Join Me On Perfcast

Those of you who remember me from hosting and producing the WordPress Weekly podcast will know that I spoke of a new project in which I would be producing another podcast that dealt with everything blogging. That podcast is called Perfcast. This show covers some of the blogging news which happened within the past week, contains a blogging job of the week, initiates a blogging challenge of the week and most of all, is interactive allowing listeners and bloggers alike to chime in with their thoughts and opinions.

The show is hosted by Jeff Chandler (That’s me) and co-hosted by David Peralty of Xfep.com. The show airs live on Talkshoe every Thursday evening at 7 P.M. EST. Please read this post (How To Participate In Perfcast Live) on Performancing.com to find out how to participate live during the show.

By the way, we already have an episode produced. You can check out the show notes here or listen to the show via the embeddable Talkshoe player. Hoping you’ll stop by this Thursday for Episode 2 where David and I will be discussing WordPress 2.7, Blogging Through A disaster and a service called BackType.

Thank You Commentators

Just wanted to pass along a quick thank you to the top five commenter’s for the month of August.

  • Andrew
  • Sierra
  • Trisha
  • Ian Stewart
  • Justin Tadlock

I really appreciate you guys and gals for sticking around and being part of the discussions which take place on the blog. I can handle blogging into an empty chamber but having some commentary around makes blogging a much more fun, engaging experience.

This blog post was an entry in the blogging challenge created by the Perfcast Podcast.

Registry Scans On Skype

I woke up today and discovered that Mr. Registry Scan had contacted me over Skype. Apparently, Windows requires immediate attention and security center has detected malware on my computer. A funny joke considering that I bet it wouldn’t be discovered unless I clicked on the link provided within the message.

If Mr. Registry scan ends up contacting you through Skype, immediately block him and DO NOT click on the link provided within the message.

I hope I don’t have to look forward to being bombarded with messages from Skype accounts with spam. That would become seriously annoying. This is one of the reasons why I never use the SkypeMe! availability option.

Glogster Reaches Version 2

Glogster, the service that gives people a chance to create posters of themselves which I reviewed here (Glogster – You In A Poster) has announced that they have reached version two.

The new version now gives you a chance to embed YouTube videos, pictures and sounds from websites by URL. Also, not sure if this will be a buzzword that will catch on but you can now live glog. Those of you who have a webcam will be able to turn it on and stream live from your glog. Thus, live glogging. Doesn’t sound as good as live blogging but this is web 2.0, anything is possible.

Glogster has improved the galleries by means of introducing romantic elements. Now you can spice up your Glog if you’re into that sort of thing. Last but not least, Glogster has added a multitude of languages from which to choose from when adding text to your poster. This ends up giving Glogster a shot at an international audience.

To see the new YouTube feature in action, take a look at my latest glog.

Before You Name That Baby

Ever wonder why there is so many people around you with the same name? I do. Thanks to NameTrends.net, I discovered that my first name “Jeffrey” was a name given to many baby males during the time frame of 1945-1993 with peaks in 1961 and 1968. I was born in 1983. That is quite a lot of Jeffrey’s.

NameTrends sources its data from the social security records which are publicly available and contains the national popularity of each of the top 1000 male and female names for each year since 1880. It also contains state-specific popularity of the top 100 male and female names for each year since 1960. The state-level popularity data is only available for the top 100 names in each state so keep that in mind when your browsing around the state map. NameTrends also provides visual data that allows you to see similar names or variations of names over time.

According to NameTrends, the following names were also popular during the same time frame:

  • Randy
  • Brenda
  • Wendy
  • Brent

Those names which were popular and began with the same letter as mine include:

  • Jacob
  • Joshua
  • Joseph
  • James
  • Jayden

Looking at the state by state popularity map for my name, I discovered that in 1983 (the year I was born) the closest I came to being number 1 in the top 100 names was Connecticut and Massachusetts, both ranked at number 17.

Considering I have already been named, it is not going to do me much good but I find it interesting how my first name was popular in the 1940s to the 1980s and now it has started to die off. I wonder if that is because of the baby boomer generation finally beginning to level off or if my name simply isn’t popular to use anymore.

Dive into the site and report back with your findings related to your name. The data is confined to U.S. residents only.

Is This How Comment Spam Works

As I was checking out my Akismet spam filter one day, I noticed a comment that was labeled differently than most of the other ones I’ve seen. This comment linked to a site called BotMaster. According to the site, BotMaster sells a service called Xrumer that comes bundled with Hrefer which is an automated link-building tool. BotMaster claims that the tool has nothing to do with spam and that its primary purpose is to build links and search engine power to your site.

These are funny claims considering a comment which was created by the BotMaster software appeared in Akismet as spam. This is the first time I’ve come across an actual site selling services/software for link building purposes. The software will set you back $450.00 but that seems like a high price to pay to have whatever site you are promoting to show up in Akismet as spam.

I am not trying to actively support or advertise this service but rather, highlight the fact that these things do exist. This makes me wonder how much spam is generated on forums and blogs with software such as this. Anyone else come across botmaster within their own Akismet interface?

Third Tweet Up Scheduled For Tonight

Tonight marks the third Tweet-UP hosted by Billy Fairchild aka. Tw3nty3ight. So far, these tweet up events have been a blast to attend, each lasting on average 2-3 hours. The tweet up is a place for all of those on twitter who don’t have the luxury of attending a local event to come online and gather in one place. I’ve met quite a few cool people due to these tweet ups. Not to mention, these guys and gals have one hell of a sense of humor making for a great evening.

If you are a Twitter user looking to meet new people, gain new followers and have a good time, be sure to meet me and the rest of the gang on Talkshoe tonight at 9PM EST. I go by the handle of Jeffro on Talkshoe.