Tied In Free Blackberry App
As many of you already know, I am a blackberry fanatic. In my efforts to spread the gospel I try my best to spread my favorite free blackberry utilities to everyone I know. I usually did this with a blog post or twitter update or even via pin messages.
In an effort to keep up and keep you updated, I've whipped up a simple free blackberry app that will help you get more free blackberry apps.
This tiny app is totally free so pass it along to your blackberry buddies, especially new users who are always asking you for new tools. If you would like to see a link added, just hit me up in twitter or drop a comment on this post.
To get Tied.In visit http://tied.in
Pay it forward!
How To Update Your Blackberry
In February of 2008, RIM announced that a big update was coming out for its BlackBerry handsets: OS v4.5. You can read all about the new features here and here. It ended up taking about 8 months before the update actually became available, but it's finally arrived... well, for some BlackBerries, on some wireless carriers. Rather than go nuts trying to figure out if yours is one of them, RIM has a Web site that will easily check your 'Berry and update it if applicable. Here's what you do:
1. Hop on a Windows computer running Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher.
2. Plug in your BlackBerry via USB cable.
3. Use Internet Explorer to navigate to http://na.blackberry.com/eng/update/.
4.Click "Check for Updates."
Amazon’s Delivery Deadlines For Christmas
If you are a procrastinator like me, then you should appreciate knowing these deadlines for Amazon
- Wednesday, Dec. 17: Last day for free Super Saver Shipping (free on orders of $25 and over). Also, this is the last day for gift cards to be sent through the mail, but gift cards sent through e-mail at any time.
- Thursday, Dec. 18: Last day for standard shipping.
- Sunday, Dec. 21: Last full day to order and receive two-day shipping.
- Monday, Dec. 22: Last full day to order and get one-day shipping for $3.99 per item with Amazon Prime, and free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime (roder as late as 3 p.m. PST).
- Tuesday, Dec. 23: One-day shipping for $3.99 per item with Amazon Prime (order as late as 3 p.m. PST).
I’ve decided to quit blogging
After a month of serious thinking, I have decided to retire casthompson.com/blog
Twitter has become an easier tool for me to interact with an audience, network with new associates, vent, share pics-music-ideas and keep up with people that interest me.
Casthompson.com was never intended to make money, and it truthfully hasn't (directly). I am currently working on 7 other web projects and mentally, I need to lay my personal journal to rest. I will not archive it or totally block it out. I just need the mental freedom of saying that I no longer blog here. Ahhhh, a weight off of my shoulders.
Coming up with new blog posts can be mentally draining and I truly find more enjoyment running "for income" websites. In the next fee weeks, I will be moving all of my Affiliate Tips, Big Checks and Free money resources to www.ImWealthy.com. If I take a vacation, the pics will still be loaded here but other than that, I'm through - It's been fun.
As of today, Twitter is the only way to see what I'm currently doing...
Amazon Associates Site Stripe
The Amazon Associates Team has just added a nifty new feature that should help build links with ease. It's called Site Stripe.
It allows you to surf Amazon and build a link to that page on the fly. It will also give you earning updates througout the course of the day. It's certainly an alternative to signing in to the portal and building links that way.
If you're not using Amazon Associates, you're missing out on recession proof money.
My First UFC Fight
Last week I had the opportunity of attending my first UFC fight. I've been following UFC for close to a year and I jumped on the tickets as soon as I heard that UFC 88 Breakthrough would be in Atlanta.
For those that don't know, the UFC is a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) association based out of Vegas and they are regarded as the largest in the world.
I personally jumped on the bandwagon to fill a void after boxing just started becoming boring to me. I would highly recommend catching a live fight if you have been following on PPV or SpikeTV.
That's me and UFC CEO Dana White above and a few more pics from that night below...
Me and Miguel Torres - current WEC Champion
Chuck Liddell - before getting laid out
Rashad Evans after laying out the Iceman
Certainly a night that I won't forget!
Earn Cash With StoreStacker
You've heard me brag about Clickbank and you already Know how I feel about Amazon and Ebay. Imagine if you could build a store instantly using these affiliates as well as YouTube to market your niche across the web!
The program is called StoreStacker and it's pretty amazing. I've dipped my hands into BANS but StoreStacker brings everything together nicely. It takes very little programming knowledge to set up and you can be up and running in as little as 15 minutes.
