Weekly Roundup #12 — Excellent Copywriting, Video Game Addictions, Disposable Credit Cards and More
Impactful things I read, used, and created this past week.
Tech is my passion. I think about it night and day, contemplating on future possibilities of how it can be used to simplify and enhance peoples’ lives.
I consume more tech news than all other categories combined. Yet I’ve struggled to find a way to share what I’ve learned on this blog. As I recently revisited the topic though I identified a few key areas where I may be able to provide value.
So I am going to start another weekly post. This one will be purely about tech. The working title is Tech Trends to Care About.
The purpose of TTCA (is that a lame name?) will be to consolidate what I’ve learned and give you links/summaries to the most relevant articles in tech that week. My hope is to give you a clear insight into the industry without you having to wade through the same 150+ articles I do every day.
So keep an eye out — you should be seeing the first post soon!
What I Read
I recently signed up for the Kopywriting Kourse newsletter by Neville Medhora and have found it to be exceptionally useful. His writing style is humorous but professional, and he’s a great teacher. The most recent email on Tone of Voice gives wonderful examples of how to write in different tones and when each one might be appropriate.
An in-depth piece on the pitfalls of modern gaming. Ryan Avent interviews self-proclaimed “gamers” and gives a fair representation of both the pros and cons of gaming. It’s becoming a significant problem for young men who spend time gaming rather than working at real jobs. I enjoy video games (though I wouldn’t say I’m an avid gamer), and they’ve have had real-world impacts — both positive and negative — in my life.
I’m all about actionable tips. And no matter how skilled you are at SEO, I’ll bet you find something in here that you can apply today to up your game.
noah kagan writes another awesome article with actionable tips on how to grow a business. One of Noah’s creations is Sumo.com. It’s one of my favorite sites for advice on marketing. They create these “sumo-sized” guides with tons of detailed steps on topics such as email marketing and list building. I’m always blown away by the quality.
What I Watched
I love to see people combine seemingly dispirate disciplines to come up with fresh ideas. Here’s a unique one — physics and origami!
I’ve got a deep level of appreciation for how the Japanese will spend a lifetime perfecting their craft. Great Big Story presents another well-made video, this time telling the story of Japanese candy makers.
What I Used
Privacy is a super cool Chrome extension that lets you generate credit card numbers to use for online purchases. The setup process and user experience are smooth. Sometimes I want to sign up for a service, like the PrivateInternetAccess VPN, but I’m not sure I want to use it for long. Rather than reminding myself to cancel the service after a month, I generate a new card number with Privacy and set that card to only allow one charge before expiring. The service doesn’t cost anything to use (they make their money on the cc fees that the merchant pays for).
PrivateInternetAccess is a simple-to-use VPN that’s affordable and fast. If you only need a VPN for short periods of time I’d recommend Tunnel Bear VPN. You’ll get 500mb of free usage before having to pay a bit more than PrivateInternetAccess. Also if you just need a VPN for your browsing then download Opera and use their free built-in VPN.
Here’s a service to use on those sites that require you to enter an email address and confirm it before they let you access their content. 10 Minute Email is an email address that expires after 10 minutes. Go to their site and generate an email address, use the temporary address on the site you want, then go back to 10 Minute Mail and click the confirmation button.
I’m an on-again-off-again podcast listener. More recently it’s been off. That was until I discovered the podcasting app Breaker. Here you’ll find all the features you want plus a unique social aspect so you can see what your friends are listening to. Perhaps my favorite feature is recommended episodes (as opposed to recommended podcast channels). So far they’ve all been highly relevant and sufficiently fascinating.
What I wrote
I’ve been using Trello, Pocket, and IFTTT all separately for quite some time. It dawned on me a few months ago that I could combine the three to create the ultimate automated organization system for my blogging. Now that I’m comfortable with its ease and effectiveness I wrote a post detailing the exact methods I use, screenshots included. Apparently it resonated with some people because Trello Tweeted the post out on their account!
