In yet another example of Santa as Salesperson, Amazon has taken Christmas wish lists to new heights. Why would a kid of any age bother to write a letter to the old man and mail it to the North Pole when, with Internet skills or savvy parents, everything a person needs is posted for all the world to see—and fulfill?
I hate it, and I love it. It’s crass commercialism at its highest level. Amazon has linked with vendors of every type of merchandise imaginable. Shoppers can not only see exactly what the wish-lister wants and the price of the items, with a mouse click they are taken via hyperlink directly to the site to buy. No need to even ask, “What would you like for Christmas?” It’s there in technical detail. Once bought, that item is then marked fulfilled, so there is no duplication on gifts. So impersonal, so brilliant.
I use it, even though I have a personal vendetta against Amazon for its attempts to take over the publishing world. Our kids and grandkids are all on the mainland, and as often as we communicate, I have no idea what their needs are. Island living adds freight charges to bring merchandise into local stores, which is then compounded by mailing costs to send items back across the ocean. Amazon delivers, and on some items this year, without additional shipping charges. Truthfully, there isn’t much in Hawaii that our kids need. Tropical prints, aloha shirts, chocolate mac nuts have limited appeal, even to island-raised kids.
So gone are the days of browsing the shopping malls with suggestions for each person on my list. Gone are the wrapping paper, ribbons, gift tags and—to borrow from a familiar song—brown paper packages tied up with strings. My favorite things bows to the convenience and wisdom of Amazon.commercial.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
I’ve written, I’ve edited, I’ve done flyers and newsletters and blog pages and various other forms of distributing the printed word. How hard could it be to compile a book, a memory keepsake, from a family reunion? It would be a personal challenge, and a little stimulation would do me good. Might learn something along the way.
Big understatement. I learned a lot, only some of it useful. But in the interest of possibly saving someone else from trying to re-invent the printing press, let me share some pointers I gleaned in the process.
The Object was to be a tribute to our parents, both of whom have been dead for decades. It would prod us six siblings to reminisce about our childhoods and also to give our children and their children a glimpse of their lineage and the grandparents they never knew. Each of us six wrote essays about our memories. My job was to edit, format for continuity, and sprinkle with old photos from our respective family albums. Mixed with the essays were action and family group photos of the reunion that took place over the Fourth of July weekend in Utah.
The Obstacles began with my own technical limitations. With a print run of 25, I couldn’t afford professional help. But the POD (print on demand) company I’d selected through their website advertising made it appear that help was at my fingertips, should I have questions somewhere along their simple four-step process. What I found were links—lots of links—to long explanations that somehow brought me back full circle to the screen where I started. The “contact us” link was the killer. They had no help line, no phone number listed at all. Answers to an emailed question took three days. Lesson 1: If you don’t want to burn out climbing the learning curve, don’t start at the bottom. Ask for help from a friend or other resource such as Kinko’s or a neighbor teen before attempting a project.
The book needed to have high-quality pages for color photos. The POD publisher offered photo books, cook books, and not much leeway beyond their own templates. I could have altered my vision of what the finished product should be and used their format, or I could look for an alternative. Scrapbook software wasn’t the answer either. Finally, in frustration, I turned to our local office products store, Staples, that offered an array of publishing options. It wasn’t as cheap, but the ability to explain face-to-face what I wanted seemed worth it. I handed over my thumb drive, a total mock-up I’d done on our printer, and verbal instructions. Lesson 2: There might be more than one right answer.
By this time, it was the end of July and I was tired of the project. I just wanted to have it done before leaving Utah and returning to Hawaii. Ms. Staples had assured me that the formatting help—in India—would have a proof copy by Monday. After I approved it, they would turn it over to the printer—in California—who would have finished product in my hands by Friday. I could distribute most of them before our flight the following Tuesday morning. To shorten the story, they didn’t deliver on time as promised. And in my rush to meet this schedule, I didn’t proof as carefully as I should have. When the books arrived, I was hugely disappointed with the cover but accepted them “as is” rather than insist on better quality and then deal with a reprint long distance. Even the toddlers have five o’clock shadow. Lesson 3: My deadline was really artificial. I should have taken more time, had them shipped to Hawaii, and asked for the photo to be lightened to look just like the proof copy I had approved.
The Outcome is a book that my extended family likes and I hate. Every time I pick it up, I remember weeks with the rough draft spread across the carpet as I made certain the odd and even pages backed up correctly. I see the great photos that didn’t make the cut. And I see that cover, not as it is but as it should have been: a full bleed photo that wrapped beautifully. Lesson 4: As your own worst critic, learn to keep your mouth shut rather than point out the flaws. No one else knows or cares about what might have been, could have been. Practice saying, “Thank you. I’m glad you like it.”
Lesson 5: Learn to like it.
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.
Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.
Thanks! :)