Check out their new site!
Mod Your Blackberry
Five years ago today, I was modding Nextel phones for a living. Knocking out i95's in 15 minutes and lining them up with l.e.d.s - until... I got burnt out!!
Today, I just did my first blackberry mod and I remembered why I decided to get out of the game. I just don't have time. Even though the berry turned out sweet, I can't see myself turning this into a business model. Instead, I'll point you to the video so you can learn how to break the warranty on your device yourself. Check out Blackberry Housings and get your precision screwdriver set ready.
Click here to see more Nextel throwbacks from five years ago!!
Bust A Domain Name
I'll admit it. I have a domain fetish. Sometimes an idea comes to me and well, sometimes it's not so easy. If I have a product idea but not a domain to go with it, I turn to BustAName.com.
Bustaname.com is great for brainstorming compound domain names. They will automatically put words together and tell you what .com, .net and .org sites are available for that word or phrase.
Oh, the best part is that it's a free service. It's seems as though they make their money through hosting recommendations. Try em' out here.
My Very Last $4000 Clickbank Check
Ok guys, this is the last clickbank check that i'll be posting on my site. You're probably getting tired of these web checks anyway. I opened up some business mail today and just couldn't resist.
This is my last check not because I'm quitting the business but because Clickbank is now offering direct deposit.
Everyone knows that I have a Big Check fetish but all jokes aside, direct deposit offers a lot more security for anyone who gets checks from their affiliate programs or google adsense in the mail. Last summer I actually lost one of these checks and I went through hell to get another one cut.
If you haven't set up clickbank direct deposit, you can set it up here.
One less check to put with my dirty socks
I receive 10 - 15 checks a month and if they were all set up via direct deposit, life would be easier. To learn how to earn money on your blog using clickbank read my CBPayDay Review
How many checks are you recieving per month?
Using Twitter to track words and uh yourself
I was starting to get disturbed by the fact that I couldn't get notified of @replies to myself unless I had direct message/sms notification on for the person I was following. People have been replying but sometimes while on the go, I wouldn't know until I logged back into twhirl or jumped back on to check statuses.
While digging around on twitter I found a tracking command. Via sms you can track a work on the fly simply by typing track and then the word. This can be great for following whatever it is you follow in your industry. If you are a widget maker and you are away from your computer, you can type in track widgets and get notified on the spot or until the next person (even if you are not following them) talks about widgets.
To untrack, just type in - untrack word.
Now on to my original problem. If you want to get notified of all of your @name replies, just track @yourname and you will know when people are replying to you or at least twittering about you behind your back 
If you're not following me yet, it's @casthompson
BonBini! Aruba!
I just came back from the island of Aruba. To be honest, it was nothing like I expected. There's a saying floating around that goes "Once you've been to one island, you've seen em all." Not true for Aruba
I ended up resting my head in Oranjestad, which is the capital city and the hotel of choice was Talk of the Town. Usually I shoot for the Marriot but once I began to do my research, I quickly discovered that this is by far the most expensive island in the Caribbean.
If you are traveling alone or with a bunch of fellas, Talk of the Town is adequate. If you are with your lady friend, wife or family I highly suggest booking any hotel in the Palm Beach area. This is purely for convenience. The one thing that I've learned over the years is that men can tolerate minor inconveniences more than their female counterparts. Besides, if you've saved up this long for Aruba, you might as well go all out!
The weather was perfect. It was never too humid but being not to far from the equator, your skin may burn and you wouldn't even know. Little did I know that the island is very dry due to the lack of rain and cactus are everywhere. Native Arubans were extremely friendly and at no point during my trip did I feel unsafe. Brushing up on your Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and Italian wouldn't be bad though.
US money is excepted pretty much every where but Visa/Mastercard isn't. ATM machines will spit out cash and without a transaction fee. As mentioned earlier, the island can get expensive but good food isn't hard to find. For those on a budget Taco Bell, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Burger King and Quiznos are all within a mile of downtown. But honestly, you're on a tropical island, enjoy the fish and vegetables!
So, what makes Aruba so special? There is no way you can run out of fun things to do. Regardless is age, there are tons of activities. The beaches are beatiful but the snorkeling, golfing, horse backriding, parasailing, diamond shopping, rock climbing, hiking, bar hopping, wave running, jungle touring, ATVing and history learning can keep you busy as well.
