It’s no surprise that twitter can be a bit unstable from time to time. Twitter is probably the only service I know that’s almost more down than it’s up, and still have a loyal fan base and increase it’s number of users.

But what are the alternatives?

There are a lot of similar micro-blogging services out there, but can they replace twitter?

If you take a look at the various alternatives to twitter are they really an alternative?

Pownce:

About a year ago I wrote a post about Pownce and twitter. I compare the two services, but what really hit me was, that a year ago I wrote that twitter is unstable.

Twitter is still unstable and Pownce hasn’t replaced twitter. Why is that?

Pownce doesn’t have the simplicity of twitter. No one (except a few) has really bothered making any services for Pownce either and perhaps Pownce is just too feature-heavy?!

As always you are welcome to friend me on Pownce.

Plurk:

The brand new microblogging tool is called Plurk and everybody are talking/blogging about it. It’s probably the closest thing at the moment to twitter.

The timeline is very different and takes a little getting-used-to. However when some of your friends plurk, you can respond directly to their plurks by just clicking on it.

Plurk has a clever little extra thing that might be addicting to some users. It’s called Karma. It’s a score and the more you plurk, respong to plurks and add friends, the more Karma you get.

All the big blogger people are plurking. If they like it might breakthrough. Perhaps they should have waited and launched Plurk at some big blogger conference. That’s what twitter and Friendfeed did.

Add me as a friend on Plurk.

Some might also see Friendfeed as an alternative to twitter, but honestly I haven’t really jumped on the Friendfeed bandwagon yet.

I’m still not sure what to do with Friendfeed, but I would love to know, so if you have any advice or ideas, please don’t hesitate to share.

Which tool do you see as an alternative to twitter? Will you stick with twitter or move to another microblogging service?

As you might have read, I’m on a quest for either a MacBook or a PC. The comments in the latest post clearly shows that the battle between Apple and Microsoft – or OS X and Windows – is very easy to spot.

Which one offers the most value? Since both the MacBooks (Pro) or generic PC have the same hardware specifications, it all comes down to the operating system.

The noble art of OS-bashing goes on…

After reading many blogs about people who has switched from Windows to Mac (so called switchers), I see a pattern, that most switchers follow.

The blogger is very often a very loyal Windows “follower”. To the surprise of the blogger, he/she learns from friends and relatives, that they actually love this OS X-stuff.

Fundamental differences

Ok then now the blogger has bought a Mac and he describes the differences between the two operating systems. Somebody has moved the “Close-button” from right to left. Then they realise that a program isn’t just shut down in OS X.

After a couple of weeks most switchers are getting the hang of it and they seem to be rather fascinated about the new OS.

A sense of joy, you only get from a few brands, seems to characterize a lot of Mac people.

Of course, everything isn’t a dance on roses. There are also stories about the total opposite experience, but not many.

It’s like many Mac owners, new and old, have a new look on life and they almost feel sorry for PC users. They haven’t seen the light.

From a PC owners point of view, this state of mind is often seen as arrogant and fanatic. Some Mac owners are used to the accusation of being a part of a cult. If a happy owner is a cultist, then perhaps that’s true.

THE Brand

The joy of owning a Mac is very visible at the 2008 edition of Brandchannel’s annual brandjunkie survey, where almost 2,000 marketing people are asked about different brands. The survey is not about ranking the brands, but about values like, “who would you site next to at a dinner party?”

The result is a certain victory for Apple with six top positions and one second. Microsoft got two top placements and one second.

14.6% of the questioned people would rather sit next to Apple at the dinner party, while 4.1% would prefer Virgin. It seems that people identify the companies with the figureheads and prefer Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Another interesting question is:”If a brand was sent 100 years back in time, how would they influence history?”. Again Apple wins by 15.5%, while Microsoft come in second with 10.4%. I’m not sure that I agree with that.

They would have a lot to say about world events, business and what is likely to happen in the future. They could also be quite good fun and have a different view of the world. A good combination of work and non-work conversation.

The first victory to Microsoft could be a sour apple (pun intended). 6% would rather discuss matters with Microsoft. Apple come in second with 4%. I wonder what they would discuss with Microsoft.

Very Inspiring

Apparently Apple inspires people. 22% of the voters say that Apple is the most inspirational brand. Nike comes in second with 6%.

