“Dooces” are wild
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Welcome to the first blog post from my brand new MacBook Pro. Man, I should’ve read my own blog post about Macrumors.com–Apple computers seriously rock! They’re faster, better with graphics, better with video, easier to configure, more stable, more secure, and they look a lot cooler. I can’t believe I was on the PC bandwagon for so long. I can’t believe I didn’t start Macrumors.com.
Anyway, there was another interesting article in the New York Times about another blogger going full time. Heather Armstrong runs Dooce.com, where she blogs about being a mother. According to the article, she has 850,000 readers, and according to her site, she has been blogging since February of 2001. J.C. Penney, Crate & Barrel, and Walgreens all pay top dollar to advertise their brands on her site, and she has been so successful that both she and her husband have been able to quit their full-time jobs.
I looked around her site, and though it’s well written, irreverent, and personal, I can’t believe that there are 850,000 readers. 850k? I think that’s half the population of Portland…it’s insane! But again, we’re probably seeing a niche which is underserved–how often do people get that close and personal about motherhood, a subject in which people have traditionally needed lots of support?
When are we going to make tons of money on AA issues? Anyone? We blog all the time, we have lots of interesting things to say, and we don’t yet have 850,000 viewers.
Incidentally, I just did a google search and found another article that mentions Dooce.com.
Heather B. Armstrong of Salt Lake City credits her blog, Dooce.com, with saving her sanity, if not her life. When it began in February 2001, Dooce was a collection of anecdotes about Ms. Armstrong’s single life in Los Angeles, with provocative entries like “The Proper Way to Hate a Job” and “Dear Cranky Old Bitch Who Cut in Front of Me at Canter’s Deli.” After someone sent an unsigned, untraceable e-mail message about Ms. Armstrong’s blog to her company’s board in 2002, she was promptly dismissed, and “Dooced” entered Urbandictionary.com as a term for “Losing your job for something you wrote in your online blog, journal, Web site, etc.”
She blogs often, and so do we. She contributed to the Urban Dictionary, and so did we. So why is she raking in the dough while we all remain hobbyists? As Cuba Gooding Jr. said in Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money!”
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awong
12:14 pm | Aug 18, 2008is apple really more secure? Wouldnt it have the same issues as windows if more people use it? And arent they just x86 just apple spec’ing them out
King4aDay
12:51 pm | Aug 18, 2008Apple rules.
Unix-based OS rules too.
jaehwan
2:04 pm | Aug 18, 2008awong,
I think it’s mostly the Unix-based OS that make them more secure and reliable. Unix systems hardly ever crash. I’m admittedly still learning about it, but the installs are totally different too. I think that the installations go much deeper into the OS when you install new programs on Windows, but it doesn’t seem to go that deep on OS–it’s more just like a program running off a disk. I could be wrong about this, but I installed and uninstalled and reinstalled (still learning) Firefox yesterday, and it was more similar to deleting a file than uninstalling a program.
Maybe the more “shallow” installs make it harder for virus makers?
Plus, think about the fact that Apple makes both the software/OS and the computers. They may be more compatible based on the fact that they come from the same place.
King,
You’re a designer, right? You probably use Macs all the time, right? Is everything I said above correct?
I’ve heard that PCs are still better for “PC things” such as accounting and stuff, but I never require much power in those activities.
minorTruths
2:19 pm | Aug 18, 2008When this site finally gets ’shown the money’, will any of the members get a slice of the action as loyal stakeholders? :-) Right now, according to http://www.websiteoutlook.com, this site is only worth around $11K.
I say the site should totally sell itself out. Money equals power. Hit the viewers softly, subtly, subliminally with that AA shit while rackng in the ad revenues from big, dumb, money grubbing, mainstream corporate America and the world…oops, I meant the big, nice, reputable, socially conscious yet amazingly profitable companies of the world.
So,
step 1, invent a hook
step 2, get public to be hooked
step 3, make money,
step 4, activate subliminally implanted mental triggers
step 5, take over the world
step 6, save humanity from itself
jaehwan
2:31 pm | Aug 18, 2008Haha…good deal. I would have stopped at “take over the world,” but saving humanity from itself is a pretty worthwhile goal too. I’ll have to think about it.
Not sure about that websiteoutlook though. According to them, you could buy two Googles for the price of a Yahoo!
awong
10:53 pm | Aug 18, 2008yeah unix based I have no problems with, typing this on my linux laptop. I guess I enjoy the thrill of putting together and configuring every little part of it. Currently after getting everything running on linux, definitely much more stable and far less issues on an older laptop that runs better than my faster desktop. I guess I just dont like being limited to what steve-o wants me to use. Though hardware wise probably the apple qc might be better for using other boot options, something my friend wanted to do if it wasnt so expensive.
jaehwan
1:02 pm | Aug 19, 2008awong,
I think you’re way ahead of the average computer user. I’d be unable to put a computer together and configuring every part of it. I love the concept of Linux, but I know it wouldn’t bode well for me if I tried to install and configure it myself. Steve-O’s software so far seems to be all I need–but that’s only because I’m not a power user.
King4aDay
5:06 pm | Aug 19, 2008“You’re a designer, right? You probably use Macs all the time, right? Is everything I said above correct?
I’ve heard that PCs are still better for “PC things” such as accounting and stuff, but I never require much power in those activities.”
Right you are, sir.
The Unix programmed OS is an incredibly stable platform. Not only does it prevent system crashes, but even program crashes. Also, both the OS and the majority of 3rd party programs are written to 64 bit now, which isn’t yet true in the PC world.
And, of course, the hackers aren’t that interested in Macs, (not enough of them to bring the World to a premature end) And some of the simpler security measures are much simpler on a Mac–like signing in and working as a non-administrator so some Bozo can’t take over your entire machine and destroy you!
How are you enjoying the interface? Cool huh?
jaehwan
7:23 pm | Aug 19, 2008I’m absolutely loving it. I can’t believe I no longer have to wait half an hour for my PC to start up (it took five minutes when I first bought the PC five years ago, and I thought that was fast!). I’m still getting used to some of the Mac quirks and shortcuts, but so far it has been nothing short of amazing.
awong
8:03 pm | Aug 19, 2008the 64bit is a huge issue, but I havent even moved onto a 64bit processor, I just think if microsoft is going to fix its issues on 64bit, they will have to force it on the users despite the backlash. But since I stopped playing the latest games, the most basic of PC’s will do the job, no vista for me heh.