Joe D’Ambrose

My parents and my sister both are happy Netflix customers. They tell me that if you break it down they’re paying between $1.00 and $2.00 per rental, and it’s been steadily on time with the deliveries. TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington prefers Blockbuster’s Total Access online rental service because “movies received by mail can be returned directly at any Blockbuster store.” I don’t use either, and I’m also hesitant to rent movies at Blockbuster or Hollywood Video because of the high price of $4 or $5 per rental. I recently started using the Redbox vending machines which can be found at most Stop & Shop’s. They let you rent movies for $1.00 per day and charge it right to your credit card, providing receipts by e-mail. Not bad at all, and I’ve been happy with their price and convenience. However, on a few occasions the DVDs I rented were slightly damaged and playback would stop halfway through the flick on some DVD players. They probably aren’t checking up on their machines very often, replacing the damaged discs. An understandable challenge.

If I see a movie I like at Hollywood Video or Blockbuster being sold as a pre-viewed DVD, I consider buying it. The other day I bought 4 DVDs for less than $18 at Hollywood Video, which has a lifetime guarantee against damaged discs. To me, that was a good value, because if I end up wanting to get rid of the DVD, I could just sell it on Half.com.

There are a number of ways to keep track of the traffic a website receives. I’ve tried many of them over the years, from Webtrends to Webalizer. Several of these companies charge a monthly fee to use their statistics.

A couple of months ago a friend introduced me to Google Analytics, a free service by Google which generates very detailed stats about a website’s visitors. Allowing a webmaster to review key words, referrers, and optimize their search engine and marketing campaigns by using Google Analytics’ analysis of where visitors came from, how long they stayed on the website, and their geographical position. Another useful feature is the ability to add guest users to view your stats. I installed the Analytics for more than 15 websites and our clients are very happy with all of the new data! I highly recommend.

I could be wrong here, but I have a feeling that using Google Analytics somehow helps your search rankings on Google. This isn’t just a gut feeling, I’ve noticed that since I installed it some of my clients have been coming up higher on the search engines. Maybe I’m trippin’.

A lot of people have laptops now, and the world is moving toward wireless internet. At least from what I see, college students and business people especially are laptop users. I would wager that eventually people will be able to access the internet wirelessly at any location in the country. I was thinking of getting the Air Card that Verizon sells, which costs upwards of $40 per month, but gives you internet service nearly anywhere. College campuses are wireless, though often with a WEP key. In my hometown of Middletown, CT, nearly the entire downtown broadcasts free wireless signal. Many residents of highly populated urban areas increasingly decide not to subscribe to any internet service provider, because they are getting free signal from their neighbors!

A couple of years ago we nabbed the domain name, www.findwirelesshotspots.com. Recently I added a feature that allows visitors to find free wireless hot spots in their area. Click here to check it out - the URL is easy enough to remember!