Microsoft isn’t among the top 10 brands.

So has this small analysis taken me closer to a decision? Should I be a part of the Cupertino cult and be another victim in a cynic strategy?

Darren Rowse has just invented the Blogger Appreciation Day. Today it’s all about saying “Thank you” to your favourite blogger(s).

It could be a peptalk, a “Thank You”-mail or a few words of encouragement.

I would like to thank the following people in no particular order:

Everton Blair – Connected Internet, thank you for having me on the CI team. I’ve learned a lot about blogging and it’s still my main blogging income

Mark Blair – Smoblog, you got me back into blogging and really made me feel like a part of the blogsphere. It all started with me commenting on Smoblog.

Wendy Piersall – eMoms@home, one of the nicest, warmest and busiest eMoms out there. Best of luck with the new eParent Network.

Jennifer Laycock – Search Engine Guide, a huge thank you for the invitation to the Small Business Marketing Unleashed Conference. I really really want to attend, but I just started a new job and I can’t take the time off yet.

Arpit Jacob – Clazh, thank you very much for all our chats about blog design. I had a hard time finding the right one, but your input helped me in the right direction.

And last but not least, thank you very much to all those featured in “Show Me Your Desktop”

Who would you like to thank, give a peptalk or encourage to blog on?

According to experts the use of online advertising will increase by 23% in 2008. This is more than 40 billion dollars, but a riot might be around the corner.

Adsense has made Google one most valuable companies in the world and the ads on social networks such as Facebook help those companies make billions each year.

But could all this be in danger?

A new analysis from Deloitte indicates that more and more users are tired of online ads.

Are you one of them? Do you find online ads more annoying than ads in newspapers and television?

A good example is the latest protest against Facebook’s Beacon system. When Facebook users shopped online, Beacon told friends and businesses what they looked at or bought. The latest statistics show that users doesn’t spend as much time on Facebook and MySpace as they used to.

This tendency might turn Facebook and other social network’s ad-goldmine into a nightmare. There might be some light ahead though. According to the Media Summit 2008 in New York, there are other ways of targeting consumers online, but it requires courage.

As you probably already know blogs can circumvent this. If a blog recommends a product on Amazon, you usually don’t consider that advertising. If you let a blogger tell you what they think about a product, it will remove the suspicion towards a product.

But will companies entrust their brand to the users? Brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola spent billions of dollars building a strong brand. Will they allow users to play with their brand and values on YouTube?

The companies will have to redefine their brand and if they want the users to be engaged, they have to let go of their perfect image. This transformation requires a lot of confidence and I’m certain some companies doesn’t want to risk it.

Sources: Media Summit 2008, Beacon protests, Deloitte Report

In my quest to make a living of blogging I’ve now turned my attention to my equipment a.k.a my gadgets.

If you didn’t already know that, well I’m working on it. Hopefully in a couple of years I can quit my day job and make a living out of blogging. I think I would be the first Dane to do that.

I’ve compiled a list of gadgets, equipment, skills and programs that I need in order to match the stereotypical blogger.From my interview series I’ve learned that most bloggers have

1. Use a Mac, usually a MacBook Pro, iMac or MacBook Air
2. Keen interest in photography, usually a Canon Digital Rebel XTi or Nikon D40 or similar. Darren Rowse, Matt Mullenweg or Lisa Bettany. They all take great pictures and have a lot of followers on flickr
3. Adobe Photoshop skills. The photographs must be edited in someway. Also great for making graphics for your blog posts
4. Attend a convention. I always envy the bloggers that attend a blogger convention. SXSW is just one of the conventions I would love to participate in. There is so much going on there
5. Speak at a convention.Jennifer Laycock, Guy Kawasaki, Lorelle VanFossen and Andy Beal travel the roads and sky thin speaking at conventions.
6. Have a cool nickname. Robert Scoble is the Scobleizer and Jeremy Schoemaker is Shoemoney. Just to mention a few. I’m sure there are plenty of others out there too
7. Vlog, podcast, lifecast or stream either your life or a daily/weekly show. Justin Kan from justin.tv, Sarah Meyers from Pop17.com, Justine Ezarik from iJustine and Chris Pirillo from LockerGnome all have a show or lifecast (sometimes both). Use services such as Revver, Qik, Ustream, Mogulus or YouTube
8. Say smart, useful and thoughtful things on twitter or pownce
9. Be a part of a Web 2.0 startup

So what kind of stereotypical blogger thing am I doing?

