Luke Hubbard

Wow, just when you thought there wasn’t anything else unbelievable for Google to create, they release Google Wave!

Google Wave is a new tool for “communication and collaboration on the web,” which utilizes cloud computing. Wave is open protocol, meaning that developers can mold it to fit their own concepts. Here’s the official video from Google:

Lars and Jens Rasmussen of Google, the developers of Google Maps, were the ones to develop Wave. They aimed at creating email for the first time, like it was invented now rather than years ago.

With this in mind, Google Wave addresses needs of the common day user such as the ability to type and read conversations real time. This is different from instant message because in Google Wave, you can see your friend actually typing each character without having to hit an enter button. These conversations are called “waves.” Also, more than two users can enter into the conversation.

The features are endless such as the ability to drag and drop pictures into the threads, and to play back the conversations in the order they were created. You’ll have to check out the video to get the full understanding of who all this works… they do a good job of showing examples of each feature.

One really cool aspect of wave is its attempt to fuse together user generated content with a new form of email, which is delivery tool. Because Waves can be public, conversations could act as RSS feeds, newsletters, Wikis, or even blogs.

Wave is a web based application just like Gmail, and in fact, it looks very similar to the Gmail interface we’re all used to seeing.

Google Wave Interface

Most importantly, Wave is open protocol, which means Google is looking for outside developers to enhance the product. I’m very interested to see what the future holds for Wave and if developers will collaborate to build a product that replaces email, wikis, blogs, rss, and social networks.

Have you ever wondered why the word “spam” is used to describe unwanted email or other unethical behavior online?

According to Wikipedia, in 1970, Monty Python aired a sketch that featured some pretty funny characters over using the word “spam.” Check out the original sketch below, which I later explain had a major role in the usage of the word “spam” to mean “stupid pointless annoying messages.”

Evidentially, in the early days of chat rooms, people used to quote this sketch or simply write the word SPAM a huge number of times in order to frustrate other chatters. One funny example on Wikipedia sites Star Wars and Star Trek fans sabotaging each others’ chat room with quotes from the Monty Python spam sketch. Remember, Internet connections were much slower in the early 1980s so overloading a chat room with a large amount of text caused major problems for the participants in the chat room.

I had previously believed that spam was used to describe unwanted email based on the visual of someone throwing canned SPAM meat into a fast turning metal fan blade. The fan would chop up the SPAM and throw it all over the place, which I thought was a brilliant metaphor that captures the grossness of the spamming activity. Wikipedia claims this is not the actual origin of the word.

Hormel, the maker of the canned meat SPAM, has sued several companies over the misuse of their trademark. However, due to the massive common use of the word spam in the English vernacular, Hormel has had to accept that one of their prize products will forever be associated with unethical Internet behavior. Spam is evenly commonly defined by reputable dictionaries as both the canned meat and also unwanted email. Hormel has settled with encouraging people to reserve the all capital version of the word SPAM to mean the canned meat (again according to Wikipedia).

On a final note, keep in mind that spam isn’t restricted to just unwanted email. Unethical behavior such as invading instant messaging services is a form of spam commonly called “spim.” Unfortunately, spam also reaches search engines, news rooms, mobile phones via text messages, wiki entries, and website guest books. Most annoyingly, spam also enters into blog comments, but the savvy blogger employs technology to clean up the spam.

WordPress Plugin › MobilePress

This is by far my favorite WordPress blog plugin. It automatically formats your blog for mobile devices. I thought I was going to have to build an entire mobile version and buy a .mobi, but with the MobilePress, I only had to install the plugin to get a mobile version live. You can check out the mobile version of my blog by going to LukeHubbard.com on your mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry, Google phone, Windows mobile, etc)

Luke's blackberry

What are the best WordPress theme tempates? Below are links to some cool stuff to help you customize the look of your WordPress blog.

Official WordPress.org themes
100 Themes at Smashing Magazine
WordPress Themeland

I also found a really cool WordPress theme generator.

Here is a developer you can pay to customize your blog:
RevolutionTwo

Here’s a help page at WordPress.org that encompasses General Theme Articles.

Obviously, you can also simply Google WordPress Theme and check out the organic and paid listings to get an idea of what’s out there.

Wondering how to Blog? The easiest way to set up a blog is to use Wordpress. If you want to own your own domain (such as LukeHubbard.com), then you need to buy a hosting service and your customized URL. If this sounds confusing, don’t worry! Simply follow these easy steps, which I have divided into two parts, and you’ll be started in no time…

Part 1: How to Create a BlueVoda Account
1. Goto BlueVoda
2. Follow the steps to buy the hosting package you want. I recommend doing the annual billing so you wave the set-up fee.
3. Choose your domain name (URL). It’s important to choose a name relevant to the theme of your blog. I used my name, LukeHubbard.com, because I write about Internet stuff that I like.
4. Once you pay for the service, you’ll get a very important email confirmation with your login information including the login URL. Make sure to save this email for eternity!

Part 2: How to Install WordPress onto Your Domain
5. Login to your VodaHost control panel, which is commonly called a c-panel.” You’ll need the email that VodaHost sent you with your login information and IP address (Choose the IP address that VodaHost notes in the email).
6. Ignore the help screen pop-up box if it shows up. Just cancel and make it go away.
7. Click the blue smiley face near the bottom of the c-panel that is labeled Fantastico de Luxe. (It’s under the “Software/Services” section)
8. Select WordPress from the blog list on the left.
9. Click new Installation.
10. Select your domain name, your directory, and create a username/password, and fill out everything else. It’s easy set-up information.
11. Click on “Install WordPress”
12. You’ll get a screen with your blog administrative login information. Make sure to copy this info or select to have a copy emailed to you.

Now you’re ready to login to your WordPress blog and begin blogging! It’s all very easy and will probably take you less than 30 minutes to set-up.

Once you’re inside the WordPress application, you can play around with different header colors, create posts, and make new pages. It’s all very easy so don’t worry if you have absolutely no idea how to create a blog. You can do it!

Note that BlueVoda has some great WordPress video blog tutorials. They’ve made it extremely easy to understand how to set up and maintain a spiffy looking blog.

By far, the best web analytics blog on the Internet is by Avinash Kaushik. I highly suggest book marking the blog and checking in everyday to learn something new about web analytics.

Web Analytics Blog | Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik.

I have my Chrome browser set to automatically open up 3 pages upon start-up. They are: 

1. Google.com

2. The Official Google Adwords Blog: Inside AdWords.

3. The Google Webmaster Blog: Webmaster Central.

And a picture just for fun…

Google’s Webmaster Blog is an excellent resource for anyone that runs a website. Simply search in the top right to find answers to questions about optimizing your site. Google states that this blog is for news on crawling and indexing sites.

Then there’s the actual Google Webmaster tool. Go to Google Webmaster Central to begin optimizing your website traffic.

And here’s a picture of the official Googlebot just for fun.

Hey everyone. Welcome to my new website named LukeHubbard.com. I have decided to start a blog focusing on the Internet and advertising. Hope you enjoy and for the record, I’m the Luke Hubbard that specializes in Internet Marketing… the Luke in Los Angeles, California.