luntz keynote.  I was turned off right away because he didn’t know anything about our industry. What the hell? Learn about the people you’re talking to. Otherwise he had some relevant things to say, but still: not knowing is a big turn-off.

I hit up the Shoemoney Facebook session, which rocked pretty good. John Chow and Ian Fernando were there and up to no good and were throwing things during the speech. Fun times.

I was going to go to the Ask The Experts session, but didn’t make it because I was too busy in the Blogger Lounge with Ben doing this:

Shortly after the beer lounge, I went to dinner with Missy Ward and a bunch of other cool people like Lisa Picarelle and Jim Kukral. I took it easy on the drinking because I didn’t want to make an ass of myself after the beer funneling thing. After that, we shot over to the NeverBlue party, which was kinda ok. It was loud and there wasn’t an open bar, so it was hard to network. ytCracker did a good show though. We stayed for like an hour and then bar hopped our way back to the hotel.
We met this dude from New Zealand that makes a shitload on gambling traffic in Australia. He bought out the bar and got us free drinks until 5AM. My buddy Ben also got digits from a cute girl in an Irish pub somewhere on the way back. This is all really blurry, so please forgive the lack of details. You probably already know more about what happened than we do.

Tuesday

To be totally honest, I don’t remember much of this morning. Ben slept until 5:00PM and I ended up showing up to Kukral’s keynote about 10 minutes late, but even though I’m not cool enough to be a super friend, I respect the guy and wouldn’t miss it for the world.

I watched some sessions. All kind of meh.

We ended up going to the Dot Com Pizza thing by John Chow and hanging out with him for the night. We ended up hitting some bars around 9:00, so didn’t get into his Apple Store shenanigans.

Wednesday

We started the 6 hour journey back around 1PM and stopped at a sweet sushi place in Hamden on the way. I made it back by 9:00PM and passed out.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Affiliate Summit East 2010

On Facebook, you can see what pages your friends view now, but they have taken it one step further.  Now you can view the pages that people of a similar demographic like.  It will be interesting to see how users figure out how to game this system to get massive coverage.  If you’re involved at all with Internet Marketing, this should be on your radar.

They have an algorithm for figuring out the relevancy of the suggestions, not unlike how other demographic and interest comparison sites work, like: Pandora, Netflix, or Digg.  I think a great addition to the like system would be a rating system, for two reasons.  Your interests could be weighted, and the relevancy and quality of a page based on user input can be used in the algorithm.

For now, suggestions can’t be sponsored, but I can see that as a future revenue stream for them if this takes off.  They will also only show pages that are receiving high levels of engagement from its users.  This seems a lot like the Twitter suggested user list, but that could just be me.  They had trouble, and I suspect Facebook will face some of the same problems as this goes live.

What do you think about the new feature?

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Facebook Reveals Suggested Interests and Why You Should Care

Check out this great new tool from Google: Google Image Swirl.

Basically what it does is allows you to dial in images based on how close they are to the last image you selected.  For instance, you can search for cats and keep selecting cats until you find the exact one you’re looking for.  They take image properties into account, such as color and face composition.  I could be crazy, but it also looked like it was pulling out expressions.  Here’s an image of my experiment with cats:

Zac Johnson did a great writeup on how this is relevant to you and your Facebook ad campaigns.  I think it’s also relevant to the many other ad platforms as well.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Google Image Swirl Makes Finding the Perfect Image Easier

Update: I found a working (verified myself) referral code.  If it you found this useful, please leave a comment or subscribe:

HYUGREY

If you landed here, looking for a Hulu Plus Referral Code, write this down and then look at this: this.

Hulu recently announced that it is launching Hulu Plus, a subscription service that gives you more features from their website, which most notably included: support on additional devices, like the iPhone, iPad, game consoles, and web enabled televisions.  This is a big step forward for them, and I’m looking forward to it.  Some people argue that this should all be free and included with the free subscription, and I wish it was the same way, but I understand business, and they need to pay their developers somehow.  I’d be willing to watch an extra commercial during shows instead of paying $10 a month though.

You can register to be on their email list to get an invite here.  I wouldn’t hold your breath though.  I covered the initial launch of Hulu and did the same thing then.  You can also get referral codes somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find one.  Once one crosses my path, I’ll let you know what it is if it doesn’t have a limit.  Check back for updates.

Highlights from the press release are below:

First subscription service to bring current TV programming from top broadcast networks ABC, FOX and NBC to 4 screens–computers, TVs, mobile phones and tablets–in HD Quality

Hulu Plus will complement the free, ad-supported Hulu service allowing consumers to enjoy more wherever, more whenever, than ever

LOS ANGELES—June 29, 2010–Hulu™ today launched a preview of Hulu Plus™, the first ad-supported subscription service to offer full current season runs of hit TV programs from ABC, FOX and NBC across multiple Web-connected devices, in HD, for only $9.99 a month. Now, TV lovers can watch full current seasons of shows such as Glee, Family Guy, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, 30 Rock and The Office and full series runs or multiple back seasons of shows like The X-Files, Arrested Development, Desperate Housewives and Law and Order: SVU on PCs and Macs as well as on Apple’s iPad and iPhone, and select 2010 Samsung Blu-ray players, Blu-ray Home Theater systems, and TVs through Samsung Apps, in up to 720p high-definition resolution. Hulu Plus will also be coming soon to the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) computer entertainment system.

