000Webhost Crash - Websites Lost

This morning I found out that the web hosting service I use called 000Webhost had some hardware failures and they lost a bunch of their clients websites, including one of mine.  As you can imagine, I'm not happy about it one bit.  I didn't have a back up of that site so it is pretty much gone for good until I remake it which will take hours upon days. 

The site I lost wasn't huge or immensely important, but still it did take a lot of time to make and it will take a lot of time to rebuild it if I can find the inspiration to do so.  I know computer crashes happen, but I am disappointed in 000Webhost because they do not have a back up and can't recover the files.  If you are a hosting company, you need to have your clients data backed up so this sort of thing doesn't happen. 

I do have another website hosted with 000Webhost and luckily that one did not crash.  I logged in to back that one up and turns out I can't even do that.  Their back up system gives an error saying the website is to big or something.  This is completely unacceptable because the website I am trying to back up is very simple and does not take up a lot of space at all.  They said I need to back it up using the file manager which looks like you have to download each file individually.  Are you kidding?  No one is going to do that.  000Webhost, get your act together.

This is another reminder to myself and everyone else out there to back up your files.  In fact I just got an email from a friend who asked me for some files of his because his computer crashed.  I had them so I was able to help him out.  But yeah, back up all your files, documents, pictures, videos, bookmarks, websites etc.  Don't wait until it is too late.

eBay is a Rip Off - Hidden Fees and Frustrations

Have you tried selling something on eBay lately?  If you do, expect to get a lot less than you actually sell your item for.  I recently sold something on eBay and was quite shocked at how much they took out for fees.

First of all, just getting the item online was a hassle.  There are so many options you have to carefully read through when you are putting an item up there.  You will probably have to go back and revise your listing several times because you will figure out you are getting charged fees for things you didn't even know about.

They make it look like you can list an item for free, but if you want to actually get what your item is worth, there is no way to do this.  You will have to pay the insertion fee to get it online and then the final value fee if it sells.

The final value fees are outrageous.  Expect to pay around 10% of the sale price of your item to eBay.  Some common items such as media take out 13%!  And what is worse, is that these fees are not clear at all.  When you are posting your item, it should clearly tell you that if the item sells you will be charged 10% of the final value.  It does not say this.  You have to search deep into the support documents to find these fees.  Not cool eBay.

I will be doing most of my business on Craigslist for now on.  They let you buy and sell items for free.  Why can they do it for free when eBay is charging these ridiculous fees?  Yes, eBay has a better website and you can sell internationally, but it's still not worth it with the fees they charge.

PayPal also charges fees, but they are not nearly as bad as eBay.  Still, when you factor in both of these costs, you end up with a lot less money than what you were actually selling your item for.  There must be a better way.  If Craigslist could bump up the security and make it easier to buy and sell items to people in other locations, and still keep it free at the same time, that would be the best.

UPDATE: 1-17-13
I have been selling things on eBay for a while now and I still have many problems with it.

1. It is too hard to navigate the site.  When you log in your are bombarded with images and information that is not wanted.  We want to see our account information like what we are selling or buying.  To get to this, you have to go through several clicks.

2. They hide the charges from you.  Do you want to see your fees for the month after you have sold a few things?  Good luck.  Expect to do some research just to figure out how to find this section on eBay.  It requires careful navigation and several steps.  Once you find the right place, you have to adjust the date time frame just to see the previous months charges.  This needs to be a lot easier eBay.

3. People don't leave feedback.  About 4 of the last 5 items I have sold did not receive feedback.   I have 100% rating, but still I don't have a lot of sales so I could really use the feedback ratings. 

So yeah I am still bothered by many things on eBay.  Not to mention shipping prices at the post office seem to be higher than ever.  It is becoming very difficult to sell things these days and actually make a profit with all the fees and charges involved.

UPDATE: 11-18-13
So eBay has made some changes such as free insertion fees but they are still charging 10% for the final value.  I still think this is too much considering you also have to pay a PayPal fee and most likely the shipping costs when you sell the item.  With all these fees it is hard to actually make a profit when selling an item.  The eBay site is still hard to navigate.  Overall not very happy with the site.

