When it comes to great forum scripts, you have a lot of choices out there.  One forum script that is receiving a lot of great reviews is MyBB.  It is a free and open source alternative to other forum scripts such as vB, IPB, phpBBB, SMF and more.

Here is a little more about MyBB from the developers:

A lot of thought has gone into the MyBB interface to make it easy to use. MyBB uses a standard discussion board structure, so your visitors will feel familiar with the way MyBB works. Your visitors can use the MyBB user control panel to change the way they view discussions. They can also easily start and reply to discussions and markup their posts.

From square one, MyBB does a lot to give you an interface that is not just simply designed but is also familiar to use. You can change things extensively from within the administration panel.  The ability to edit the layout, options and behavior of the script is all located within that area. The MyBB forums are also very extendable.  It has a very advanced plugin system that allows you to tweak almost every aspect of how the forum works and feels to your users.

Already using another forum script?  Their MyBB Merge System will allow you to easily convert your posts from another forum script over to MyBB.  If you need more information, be sure to go check out mybb.com.

Flexible. Elegant. Easy to Use.  These are all phrases people have used to describe TextPatern.  In a day and time where WordPress, Joomla and others get the majority of the love – I am here to introduce you to a script that helps you easily get your content out to the masses.

TextPattern is definitely an easy to use script.  If you have installed any type of script, then you will find the installation process for TextPattern very familiar. If you ever run into any problems, just jump over to their forums – where the dev team is actively posting along with the users.

Getting down to the interface of TextPattern, it is very simple.  You can focus your attention on getting your articles written and edited very easily. You can even quickly convert plain text to valid XHTML with Textile.

Designers will find the TextPattern interface and back end organization very helpful.  There is no real limit to how you can style or layout the TextPattern powered websites.  Everything is standards compliant by default and the forums are also filled with other theme designers that will be willing to give you a helping hand if you get stuck.

TextPattern is a nice alternative to other blogging scripts like WordPress.  BlueFur would be more than happy to host it for you too. If you are looking for something that has a much simpler interface and is more focused on getting your articles and posts out there – TextPattern is well worth checking out.

You can pick it up at textpattern.com.

This book touches on how to grow your own tribe around your business. It can be an external tribe like customers or an internal tribe like your co-workers. You do not need to be the boss to be a leader of the tribe with today’s technology, anyone that can rally others to a cause are today’s heretics and leaders.

He goes on to say that people choose not to lead out of fear. That we all fear criticism. If we can learn to accept the criticism and even embrace constructive criticism we would have more leaders in the world. The book explains the difference between a manager and a leader and that you should not be sucked in to the belief that just because you are not a manager that you can not be a leader is no longer true.

This book touches on Twitter and blogging as well.

If you have read this book what did you think?

Last week I purchased the new 3G iPhone and thought I would share my review of the phone. I was not caught up in the hype of owning an iPhone and had no intention of getting one until my HipTop 2 died. I hopped on twitter and asked others about their experience with various phones and the only one that fit my requirements that was available is the iPhone.

The Good
This has to be one of the best phones I have ever owned. The various applications you can add and that are included make the phone useful beyond any standard phone…

• SMS – although it is just SMS the iPhone allows you to track a conversation easily between your SMS friends. I have used SMS before and sometimes I forget the conversation if there is a large gap between. The iPhone makes that problem obsolete.
• Contacts - finally a contacts area that integrates all the other applications on the phone. You can text, phone, email or visit a site all from one contact. You can even add a picture and set custom ring tones for each contact.
• Maps – Do you get lost? With an iPhone that won’t ever be a problem again. The map works with the built in GPS that shows you where you are. If your in need of a coffee just fire up the map and enter Tim Hortons and all the local coffee places will be shown around you and you can find directions to them in seconds.
• Weather – have to hunt for the local weather? The iPhone keeps the current temperature and weather conditions available and 7 day forecast.
• Email - With many different options to setup emails the tool is easy to use and intuitive.
• Safari – Surfing with the iPhone is in full colour and works with almost every site. The zoom feature means you can focus in on smaller type. You can open multiple sites in various windows and flip between windows.
• WiFi - You can hook up to wifi and not use as much of your phone transfer.

The Bad
Even though it is a great phone there are some bad things with this phone…

• Rogers/Fido coverage is not the greatest. I have noticed dropped coverage in Surrey for Internet. As more people come on I am worried that this problem will only get worse.
• The keyboard is easy to use and you do get use to it. With only a few days under my belt I can type about 10 words per minute. With my old QWERTY phone keyboard I could type around 30 to 40 words per minute.
• The Internet browser will reload randomly. I am surfing a site and go to the next page and the browser just reloaded. If it is a forum it can be annoying because whatever you had typed is now gone.
• The email needs a select all button. If you have 50 or more emails in the inbox and want to just clear them out you need to select each one individually and the delete them all. I would prefer a select all and delete button.
• 3rd party applications stop loading in the background. So if your listening to music through last.fm and want to read an email. The music will stop as soon as you leave that application.