Even without an invite, during this preview period consumers are welcome to download a free Hulu Plus application to the iPad, iPhone 3GS and 4, and third-generation iPod Touch, and other supported devices to test the experience with a limited selection of free episodes and clips. Hulu Plus is expected to be made widely available to the public in the coming months.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Hulu Announces Hulu Plus

Ok, so Toronto just had an earthquake ( June 23, 2010 at 1:45 ).  I don’t really know what the details are yet, but I can give updates.  That’s not what is interesting to me, so much as the speed at which I was able to figure out what happened.  I was able to figure out where and when it was about 5 minutes after it happened.  The speed at which we can get information these days is astounding.  I felt the ground shake and immediately did a Google search and found all sorts of relevant results – most of which were from twitter.

I think that for breaking information, the Internet is an amazing place to ween data, but to get trusted information, classic journalism is still king, albeit not for too much longer.  What do you think?

In an emergency situation like an earthquake, would you go to twitter to report it?

Update: From what I can tell, it was a 5.5 magnitude on the Ontario/Quebec Border

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Earthquake Shakes Toronto and Twitter

I was reading an article over at PPC.bz about how Google links your social contacts to its index to improve your search results.  This is the first I had heard of the service, which is called Google Social Circle.  Click this link to see what social information Google has about you. The service has been around since October of 2009, but this is the first I had heard of it.  You’d think they would announce something like this, especially amidst all of the Facebook privacy news.  You’ll need a Google account and be logged in for the link to work properly.

Barman from PPC.bz basically equates the whole thing to information rape, because they’re taking fondling your privacy.  I don’t agree with that so much, because I feel more like they’re harvesting public information, and everything I put on the web I assume will be public anyways.  That being said, I still wish they told me.

My view is more in line with Bobbi Newman, who says: “Google’s Social Circle & Social Search may not violate any privacy laws but it gives me the creeps.” This is a lot like finding out that you have a stalker – only this one isn’t human, which might be even a little more creepy.  If this technology truly does increase relevancy, I suppose I support it, but I still feel like they were shady about it’s implementation.

In reality this is a lot like XFN search engines, which will probably be the next evolution in social networks.  I’m actually amazed that people aren’t building more of them to compete with Facebook.  It will be interesting how the privacy issues and technology develop with this.

What do you think about it’s privacy implications?

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Google stalks you. Did you know?

A new top level domain (TLD) went on sale today: .co

You need to get out and make sure you get the shortest URL for your brand on that TLD.  I’m not sure how well it will hold up in SEO later, but as of right now, you can still get three letter domains.  Remember all of those keywords less some vowels (think Flickr).

There is a serious land rush going on right now, and I wanted to make sure you got in on it.

Go to GoDaddy right now.

Tell me what you registered below.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Get Your .co Domain

Affiliate Summit East 2010 is coming up and you need to be there if you’re an affiliate of any kind.  Actually that’s not true.  You need to be there if you’re at all interested in the internet – especially if you like to make money; be it consulting, affiliate stuff, or anything else.  Being around so many tech savvy people really motivates geeks.  It’s like a big nuclear explosion of geek.

It’s in New York City from August 15th through the 17th at the Hilton Conference Center.  If you need directions or to register, check out their website – it’s pretty informative.

I am bringing two merchant customers of mine and hoping to meet up with some key players I haven’t seen in a little while.  I wasn’t able to make it to the last two, because of scheduling issues, but I went to Affiliate Summit West 2009 and it was a blast, and I came back with so many ideas, I could barely contain myself.

Affiliate Summit is at the Hilton in New York City, August 15th - 17th 2010

Why am I bringing this up?  Early bird pricing ends on April 30th, and I wanted to make sure that everyone knew about the event in time to get the cheapest possible pricing.  In my opinion, nothing less than a Platinum pass is acceptable.  You want to be able to go to all of the sessions if you’ve never been there before.  A silver pass will suffice if you’re just going for the parties.

This is a great event for merchants to break into the affiliate arena.  This is where I bring my merchants to teach them how the ropes work.  It’s also great for affiliates of any level.  You’ll be able to find people there of equal or greater skill than you, and I promise you’ll learn something.

Check them out:

www.affiliatesummit.com

If you’re having sticker shock about the price for passes (Platinum is almost $900), don’t forget to enter contests and things for them.  I got 2 silvers and a platinum last year, and I already had my own passes bought.

Been to Affiliate Summit?  Tell me about it in the comments?  Have questions about it?  Let me know in the comments.  Need a guide when you’re there?  I’ll be there and I can give you some pointers.  Hit me up.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Affiliate Summit East 2010

I got really lucky with that domain name and put it to use.  I just made a website that tries to be offensive, sexy, and disgusting all at once.  We’ll see how it does.  The system is built on WordPress and is using a free theme for now.  What’s interesting is how low my bounce rate is.  We’ll see if it keeps up.

Here’s a link:

http://www.drunkasshole.com

Note: drunkasshole.com is NSFW.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: New Project: DrunkAsshole.com

From BI: SAI:

Microsoft announced today that it will allow buyers of the all-new Outlook for Mac to import old messages and calendar events from Outlook for Windows, in the form of .PST files.

This is not a huge deal, and seems like an obvious feature. But for some, it — combined with the fact that Outlook for Mac will finally exist in the first place — could be enough to get them to switch platforms. Or at least to give them one less reason to stick with Windows.

Previously, Mac owners who wanted to use Exchange email — or other features Outlook does better than anything else — had to use Microsoft’s unpopular Entourage app, or more recently, the Mail app built into the latest Mac operating system. But only when Office 2011 ships later this year will Mac users finally get a — decent, we hope — version of Outlook.

No word yet on whether Office 2011 fixes another big Mac disadvantage that Microsoft has savored for years — the relatively lousy edition of Excel it offers Mac users.

What do you think about the change?  I don’t do ‘many’ conversions from PC to Mac, but I do about 5 or 6 a year, and this will make it much much easier.

Originally posted on jtGraphic.net: Outlook for Mac Will Be Able to Import PST Files