BlogRush hit the blogging scene in late 2007, and it spread like wildfire, due in part to it’s endorsements by heavy-hitting bloggers like John Chow. I always felt like the system was flawed, and only ran it on 2 or 3 of our blogs. We never saw the traffic that they promised us, but laziness kept me from removing the widget.

Now it’s official - BlogRush is dead, and if you’re still running the BlogRush widget, it’s time to remove it.

Next in my death pool is EntreCard. Another neat concept that I just don’t see making it in the long haul. We’ll see..

In recent weeks, many Comcast subscribers have been having intermittent issues with their e-mail, but it’s been more of a nuisance than anything else. Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon it took a dramatically different turn. For over 8 hours, many (if not all) Comcast subscribers were unable to retrieve their e-mail, be it through POP3 (Outlook, etc) or Webmail.

The frustration lied in the fact that Comcast didn’t even acknowledge the problem, and instead people were queued up in the Live Chat Support trying to get answers. I stumbled across this thread last night, and it was there that I learned more about the situation..

Many of us rely too heavily on our ISPs for our e-mail, but after yesterday’s extended outage, I’m done.. From now on, I’ll use my own mail server!

I’ve been struggling with an ongoing issue since August, and we had all but contained it.. Then last week, I needed to install Zend Optimizer on our server for another project we’re working on. That caused a world of trouble! I can’t blame Wordpress, because there are plenty of people running WP with Zend, and life is good. I’m guessing that one of the plugins we’re using isn’t playing nice with Zend, and it’s a nightmare,

Imagine coming home to find your site down, and HUNDREDS of httpd processes running.. Now imagine that happening every 24-36 hours for a week straight! I’m still not sure where the conflict lies, but with 40+ Wordpress installs running on the server, it’s a little difficult to troubleshoot. If I had to guess, I think it’s Podpress.

Podpress has been filling up our logs with lots of random errors, even though it continues to work.. But with the infamous v8.9 still nowhere to be found, my patience has run thin, and I’m getting ready to move over to another platform. With 500+ podcasts on one site alone, this is going to be a monumental task, but with no word from the Podpress developer, what choice do I really have?

If anyone else had had similar experiences, I’d love to hear how you worked through them.. Thanks!

Ugh.. I thought we’d get a break until November when Wordpress v2.7 comes out, but the Wordpress team has released a security update in the form of v2.6.3. It would be great if they would offer a patching system similar to Windows Update, but no dice. It’s not a big deal for most people, but when you’re running 40+ Wordpress sites, these updates are a HUGE pain in the ass!

Fortunately, this new release updates only two files. If you don’t want to download the entire WordPress program just to get the security fix, you can download the following two files and copy them over your 2.6.2 installation:

wp-includes/class-snoopy.php
wp-includes/version.php

Replacing two files is a lot easier than upgrading an entire WordPress installation. This has been the easiest to install update yet. Hopefully upgrading this way this doesn’t screw up Fantastico down the line when it’s time to upgrade to v2.7.. Guess we’ll find out then.

Last June, John Chow posted about his new car.. Given his infatuation with sports cars, I expected something exotic. I was a bit let down when I found out that he bought an Acura TL, and not even the Type-S variant!?

I guess the Type-S may not be the best option in snowy Canada, but I’ve never let the weather influence a decision before. That’s why God invented snow tires. (And having lived in Buffalo, I’m plenty familiar with snow!)

In any event, fast forward to a few weeks ago. I’m in NYC for the Affiliate Summit Social Media conference, and my wife calls complaining about the transmission in her car. She wants a new car. We had already been casually looking at cars, so we had a short list of contenders. The BMW’s suspension was too rough, Audi’s Quattro system was very “mechanical” feeling, the Infinity didn’t impress her, and the Mercedes-Benz was ugly. She all but had her mind set on a Lexus IS250. But lo and behold, there weren’t many 2008s left on the lots, and the dealer wanted FULL STICKER on the 2009s, and bank-rate financing!. The BMW dealership 500ft away were doing 0.9% financing and willing to deal on the prices.. No wonder there were NO CUSTOMERS at the Lexus dealership.

On a lark, we decided to check out the Acura TL. The 2009 models are ugly as sin, but they still had a TON of 2008s on the lots. And they were blowing them out at invoice price! She loved the car, and even drove a Black on Black TL Type-S (which downright SCARED her, too much power on tap).. Too bad, as that car is just sinister!

We end up driving off with a 2008 Acura TL w/ Navi.. Black on Grey, fully loaded. Enough power to keep me interested, and enough gadgets to keep the wife entertained. It’s our first Acura, but I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

Now if Porsche would step up and offer some of these gadgets.. Backup camera, bluetooth, voice activated functions, etc.. My cars seem so “basic” now.

Some pics of the car:

What is this all about?

Mr Javo had improve his blog, adding new features including a Newsletter. This contest will help him to promote his enhanced Blog, as well as his eBook The Affiliate’s Start Guide

The Prizes

Until now I have over $1800 $2000 in prizes, which I will distribute among 10 lucky winners!

