Ryan Dube

Over the past few months, Google has really pulled off its gloves in dealing with online spammers that have mucked up the Internet with endless reams of spam and worthless content.

It has always been a pet peeve of mine, to see very well written, high quality content trashed down to the 5th or 6th page of Google results, because the first couple of pages were controlled by keyword spammers.

Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against using keywords to get traffic. After all, how else is Google supposed to identify whether your content is relevant to search results. Identifying relevance is the easy part, but the hard part for Google (up until now) has been identifying meaningful, quality content.

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This month, it hit home more than ever before that bloggers that practice investigative journalism really are a special breed of folks. True, quality investigating requires an unbiased viewpoint, and it demands a dedication and perseverance that is very rare today.

And, while “professional” investigative news staff make a living from simply investigating, most online investigative journalist bloggers actually have an extensive background in specific field – which is also their primary day job.

The Cons of Investigative Blogging

There are pros and cons to this. When you’re working all day as an electrical engineer, and you spend all evening researching technology scams – obviously you bring more to the table than an investigative journalist whose background is in writing or communications. And these days, it’s almost required that investigative researchers have some kind of extensive background training in the field that they are investigating, otherwise they get steamrolled by anyone out there who has more knowledge than the journalist, and would like to pull the wool over their eyes.

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Ever since the first Google Droid commercial came out during Christmas of 2009, I was intrigued by what was the first smartphone to really compete with the ever-popular iPhone. In comparing the iPhone vs Android features, it didn’t take long for me to realize which phone was the one for me.

The Balance of Power

For years, iPhone users took pride in the fact that they owned the most advanced and popular smartphone of all time. However, the introduction of the Motorola Droid, and more specifically the Android mobile operating system, tipped the balance of power. Slowly, but surely, more and more iPhone users, and new smartphone customers, opted for the mobile device that promised faster Internet speeds, quicker apps and of course the task-switching power that set the Android operating system on its way toward market domination.

Iphone users scoffed at the commercials, scoffed at Droid users and looked down their nose at the Android Marketplace…yet the Android continued its steady march with a steadily increasing user base, until today. Today, news sources are screaming with the latest – Android devices now top out the iPhone user base, with 28 percent of the market in the first quarter of 2010 vs iPhone’s 21 percent. Blackberry of course still controls the market with 36 percent, mostly due to the business/corporate user base.

First Quarter 2010 – The Market Share Shifts

The CNET report notes:

Android is an operating system that is available on several different models of phones made by different manufacturers, such as Motorola, HTC, and Samsung. Meanwhile, Apple’s operating system is used only on Apple’s own iPhone.

The report notes that part of the trend is due to the fact that the Android is now available on all major carriers. However, what the report fails to mention is that this wasn’t always the case. I personally switched over from AT&T to Verizon because AT&T’s Android selection was lacking, and when the Droid came out – the decision to switch over to Verizon was clear.

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One thing I’ve learned this week is that the world of writing is being rapidly transformed by the Internet. I remember in high school, and even in college, the ultimate dream of any writer was to land a good literary agent and strike a killer book deal. The next thing you know, you’re writing several novels a year and bringing in royalties hand over fist.

This is still a dream for many writers, but there’s a tremendous career opportunity being created by the explosion of the Internet. A writer who can adapt and understand how online publications can be successful will have a very bright future looking forward into the next couple of decades. Let me explain why.

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I was pretty excited to find an app that I could use to provide the ability for blog readers to leave video comments right on the blog update. As you can see below, the embedded tool allows you, the reader, to simply record a video message, which gets posted to this page (and I receive email notification as well).

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I have to admit, I very much enjoy the sort of investigations that I do with Steve over at RealityUncovered. Most of the hard-hitting interviews that I land end up published there, because they usually fill some hole in our research into the various online and offline scams that we investigate.