UPDATE: 10-18-14
Now eBay has brought back listing fees and of course this was not clear.  Previously you could list items for free up to a certain amount per month.  Now I go to list a new item and find out I am already charged $.30 without the item even selling yet.  They really need to be more clear about the fees.  Before you press the button to list and item, it needs to pop up a warning showing exactly how much you are going to be charged for placing the listing.  Still just trying to find the fees page is incredible difficult not only to find, but also understand. After all these years, I am surprised at the continued poor navigation and overall usability of eBay.

UPDATE 11-21-15
They seem to have made improvements to the listing procedure to make it a little easier to list an item. Also they are offering free listing most of the time which is better. Still there is the large selling fee if your item gets sold which takes a chunk out of the profits. Also it is still hard to find the fees page. I still use eBay sometimes but there is certainly plenty of room for improvement.

Lara6683 - Rising Youtube Star: Piano and Violin Songs

Lara6683 is the Youtube channel of a girl named Lara who makes wonderful cover songs of game music with a piano and violin.  She is a very talented musician and quickly developing a following of loyal fans.  Lara is from Sydney Australia and is classically trained in piano and violin. She sings too, but has yet to put videos of her singing online. 

Here is a video of her playing Nyan Cat and Rebecca Black simultaneously on the piano:


In this video, Lara does a beautifal cover of the song Still Alive from the game Portal:


Another thing she is known for is her costumes. She often dresses up as the character from the song she is playing.  In this one she is dressed as Lara Croft from Tomb Raider.


I have a feeling this Lara and her channel are going to become very popular very soon!

Top 10 Blog Posts of the Past 2 Years

Today is the 2 year anniversary of this Connected Isolation blog.  There have been many changes over the years including the name, the look, and the overall purpose and goal.  This blog started out just as an experiment where I would write about whatever was on my mind.  There were not many page views at all in the beginning.  Now the articles are more focused and directed towards the readers and the blog gets steady traffic every day.

To celebrate the 2 year anniversary, I thought I would review the top 10 most popular articles on this blog.  Here they are:

1. Eden Wood - Cutie Patootie - I'm not sure why, but this article about the child beauty pageant girl named Eden Wood gets more traffic than any of my other posts.  It's just a paragraph and a video that pokes fun at the song she performed on The View.  What is interesting is that the comments section really took off.  Apparently there is a big feud between the fans of Eden Wood and the fans of another girl named Mackenzie.  You can see from the comments how these 2 camps go back and forth.  Anyway, this goes to show, you never really know what will be popular on the internet.

2. The Grates - New Highly Recommended Band! - I'm surprised and happy to see this is one of my most popular articles.  I discovered this band called The Grates not too long ago.  I loved their music so of course I wanted to write a blog about it to share with the world.  I'm glad to see it is getting some attention. If you haven't heard this Australian band yet, check them out!

3. Illinois License Plate Renewal Fee - This was an article I wrote about my frustrations with having to pay the annual free for Illinois license plate renewal. By the traffic, you can see that other drivers are also fed up with these outrageous fees.

4. Songs Stuck in My Head - This was one of my earlier blog posts from 2009 about some songs that were stuck in my head at the time.  I think the title of this post drew some traffic from others who had songs stuck in their head.  It's interesting how one of the songs included was "Threw It On The Ground" by Andy Samburg, and just this week The Lonely Island posted the video on their Youtube channel.

5. Top 10 Youtube Channels You Should Subscribe To - People love lists and videos, so it is no surprise that this post about the best Youtube channels was a hit.  I'm a daily visitor to the site and I am really into the subscriptions feature.  In this post I share my favorite Youtube channels.

6. 5 More Good Songs You Never Heard - Apparently this post was more popular than the first post about 5 good songs people haven't heard.  In this one, I recommend 5 songs that most people have never heard before.

7. Best Websites on the Internet by Category - I'll admit I spend a lot of time on the internet, probably too much.  Because of this, I have an extensive collection of saved bookmarks/favorites of websites on the internet.  In this post, I round them up and share the best ones I have found with the world.

