11.04.04

Death of a Carnival

Posted in General, Carnival of the Consumers at 10:00 am by Jeff

Well, seeing as how I have not received any submissions for weeks, it’s time to call it: time of death, 10:00AM PST, November 4, 2004. The Carnival of the Consumers is now officially dead.

It was fun managing the carnival for a while, but it turned out to be a lot of work with a small return. Thanks to all who expressed interest and promoted the carnival during its tenure.

Jeff Doolittle dot com: Carnival of the Consumers

UPDATE (March 24, 2005) - If there is interest in resurrecting the Carnival of the Consumers (for example, if you want to help host or promote the Carnival), contact me.

08.03.04

Carnival Deadline

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 11:18 am by Jeff

The deadline for Carnival of the Consumers entries is Thursday at 8:00AM PDT. To find out how you can submit your favorite blog entry, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Index Page.

07.29.04

Carnival of the Consumers #7

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 12:03 am by Jeff

Welcome to the seventh edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. Do your part to drum up interest and submit postings to the Carnival of the Consumers!

Phillip M. Torrone at Engadget has a cool gadget tip (How-To Turn your iPod in to a Universal Infrared Remote Control)

For those with babies, here’s some scarry news (Gerber Baby Food Found Laced with Ricin in Calif.)

More proof that there are just too many gullible people on-line these days (Consumers still falling for phish)

Even more proof that there are too many gullible people on-line these days — I mean, someone must be reading the stuff or it would stop flooding our inboxes… (Nearly two-thirds of all emails now spam)

And, finally, Josh goes completely random with an entry about avoiding comment spam while smelling great (Blacklisted and Powder-Fresh)

That’s it for this week. If you are interested in hosting the Carnival of the Consumers or in submitting a link for the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. The Carnival will be published every Thursday.

07.23.04

Carnival of the Consumers #6

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 9:01 am by Jeff

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. The Carnival is published each Thursday. Do your part to drum up interest and submit postings to the Carnival of the Consumers!

Harvey at Bad Example as found a great tool for managing your blog (Secret Weapon for the Blogspotted).

Pamibe has a plethora of product recommendations for you (Stuff that works!).

That’s it for this week. If you are interested in hosting the Carnival of the Consumers or in submitting a link for the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page.

07.22.04

Late Carnival

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 10:18 pm by Jeff

I’ll have the sixth edition of the Carnival of the Consumers up tomorrow morning. I was visiting a client all day today and couldn’t complete it. Sorry for any inconvenience.

07.15.04

Carnival of the Consumers #5

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 3:56 pm by Jeff

Welcome to the fifth edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. Rather than wait until I have a handful of entries, I’ve decided to publish each Thursday, no matter how many entries there are. Do your part to drum up interest and submit postings to the Carnival of the Consumers!

Josh Cohen at d-42 discusses Smoothies, Pumpkorn, and the Secret Ingredient in low-carb foods (The Secret Ingredient).

That’s it for this week. If you are interested in hosting the Carnival of the Consumers or in submitting a link for the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. The Carnival will be published every Thursday.

07.09.04

Carnival of the Consumers #4

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 10:25 am by Jeff

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page.

Jay at Accidental Verbosity shares his

experience with the Firefox web browser (Firefox).

Gene Veith at World Mag Blog ponders what is truly most important (Freedom or money?).

Josh Cohen at d-42 isn’t impressed with Coca-Cola C2 (Diet Coke, with extra a–).

That’s it for this week. If you are interested in hosting the Carnival of the Consumers or in submitting a link for the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. The Carnival will be published every Thursday.

07.08.04

Carnival Coming Tomorrow

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 10:50 pm by Jeff

To those of you eagerly anticipating the return of the Carnival of the Consumers, I apologize that I did not have time to get it up today. I’ll have it up tomorrow morning as soon as I can. Thanks for your patience!

07.01.04

Carnival of the Consumers Resurrected

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 5:10 pm by Jeff

It’s been a while since I’ve published the Carnival of the Consumers. Go read about it and submit some entries. It’s time we had another edition.

04.30.04

My Wife Is Sick

Posted in General, Personal, Carnival of the Consumers at 7:53 pm by Jeff

Well, it looks like I’m going to skip out on posting a Carnival of the Consumers edition this week. I spent a good portion of today at the hospital while my seven-months-pregnant wife suffered from the flu and dehydration (including the mandatory vomiting). I hope the kids don’t get sick. Should be a fun weekend. See you Monday.

04.29.04

Late Carnival This Week

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 5:06 pm by Jeff

The Carnival of the Consumers will be late this week. It will be up by tomorrow at noon PDT.