There is no need to plan ahead because all of these activities are non-stop. Just go with an open wallet and an open mind and you will have a great time.
Travel Tips: To check out other places that I've been click here. All of my trips are booked via Expedia
DontYouLove.Me
Dot ME availability dropped yesterday and yes DontYouLove.Me along with a few other creative domain names are still available.
The .me's are currently available through GoDaddy.com and run $19.99 per year for a two year minimum. If domaining is your thing then I'm sure that you've already picked some up.
If you're new to domaining here's 5000 reasons why it's not a bad investment.
I scooped up six myself. I'll tell you about em in a couple of days!
My favorite Twitter Tools
I never thought that I would say this, but I'm feeling Twitter. In the past two years I've signed up for at least a dozen social networking sites. I test them out, I study, I network and then I leave them alone. The truth of the matter is, if it doesn't make me any money or makes my life easier, then it's a waste of time.
As simple as it is, Twitter makes my life easier and makes me money (indirectly). With so much other stuff to manage, I hardly blog on my own personal site anymore but everyone still want's to know what I'm up to. Twitter is very public but in an intimate way.
Here are five Twitter Tools that help me throughout the day.
Twitterberry - is a mobile app designed for the blackberry. It's free and very easy to use. It's also a great way to save on sms charges if you don't subscribe to a texting plan. You will need data services active on your blackberry but then again, why would you have a blackberry with no data services? The program handles replies and direct messaging flawlessly as well. Many of my Iphone pals are using ThinCloud
Twhirl - is a desktop AIR client for your PC. When I am online this is the only client I'll use. Very intuitive and responsive. Twhirl will also handle multiple Twitter accounts at once. Great for site owners who pull multiple followers to different accounts. Honestly Twhirling is easier than using Twitter's own homepage.
Twitterfeed - feeds your blog to twitter. Simply put - blog something and it's gets pushed automatically to your twitter account. It's a great way to feed traffic back to your blog but can come off spammy if you publish a blog not in tune with your current twitter following. I currently feed this site as well as my couscous site. <--- shameless plug
TwitPic - keeps your audience awake with an occasional picture. Twitpic uses pictures taken with your mobile phone and sends it along as a Tweet. Tweets are only 140 characters but a picture can be worth a thousand... well, you know the rest. Their homepage also has an interesting mash-up of google maps, similar to Twittervision.
Summize - is a Twitter Conversation Search engine. I use Summize for research only. It's a great way to getter Twitter user's opinions on products, places, movies, media, websites and just about anything. Every now and again, i'll toss out a question to my followers but having the opportunity to search the world of Tweets can be powerful.
Twitter is simple and it works. If you're not on it yet, sign up. If you're already on, what are some of your favorite Twitter Tools? Tell me on twitter... www.twitter.com/casthompson
Free Blackberry Links
Here is my list of favorite blackberry tools that I have come across over the years. The links in this article are mostly meant to be downloaded directly from your browser's screen. Knock yourself out!
Blackberry Ringtones
www.blackberrymp3s.com
Facebook
www.blackberry.com/facebook
Myspace
http://m.myspace.com
Youtube
http://m.youtube.com
Google Search, Google Reader, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Maps
http://m.google.com
Blackberry Wallpapers
www.blackberrywallpapers.com
Bank of America
http://mobilebanking.bankofamerica.com/bb/
Opera – Alternate Browser for Blackberry
www.operamini.com/download
http://mobile.nytimes.com/bbinstall
http://mobileapps.cnbc.com/mobileLoad.do
TV Guide
http://tvguide.handmark.com
Blackberry Movies – Download Full Length DVDs for your Blackberry
www.blackberrymovies.com
Weekly Blackberry Tips
www.blackberrytips.com
http://www.rovemobile.com/support/downloads/mfm/
Blackberry Tip Calculator
http://www.gpeters.com/tipgo/
Twitter
www.twitterberry.com
RSS Reader
http://viigo.com/download/method.html
Local Search Tool
m.mypoynt.com
Visual Voicemail
http://www.fvmplus.com
ESPN Launcher
http://espn.mobi/bblauncher
ETrade Stocks (free but Etrade membership required)
etrade.com/mobile
Flickr for Blackberry
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/social/flickr.jsp#tab_tab_download
Free Countdown Timer
http://northcubed.com/installers/com_northcubed_countdowntimer_app.jad
http://mobile.blackberry.com/homepage?book=applications〈=en
Beyond411 (one of my favorite search tools)
http://thebogles.com/blog/projects/berry411/
Yahoo Apps (including messenger)
http://mobile.yahoo.com/go
AIM, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, Skype and Yahoo Messenger in One App
http://www.webmessenger.com
Yahoo Messenger
http://www.blackberry.com/YahooDownload
AIM and Windows Live Messenger
http://www.blackberry.com/instantmessaging
Videos (BB Pearl Only)
http://videostreamsmobile.com/downloadmgr/index.htm
Vlingo – Type without Typing (Super Awesome)
www.vlingo.com/getvlingo
To email this list to your device, just click the Share This button at the end of this article and shoot yourself an email.