8. AT&T DSL Problems, False Advertising, and Frustration - This article was about my problems with AT&T internet.  I had some many issues with them during this time.  Lately, they have been ok, but still the billing seems to be off from time to time.  Overall though I have been satisfied with their service and I plan to stick with it for the time being. 

9. Reddit Sucks - Here's another similar post where I express my dissatisfaction with the website Reddit. I do like Reddit and visit it on a daily basis, but there are still reasons why it "sucks".  The community is still mean spirited and negative.  The structure and functionality of the website is still not user friendly.  I really think this website can become one of the most popular on the internet, but it needs to address some of these issues.

10. CathyMay15 - Youtube Star - CathyMay15 is a Youtuber who like Rebecca Black became famous for the wrong reasons.  Her singing covers on Youtube drew much hate and became viral.  Since then, she sort of disappeared, at least from Youtube.  She may be posting new videos on Facebook, but I haven't seen any.  Anyway, she is a viral star and that is why this is the number 10 most popular blog post on Connected Isolation.

Nina Conti - Comedian and Ventriloquist

I just discovered a super talented lady named Nina Conti.  She is well known for her ventriloquist talents.  Now I have never been a big fan of ventriloquism, but as soon as I saw a video of her act on Youtube, I became a huge fan!  She has a puppet monkey named Monk who is adorable.  The two of them make a great combo.  Nina makes their conversations seem so real, you will forget that Monk is really just a puppet and it is really all Nina.

She also puts ventriliquit masks on audience memebers and provides the voices for them.  Here is an example from one of her shows where she brought up some volunteers:

Here is an example of Nina in more of a written, television show format.  She and Monk are performing at a corporate event and then they are invited to a dinner party.  Enjoy!

TV Show Review: Big Brother, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Breaking Bad

So 3 of my favorite shows have premiered with new seasons and here is a quick review of each of them shows so far.

Big Brother is now in it's 13th season and this year, they have focused on the theme of couples.  They have even brought back 3 couples from previous years to compete with the new contestants.  Overall I like the show, but one thing that I have noticed this season is that there is no protagonist.  What I mean by this is there is no one that has stood out as the "good guy", you know, the person you want to support.  Maybe it is just me, but I haven't connected with anyone yet.  There is so much dishonesty and backstabbing going on and we are only in the 2nd week.  I'll give it a few more weeks and hopefully a hero will emerge from all the villains.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is back and hs had 2 new episodes so far this season.  Overall, I have not been too impressed.  The episodes have been ok, but certainly not anything we haven't seen before.  I think this is the problem.  We have watched 7 seasons of Larry David saying the wrong things and getting himself into trouble, and the theme is starting to grow old.  They need to change it up a bit to make it fresh.  Hopefully the supposed move to New York will be just what it needs.  I would like to see more celebrity guests on the show.  I was watching Regis and Kelly the other day and Regis mentioned how he would love to be on the show, but Larry didn't invite him.  I think Regis would be awesome on this show.  Anyway, hopefully the season picks up soon.

Breaking Bad just had it's first new episode of season 4 yesterday.  I just finished watching it and overall it was ok.  At times it was somewhat slow, but at other times it was intense and shocking.  This show always keep you on your toes and I can't wait to see what the writers have in store for us this season.

Best Websites on the Internet by Category

I spend a lot of my time on the internet and over the years I have developed an extensive collection of bookmarks. During this time I have found a lot of good websites and weeded out the bad ones. In this post I will share my top recommended websites by category. These are specifically categories that I am familiar with, so not all topics are covered. This is a personal blog so you may or may not agree with my picks. Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments.

Best Video Website: Youtube 
When it comes to uploading and sharing short videos, there is no denying that Youtube is number one.  You can find just about any video on there with a quick search.  The video playback is fast and it has nice community features such as subscriptions, favorites, and comments.  As seen in previous blog posts, I have had many issues with Youtube over the years, but overall they are still the go-to source for watching videos.
Runner Up: Vimeo.  Vimeo is like Youtube, but is more for film makers and less for people that just want to upload vlogs from their webcam.  Vimeo has a lot of great content but lacks the traffic and performance to take over Youtube at the number one spot.

