Assorted Ramblings and Filings.

Welcome to the PodShop blog. Pull up a chair. Read. Write. Interact.

Yes, I know it has been a very long time since I have attempted to blog. I’m not proud. It’s a shame really. The one or two people that read my blog last year might have missed my charming writing style and wordular prowess. That’s right, I said – well typed, actually – prowess! And yes, I know that wordular is not a word. But alas, those are tales for another day, and I will get into that in more detail in due time in future posts (at the rate I blog means sometime within the next seven months, so pace yourself!) For now, let’s just get on with it. My name is Chris, so nice to meet you again. I will be your host for today’s entry, one that involves a man and machines, and stubborn and silly insistence on the status quo.

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Google officially announced their online payment service today. Dubbed Google Checkout, it looks promising. I’m looking into the first level API integration for now.

UPDATE: I’ve signed up for Google Checkout account, which was relatively quick and painless. Similar to setting up a PayPal account, the process was very straight forward. There’s an option to link up your Checkout account with your AdWords account (if you don’t have a pre-existing AdWords account, you can set up both types of accounts during this process), which enables you to save money on the standard Checkout transaction fee of 2% plus $.20. This default rate is already lower than the bottom-tiered (i.e. most expensive) PayPal account, which is 2.9% plus $.30 per transaction.

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One day after I bag on Microsoft for all of the different initiatives (read money-making schemes) it has undertaken recently – and in the process left Windows for dead – I get a piece of snail mail from them.

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Like a wounded animal, there is a certain software company from Redmond Washington that is fighting for its business-identity life. Once the titan of its trade, Microsoft has fallen into a deadly trap – one in which it has been ensnared for years – and there appears to be no quick way out.

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