Ryan Dube

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.

Another drawback to conducting investigations during off-hours is that sometimes there are organizations that refuse to recognize you as media. This is rapidly changing, as more and more investigative bloggers prove their mettle – however, this doesn’t change the fact that a stigma still remains if you are not being sent a paycheck from one media organization or another, then you aren’t “legit.” Does receiving a Google revenue check from blog proceeds that exceed the salary of most journalists count? Probably not.

Case in point – the report from David Axe of Wired (one of the best investigative blogging sites on the net today) covering the coast guard denying Danger Room access to testing documentation because “blogs don’t yet count as media.” This is ridiculous, as Danger Room as scooped some of the biggest news stories long before mainstream media has even gotten out of bed. This is the nature of journalism today.

Does Investigative Journalism Online Mark the End of Journalism?

Despite what old-school journalists may tell you – the trend toward citizen journalism doesn’t represent the destruction media as we know it. What it represents is a new breed of journalism, where most of the folks doing the investigating have a more intricate background and understanding of the particular topic at hand. Additionally, they usually bring a certain “passion” to what they do – because clearly they aren’t doing it for the money.

CNN recognized the potential of this untapped “free” resource when they established iReport, an area of CNN that lets citizen journalists write (or record, in the case of video) a news story as it is occurring. This is a perfect example of a marriage between major media and citizen journalism. It is also clearly a win-win. The citizen journalist, if they are good, get notoriety and recognition for the high-quality investigative work (CNN makes note of top submissions with a “badge”) – and CNN gets volumes and volumes of free news content for absolutely free. Now what corporate entity doesn’t appreciate the word “free”?

Don’t Sell Out

The running joke about independent bloggers is that their income comes from “Google Adsense.” This presents a whole other aspect of blogging that requires you to remain viable while doing your work. No – Adsense is not the only way that you can receive a paycheck. There are many solutions you can use to earn more income than you wold if you sold out and started working exclusively for major media. I will cover those in future posts, so check back often.

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.

iPhone vs. Android – Top Droid Features that You’ll Love

When my iPhone friends compare their iPhone vs Android with me, the winner is obvious even though many iPhone fans refuse to admit it. I show them how quickly I can switch between my chat application (which incorporates every major IM service) and my email app, and then over to my mobile RSS feed reader and finally back to chat. My iPhone friends struggle as they must close one app and open the other – except for those who know how to jailbreak the phone. Others wait patiently for the next generation iPhone, which reportedly has the ability to task-switch, but will it be enough – or too little too late?

The irony is that my originally struggle was to choose between the Blackberry or the iPhone. I wanted both a touchscreen and a keyboard, and neither mobile device had both, or the ones that did had tiny little screens. When the Motorola Droid came out, it was like a dream come true – and if you’ve ever held one of these hefty little devices in your hand – with the distinct feeling of high quality in metal and glass, you will understand why the Android share of the market is blossoming.

Put simply, it’s clearly the best phone on the market right now – hands down.

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.

The Explosion of the Net Leads to Dramatic Demand

It’s all about supply and demand. In the mid 1800’s, the imbalance of the cattle supply in the Western and Eastern U.S. led to an entire industry build around “driving” cattle from the southwest to the Northeast. Kansas became the central point of the country where cattle needed to go so that the trains could take them the rest of the way.

These cattle drives produced overwhelming demand for talented, tough and versatile cowboys. These were guys who worked on the ranch for many years, but had toughed up to the demands of outdoor living, and traveling through wilderness on horseback for long stretches at a time.

They made up a community of rough and sometimes troublesome men who were so good at what they did that the trail bosses fought over them and tried to offer the best pay and the best trail conditions to attract them.

The Online Cowboys of Today

Just like the economic and political conditions produced demand for cowboys, other situations throughout the history of the U.S. introduced tremendous demand for other services and skillsets. The businesses and companies that understood the need to transform with the times not only survived, but they flourished.

The railway created the “engineering” career track and technicians who could repair the steam engines or plan and lay out tracks and railways. The advent of commercial flight produced piloting and stewardess jobs, as well as aircraft mechanics and the entire aerospace industry.

I believe that the advent of the Internet is having a similar catalyst effect throughout our society today – the events are occurring so quickly around us that few people even realize what’s going on. But if you step back and simply observe the evolution of the Internet, most good businessmen and corporate leaders will recognize the tremendous opportunity this social evolution offers.

• The number of Internet users has grown from over 350,000,000 in 2000 up to over 1.3 billion in 2009. That’s an unbelievable growth of over 380%.
• Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are driving an even greater number of people to finally start using the Internet.
• This huge influx of new users are also discovering the convenience and value of shopping and doing business online.
• Emerging markets, such as India and China, are experiencing mind-boggling adoption rates of the Internet – and opening up online markets that simply never existed before.

For the entrepreneur that understands the potential of the conditions listed above, the sky is truly the limit. This isn’t the pie-in-the-sky promise that existed before the dot-com bust – these are market conditions that are poised to catapult brick-and-mortar companies, with assets and products to offer to the world, into the stratosphere.