Best Community Review Website: Yelp
Yelp is a great website to find reviews of local restaurants and businesses in your area.  You can post your own reviews of places you have been to and see what others are saying.  Yelp has excellent community features that make the website fun and interactive.  It is a valuable resource for anyone looking to try something new in their home town.   

Best Website for Watching TV Online: Network Sites
For many networks, they will post the episodes to watch on their website after they air on tv. Sometimes you must have an account or must wait a week, but usually they are one of the more reliable sources to see the episodes in high quality.
Runner Up: Netflix. Netflix is a streaming service that has a lot of original content as well as other popular tv shows and movies available for a reasonable monthly fee.

Best Music Website: The Hype Machine
I am a big fan of music and one great resource for finding new songs is The Hype Machine.  This is a website that collects music posted on music blogs around the internet.  It compiles them into a database where you can listen to them on the website.  You can see what is popular and what is new.  You can then link to the blog that published it to learn more about the song, or find other songs from that blog.

Best Email: Gmail
Not too much needs to be said here. Email is important and Gmail gets the job done.  It is very easy to use, it's free, and it has plenty of space.  I like how it saves contacts and makes it very easy to email someone just by starting to type in their name or email address.  If you are using another service and you are unhappy with it, give Gmail a try.

Best General Information Website: Wikipedia
Whenever I need to look up some basic information about just about anything whether it be a person, place, thing, or topic, I usually start at Wikipedia.  Wiki has information on most subjects and it is all in a familiar format that is easy to read.  Yes people may say that it is not 100% reliable because it can be edited by anyone, but this is rare because the community and moderators are good at making sure everything is correct.  They have high standard when it comes to editing and posting new information on Wikipedia which can be good on one hand, but frustrating on the other.  Overall it is a good site for learning what you want to know.

Best Maps Website: Google Maps
Google maps is fast and easy to navigate.  You can get directions, find bike paths, get satellite views and learn about geography with this website.  You can even find businesses and landmarks on the maps.  There is also a community element that lets users contribute their own information to the maps to make them even better.  If you need to get directions, you can't go wrong with Google Maps. 

Best Online Dating Website: Match.com
I have tried out a few dating websites over the years and overall my favorite has been Match.com.  They have a large number of users and the website is very easy to use in terms of narrowing down your search results.  The only downside is you have to pay for it to use all the features. 
Runner Up: OkCupid. Ok Cupid is a similar dating website but it is nice because they give you the basic features including contacting matches for free.  OkCupid is somewhat more limited that websites like Match.com, but hey, if you are looking for someone and you don't want to pay for a subscription, this one is worth trying out. 

Best Viral Media Website: Reddit  
Reddit has become a great community with groups known as subreddits on just about anything. It is a good resource for news, pop culture, entertainment, and information. Here are some of the Best Reddits to get started.

Best Blogging Website: Blogger
I guess it's no surprise that I picked Blogger for the best blogging platform considering this blog is on Blogspot.  I have tried several different blogging sites such as WordPress, Tumblr, and Posterous, but overall my favorite is Blogger.  Now it is not perfect and I have had many issues with it in the past, but it is relatively easy to use and I think it is getting better as time goes on.  Anyone can set up their own blog, customize it, and start making posts in no time.

Best Shopping Website: Amazon
Amazon is great! They have everything and pretty much always have the best prices.  Whenever I need to buy anything, I always check Amazon. The website is so easy to use. Once you have bought something, they store your information so it makes future purchases very quick and efficient.  They recommend products you might like, and remember things you have looked up so you can check on them again the next time you visit the site. I have nothing but good things to say about Amazon. They are awesome!
Runner Up: eBay. Like Amazon, you can find just about anything on eBay and usually the prices are the best around.

Do you know of a good website that should be on this list?  What other categories should be featured?  Post your thoughts in the comments below.