Make Money With Endless Shoes
Endless.com has just launched their affiliate program via Amazon.com.
Endless.com offers Free Overnight Shipping and Free Shipping on returns.
"110% price guarantee, and 365-day returns window on over 500 brands, Endless.com is THE destination for shoe and accessory shoppers."
It seems as though they will be giving Zappos a run for their money! This could be a great income stream for bloggers, affiliate marketers or anyone recommending shoes and purses to their lady friends.
Endless is paying out 15% and you can build links here at the Amazion Associates Site.
Learn about Endless.com
Amazon Launches Video Widgets
Amazon has always been one of my favorite affiliate programs and after recently getting into video, the timing couldn't be better.
You can use videos that you already have or create brand new videos to promote the products you really love.
For my tester video, I used the couscous recipe video I posted a few days ago and incorporated Near East Instant Couscous as my product being that I sincerely plugged it anyway
The ultimate question is, as a customer, would you find this annoying, useful or do you have ad blindness?
Play the video and let me know.
Video shot with my Flip Mino
Engaging Readers With Video
So, I finally did my first video post. As most of you know, to stay healthy, I have been on a serious couscous kick. It has gotten so serious that about a year ago I started a couscous recipe blog to document the recipes I have found online.
Although the site is monetized, the true goal is to help people open their eyes to other foods and cultures. After getting tons of questions from curious friends, I decided to pull out my flip mino and start shooting.
What have I learned about adding video to the site in the past week?
Readers are much more engaged with video over static content. Sometimes it's easier to hit play and just listen in comparison to reading. Video is also more exciting. The more excited readers are, the more word will travel and the more traffic you will get on your site.
Video is also more socially spreadable the text. Readers love interaction, even when it's virtual. Within an hour of posting, your video can be funneled through friendfeed, twitter, facebook or any of your other favorite social media sites. Test it out, shoot a video today and your traffic will increase... just try not to over do it.
By the way, check out my simple couscous recipe video
Code Name: Blackberry Javelin
- QWERTY keyboard
- 480×360 LCD
- Quad-band GSM/EDGE
- GPS
- Wi-Fi
- 3.2 megapixel camera
- 4.6 OS platform
- BES 5.0 support
- ArgonV processor
Does it look like A Curve replacement to you?
Get Paid With Market Leverage
I got a call today from Kyle over at Market Leverage. It was a typical publisher question and answer session which ended with him approving my application!
They have been receiving a heavy buzz from many top tier affiliates and I did not want to miss any opportunities to make additional money.
A while back ML sent John Chow a Nike bag with tons of goodies. I was a little jealous but hey, I dealt with it. Now they are giving away another bag over at John Chow dot Com.
You're going to want to sign up for Market Leverage and if you comment on his post, you automatically enter to win the goody bag. Check out all of these freebies!
@casthompson
- ... Eight Things You Can Do with Your Underused Personal Domain Name http://t.co/F8LCgx8w 3 hours ago
- ... i wish that I was laying here, right now! http://t.co/GUlt3CrM 5 hours ago
- ... I've been staying productive @SkillaFashion how's biz and family? 11 hours ago
- ... def not a bad spot at all @nicholasstewart 13 hours ago
- ... the old spice marketing team stays winning @nicholasstewart @un_lished @atlboricua http://t.co/Enl6TSDr 23 hours ago
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