Yahoo Pipes!
Welcome to the world of Yahoo Pipes!
I have been using Yahoo Pipes as a mashup editor for some time now. Google’s mashup editor is still in beta and not open to the public yet.
If you go to the Travel Warning Page it was made using Yahoo Pipes. It was actually my first attempt. It loads a bit slow, but I’m proud that I have been hitting the learning curve pretty hard.
The latest thing I have been playing with is the translate feature. I often read news in Europe but while I know German it is kind of hard to understand French. So with Yahoo pipes I have been able to translate RSS feeds into English.
The neat thing about Yahoo Pipes is you can view Pipes made by other people. As I make pipes you can view the source of the pipe, see it read, and even copy it. It makes learning from example a lot easier.
Google Maps
Ok, so I have been working with Google Maps lately. I made my first map the other day when I took a Google Map of the USA and plotted on it almost every Zoo in the lower 48 States.
Zoo Map click here you can view the first map I made. I would have just posted it below but Wordpress does not allow iframe to be used and the whole iframe is stripped out of the post. Kind of sad but that is what happens because of those nasty spammers. But I’m getting off topic.
Plotting every zoo in the USA is a bit of a task, but if you click on each pin it will bring up info on each zoo. You can zoom in and out on the map.
There are several already made maps with info plotted you can find on Google Maps already,
It is interesting to see what people are using this for and coming up with for this new technology.
The Zoo map is my first map, I started working with maps for the blog site World Zoo Today. It is a pet blog site of mine I started just to help me keep up with animal and Zoo related info, plus to share what I learn. If you haven’t figured it out, I am a Zoo lover. Most people don’t see the big deal with Zoos, they think they are just for the kiddies. They might change their mind if they ever held a baby tiger cub, lemur, or bottle fed a black bear cub.
What I Have Learned Blogging
I have been blogging for a number of months now. I have managed to setup and have 5 blogs going along with the magazine I run plus retail businesses I own. In that time I have learned a lot from blogging.
Problogger.net (Darren Rowse), JohnCow.com, and John Chow have been blogs I have used information found and learned a lot. Blogging has turned into a money making adventure for me in the past several months now. The blogs now pay for themselves with an extra bit of cash to me. I was kind of skeptical at first when I started my first blog. I was use to making money online via retail websites but had never considered blogs.
Lately I have been working with Google. Google maps and mashups taking information, sorting it out, and narrowing the information stream down to a niche to keep informed about certain events in the world. This has shown to be a possible new stream of income. Providing a stream of information to a narrow group or niche.
I am going to be posting more on Google Maps here in the next day or so. Subscribe to my feed to learn with me as I learn more about Google Maps and Mashups.
World Zoo Today
I have been playing with a new website called World Zoo Today. I have a thing for Zoos, well I like animals what can I say. I love going to the Saint Louis Zoo to see the new babies each spring and summer. The Takin and Somali WIld Ass both have little ones running around right now.
Rock pioneer Bo Diddley dies at age 79
Sad to hear that Bo Diddley died. Seems like all the legends have moved on. Chuck Berry still plays here in Saint Louis at the Blueberry Hill. Hard to get tickets though.
I still listen to the music of the past, even though I listen to a lot of the new music. You can see the reflections of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, John Hooker, and many of the others in today’s music. Sad to see another loss.
Google Maps
OK, so I have been playing with mashups and google maps the last few weeks and have actually learned a lot. It is pretty easy to take just a regular google map and plot anything you want on it. Last night I worked on a map that has every Zoo in the USA plotted on it, with information such as address, phone, website, and reviews. Kind of interesting to know that programming has gotten easier. I remember back when I wanted to write a program I used assembly to write all the code telling the CPU every little detail.
Now within minutes I can create a map and plot anything on it and make it interactive on the web. This has brought a lot of new ideas to website design. Pretty soon I see the web replacing just about everything. Now if I can just get one of my friends to actually get internet access, he still hasn’t broken down and got internet. Seems like he is still living in the dark ages to me.
Podcasting 101
Ok, I have been a hard fast education in podcasting lately. It is kind of interesting because I have been doing it with mashups at the same time.
PHP programming has been making me feel like I’m in Basket Weaving 101 though. I spent four hours working with a piece of code yesterday that still has the better of me. On top of that one of my computers had a hard drive crash.
I have really gotten more into this blogging and podcasting. Plus I have been buying domain names a lot more lately. Just bought 5 in the last week. The websites are now under construction. Seems like there are several niches still open on the web, you just have to know where to look. 
Wordpress 2.5
Ok I finally broke down and updated my wordpress to 2.5. It works fine just a bit different. Yeah I know I’m behind in updates. I tend to stay that way most of the time. Let other people work out the bugs.
I have been working on business ideas as of late and found that mashups are a happening thing. I have been learning how to take multiple sources of information around the web, sort out the junk and produce an RSS feed that has nothing but one subject on it with quality content. I can see how this is going to change the web. It kind of helps to be a programming guru to get some of the mashups to work right though.
I disgress though, This wordpress 2.5 thing is pretty neat, has made it easier to add certain photos and information. I am working now to update other blogs. Now if I can just quit buying domain names.
Buying Domain Names
I have been in the domain buying mood lately. Just bought three domain names in the last 3 days. Why only three? I have found that finding a domain name that isn’t taken has gotten to be pretty hard. I usually go through 20-30 names before I find one I like.
It seems like some companies are now out there just to buy as many domain names as they can just to resell them for a high price. I found a lot of domains that are just for sell at a very premium price. Just goes to show that if someone can find a way to make money they will do it.
I have also found that a lot of the good domain names are are made into pure ad sites. Like one site I saw which had nothing but search results for the item I was looking for in the first place. It seems like we should do something about this kind of stuff. Like if you don’t actually create a constructive website with the domain name it can be canceled and sold to someone that will put something on it worth going to visit. What is the point of having a website with nothing but search results to other websites anyway, besides making money of course. Seems like a waste to me. Just my $.02.
Sichuan Province, China - Earthquake
I’m sure everyone by now knows about the earthquake in the Sichuan Province of China. I have been following the news everyday since it happened. While it is far away from Saint Louis, I still feel the loss since I have friends in the captial city of Chengdu. I met them once on a business trip and get welcomed back very warmly every time I go.
Currently the death toll is over 32,000. China will be holding three days of mourning for those lost. I know Sichuan Province being so distant makes this seem so small, to the people here in the USA. I think you would understand what it means if you had ever been face to face with the people of that region. If you had got to know them, like I have in the past.