The Ugly
These things are horrible about the phone…

• You have to sign-up for a 3 year contract or no iPhone for you.
• iTunes Canada does not have all the applications that the US iTunes does.
• If you wish to develop for the iPhone you need to do so on an Apple computer.
• Power Users will be unhappy with the 4 to 5 hour battery life.

Do you have an iPhone? If so what is your favorite applications?

I have a large outlook file that grows daily because I save almost every email I receive. This allows me to go back and track anything about a customer that I have ever discussed. In business it is very handy to be able to find this information.

You could use the built in Outlook search features which will chug along and look through every email. Instead I have found a great Outlook addon called Lookeen. The software indexes your emails and you can search for information in seconds. No that is not a typo, I do mean seconds. Want to find every email with the word PayPal in it? That would take Outlook 3 or more hours to do. Lookeen takes 25 seconds to show all of mine.

If you are an Outlook power user then I suggest you give Lookeen a free 14 day test. The software is $50.13 per user if you decided to buy it.

This software gets a big 2 thumbs up from me.

What Outlook Addons do you use to make your life easier?

So today I was reading Miss 604‘s blog and she was talking about some fun stuff going on at twitter. So I did a little research on how I should be using twitter by reading various blogs. If you do have a twitter account then it is an absolute must to have a notifier. I went out and started downloading and testing various twitter notifier software’s. I was really disappointed that most of them did not work. Frustrated I posted on my twitter asking what should I be using. A few minutes passed and a local Vancouver designer posted that I should try twhirl. I quickly downloaded it and have been using it all afternoon.

I am extremely happy with twhirl and now see how useful twitter can be. Like a blog you can join or create a community. You can network with people in your niche, local area or interests. Twhirl notifies you when someone posts that you are following, makes it easy to message people and faster to make posts (tweets). If you are not using twitter then I suggest you do. After you sign-up download twhirl and then add me to your twitter.

I personally found this book to general for my own specific needs. The book covers topics like the long tail of search, Digg, YouTube and social networking. These trends are all things I am aware so for me the book could have gone in to more depth.

I see this book as a good resource for business that are not very web savvy. If you are an online business then this book might not be much use to you.

The title is a unique metaphor used through out the book. Most companies being meatballs that generate average products for average people are using web 2.0 trends to make their meatballs look more like a sundae. This leaves you with an unappetizing meatball sundae. The general idea of the book is that if you wish to make use of web 2.0 trends you need to restructure your business from the ground up.

If you have read this book what did you think?

iStockphoto provides images, vector drawings, flash animations and movie clips that you can use on your site or in print materials. To get started create an account, drop some money in to your account and begin searching.

Once you find a picture your ready to buy choose an image size and click the download. For web use I would suggest sticking to Small or XSmall as these will fit your needs. If your going to use one on a marketing slick you should buy a Medium to Large so that your end product will not be blurry or pixelated.

Next time you work on your marketing I suggest you do a quick search at iStockphoto to find the right image to fit your target market.

What stock image sites have you used?

I purchased 5 domains each with a separate niche that I have an interest in. The domains are pretty generic. These 5 domains I have setup each as a blog that I add one page of content to per week. This way the content on the site is fresh and gives a reason for others interested in that niche to return. Using the BANS software I am selling products that are specifically geared to that niche using the eBay affiliate program. The BANS software creates a store for you which you can easily start selling in a day.

I have had these running for a month now and the numbers so far:

- 4,628 unique visitors to the sites.
- 341 sales through eBay.

Total sales are $314.09.

- 5 domains at $16.95 equals $84.75
- 1 hosting account at $6.95.
- Build a Niche Store software at $97.00

Total expenses for the month are $188.70.

Total profit first month is $125.39.

Traffic to the site is coming from forums, blogs and groups in the respective niche and just posting a few times a day.

So let’s do a bit of extrapolation, the first year would be $3,503.93. That is presuming the current rate of traffic. I predict traffic will go up and that these sites would make $7,000 in the first year with very little effort.

I do recommend the Build a Niche Store software and be willing to help you choose a niche if you do decided to buy it.

So how does it work?
As a publisher you sign-up and add your inventory of ads space into the site. You then add a widget to your site where that ad would be placed. You will never need to edit the code on your site again as all administration is then done through the SYAH site. You can manage multiple site and ads all in one management tool now.

Once an ad is approved and sold through the SYAH site it will be automatically added to your site. Payment is accepted through the SYAH site and they take a 25% cut of all sales.

Should you use this service?
I think it is good for a site that is just starting out. This will drive marketers to your site and you can start generating revenue. It may not be a lot of revenue but when your starting out any revenue can be good.

Suggestions
I think the domain is not easy to remember and would suggest they buy a domain that is more brandable. I have one that is suitable if they are interested (marketinghunter.com).

The site design is okay but I am not sure it will drive a lot of high-end advertisers in to the network. I would suggest Mark hire a graphic designer to be the ying to his PHP yang.

What do you think of this type of service?