1. I’ve been a pc-guy for many years, but I’ve decided that my next laptop will be a MacBook. (If you have any recommendations then please let me know)
2. I just bought my own Nikon D40. It’s a great camera and a huge upgrade from my old Olympus point and click. The only followers on flickr I have are my parents. I guess the average The Beta News visitor isn’t really interested in pictures of my son with food all his face or our vacation pictures. Who would have guessed! (I do look good in shorts though).
3. Did you notice the graphical improvement after I switched theme. I’m slowly learning to use Photoshop. I just love it, when I find a new feature and figure out how to use it.
4. Attend a convention. Man, I would love to go to a blogger convention. All a part of my big “become a problogger and move to the States”-plan.
5. Being the first Danish problogger that moved to the States. If that doesn’t earn me a spot as a convention speaker. Then what does?
6. Cool nickname. In real life my nickname is Don, but that doesn’t really catch on. I’ve tried with “dennisbp”. Right now I’m trying with my full name: Dennis Bjørn Petersen. Let’s see how many remembers it.
7. I’m experimenting with Qik.com. What a great service. I can stream directly from my cell phone. Besides that I’m trying Camtasia Studio out too. A few of my blog posts will now be recorded using Camtasia Studio. The first one was the prize draw as a part of The Beta News Contest.
8. I try to say smart things on twitter. I’m not as clever as Maki (DoshDosh). He has some really insightful and philosophical tweets.
9. I have no programming skills whatsoever. I do have a couple of great ideas. I just need someone to develop it for me.

Now I’ve revealed my most intimate and secret dreams for you. Which of these points do you follow? Or perhaps you are going your own way and starting your very own trend? What made these people so famous? They were usually first movers or early adopters, some might even call them visionary (not me of course).

UPDATE: I don’t usually ask for diggs, sphinns or stumbles, but as an experiment perhaps you would consider digging or sphinn this?

Last week I asked Duncan Riley to Show Me Your Desktop. Duncan started a new urge in me. I want to replace my two 19″ monitor with 22″. If you don’t want to be tempted, then please don’t read last week’s interview with Duncan Riley.

This week it’s Lisa Bettany’s turn to share her desktop with us. If you aren’t familiar with Lisa’s blog “Mostly Lisa”, you are missing something in your feed-reader. She has some hilarious videos, clever blog posts and takes great pictures. The media part is because of her involvement in the multimedia company Redpilot. However Lisa is more than just a blogger, actress, model, nocturnal and geek. She is also in the top 8 in Wired’s Sexiest Geeks 2007. So remember to vote for her.

I also noticed that Lisa has a thing for Mac. Yet again we meet a lovely Canadian with a Mac-fetish and great photography skills. I have to get myself one a Mac. Beautiful people use Macs.

What is your background picture?

OS Leopard theme “Aurora”

Why did you chose that picture?

In the past, I have always used my favourite photographs as my desktop, but being a bit of an Apple fangirl I couldn’t help but get into the OSX Leopard craze. Plus, I personally feel that this is the best desktop image Apple has come out with and who doesn’t like space themes?

If you have a personal and a work computer, which program do you use the most on your personal computer?

I’d have to say Safari, because I am constantly blogging or searching the www. Adobe’s Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, iPhoto, iChat, VLC, Transmit, and Entourage are my other top applications.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?

Work computer = home computer. I run my multimedia company from home, usually in my pajamas.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?

I only use Safari. I use FF as a default when I have browser issues with Safari, but I find Safari to be a cleaner, more aesthetic, better functioning application over-all. Plus, I was getting bogged in FF plug-ins and wasting far too much time searching for new ones. 2008 is all about stream-lining my resources and getting things done!

What is your favourite program?

A toss up between Adobe Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. Both are intensely powerful programs that allow me to create beyond my wildest dreams. I haven’t even touched the power of these programs.

Which program is the worst?

Microsoft’s Excel. I’ve done my fair share of data entry and just the sight of it makes me frustrated, bored, and slightly nauseous. I’m currently moving over to Apple’s spreadsheet program “Numbers”.