The Opportunities for Online Writers

Almost every business that recognizes the potential outlined in the list above, also realizes that they are in the process of missing the boat. The business that can produce the most compelling content that attracts (and continues to attract) their market audience, will also develop a monopoly over that online niche.

The only way to establish yourself in that position is to develop that kind of content. The only way to develop that kind of content is to hire a writer who can capture the interest of that online audience and produce an emotional reaction to the written words. Suddenly, good writers are in tremendous demand. It’s one thing to create a winning website, but it’s another to offer high-quality and compelling content that attracts a crowd.

This is why, any writer looking to grow their career in this new emerging global market should learn how online writing works. This may or may not include SEO techniques, but it should include how an online article should be laid out, how the content should flow, and how the structure of the article should appear so that it’s easy to read for someone who is looking for information quickly (as most online users are).

I’d love to hear from any writers out there who are in any stage of career growth in this new online market. Let me know what new opportunities you’ve recognized thanks to the recent explosion of Internet usage throughout business and industry.

Download this blog entry in audio format…

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).

All I had to do to add this feature to the page is copy and paste the embed code over from my Bubblecast account. So, here you go – why don’t you try it out and leave a video message about whether you prefer leaving video comments over text comments?

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.

Other Gravity-Related Research and News

The world of antigravity research is rife with theoretical physics and the scammers who ride their coat-tails. However, there is one particular man who has been associated with fringe scientific subjects for many years, during his work for the Defense Intelligence Agence (DIA). This man is none other than Paul Murad, a physicist who formerly worked for the DIA.

I am actively putting together another set of interview questions for him after he agreed to an interview for RealityUncovered. I will detail the process over at TopSecretWriters, with the eventual publication taking place at RU.

Turning to Futuristic Technologies

Along a similar thread, this month I’ve decided to turn the topic of choice over at LoveToKnow Science Fiction from Star Wars and Star Trek toward the realm of science fiction technologies. I tested this trend with the Future Robotic Pets article, and of course not too long ago I also interviewed theoretical physicist Jack Sarfatti for the Sci-Fi channel at LTK.

The trend appears to be an increased interest in futuristic technologies from Science Fiction. It’s an exciting topic to explore, because so many new technologies of today were merely science fiction yesterday. You can imagine my amazement when I learned that I could actually use my brand new Motorola Droid as a Star Trek Tricorder.

How could I not blog about futuristic technologies when today’s technology is a perfect reflection of the sort of things I imagined as a kid?

Keeping Your Feet on the Ground

The reason I am so diametrically opposed to so many unrealistic fringe science claims (usually those to do with free energy and antigravity) is because they muddy the scientific waters and hamper true technological progress. This is why, in both my reading and my writing, I strive to differentiate between the scam and the truly promising innovation.

As an electrical engineer, I’m a little better equipped than most to do that – but when it comes to theoretical physics, quite honestly, few people are prepared for the sort of Alice-in-Wonderland claims and scams that go on amid a few valid scientific discussions.

But that’s the nature of the beast – and cutting edge science is where future technologies come from.

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.

This month I’m working on about four articles for LoveToKnow on the topic of out of body experiences. I find the subject matter fascinating, and the variety of beliefs that incorporate some form of astral travel is interesting as well. While there are certainly modern day cult-like groups that partake in weird new-age rituals involving states of psychic energy or aural states of energy, there are also other fascinating groups that attempt to take a more scientific approach in examining the phenomenon. It’s these groups that are the most intriguing, because they attempt to examine the experiences in a methodical and scientific manner rather than referring to the experiences as though the source is of the experience is already known as something spiritual.

So, please read through my LTK article on Out of Body travel, and if you’ve ever had such an experience, I’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.

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.

The resources I added to this article included:

• Journalism.org – Run by the Pew Research Center
• A Journalist’s Guide to the Internet – by Christopher Callahan
• RefDesk.com – an amazing resource
• Newscri.be – an amazing popular news tracker
• Public and criminal record search resources
• Several news submissions websites that publish work by citizen journalists

Many people don’t realize how powerful the written word can be when it gets published at any of the high profile news sites that accept news stories submitted by citizens. They say the pen is mightier than the sword – well that axiom was never more true than it is in the field of journalism.

This was a fun article to write, and I’m proud to have it published at MakeUseOf, the top technology blog on the Internet.

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.

Other Droid apps that significantly help with my online writing work include Twidroid (for sending out Twitter updates), Facebook (for sharing articles with friends), Gmail (for staying in touch with my writers, colleagues and clients) and Astrid (for scheduling and as my ToDo list).

Needless to say, the Droid has quickly become an indespensible tool to me. I never miss important emails or phone calls, I’m constantly reminded of things that I used to forget all the time, and now I can immediately snap a photo and blog about an experience that, before, I would have had to wait all day to do, once I returned home.

How a Mobile Phone Can Help With Writing

Is it really important for online writers to have such a nifty tool? For me, there were two primary uses for this new technology. The first was that I could write mobile phone articles for MakeUseOf. At the time there just weren’t enough Android writers (now there are almost too many!). Second, I needed it to stay in touch with everyone.

