As a slight digression from Internet Marketing today, I thought you might like to learn about my new blog – Self Help with John.  As well as the obvious self promotion, you might like to learn that the theme that I’m using is built entirely on the free WP-Framework.  This has been a valuable learning experience for me as I’ve previously only ever tweaked pre-built themes to suit my purpose, just like the theme you see here.

In the longer term, my plan is to have a dedicated, custom theme for this blog too, so it was important to me that I could have a new blog where I could play with themes.  Ultimately, I plan to have a similar look and feel on all my related blogs to create a sense of branding.  This is something that you would do well to consider on your own sites, too.

I’d love to get some feedback on the new site, and would love it even more if you’d care to sign up for updates!  In any case, please leave feedback in the comments to this post, as well as any questions that you might have.  Also, if anyone’s interested in the plugins that I use on all my new blogs, please drop me a comment and I’ll write a post on it in the new year.

As a Christian, I know that Christmas is not about presents.  I know that we should be turning thoughts away from ourselves and be thankful for the gift that we all received more than 2000 years ago.  As a techie though, I can’t help hoping for a bunch of new gadgets!

I thought it might be interesting to share my list of gadgets to see how this compares with yours and hopefully, to inspire some of you to pick up some new tech during the holiday season so that you’re armed and ready for the coming year.

With that in mind, here are my top 7 – in no particular order:

iPod Touch 64Gb – It’s been a year now since I got my trusty iPod Classic and it has served me incredibly well.  I love the amount of storage that’s available and tend to stuff it with podcasts for when I’m travelling.  However, the small screen lets it down for video, so it’s either the iPhone or an iPod Touch.  In this case, the Touch wins due to the larger capacity  – although I’ll probably move to an iPhone next year, too!

Livescribe 4Gb Pen – This has to be one of the coolest gadgets out there at the moment!  It not only records up to 400 hours of audio, it can also record up to 64,000 pages of notes – all of which can be later uploaded to a PC.  Better than that though, is the ability to sync the audio and the notes so that by simply tapping on a point in your written notes, you can hear the audio playback associated with that point!

Imagine using this in conferences or seminars, not to mention in business meetings or even lectures!  If I’d had this as a student, I’m sure I’d have found revision way easier…!

Audio-Technica AT2020 USB Microphone – I tend to do a lot of audio recording – particularly for videos.  However, as a musician, I’m paranoid about getting good quality sound.  I can’t stand it when audio online is of poor quality, so I tend to record much less when I’m away from home.  In my home office, I have a traditional microphone setup which feeds my PC via a Behringer UCA202 USB interface, which is perfect for a fixed location, but not very portable.  With the AT2020, I could take the mic anywhere I travel and always have the ability to create a quick audio or video.

You’ll find similar quality Audio-Technica mics in professional recording studios, so that quality that they produce are likely to be better than any PC mic that you may already have.

Kodak Zi8 HD Video Camera – As I just mentioned, I love to create videos for Internet Marketing and I do most of these using Camtasia.  I’ve been looking at investing in a Flip Video Camera and considering whether I would get the use out of one.  Just at the point that I was ready to buy, Kodak went and released the Zi8 which threw a spanner in the works!  This camera not only offers a higher resolution than the Flip, but it also offers the same resolution at a higher frame rate (for smoother videos), has better color saturation (in my opinion) and offers external storage on SD-cards.  This last point was always the concern that I had with the Flip and it’s now removed by going for the Zi8!

One small point concerns the audio.  I’ve heard that the Zi8 doesn’t like battery powered external mics and that these can cause hum, so if you want to use an external mic for your recordings, do yourself a favor and buy an unpowered mic!

Canon Powershot G10 – This has been on my wish list for a few years now!  I love taking pictures, but hate lugging my digital SLR with me when I travel – especially when UK airport regulations mean it would have to be checked in…!  When I’m visiting these various destinations around the world, I like to have a camera with me so ideally, I need something that’s versatile but still portable.  Earlier this year, I grabbed a Nikon Coolpix S560 from the airport which is great for grabbing shots and versatile enough to give me some degree of control.  But it’s not the Canon Powershot G10!

