InstantBuzz is back online. Even on my Sympatico account, which has the slowest DNS updates on the planet, it seems.

It also appears that Mike F. has fixed the pop-up loophole, so you don’t need to worry about being attacked by unwanted pop-ups while surfing.

And, to be honest, I’m glad IB is back. I’ve already noticed a marked increase in sales of Conversionary. Whatever you may say about InstantBuzz, it does seem to drive traffic and sales.

You can now easily hit the site owner in the pocketbook.

JenSense has posted an officially sanctioned way
to report Google Adsense spam anonymously.

If you see a site violating the AdSense terms, you can now file an anonymous spam report that will get to the quality team for checking. To file a report, you simply go to the page that is showing AdSense ads and click on the “Ads by Google” (or “Ads by Goooooogle”) link. In the form on the next page, include the term “spamreport” and put in a short reason about why you feel the site is violating the AdSense terms or policies. You can also enter your own email address, if you wish, then click submit.

In a similar vein, Pascal Vanhecke has a post suggesting methods of reporting spamblogs using social networking tools like de.licio.us and Furl.

Why not lend Technorati (et al) a hand and tag the spamblogs that slipped through the net. If you get annoyed by a Spamblog showing up in your Technorati Watchlist (or Google Alert, or any other search feed), report it, tag it: “spamblog” * ! You could use del.icio.us or furl, the services that are being aggregated by Technorati.

I know I’m beginning to get a little irritated with the spamblogs that clog up my PubSub feeds now and then, though I’ve never gone through the trouble of reporting any of them. The process is just too inconvenient.

What is really needed is for all these services (PubSub, Technorati, Blogger, Google, etc) to come up with a common reporting format that can be used by all parties as a first line of defense against spam.

Imagine being able to report a site to ALL search engines, RSS aggregators and blog hosting services with one form. THAT would be ideal.

In a further experiment to see if this blog can bring in more than a few pennies a month, I’ve added an online Amazon affiliate store.

I used the Associate-O-Matic script I purchased earlier this month to set up shop at www.surfthemind.com/shop.php.

I figure I mention enough books, videos and products that I should be able to link from a good many posts, making a potential sale, while still leaving them within my site, and with a prominent link back to the blog should they decide not to shop.

I’m getting more fond of Associate-o-matic as I use it more. It’s flexible without being difficult to use. In this case, I’ve customized the front page to include only items I’ve mentioned on this blog… and to change them in the future, I just need to add or remove ASIN/ISBN numbers.

I seem to have run into one roadblock right now, and that is getting the title tag to work properly. I have followed directions and added the appropriate tag, but it doesn’t seem to be showing up for me.

I’ll have to check my other installations to see what is different, since they all worked without trouble.

In the meantime, the doors are open. Take a look, and let me know what you think!

Yesterday, I started work at 7:30 am and pretty much quit at 1 pm.
After that, I dedicated the day to the cutest kid in the world.

We went to the ’swing park’ where he played his heart out for a few hours,
then we got some ice cream at Dairy Queen, picked up a few things at Home Hardware, then came home and played in the yard for another couple of hours. He told me it was ‘the best day ever’ as I put on his PJs. I think he was right.

David wasn’t keen on going to sleep after such an eventful day, but after he finally passed out from exhaustion, I finally got a chance to watch “Something’s Gotta Give” with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton (and, incidentally, Keanu Reeves) It’s odd that Jack Nicholson always acts the same, yet he’s always brilliant. Anyway, I loved the movie. I’ve been wanting to rent it ever since it came out, but watching movies does seem to fall pretty far down on the list of things to do.

Today was hot. Not just a little hot, but very, horribly hot. Even with the AC on full blast, it was 25° Celcius indoors by the end of the day.

So, after our customary Saturday visit to the Farmer’s Market, I filled up David’s wading pool with water, and sat in the shade and read a book while he spashed and played.

He had fun, I relaxed. I was a pretty good day too.

EBay has just launched a private site that lets Power Sellers
buy discounted inventory from manufacturers, liquidators and wholesalers.

Yahoo news reports:

Last week, eBay announced an alliance with Global Sources Ltd. that resulted in a service called Global Sources Direct. It would boost product sourcing opportunities in China and around the world for eBay PowerSellers.

Global Sources Direct is now available through the Reseller Marketplace.

And from the press release:

Global Sources Direct is intended to create more sourcing opportunities for eBay’s PowerSellers in China and around the world, and more selling opportunities for Global Sources’ supplier customers. The service is expected to be available later this year.

Under this strategic alliance:

• Global Sources will provide its clients with the opportunity to market their merchandise directly to individuals and businesses in China through eBay EachNet, eBay’s website in China. eBay EachNet’s PowerSellers will therefore be able to easily find more sources for high-quality products at lower prices.
• The service will also subsequently be provided worldwide via eBay’s Reseller Marketplace, an off-eBay B2B website designed to help eBay PowerSellers source products for resale on the eBay marketplace.
• With its warehousing, supply chain and payment services, Global Sources Direct aims to be the most robust service in the China market. It also aims to offer suppliers the greatest geographic and distribution channel scope.

Global Sources chairman and chief executive officer, Merle A. Hinrichs, said: “We expect our eBay relationship to contribute to Global Sources’ goal of giving our suppliers as many quality ways to advertise, market and sell their products as possible.

“In addition to our online, print and trade show media channels, we are adding a new channel that directly connects suppliers in China to eBay’s massive worldwide marketplace.

“Global Sources Direct also significantly extends our position of offering suppliers what is by far the most extensive range of media and export marketing services.”

eBay Asia regional vice president, Jay Lee, said: “One of eBay’s goals is to enable our community of users to become more successful. By teaming up with Global Sources, we can help our PowerSellers around the world find a new and easy way to source product directly from manufacturers in Asia and especially in China.

“We think this is a powerful idea that can help our high-volume sellers further expand their businesses.”