04.26.04

The Hits Just Keep On Comin’

Posted in General, Carnival of the Consumers at 9:33 pm by Jeff

Back in March I shared my gratitude to you all for the greatly increasing amount of traffic coming to my website. During that month, I spent a good deal of time writing entries to be included in the various blogger carnivals (Vanities, Bush Bloggers, Capitalists, etc). These efforts paid off in a tremendous increase in traffic.

For the month of April I switched gears a bit and decided to focus more effort on the fledgling Carnival of the Consumers. While traffic coming to the Carnival has been flowing, I’m not getting the large amount of quality submissions I had hoped for. The Carnival is still young, so I’m going to keep promoting it–with a little help from my friends (this means you!).

If you haven’t yet joined the Carnival of the Consumers mailing list group on Yahoo! then go do it. This is a very light mailing list that will not clutter up your in-box. You will simply be informed weekly when the Carnival of the Consumers is posted and you may receive an occasional e-mail requesting your assistance in promoting the Carnival.

You can also use a nice handy tool from Yahoo! to invite a bunch of people to join the Carnival of the Consumers mailing list. Just go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cotconsumers/subs_invite and put in up to 50 e-mail addresses. What a great way to spread the word!

You may be asking, “What’s in it for me?” As this Carnival grows, there will be tremendous potential for you to increase traffic to your blog by hosting a weekly edition. Those who actively promote the Carnival and can demonstrate the fruits of their labor will be given high priority for hosting. What can you do? Invite friends to join the mailing list and voraciously promote the Carnival on your blog. This Carnival has the potential to not just bring traffic to your site, but to create a nice repository of searchable information that will be useful to all.

It looks like 5,000 visitors in April is going to happen, but how about 10,000 in May? Only time will tell.

P.S. My Google Page Rank jumped from 4 to 5 this month. Woohoo!

C.O.T. Consumers Deadline

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 2:28 pm by Jeff

The deadline for Carnival of the Consumers entries is Thursday at 8:00AM PDT. To find out how you can submit your favorite blog entry, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Index Page.

04.22.04

Carnival of the Consumers #3

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 10:00 pm by Jeff

Welcome to the third edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page.

Inluminent cancels his Netflix subscription (Cancelled Netflix Tonight).

Brand Autopsy analyzes the process and necessity of rising prices (The Case for Higher Prices).

O’Reilly decries all the whining about Google’s up-and-coming Gmail service (The Fuss About Gmail and Privacy).

SeedWiki has some great tips on ways to make money with your blog (Making Blogs Make Money).

The CS Monitor opines about the rising expenses of fixing newer cars (New cars are getting too expensive to fix).

That’s it for this week. If you are interested in hosting the Carnival of the Consumers or in submitting a link for the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. The Carnival is published every Thursday.

04.19.04

C.O.T. Consumers Deadline

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 4:32 pm by Jeff

The deadline for Carnival of the Consumers entries is Thursday at 8:00AM PDT. To find out how you can submit your favorite blog entry, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Index Page.

04.16.04

Carnival of the Consumers #2

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 10:14 am by Jeff

Welcome to the second edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page.

XRLQ considers the effects of price disputes on his satellite television service (Dish Customers Brace for Another Disappearing Act).

Marginal Revolution discusses the economics of why cable channels must be purchased in batches and not individually (Why can’t you choose your cable channels?).

Doc Searls shares a few quibbles he has with his new Nikon Coolpix 5700 digital camera (Coolpix and pans).

Josh Cohen at www.d-42.com shares the results of The Great Gum Experiment of 2004 (with a special emphasis on what’s wrong with the new Eclipse gum flavors).

Finally, if you haven’t heard about the new product from 3M, they have come up with a modern miracle: Transparent Duct Tape! What more could a consumer ask for?

Again, if you are interested in hosting the Carnival of the Consumers or in submitting a link for the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. The Carnival is published every Thursday (sorry it was late this week!).

04.03.04

Carnival of the Consumers Submissions

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 7:48 pm by Jeff

Until I start getting more frequent entries for the Carnival, I’ll just plan to post a new edition on the first Thursday after I receive 10 entries. Once the word gets around and submissions start rolling in more regularly, I’d like to have a Carnival edition every Thursday. I’d also like to have occasional guest hosts as well. If you want to see this project get off the ground, spread the word!

To find out how to join the Carnival of the Consumers mailing list and/or how to submit your entry for the Second Edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers page.