Do you have any tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your computer or blog?

What you put into your blog and the blogging communities is directly proportional to what you get out of it. I reply to every comment and email I receive about my blog. It means something to me someone has taken the time to write me a thoughtful comment, or just a “hey, I liked that post”. I also visit try and visit their blogs if they have include their URL in their comment. I have met great people and found wonderful blogging communities this way. Also, writing relevant, interesting, and varied posts with cute pictures of yourself also helps ( ;

Mac or Pc and why?

For me and the type of work I do, Mac > PC. It’s just that simple.

It might be a comfort to some, that Lisa is struggeling with some of the same problems as you are – Joining too many social networks. That’s why I’m really glad she found the time to answer my questions. Thank you Lisa and good luck with the audition.

PS: Thank you for cleaning your desktop before taking the screen dump.

The Beta News 2 Year Anniversary Contest is now officially over and the winners have been drawn.

A great thanks goes to the sponsors, Lorelle VanFossen, David Airey and Entrecard.

I’ve drawn the winners using Random.org and recorded it with Camtasia Studio. This is my first video, so please be gentle.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Congratulations to:

Erz from Blogodise – Lorelle VanFossen’s book “Blogging Tips”

Laura from Laura Williams’ Musings – Blog Design critque from David Aiery

Emma from ItsWriteNow.com – $100 Amazon gift card

BetShopBoy from Bet Shop Boy – $30 Amazon gift card

Egonitron with a messy blogger HQ – €20 Amazon.de gift card

Indo Contest from Indocontest – $25 cash through PayPal and a The Beta News t-shirt

My Blog Contest from MyBlogContest – $25 cash through PayPal

Vincent Chow from Reviewow – The Beta News t-shirt

Sparky123 from Just Another Contest Blog – The Beta News t-shirt

Once again congratulations everybody and thank you very much for participating!

I hope to see you all around on The Beta News.

In the next two weeks I’ll host the biggest contest ever on The Beta News. Actually it’s the first contest ever here, but who’s counting?!

Now the rules to participate are developed by my twisted brain, so hopefully this will be a contest unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

The rules are fairly simple.

Option 1: Follow me on Twitter. At a random time I will announce a keyword on Twitter and the followers will have three hours to mail it to me. A random follower will then be drawn.

Option 2: Keyword in RSS-feed. Subscribe to my RSS-feed and mail the keyword to me. Send the “secret” word to contest (at) thebetanews.com.

Option 3: Blog about the contest or The Beta News content. Write a blog post about the contest, or one of the sponsors, or one of The Beta News posts (for instance one of the Show Me Your Desktop interviews) using relevant anchor text like “celebrity blogger interview, problogger interview or blogging advice”. Another example could be my post about why virtual worlds are the next Web 2.0 money maker. Anchor text examples here could be “Web 2.0 and virtual worlds”, ” webkinz and clubpenguin.com is a money maker” or something similar. Basically anchor texts are links that features keywords about the post being linked to. Remember to Stumble your post and if you think it’s really good, submit it to digg, sphinn or other sites.

Remember to post a link in a comment in the contest post. I will Stumble your post as well. I can only encourage you to Stumble other contestants posts too.
Option 4: Take a picture of your blog “HQ” or desktop. Take a picture or a small video of what your blogger HQ, desk or computer desktop looks like. Post it in a blog post and link to this post.

Each part gives you an extra chance to win the big drawing on day 14.

Complete one or more options. Each option gives you an extra chance in the final drawing. All drawings are made by random.org.

And now for the prizes:

• Lorelle VanFossen’s book “Blogging Tips – What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging” sponsored and signed by Lorelle VanFossen. You won’t find better tips and tricks about WordPress and blogging in general anywhere else. Lorelle is the blogging expert. Visit Lorelle on WordPress.
• David Airey from DavidAirey.com and Logo Design Love has kindly taken some time out of his busy schedule and is sponsoring his design expertise. David will give the winner a critique of his/hers blog with suggestions and improvements. David has been my “go-to-guy” on several blog design occasions and he was the first to refer me to Brian Gardner. His latest blog , Logo Design Love, is all about his passion for logos.
• Entrecard.com has kindly sponsored three Entrecard Featured Status – This means you get a golden border around your Entrecard for a week. Great way of getting more attention. On top of that, Entrecard also sponsor three Fast Passes. With a Fast Pass you can jump to the top of an advert request.
• One Amazon.com $100 gift card
• One Amazon.com $30 gift card
• One Amazon.de €20 gift card (to make the Euros happy)
• Two $25 in cash through PayPal
• Three The Beta News t-shirts with logo and everything

If you feel like sponsoring a prize, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

The contest starts now and ends Friday, 22 February 2008.