One of the latest updates that I’ve published to the RU blog lists the stream of interview questions we asked Gordon Novel – of JFK fame (okay, not really fame) and these days attempting to tout a private “gravionics” technology as viable and worth of capital investment. It’s a strange tale.

I decided to publish the questions when, after I’d delivered them to Gordon via email, things got very quiet. I’ve learned through the years that when things get quiet, there are ongoing conversations and discussions that you just aren’t aware of. Most likely, those who back and support Gordon are talking him out of moving forward with the interview.

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This month is an interesting month to write at LoveToKnow Paranormal. When I first started writing at LoveToKnow, this was the first channel that I was hired into, based on my background and experience with investigating and writing on paranormal topics. Once I moved on to become a Site Editor and then a Group Editor at LoveToKnow, I was not bestowed the honor of taking over the Paranormal Channel. However, I’m glad I wasn’t because the current Group Editor, Kelly, transformed the site into a tremendous collection of articles that, for the most part, handle paranormal topics in a very balanced and reasonable way – a very rare thing in the paranormal field.

This month, the collection of topics include OBE experiences and astral travel. These are normally subjects that I would shy away from. However, after doing a certain amount of research on these experiences, and the anecdotal stories along the way, I quickly realized that the subject is an fascinating one. In fact, as I detailed in the article for LoveToKnow, in many cases some of these stories included OBE travel to locations and events that were real. The experiencer was able to outline specific details of locations and events that they couldn’t have known about because they were nowhere near the location of the event.

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The funny thing about being a citizen journalist is that most don’t even realize that’s what they are. There are countless folks across the Internet who spend time researching political issues, criminal cases and even simple local news stories – simply for the joy and experience of uncovering a truth that they can share with the public. It’s for this reason that this month I wanted to share the article titled, Top 5 Online Resources for the Citizen Journalist over at MakeUseOf.

What the Article Included

Published on January 11th, 2009, this article featured a list of the more common online websites and tools that I find myself using whenever I’m digging into a story or conducting an investigation. These days, that’s a lot more than I ever imagined it would be. Between regular research for online articles, and the paranormal and scientific examinations that we do at RealityUncovered, I’m usually kept pretty busy. This is in combination with a regular workload of regular monthly articles, so life can get pretty hectic sometimes.

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I have to admit, exchanging my old Cingular 8125 Windows Mobile phone for the new and improved Motorola Droid with the Android OS operating system was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in a very long time.

I’ve already had the opportunity to write a couple of articles over at MakeUseOf reviewing the device. The one that I had the most fun with was how use the cool Star Trek Tricorder app available on the Android market.

Opportunities that the Droid Opens for Me

As an online writer, I’m pretty excited about this device. Previously, I had to hunt down Windows Mobile 5.0 applications that would let me send short blog updates the length of two or three sentences to my various Wordpress blogs. Now, I’ve installed wpToGo from the Android Market and I can post full blog posts with my phone, complete with an image if I like – it’s amazing.

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Some of my readers are fascinated by the sort of research that I conduct over at Top Secret Writers as well as the strange and surreal Ufology work that I do at Reality Uncovered.

In particular, most of my fellow researchers that I talk to ask me how I have the nerve to communicate with some of the folks that I do. Often, bloggers and researchers come across what those in the field call “spooks,” which are folks who claim to be involved in some government agency or even Intel, and who are willing to talk to you. Spooks literally “spook” enough people into running away with their tail between their legs.

One of the reasons I was so pleased to meet up with Stephen Broadbent, my colleague and co-owner of Reality Uncovered is because he was also one of those few researchers who do not feel at all intimidated by these characters. In fact, the more they intimidate, the more he wants their head on a platter.

Over the years, that sentiment has rubbed off on me, and some tough life experiences have also helped thicken my skin and taught me that you can only achieve success, and you will only discover the truth, if you’re willing to take risks and get a little dirty. Otherwise, you will remain in the same condition that you’ve been in forever.

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