This baby has 14.7MP and a 3″ LCD and has full manual override options – just like on my SLR.  Interestingly, Canon have released a G11 which has less pixels and a smaller LCD.  In my opinion, the G10 is the perfect pocket digital camera.

Amazon Kindle – I guess the Kindle is on every techie’s wishlist this Christmas!  Since it’s now available outside of the US too (although you still have to buy it from Amazon.com) it’s got to make it a more interesting platform for Internet Marketers.  I for one will be looking for ways to incorporate it into my marketing during the course of next year, so it’s kind of a basic requirement that I have one…!  (hint, hint, Santa sir!)

MacBook Pro 17″ – Because of my day job, I’m required to use a PC.  That means that I carry a PC laptop and have PC’s at home.  At the same time, all my Internet Marketing and Web Design friends are showing me their shiny new Macs and I have to admit that I’m a little jealous!  In my opinion, the MacBook Pro 17″ is the perfect laptop to take on the road if you’re a serious Internet Marketer.  It’s not just that it’s incredibly reliable (especially when compared with PC’s) it also looks really cool and the graphics are awesome!

So there you have it – my top 7 gadgets that I hope to get for Christmas this year!  I’d love to hear feedback on any of these and in particular, what YOU’re hoping to receive!

A friend of mine has recently started getting into Internet Marketing.  You know how it is – for years you’re advising them that it would be a good thing for them but they think you’re mad, then they go and spend a fortune on some course that teaches them exactly what you would have shown them for free!

Anyway, my friend told me that she was about to register her first 2 domains with GoDaddy, as per her instructions.  At the time, I suggested that there might be better companies to use for Internet Marketing purposes and that I would recommend Namecheap (who I use for all my new domains).  However, since she was provided with step-by-step video tutorials showing GoDaddy’s interface, she was reluctant to take my advice.

Moving forward a few weeks, she came back to me yesterday needing help as both of her sites were down!  As far as I could tell, it looked like the DNS had got messed up.  She told me that it was not the first time, but that previously, the sites had magically re-appeared after a few hours.  This time, it was nearly 2 days that they’d been down!  She was also really upset that in spite of having videos to follow, she’d had to figure it all out herself as the user interface had been completely overhauled….!

As of today, we’ve got her domain transferring across to Namecheap, with a small saving thanks to a discount code.  For the record, you can save money at Namecheap using these coupon codes:

• To transfer your domain – SWITCH2NC
• For new domains – SNOWNEEDLE
• For 50% off 1st month VPS – VPSBOMB
• For discounted hosting – SNOWSTORM

On that last point, I should add that my preferred Web host is Hostgator.  Their current coupon code is ‘SNOWMAN’ and will give you a 20% discount off your order.

I’d love to know what experiences other people have had with their domain providers, whether GoDaddy, Namecheap or any other company.  Please leave a comment and let me know – good or bad.

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll have noticed already that the title of this blog has changed from “John’s Tech Blog” to “Internet Marketing with John”.  I’ve decided to make this change for a number of reasons:

1. All of my posts were tending more towards Internet Marketing in any case and being restricted to just a “tech blog” meant that I sometimes found it hard to write about what was important to me.

2. If I’m honest, it’s Internet Marketing that excites me – not technology itself!

With this in mind, I’ve decided to rebrand the blog and start focusing more at Internet Marketing in general and specifically, how technology can be harnessed to help you succeed more quickly and more effectively.

If you’re new here, please consider signing up for the newsletter (which is also in the middle of a makeover) as we’ll soon be releasing “subscriber only” content and freebies.  In the meantime, if you have any comments or feedback, please leave them against this post – I do read and respond to every comment, where appropriate.