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No more ads on Global Geek News!
Aug 10th
After much consideration, I have decided to try an experiment with how Global Geek News makes money. Since I am not making but pennies from Google’s Adsense, I have decided it is time to get rid of Adsense and go 100% reader/listener supported. While I have made back some of what I have spent on this site with Adsense, it is nowhere near what I have spent on the site and it takes so long to make anything, I have decided that if the fans enjoy our content enough to support us financially, it is not worth keeping the ads around.
I think not having the ads will give everybody a better experience with the site which is what I am always aiming for. If it ever come to the point where serving the user in the best way possible is not the #1 goal of this site, that will be an indication it is time for Global Geek News to go away.
Like I mentioned a moment ago, Global Geek News is now 100% supported by YOU! I love keeping this site going but it is a major money pit for me. I have spent hundreds of dollars to keep the site running over the past 4 years and I am having a hard time coming up with money to keep the site going. That is one of the reason I have dropped many Global Geek News related domains I have never done anything with but had plans for. So from now on, the future of this site will rely on your financial support. How can you support us? I’m glad you asked!
There are two major ways to support us, with donations or by buying Global Geek News merchandise. There are two options for those interested in donations. You can make a one time donation with our donation page, or you can subscribe for $5/mo with the paypal button below. If you enjoy the regular content we produce, we highly encourage you to sign up for the $5/mo plan as it is a great way to show your continuing support and appreciation for our work. Also, if you choose to do the one time donation and donate more than $100, we will send you a free Global Geek News shirt! You can also show your support by purchasing Global Geek News merchandise. We offer everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs and all for a reasonable price! Personally, I have found that the best way to spread the word about a podcast or website that I love is by wearing one of their shirts as people always comment about what my clothing says.
Like I said, this is an experiment so if it doesn’t yield positive results, I will put ads back on the site so I can at least make a few pennies. I have decided to let the experiment run until October 1st. At that time, I will decide whether or not ads should be put back on the site. I have faith that you guys will come through for me so I don’t expect that to happen but unfortunately my crystal ball is broken so I have no clue what is going to happen. Enjoy the ad-free experience!
Global Geek News Podcast format change
Jul 26th
Just thought I would give all of the Global Geek News Podcast listeners a quick heads up about a major change to the Global Geek News Podcast. The Tips of the Week portion of the show is being removed.
Don’t panic! You will still get your tips of the week, but now it will come in the form of a weekly blog post, most likely to be posted every Friday. After numerous people have voiced complaints that the show has been getting too long (and I agree), I have decided the easiest change to make at this time would be to take the Tips of the Week out and make it something separate.
This should push the show back to around the 1 hour mark where I want the show to be while still keeping the same number of stories while at the same time allow me more freedom to share more helpful links. I will continue to evaluate the show for other changes for both time and better quality.
Thanks for your support and if you have any thoughts on this matter or anything else as it relates to the podcast, please share them with us in the comments!
1 Day Global Geek News Podcast delay
Apr 19th
Greetings listeners!
Just a heads up, the new episode of the Global Geek News Podcast will be coming out on Wednesday rather than Tuesday. An unfortunate scheduling conflict has caused us to move the show back a day but I’m sure it will be worth the wait. I have some big announcements to make on topics ranging from the RSS issues we have been talking about to the future of the podcast and blog, so stay tuned!
Attention Global Geek News Podcast Subscribers! The RSS feed is changing
Apr 6th
Greetings listeners!
Yesterday, I was poking around the service I use for the RSS feed for the podcast because I am looking to get some accurate tracking on download numbers when I noticed something rather odd. On part of the admin interface, there was a new indication indicating how many feeds I had and it didn’t look quite right so I clicked on it. When I clicked on it, I was taken to a subscription page with various options for buying different levels of service on the site, something that didn’t exist before. About a minute later, I received an email which clarified these changes for me.
RapidFeeds, the site that I use to generate the RSS for the podcast has decided to go from a free service to a freemium service. I understand the need to make money or at least not go in the hole from everybody using your service for free, but I think they are going about it all wrong. I am a huge fan and proponent of the freemium model, but stripping away some major features from longtime free customers such as iTunes support in hopes of getting them to upgrade to a higher tier is not how to have a successful business. To successfully implement the freemium model, you must offer extra features above the existing free version, don’t cannibalize the free service and take away its most important features just to get people to upgrade. Anyway, how to properly implement the freemium model is a discussion for another time so lets get to the point.
Because I refuse to pay what I see as an unreasonable fee to be able to continue operating multiple podcast RSS feeds with all of the features I have come to depend on over the past 3 years, I will be ending my use of the service that RapidFeeds offers. What does that mean to you? Once I have migrated the RSS feed to another service (likely FeedBurner or something similar), all of the Global Geek News Podcast subscribers will have to change the RSS feed in their podcatchers. If you use something like iTunes, it should update automatically with no action by you, but in many other cases, you will likely have the change the RSS feed or re-subscribe once the new feed is up. I will make an announcement on the show and here when the new feed is available, but I expect to change it around the first of the month. Luckily, the changes at RapidFeeds won’t be going in effect until July 1st, so I have a little time to find a service I am happy with.
Apologies for any inconvenience that this will cause but RapidFeeds has forced me to make this tough decision but I think it will work out for the best in the future.
The Global Geek News Online Store Launches!
Apr 1st
Hey Global Geek News Fans!
I have a big announcement to make. After months of talking about getting it done, I finally have the Global Geek News Online Store ready to go!
You can find all kinds of Global Geek News merchandise in our online store, from shirts to stickers and even chef’s aprons, there is something for pretty much anybody in the store.
