The “long tail” is digerati shorthand for the the increasing profitability of companies’ backlists–the formerly neglected niche products that used to be kept in stock just in case one of them suddenly turned into a breakout hit, or because they were simply necessary to have a fully-stocked store.… Read the rest

Just for kicks, and because AdBrite has such cute branding, I decided to check out its advertising network. I’ve been using Google AdSense for awhile (and just got my first $100 check from it last month, woo hoo) but I’m open to alternatives, especially if they stand a chance of making me a little dough.… Read the rest

When I was a kid, the more gears your bike had, the cooler it was. Yet San Francisco is just crawling with single-speed bikes. On closer inspection, I found that many of these bikes don’t even have coaster brakes–they’ve got direct-drive chains.… Read the rest

Here are two upcoming PCMagCast events that I’m producing and moderating. Lots of useful info in both of them — check them out!

SMB Bootcamp: How to Can Spam (Tuesday, July 25, at 2pm Eastern / 11am Pacific)
A 60-minute overview of anti-spam technologies for small-medium businesses, featuring PCMag analysts Neil J.… Read the rest

Want to learn more about SMS, aka short message service, aka cell phone text messaging? Check out my new site, SMS411.net, which provides simple, easy-to-understand information on how to use SMS with U.S. cell phones.

Although the popularity of SMS is rapidly growing in the U.S., we’re far behind the rest of the world in understanding how to use it effectively.… Read the rest