Good luck everybody!

PS: If you like The Beta News, please go ahead and Favorite it on Technorati.

Researching for this round of Show Me Your Desktop, my wife asked me how come I didn’t have many women in the interview series. This opened a whole new world for me. The world of Canadian bloggers.

Rebecca Bollwitt is a Canadian blogger. She is among the top Vancouver bloggers, a Canucks fan (NHL ice hockey team) and she blogs for a good cause.

Reading Rebecca’s aka Miss 604 blog has really given me yet another reason to go to Canada. The pictures she takes of Vancouver and surroundings make me want to go there even more.

Oh and a small tip. Rebecca’s background picture certainly deserves a second look. I’ve got a Sokazo background now on my PC.

What is your background picture?
- I change my background every month. This month’s is an image by Philippe Sokazo, one of my contacts on Flickr.

Why did you chose that picture?
- Sokazo’s a local artist and I just love the clean look and bright colours he uses.

Which program do you use the most on your personal computer?
- Firefox, then I think I’d have to say Adium, if not iChat or Skype. Communication is a key part of my day.

Which program do you use the most on your work computer?
- I think it would still be Skype. Our company even has meetings using Skype chats.

Internet Explorer or Firefox?
- Firefox.

Why do you use Firefox?
- Even though I check a lot of my work in Safari, Firefox is just the simplest and safest tool for me.

What is your favourite program?
- I’d be pretty lost without Firefox, it’s certainly a staple. Other than that I use Cyberduck (for FTP), Smultron (for CSS editing), iPhoto for basic photo editing, and Flickr Uploader all on a daily basis.

Which program is the worst?
- I try to avoid using really bad programs… and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Do you have any tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your computer or blog?
- I make sure to know the tools that I’m using and know how to use them all at once – creating a winning combination.

Mac or Pc and why?
- Mac. I made the switch last year after peer-pressure from my husband who grew up using Apple computers. It took me a while to adjust to the simplicity and easy-of-use but since I let my PC habits go, it’s been a dream and I’m not looking back.

The Beta News 2 year anniversary contest is about to kick off. In order to make the contest even more exciting I’m hoping to offer my readers and future readers some extraordinary cool prizes.

I’m therefore looking for some prize sponsors to make this contest as thrilling and interesting as possible.

The contest is planned to run over two weeks with a random drawing once per week (perhaps more often depending on the number of prizes). The big prize, which has yet to be determined (right now I have a $100 Amazon gift card) will be drawn on day 14.

The contest will be divided into several parts.

Part 1: Follow me on Twitter. At a random time I will announce a keyword on Twitter and the followers will have three hours to mail it to me. A random follower will then be drawn.

Part 2: Keyword in RSS-feed. Subscribe to my RSS-feed and mail the keyword to me. Again depending on the number of prizes, I’m hoping to have someone win every third to fourth day.

Part 3: Blog about the contest, a prize sponsor or The Beta News content. Write a blog post where the entrant must write about the contest or one of the prize sponsors or one of The Beta News posts (for instance Show Me Your Desktop) using some anchor text.

Part 4: Take a picture of your blog crib or desktop. Take a picture or a small video of what your blogger HQ, desk or computer desktop looks like.

Part 5: Each part gives you an extra chance to win the big drawing on day 14.

I will submit the contest to the 20+ contest blogs I know about. Write about it on Connectedinternet.co.uk and get as much link love from contacts as possible. The contest will be mentioned on my Entrecard and on as many social network sites as possible, without spamming of course. I still have a reputation to think of.

Prize sponsors will also get as much link love as possible from this modest Page Rank 4 site and from the entrants.

If you are interested in sponsoring me, please use my contact form or contact me on dbp (at) thebetanews.com.