Archive for January, 2008

White Label the Deli.cio.us MP3 Player in Just 4 Easy Steps

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Suppose you want to not just link to MP3 files on your site, but you want to also show a tiny flash player next to the link. I needed to do just that, so I modified some code for a brilliant little player called “playtagger” that Deli.cio.us came up with a while back. I love their player, but they have some stuff in it that I didn’t want, so I made a few easy changes and I’ll show you how you can, too.

Here’s what theirs looks like (enlarged and with the parts we don’t want crossed out):
playtagger.jpg

Here’s my version:
Station ID
Note: Firefox doesn’t want you to hear flash audio that is in a hidden container. Anyone know a way around that?

You want to do the same thing? Just follow the steps below. It’s not as complicated as it looks.

1. Copy the files
Just right-click and “Save As” for both of these files:
http://images.del.icio.us/static/js/playtagger.js
http://images.del.icio.us/static/swf/playtagger.swf

If you don’t want to use your own Play and Stop images, grab the default ones:
http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/mp3/play.gif
http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/mp3/stop.gif

2. Modify the javascript
This is really easier than you would think. Just open up the playtagger.js file in your favorite editor and make the following changes:
- Search for “http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/mp3/play.gif” and replace it with the url to the Play image you want to use.
- Search for “http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/mp3/play.gif” and replace it with the url to the Stop image you want to use.
- Search for “http://images.del.icio.us/static/swf/playtagger.swf” and replace it with the path to where you saved the flash file. (do this in 2 places)
- Search for “img.parentNode.insertBefore(Delicious.Mp3.player, img.nextSibling)” and ADD, on the next line, “Delicious.Mp3.player.style.display=”none”;
- Search for “100” and replace with “1

3. Upload all the files to your web directory
You should already know how to do this.

4. Add the code to your header
Now just call the playtagger in your page like this: <script type=”text/javascript” src=”playtagger.js”></script>

Bonus: Be choosey
If you want to pick and choose which mp3 links get a player, just search for the following line:
if(o.href.match(/\.mp3$/i)){
and change it to:
if((o.href.match(/\.mp3$/i)) && (o.label==’mp3player’)){

Then just add label=”mp3player” to any mp3 link that you would like to have a player next to it.

If you can think of any other ways to improve upon this, add them in the comments.

All Your Base Are Belong To LiveJournal

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Has anyone else noticed this on LiveJournal.com? Those funny guys and gals have this for their 404 (Page Not Found) message:

livejournal_404.png

New Business Cards : Opinions Wanted

Monday, January 28th, 2008

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ll be heading out to Affiliate Summit West next month, and I realized that I have NO business cards. How can I mingle with the blogging elite and not carry business cards to hand out? Clearly, this needs a remedy, so I just whipped up this design and I’d like your thoughts before it goes to the printer:

JoeTech.com Business Cards

Update: Another option for the back (from suggestions)

JoeTech.com Business Cards

Am I missing anything? Should I change anything? The front will be glossy, and full color both sides. The blue lines are where the bleed starts. I’m planning to print them in the next couple days, but I wanted the valued opinion of my readers, first.

Confirmed: Going to Affiliate Summit West 2008

Monday, January 28th, 2008

Affiliate Summit West 2008 Las Vegas

My press credentials for Affiliate Summit West 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada have been confirmed. I guess it took so long because my spam filter or something caught the original confirmation. In any case, I will be in Las Vegas from 2-23 through 2-26. My wife’s parents will be visiting with us for a while, and need to experience Vegas, so we’re bringing them along. There’s plenty to do in Vegas, so I’m sure they won’t get bored while I’m reporting on the Affiliate Summit.

Affiliate Summit West is taking place from February 24th through the 26th just off the Las Vegas Strip and will feature a ton of vendors and speakers. It looks to be a very informative and educational conference for anyone dreaming of boasting about their own six figure affiliate check some day. Registration is $199 for the Exhibit Hall Only pass and $1,449 for the Full Conference Pass. If you can’t make it, I will be reporting on it here, so subscribe to my RSS feed.

I should have my new camera by then and will have freshly printed business cards in hand, so if you are going to be there, please look for the guy with the glasses and long goatee and introduce yourself.

$100, Free Ad Spot, and 1,000 Entrecard Credits Up for Grabs

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

This month has already been exciting. I have two contests coming to an end and developed three free tools for you to play with. Here’s the total of what I’m giving away as detailed below:
– $100 cold hard cashola
– 1,000 Entrecard credits. What the hell… 2,000!
– 125×125 ad spot for the month of February in my header.
– Even more Entrecard credits
– Link ads and a 250×250 pixel ad

That’s right! There’s plenty to go around. Keep reading to find out how to get it.

$100 in your pocket
Last month, I got together with some other bloggers and we came up with a $100 prize to give away to one lucky person. Here’s who’s in on it:
- JoeTech.com
- Link Bait
- Gorilla Sushi
- Mixed Market Arts
- CK Marketing
- The Big Bald Blog
- How 2 Blogger

There’s a bunch of entries, but there’s still a few days to get your entries in. Read the original post for details on how to enter. It only takes one entry to win, but you know what they say. You can’t win if you don’t play. And if you don’t win, we’ll be giving away another $100 next month.

125×125 Ad and 1,000 2,000 Entrecard credits
I am super excited about the $100 contest, but I wanted to do another one. I had a bunch of Entrecard credits flowing into my account, so I decided to give them away. To sweeten the deal, I created a new 125×125 ad space right up in the header of JoeTech.com and added it to the prize. Go check out the 8 easy ways to enter and get your entry in before January 31st. Oh yeah. I just now decided to up the ante to 2,000 Entrecard credits, too. Sometimes I just feel like doing that.

Play slots and win 1,000 Entrecard credits
WHAAT? Yeah… I was emailing back and forth with my new ally, Jason Boom over at JasonBoom.com, and asked how I might give away more credits. Jason suggested Entrecard Slots and that’s all it took. Later that night, the slots were up. I loved the idea, and it looks like a lot of other people do, too. The best part is that you’re not competing against anyone. The prizes range from 1 ec to 1,000 and the highest I’ve given away is 100 ec so far, but it’s only been up for 4 days. You can also put a widget (like the one on this page) on your own blog. What’s in it for you? If someone clicks it and hits a 1,000 ec jackpot, you will also get a 1,000 ec jackpot as my thanks to you. Head on over and remember to bookmark it and/or ad the widget to your blog.

More Slots for text links and a 250×250 Ad
You don’t have to be on Entrecard to take advantage of the slots. After the success of the Entrecard Slots, I decided to make a version for everyone else, called Free Ads Slots. In this new version, you can play all day long and you can win several size variations of links on the page, or the jackpot of a 250×250 link. I’m thinking of adding cash to it, too, but no decision on that yet. Free Ads Slots also has its own widget and once again, if someone hits a jackpot after coming through your widget, you hit the jackpot, too.

Get your IZEA Real Rank badge
When IZEA announced the launch of their Real Rank algorithm, they also opened up an API for geeks like me to play with, and of course, I couldn’t stay away. Within the hour, I released the first self-updating, hosted IZEA Real Rank badge. If you don’t know what that is, just go read the post and check it out.

There’s more stuff coming next month, too.

I’m interested in what you all think, too. Which is your favorite contest? What future contests would you like to see here? What have you won from other sites?