Eubie's notes

DIY RC Lawnmower – [via] Link.

Be sure to check out the mechanics, user guide and download section – great project!

[Read this article]

This article from the NY Times about the Johnny Astro, Online Shopper: A Toy That Sends Grown Men Into Orbit, got me thinking about great toys when I was growing up.

Here’s the Johnny Astro (from johnnyastro.com)

But there’s also the Mattel V-rrom (from toyadz.com)

And so many others that I’ve forgotten.

For some reminders there Toys of the 70s and Time Warp Vintage Toys.

Christian Science Monitor: Bloggers can make money, but most keep day jobs — The rise of ‘contextual advertising’ has created a 21st-century version of royalties.

This past November, a survey by problogger.net of 732 self-selected respondents found that of the 625 bloggers using AdSense, 45 percent were making at least $100 a month. Another survey of 104 bloggers at a blogger summit last week in New York found roughly a third making that money, not necessarily with AdSense.

Nearly one-sixth in both surveys made at least $1,000 a month. These samples, of course, skew heavily toward the more committed and successful bloggers.

Also Wall Street Journal: Blogging for Web Sites

THE PAY: Most self-employed bloggers take in between $2,000 and $10,000 a month from ad sales, says Henry Copeland, founder of BlogAds.com, a Web advertising concern based in Carrboro, N.C. The few that have huge audiences make significantly more, he adds. During election time, for example, a political blogger can bring in $20,000 to $30,000 a month, says Ken Layne, West Coast bureau chief for Wonkette.com, a political gossip blog owned by Gawker Media. Some bloggers are employed by companies, but they are often part of the marketing department, and blogging is usually only a small part of their duties.

NY Times: Study Finds Web Antifraud Measure Ineffective — A new study suggests that image identification security systems provide little additional protection. Reason: users in the test put in their personal information whether the security image was on the site or not.

Lost Remote: Report: Online will be 20% of ad spending this year

Research and advice company Outsell projects that 20 percent of U.S. ad buys will be online in 2007. Outsell surveyed marketers to find out about companies’ ad-buying plans for the year. No surprise – the dollar shift continues to online. This year, those polled will spend about 18 percent more than they did in ‘06. That would bring the ‘07 online ad buys to one in every five bucks of an even-bigger pie. From ClickZ: “The share held by TV, radio, and movie ad spending is expected to slip 3.5 percent this year.”

Link to ClickZ article

NY Times: Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively — More than 100 judicial rulings have relied on Wikipedia, beginning in 2004, including 13 from circuit courts of appeal.

NY Times: Levi’s Turns to Suing Its Rivals — The design for a Levi’s pocket, first used 133 years ago, has become the biggest legal battleground in U.S. fashion.

The lawsuits, which Levi’s says it is compelled to file to safeguard the defining features on its jeans, are not about the money — one settled for just $5,000 in damages. Instead, the company says, they are about removing copycats from stores. Nearly all the cases have settled out of court, with Levi’s smaller rivals agreeing to stop making the offending pants and to destroy unsold pairs.

But those competitors say the lawsuits are the last resort of a poor loser, a company that has lost billions in sales, laid off thousands of workers and flirted with bankruptcy as the denim industry exploded.

photo from NY Times

NY Times: Levi’s Turns to Suing Its Rivals — The design for a Levi’s pocket, first used 133 years ago, has become the biggest legal battleground in U.S. fashion.

The lawsuits, which Levi’s says it is compelled to file to safeguard the defining features on its jeans, are not about the money — one settled for just $5,000 in damages. Instead, the company says, they are about removing copycats from stores. Nearly all the cases have settled out of court, with Levi’s smaller rivals agreeing to stop making the offending pants and to destroy unsold pairs.

But those competitors say the lawsuits are the last resort of a poor loser, a company that has lost billions in sales, laid off thousands of workers and flirted with bankruptcy as the denim industry exploded.

NY Times: Games That Sell While Others Languish — There are growing signs that Nintendo’s Wii, which gets couch potatoes off the couch, has taken the lead over Sony’s PlayStation 3.

USA Today: Ace more than holds its own

Every time he gets on an airplane wearing his gray Ace Hardware work shirt, Ray Griffith hears expressions of concern.

Fellow passengers always want to know if the venerable cooperative is managing to get by OK in the face of competition from ever-proliferating home improvement superstores. It’s a question Ace’s chief executive finds almost embarrassing, he says, because the retailer-owned company is doing so well.

There’s no need to worry about Ace. With a focus on convenience and knowledgeable service, the 4,600-store chain has staked out a modest but healthy share of the huge hardware market, supporting the biggest new-store expansion in its history.

Ace is also a lucky winner the chance to win an Ace Hardware store worth $1 million. According to Clickpress: Entries for the Dream Ace contest will be accepted throughout the month of January at www.dreamacehardware.com. Successful contestants will demonstrate a combination of business and sales expertise, entrepreneurial spirit and home improvement knowledge, as well as a true commitment to helpfulness.