Help support Global Geek News and spread the word by wearing some Global Geek News apparel. Purchases you make help to pay for the cost of keeping Global Geek News running, so go buy lots of stuff!
No New Global Geek News Podcast This Week
Jan 19th
Greetings Listeners!
I regret to inform you guys that there will be no Global Geek News Podcast this week. Due to multiple issues in my personal life, I don’t expect to have time to record a show this week. Wesley is also going though some personal issues that he has talked about on his blog and he is unable to do the show this week as well. I may or my not blog everything that is going on in my personal life but I do tend to Twitter a lot of it for those that are interested. I can’t speak for Wesley, but I hope to be back doing our regularly scheduled shows next week even if Wesley still needs more time to take care of his personal life. My apologies to everybody who was looking forward to a show this week but unfortunately, some things just can’t be avoided. Have a great week and we will see you guys on next weeks show. For more news and updates, follow Global Geek News on Twitter and check out the Global Geek News Blog.
We want your 2010 predictions!
Dec 23rd
Greetings Listeners!
As we announced on this week’s podcast, next week’s show will be our 2010 prediction show! While our predictions will certainly be interesting, we want to hear your predictions as well! What do you think will happen in 2010 in the MET (media, entertainment and technology) space? Share your predictions with us and we will share some if not all of them on next week’s show. Leave your predictions in the comments!
Microsoft PDC 2009 Coverage
Nov 17th
This post was originally posted on the Global Geek News Blog. I decided to repost it here so everybody knows what is going on and I will also be posting upcoming videos on here as well. Here was the original post:
Greetings Readers!
In the last post, I alluded to the fact that Microsoft has sent me to PDC 2009 (Professional Developers Conference) in LA since I am now a Student Insider and as part of that, I am going to be writing numerous blog posts throughout the week about the stuff that is being announced and talked about here. I have also been equipped with a Flip Ultra HD camcorder to take video of what I see. Since I got the Flip this afternoon, I will have to wait until tonight to charge it up and try it out but I should be able to shoot some video the next two days and I will likely have to wait until I return home on Friday to begin uploading them as internet speeds around here seem to vary somewhere between dial-up speeds during the keynote and around 1.5mbps at other times.
I am mainly focusing on Windows 7 stuff and various developer technologies that interest me and alter how I do my pet programming projects. If there is anything specifically that you would like me to report on, let me know in the comments. Feel free to check out the schedule at the PDC 2009 site and point me towards the sessions you would be most interested in me reporting on. Also, once I get the video working, I will be doing interviews as well, so expect some cool stuff from that. There are also a number of the Microsoft Surface tables here so I will get some videos of those too.
I am getting ready to go into another session so I will blog more tonight about what I saw today and just what I think about everything that is being shown off. Stay tuned!
Global Geek News’ Windows 7 Ultimate giveaway
Sep 30th
Greetings listeners and readers!
I am officially announcing the first Global Geek News giveaway! What are we giving away? We are giving away a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit Signature Edition that I received at a Windows 7 launch event in Denver last week. How can you score this awesome copy of Windows 7? Here are the requirements:
- Tweet this: The awesome Global Geek News Podcast is giving away a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate! Head here for details: http://bit.ly/DMoUX #globalgeeknews
- Follow @globalgeeknews on Twitter
Comment on at least one post from the Global Geek News Blog posted within the last 2 months. The seven suggestions for becoming a constructive commenter must be followed for the comment to count. Multiple comments won’t increase your odds but they are appreciated
- Have proof that you are subscribed to the Global Geek News Podcast (RSS). A screenshot of your podcatcher (iTunes, Zune software, ect.) with a subscription to the Global Geek News Podcast will work. You are also welcome to take a picture of your MP3 player or whatever showing the podcast on there. If you have another idea, I recommend asking about it in the comments first.
The contest will conclude at 10PM EST, October 12, 2009. The winner will be be selected at random from the tweets at that time and will be notified via twitter the next day. Once contacted, the winner must reply to the tweet with a link to his blog comment (must be able to be verified as that left by the winner aka no anonymous comments) and picture or video showing their subscription to the podcast within 24 hours. If the winner does not meet any of the criteria or tries to use a blog comment not within the past 2 months or after the end of the contest, a new winner will be selected and notified until a valid winner is chosen.
Each tweet will be an entry into the giveaway and you can enter as many times as you wish until the deadline (but be aware that tweeting too much will annoy your followers). Now go tell your friends!
This contest is for US residents only. If changes are made to the giveaway, they will be placed here and tweeted about by @globalgeeknews.
UPDATE: The blog comment requirement is no longer required.
UPDATE 2: Link in the tweet fixed because the first link didn’t work.
The Global Geek News Podcast returns this week and with a new co-host!
Dec 9th
Greetings Listeners!
Yet again, its been too long since I have done a Global Geek News Podcast. The Global Geek News Blog has been going stronger than ever, but there has been nothing from the podcast in far too long. That changes this week. While the Global Geek News Video plans are still in the works, the Global Geek News Podcast returns this week! If that wasn’t exciting enough, we now have a new co-host, Wesley Faulkner!
I’m not positive exactly what time the show will go up, but we are recording on Wednesday night, so I expect it to be out on Thursday or Friday. In the future, we will be recording on Saturdays, so I will try to get the show out by Sunday. Also, don’t forget that unless something goes wrong, the recordings will be at least partially streamed on Global Geek News Live.
For more updates, follow me on Twitter!
-Jeremy “pcnerd37″ Bray
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