How The Nifty Tech Blog Works

Recently, a reader was asking me about the kind of compensation that I receive for doing The Nifty Tech Blog.  He seemed to think that companies were paying me to review their products, or were providing their products to me free of charge in exchange for a review.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  So I thought I'd add this article to the feed to clear up these kinds of misconceptions.

I receive no funds, goods, or services for producing The Nifty Tech Blog.

In fact, I'm losing money on the proposition.

Now, some of you will note that there are ads on the sidebars and on the bottom of the page.  These are an attempt to defray some of the costs of running The Nifty Tech Blog so that I can keep it running longer.  Unfortunately neither Google nor Amazon ads pay off until there have been sufficient click throughs and purchases to hit a minimum amount of activity, and I'm no where near that level of activity yet.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.  Let me go back to the beginning and explain how things work at The Nifty Tech Blog.

Currently, The Nifty Tech Blog has a staff of one.  That's me.  When I'm not working at my day job, and keeping my wife happy, I put what time I can into researching, writing, editing, and producing the Blog.  I have been lucky enough to have some friends step up and volunteer their help from time to time.  Most notably, Odin1Eye who stepped up and did a guest review a few weeks back.  And hopefully in the next month or so I'll be welcoming a new staffer as a PC expert bringing his expertise and insight from the Windows side of the world.  And nobody gets paid anything.

Each of the products reviewed in The Nifty Tech Blog are products that I, or my guest reviewers, have had personal experience with.  These products are either free, or are things that we have paid for with our own money.  And by recommending them, we're saying that we would pay for them again.  If a product isn't good enough to buy all over again, it doesn't make the Blog.  What we're trying to provide is a view into the best products available on the market.

And towards that end, The Nifty Tech Blog is completely community supported.  I rely on you the reader to suggest new products to review, in addition to the research I do on my own.  No one receives any compensation or considerations from the manufacturers.  Now there are some products out there that I want to review, but I just don't have the funds necessary to buy a review model of a product.  And there is no way I can afford to buy review models of every new product out there!  Eventually, I expect that I will have to resort to asking manufacturers to send me review models to examine.  If that happens, I will be sure to state right up front that the review is based on a piece of equipment loaned by the manufacturer.

The domain registry and hosting costs are paid by me.  And all of the layout and web work is done by me.

So, if this is a losing proposition, why do I keep doing it?

Well, for me, The Nifty Tech Blog is a labor of love.  There is so much cool stuff out there, I want to let people know about it.  And I want your help to find it so that I can play with it!  Would I like it if I could make a profit?  Yeah.  But I'll never get rich writing a blog.  If I could break even, that would be enough.  But for now, I'll keep going as long as I can.

If you'd like to help support The Nifty Tech Blog, leave a comment.  Send me e-mail.  Tell a friend about the Blog.  Suggest a new product to review.  If you really want to support the Blog financially, then check out the ads, or buy something from the store.  Or just keep coming back and reading.  That's what it is here for, after all.  For you to read.

The Boom Effect: Follow up

Back on February 27th, podcasters converged on a house in Virginia, and people of all different stripes converged on their computers all over the world. They came together for an internet auction to raise funds for the future of a small girl called Sonic Boom: The Boom Effect. During this 10 hour event, goods and services donated from all over the world were auctioned off in an online chat room while a live video chat defied space and time by managing to LAG AHEAD of the actual bidding.

It was an amazing event. And during the event, over $8000 was raised for Sonic Boom's trust fund. It will stand for a long time as a shining example of how technology can form a community and can help bring that community together for a common purpose.

The auction may be over, but there is still time for you to help.  On the right of this paragraph is the Widget for the Sonic Boom Trust.  There is still time between now and March 31st for you to click the ChipIn! button and make some small donation (Or a large donation.  That works, too.) and know that you're helping a young girl have a brighter future.  She's five years old now, and her father is Tee Morris.  I expect that over the next fifteen years we're going to be watching her grow up on the internet in one form or another.  And it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't take the mike and camera away from her father and blow us all away, too.

This cause gets my personal stamp of approval.  Please help.

The Boom Effect

This post is going to be a bit of a departure from our previous offerings.  I'd like to ask for your help, and to assure you that this is a good cause.  Yes, I'm asking you to give, but you'll get something back, too.

Back in January of this year, my friend Tee Morris lost his wife Natalie to complications of the flu.  It was sudden, and tragic, for otherwise she was in the prime of her life.  This left Tee as the sole support of their 5 year old daughter, known as Sonic Boom on the internet.  That's Tee and Sonic Boom in the icon.  You can click for a larger picture.

This is a story that plays out countless times across the country.  But what comes next is a bit of a twist.  You see, Tee is a podcaster and an author.  And he has friends in the podcasting and writing communities online.  Friends all around the world.  And his friends who live far, far away from him wanted to be able to do something to help out in his time of need.

And so they found a way to help.  Artists from all over the world have been donating their art: jewlery, audio and graphics, prints, paintings, fairy wings, and the written word.  All these wonderful things, and more, are going into an online auction to set up a trust fund for Sonic Boom, so she can have a secure future.

So I'm asking you to leave my page (whimper!) and go over to http://www.theboomeffect.org and look at all the wonderful things that have been donated.  I'm asking you to place proxy bids.  And to be online this Saturday, February 27th from 10 AM EST until it is all done bidding on items, and winning prizes from talented people from all over the globe.

And best of all, investing in the future of one little girl.

Please bid.  Please attend.  Please help.  Please spread the word.

But hurry, time is running out.