04.01.04

Carnival of the Consumers #1

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 12:00 am by Jeff

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Carnival of the Consumers! If you want to know more about the Carnival or submit a blog entry for inclusion in the next edition, visit the Carnival of the Consumers Explained page. This week’s Carnival features useful insights and suggestions for all you consumers out there. Enjoy!

Army of One hits the road with XM Satellite radio (Fox on The Road).

Discriminations tells the tale of the lion in house cat’s clothing: the Subaru Forester XT (Can’t See The Forest(er) For the Très…).

The Southern California Law Blog recommends the Nokia 3300 digital camera (Nokia 3300).

Pathetic Earthlings expresses unexpected enjoyment after purchasing a bargain bin CD (Sadie Green).

Dodgeblogium adds a bit of humor to the Carnival with the Kosher Computer (Kosher Computers).

Miller’s Time invites you to crack open a cold one and enjoy the benefits of TIVO (My Cold Dead Hands).

Feste over at Foolsblog could kick himself for choosing the Canon G5 over the Nikon D70 (Kick Me Now).

Finally, your humble host explains why Skype could be the future of telephony (Skype Internet Telephony).

03.29.04

Carnival Mailing List

Posted in Carnival of the Consumers at 7:57 pm by Jeff

I’ve set up a new mailing list for the Carnival of the Consumers. To subscribe to the list, send a message to

cotconsumers-subscribe [at] yahoogroups [d0t] com

or visit

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cotconsumers

This list works just like the one for the Carnival of the Vanities. It will be used for pre-Carnival annoucements and for sending reminders when the new carnival is posted.

03.23.04

Carnival of the Consumers

Posted in Science and Technology, Culture and Ideas, Business and Economy, Carnival of the Consumers at 8:00 am by Jeff

Carnival of the Consumers Index

Seventh Edition (July 28, 2004)

Sixth Edition (July 23, 2004)

Fifth Edition (July 15, 2004)

Fourth Edition (July 9, 2004)

Third Edition (April 22, 2004)

Second Edition (April 16, 2004)

First Edition (April 1, 2004)

Important E-mail Addresses

Join Mailing List: cotconsumers-subscribe [at] yahoogroups [d0t] com
Entry Submission: jeffdoolittle [at] yahoo [d0t] com

Of course you’ll need to replace the [at] with “@” and the [dot] with “.”. I publish the addresses this way to keep spam-bots from harvesting them.

About the Carnival of the Consumers

For those of you out there who are blogwise, you already know about the weekly Carnivals which float around the blogosphere. Each carnival is unique; some are hosted by the same person each week, others float around from site to site; some are serious, some are silly. Each Carnival contains links to blog posts from around the web. One of the problems is that none of the Carnivals is particularly useful. Informative or entertaining, yes, but not practically useful in any meaningful way.

It’s time for a new Carnival: the Carnival of the Consumers.

The purpose of this new Carnival is to share your experiences with the products you interact with each day. Whether it is a car, computer, guitar, or cleaning product, this is your chance to tell the world what you love/hate about something you’ve purchased in the past 3 months. What did you pay for the item? Where did you purchase it? Would you recommend the product to others? How does it compare to competing products? Tell us all about it.

Here are some parameters

  1. Don’t submit adult-oriented or sexual enhancement products. In other words, keep it family friendly so everyone can enjoy the benefits of the information.
  2. No prescriptions, medications or over the counter drugs.
  3. No stocks, bonds or other investment vehicles (this is not your chance to tout your favorite stock pick).
  4. Don’t try to start a boycot of a product here. The goal is to inform people in their purchasing decisions, not to promote consumer/political activism.
  5. This is not a place to announce new products or software releases that you haven’t personally used. We want to hear about your interaction with a product.
  6. Flat out rants and unabashed raves will probably not be posted. Try to be balanced in your review.
  7. Try to focus on products, not services (this won’t be a hard and fast rule, just a guideline).
  8. Try to focus on the manufacturer, not the seller (also not a hard and fast rule).
  9. Please do share your experience with the manufacturer’s customer service department.
  10. I reserve complete editorial oversight and am not compelled to post anything you send.

Please include the phrase “Carnival of the Consumers” in the subject line of your submission. Send me the following information when you submit your entry:

  • Your Name
  • Your E-mail
  • Blog Name
  • Blog URL
  • Entry Title
  • Entry URL/Permalink
  • Trackback URL (if you want a ping)
  • Comments, Excerpt, etc.

Send entries to jeffdoolittle [at] yahoo [d0t] com.

If you’d like to join the CotConsumers mailing list, send a message to: cotconsumers-subscribe [at] yahoogroups [d0t] com. This address is not for submitting entries, but for being notified about events relating to the Carnival (like when a new edition is online).