1st Place

• $200 filled into an advertiser account on Bidvertiser - Value $200
• A custom blog design courtesy of Canadian Web Design - Value $195
• One hour consultation with Mattaw of MoneyBites - Value $50
• One copy of OIOpublisher - Value $47
• One copy of the Traffic Rush Course, courtesy of Caroline MiddleBrook - Value $47
• One copy of the SEO eBook Don’t Get Banned by The Search Engines - Value $40 NEW!
• One year VIP membership on CreateBanner.com, courtesy of Xavier Media - Value $35
• One copy of the eBook Work Smart, Get Rich!, courtesy of The Net Fool - Value $15

2nd Place

• No Compromise Logo Design Package, courtesy of Logo Design Team - Value $229 NEW!
• A professional audio Intro / Outro for your Podcast or an Audio Introduction for your Blog by Mary-Lynn at Bigg Studio - Value $150
• A copy of the UBD Citrus Theme, by UniqueBlogDesigns - Value $79
• One hour consultation with Benjamin of Big Ben Patton’s Place - Value $50 NEW!
• One copy of OIOpublisher - Value $47
• One copy of the Traffic Rush Course, courtesy of Caroline MiddleBrook - Value $47
• One year VIP membership on CreateBanner.com, courtesy of Xavier Media - Value $35
• One copy of the eBook Work Smart, Get Rich!, courtesy of The Net Fool - Value $15

3th Place

• One Wordpress theme from PremiumThemesNow.com, courtesy of Daniel Scocco - Value $50
• One hour consultation with Benjamin of Big Ben Patton’s Place - Value $50 NEW!
• One copy of OIOpublisher - Value $47
• One copy of the Traffic Rush Course, courtesy of Caroline MiddleBrook - Value $47
• One year VIP membership on CreateBanner.com, courtesy of Xavier Media - Value $35
• One month of 468×60px advertising on Big Ben Patton’s Place - Value $20 NEW!
• One copy of the eBook Work Smart, Get Rich!, courtesy of The Net Fool - Value $15

4th Place

• One Wordpress theme from PremiumThemesNow.com, courtesy of Daniel Scocco - Value $50
• A blog review on Shanker Bakshi dot Com - Value $50 NEW!
  
• One copy of OIOpublisher - Value $47
• One copy of the Traffic Rush Course, courtesy of Caroline MiddleBrook - Value $47
• One year VIP membership on CreateBanner.com, courtesy of Xavier Media - Value $35
• One month of 125×125px advertising on Big Ben Patton’s Place - Value $20 NEW!
• One copy of the eBook Work Smart, Get Rich!, courtesy of The Net Fool - Value $15

5th Place

• A pre-made toon, which is a guy with a laptop “making money” while on the beach, courtesy of Vic Ocampo - Value ?$50
• One copy of OIOpublisher - Value $47
• One copy of the Traffic Rush Course, courtesy of Caroline MiddleBrook - Value $47
• One year VIP membership on CreateBanner.com, courtesy of Xavier Media - Value $35
• One blog review by Benjamin of Big Ben Patton’s Place - Value $30 NEW!
• One month of 125×125px advertising on iDesignStudios.com - Value $20 NEW!

6th Place

• A paid review on Balkhis, courtesy of Syed - Value $80
• Two months of 125×125px advertising on Direct Sales Web Marketing, courtesy by Dennis Edell - Value $50
• Thirty-minutes of blog consultations with Jim from The Net Fool - Value $30
• One blog review by Benjamin of Big Ben Patton’s Place - Value $30 NEW!
• One month of 125×125px advertising on WebTrafficROI.com - Value $20 NEW!
• A link after every post during one month on Piggy Bank Pie - Value $10

7th Place

• Thirty-minutes of blog consultations with Jim from The Net Fool - Value $30
• A blog review, a 125×125px advertising for a month and 1000 EC by Louis Liem - Value $30
• One month of 125×125px advertising on IndoContest, 2500 EC - Value $20
• One blog review on Niessuh.com - Value $20
• One month of text-link advertising on WebTrafficROI.com - Value $10 NEW!

8th Place

• A Blog review on SponsoReview.com - Value $30
• One month of 125×125px advertising On Revvenue.com - Value $10
• 1000 EC from Give Away City
• 1000 EC from Danandmash In Oz

9th Place

• One month of 125X125px advertising on Work From Home Business Blog - Value $10
• One month of 125X125px advertising on Blogging From Scratch - Value $3
• 1000 EC from KisahberuanG.com

10th Place

• 1000 EC from ThemeLib
• 1000 EC from Cash In Style

As you can see, if you are among the top 5 winners you will have everything to start a blog and make money online!

How To Participate

The winners will be chosen of a drawing using the service provided by Random.org. To take part in this drawing you need to sign up for Mr Javo’s newsletter.

By signing up and confirming your email , you will get 3 tickets!

You can also get TWO additional entries by writing about this contest in your blog, using the script provided here. Notice that you won’t get this 2 additional entries if you don’t sign up for the newsletter!

And if you don’t have a blog but you want to get additional entries, there is a solution for you. You can get ONE additional entry for subscribing to Mr Javo’s RSS feed by email. Notice that you won’t get this additional entry if you don’t sign up for my newsletter!

To claim the 1st prize you need to have an Advertiser’s account on Bidvertiser. Get your account now!

Deadline

This contest ends on Nov 16th at 22:00 GTM -4. Mr Javo will make a screencast of the drawing to guarantee the transparency of the process! So go back to his blog in a month and check if you are a winner!

PS: I recommend you to periodically check the contest’s page because could be more sponsored prizes for you!

Good Luck!