I have a day job, so now I can check and answer emails at lunch time, while previously I had to wait all day to get home and answer emails. Normally, this wouldn’t matter so much, but when you manage a team of writers and report to several clients – being available online most of the day is critical.

However, the one area that I’ve noticed such a device puts a writer at an advantage is the ability to blog about, and report on, news and events immediately. Not only immediately after something happens, but sometimes you can actively report on an event while you’re on location and while the event is going on.

Imagine being at a scene of a major catastrophe and being able to send in reports every few hours to your blog. Or imagine hiking the appalachian trail and being able to fire off captured images and GPS coordinates along with a description of your trail experiences.

It’s an unbelievable, brand new world that we are quickly entering. It’s truly the “next generation” for writers, because now we are the ones who are providing the content that readers demand. If you can offer immediate, well written information to the Internet audience, you will have that audience. It all comes down to having excellent writing, and being able to understand and take advantage of the technology.

And yes, sometimes it’s just fun to play with very cool high-tech apps like the Star Trek Tricorder.

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.

Top Secret Writers Leads to Other Opportunities

Reality Uncovered searched as a launching point for much of my other paranormal interests, and led to the creation of Top Secret Writers as a scratch pad for my emotional and psychological reactions to RU research. For the most part, my fellow researchers were the brunt of much of those musings – but now Top Secret Writers allows me a place where I can just post some of those odd theories and speculations which have no current backing of evidence yet…but may at some point depending on the direction of research.

In a way, it allows me to share some of my thinking patterns with many of those readers who wonder about the direction of my own thought process before the evidence-backed, fully researched RU reports come out.

However, that’s only a small part of what TSW means to me. It is also a spot where I can explore my interests in technology in combination with spying and cutting edge research technologies that can help not only paranormal investigators but also private investigators better identify the truth in any situation.

It is also a spot where I explore other alleged covert government projects and conspiracy theories that are very wide in scope and don’t really fit into the field of Ufology. In essence, Top Secret Writers lets me explore some of the wilder areas of my beliefs that in many cases those who are more strictly skeptical might not appreciate!

As the readership there grows, I would like to welcome you to take a look at the blog and explore the strange and wild world of secret societies, covert government coverups and strange ufological tales over at my own conspiracy theory blog – TopSecretWriters.com.

I would like to thank you for visiting my profile page. Throughout the Internet, I take part in a number of conversations on large email lists, and my research and writing assignments and interests stretch across a broad spectrum of areas including the paranormal, technology (both mainstream and fringe), web-design and computer apps, and many other areas based on the writing assignments and projects I’ve taken on over time.

So Who’s Ryan Dube?

If you’ve been contacted by me for an interview, or because we’ve had an email or phone exchange, then you’ve probably found yourself here in an effort to understand who I am and what I do. Let me answer that question myself so that it’s clear and accurate. I am primarily a writer for several personal blogs as well as a wide mix of several major websites.

Some websites are more “major” than others, but in total the overall readership is in the tens of millions of unique readers per month. It has taken years to get to the point where I’m at now, and I’m very proud of these accomplishments, but this is by no means the top of the mountain. There’s a long way to go.

Plans moving forward for Ryan Dube

My short term plans are to continue the ongoing growth of readership. I’ve noticed that simply getting your writing out there in blogs and websites attracts fans who bookmark you and subscribe to your RSS feeds, and would recommend this to any aspiring writer.

In some cases I’ve even had readers submit that I should write my own novels. For those readers and fans, I am eternally grateful to you for providing that encouragement and motivation. I am planning or working on the following projects:

• The outline of a Paranormal novel is completed and the first chapter is written.
• Own and operate several interesting blogs – readership continues to climb every month.
• Research and publish science/engineering articles on the nature of hauntings and paranormal activity, and I plan to use proven technology to experiment and test the phenomenon. In this regard I’ve accumulated a wealth of research data and have several hypothesis.

Ryan Dube’s Credentials and Work History

This is where I need to be careful, because due to the nature of some of my research, there are a fair number of nutjobs who don’t like me (it’s the nature of the journalism business). So while I can’t provide specific information, I can at least provide enough of my background so that those who I’m interviewing understand my credentials and can feel confident that I’m credible and have the appropriate background to conduct these investigations and interviews.

• 1998 Electrical Engineering Degree with specialization in practical technologies and applied engineering.
• 15+ year Electrical Engineering veteran in the Aerospace industry
• Over 15 years of experience with a number of programming languages, including Visual Basic, Perl, Javascript, HTML, C++, CSS, PHP and of course specialized automation engineering languages like programmable logic controllers and graphical user interfaces
• Experience with electrical circuits, control systems and most computerized automated systems that incorporate some type of PID control system to handle feedback loops
• Over 5 years of experience with investigative research utilizing Internet and networking technologies, social interaction and engineering and experience networking with personalities of all social classes and positions.
• Developed personal contacts and sources throughout media and government, as well as scientific academia and the writing and publishing community
• Established client base that includes major media websites, blogs and the print publishing community.

I’ve been lucky enough to have numerous opportunities open up to me over the years. As Milton Berle once said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” My life is a perfect example of that truism.