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| Airplane passing the Moon. Found here |
ON MY MIND
I am still mourning the death of Google Reader. It really makes no sense to me. Google blows away so much money on useless crap and they are going to kill an incredibly useful program like this? I am on Google Reader all day long trrying to keep my 560 561 feeds manageable, it is just unfair. I have been gathering articles to read on where to migrate to. But here is the issue: Without the support of Google, I believe RSS is like a dead man walking. I have seen Feedly suggested as an alternative. I would like to know what other program comes as CLOSE to what Google Reader does, anyone? And, of course brilliantly, Google kept alive these six products that nobody uses: Panoramio, Gooble Bookmarks, Google Blog Search, Speak2Tweet, Zygote Body, Google Building Maker! Google, I thought you were all about “Don’t be Evil”. Maybe you meant “Don’t be Stupid” instead?
Noob Traveler will be at the Chicago Seminars. You noobitup now you guys. Ok, it’s official, these huge seminars are really turning me off now. Pretty soon the big shots will start appearing with their entourages? Charge for a pic or an autograph? The way these are growing I won’t be shocked! Going to them feels like I am falling for the unrelenting commercialism of this quirky hobby. I should not have to pay money to socialize! Ain’t no hobby no more folks! [I added the exclamation mark for my grammar cop reader,smile]. I’ll miss you.
NEW CHAMPION FOR EMBEDDED CREDIT CARD LINKS IN A POST
One Mile at a Time with 39 credit card links in a single post. Really? Congrats! The Points Guy, the previous champion, had 35.
This whole space has become a breeding ground for creativity on how to embed these credit card links. I find it increasingly turns me off. Yikes. I understand the economics. It can be done offering good content and decently, not in such overly aggressive mode. We can spot you blogger working on yet another post about the amazing Ink cards right this minute! We are SICK AND TIRED of seeing the Ink card affiliate links. We know all benefits, I can recite them like the Pope recites…well, whatever he recites, I am not Catholic neither I care!
Ok, that was a rant from the old days. It felt good. Saved me another therapist bill for sure. Thank you.
MILES/POINTS
Boss-free globetrotter games Expedia for $1,800 in free hotels. Is it just me or are we all seeing more and more ridiculous articles like this? “Hackers” showing off to the consumer press? Don’t you think Expedia will not take notice? WTF!!!
The 35k for the USAir card already posted!
It appears USA Bank will do a manual review for my wife’s Club Carlson card…I think.
TRAVEL
Pacific Northwest in Glorious Time Lapse. From Vagabondish. Wow!
The flowing Rock of Antelope Canyon. From Twisted Sifter.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Fill up your plane at the gas station (make sure you use a card that earns 2 pts per mile or a gift card bought from an office supply store with your Ink card [dang, how I wish I can insert a beautiful affiliate link right here!]), get back on the highway and fly it baby! From Vagabondish.
The Skeptical Traveler comes up with some weirdly funny posts. On this one he just posts the longest spam comment ever. I get this crap quite a lot but never so long like this one!
Three recycled rants in a row? This whole blog should become a breeding ground for creativity in commentary.
Lol, good point!
I would even consider using Google Wave again if they would keep reader!
Major lol…Actually, I am still laughing. I would even consider, gulp, paying for Google Reader:-)
And the crazy thing is your pointing out Ben had the most affiliate links drove traffic to his site and allowed him to get more affiliate links.
You are right, that is crazy. I had the same dillema some time ago (whether to link back to the blog posts I rip). Bloggers got all riled up about it, that it’s not fair if readers do not read the actual blog post I was referring to. But I am reconsidering. You don’t fight drug (affiliate links) addiction by leading more traffic which leads to more of the disease.
No mas. Thanks
OMG George! Right before I went to your site, I wanted to read TPG’s travel info. I hesitated because of his shameless cc pimping. The info was very interesting (Cartagena) so I kept reading. Right when I was thinking how nice it was to read something without being bombarded with cc offers BAM…. Up pops 13 links under the guise the “Signature Benefits”.
I think he can ans should make a living. But please, don’t disguise selling credit cards as providing travel information. Also, TPG has a link on top of his page showing that you can get (under Program column) 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points by getting the Southwest Visa…That’s a boo-boo..Not correct and very misleading!
Vote with your feet. Don’t go there and he’ll find some other way to make money. Most of us are addicted to this and it’s hard to stop.
The TBB Editorial Board does not permit anyone associated at TBB to apply for credit cards from affiliate links so we all make an extra effort to use generic links. You need to decide who you should compensate.
One of the perspectives that I’ve gained from reading this blog, George, is on the lack of caution that the credit-card pushing blogs provide for newbies.
I don’t know many newbie hobbyists, aside from the ones that clutter Milepoint with their inane “please comment on my AOR!” posts, so it’s never really raised my hackles.
Take a look at an early post from today’s MMS interviewee:
http://discoverwithandy.com/my-foray-into-travel-hacking-using-credit-cards-with-airline-miles-for-free-flights-part-2/
They seem like nice people, and they’re hopefully not too deep in debt (because he just quit his job to travel), but ooooooooooooof.
harvson3
Credit cards alone do not make a travel hacker.
I am certain they just found out how much they can make with affiliate links to pay off their debt and jumped in. There are SO MANY bloggers new to this coming in and they really do not have anything unique to offer. Suggesting to a new person to get five credit cards at once and over $10k spend is…ludicrous.
Netvibes has a superior RSS reading product anyway. Try it. Seriously. Use widget mode. I have one tab that has 20 widgets of travel blogs, takes ten seconds to see if any of them have been updated.
Never seen this recommendation before. I am watching everything to see what happens over the next few months. Feedly has come up and made some big time commitments towards this product #developing