Recently, you may have noticed that Facebook has allowed users to pick usernames.  Upon learning this news, I immediately thought, “How convenient will this make it for people to find  me!?  This is fantastic news!  Now, I will be able to rapidly expand my internet empire with a eponymously chosen username!”

I was looking forward to June 12 at 10:01 pm when I would finally claim http://www.facebook.com/bradkovach.  But I had to work at 5:00 am the next day.  So I loaded my ears with foam plugs and went to bed at 9:10.  This is now my biggest regret.  I, being fully able to conveniently register ‘bradkovach’ as my username at every other site on the entire internet, assumed that I could go to bed, and work my formidable nine-hour shift, come home and register my name.

It might surprise you then, considering my previous luck registering ‘bradkovach’ on EVERY OTHER WEBSITE, that I was unable to register http://www.facebook.com/bradkovach for use in my Internet empire.

Well then, who did?

This guy:

Another Brad Kovach

So now, I must write a letter to Brad Kovach.  From Brad Kovach.

Dear Brad Kovach,

You might know me from the first four results when you Google your (our) name.  I am Brad Kovach.  Not only am I Brad Kovach, but I am the most important and most accomplished Brad Kovach on the Internet–until now.

You see, Brad Kovach, you have damaged my ego.  I have successfully been building my Internet empire from a very young age.  I have been signing up for websites using “bradkovach” as my username successfully for years now.  Today, however, you ruined me.  You STOLE my username on Facebook.  While this is a small victory for you, you will not win this name war.  You see, while you have taken a highly coveted username on a very prestigious site, you cannot outdo me.  Let’s check the scoreboard.

Brad Kovach (me)	Brad Kovach (you)
MySpace (which I cancelled–taking the username with me.) Twitter Google (yeah–GOOGLE) Digg Reddit YouTube WordPress.com Flickr bradkovach.com (checkmate)	Facebook LinkedIn?
At least 9…	1… maybe 2?

I suppose it’s normal to be a celebrity and have imposters and doppelgangers. I can live with these side-effects of fame.

Sincerely,
(the real) Brad Kovach

So here is the happy ending: I picked an equally awesome username for Facebook. You may now check out my profile at http://www.facebook.com/thebradkovach.

Also, since I am a jerk that WILL kick a horse while they are down, I have redirected all of the bradkovach.com/site urls to their respective site.  For example, http://www.bradkovach.com/facebook will take you to my Facebook profile.

I just “seasoned” some Schwan’s Overpriced Teriyaki Wingz(tm) with a little puddle I squirted onto my plate from a bottle of “Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce.”  As I sat writhing in pain I said “I should write an article about this horrible pain experience.”  So I am.

Measuring How Hot Something Is…

When I contemplate things that shouldn’t be adulterated by logical hand of scientific analysis, I think of:

• Hot Sauce
• Pillow Fights
• Your mother

However bizarre as it may be, hot sauce and SPICYNESS in general has been analyzed scientifically.  And a scale has been written: the Scoville unit, eponymously named after Wilbur Scoville–a jerk that liked measuring hot things.

Scoville’s test involved taking a sample of the pepper’s extract and diluting it in sugar syrup until there is no detectable taste of heat.  We still use Scoville’s scale.  But, being a technologically inclined society, someone took all of the fun out of testing a pepper for heat with a robot and its robonose.

Now, a machine takes a sample, examines the chemicals, and a few magical moments later, the computer tells you how hot something is.  Personally, I’d much rather prefer the “precision,” “pain,” and “performance” of a human panel blasting their taste buds through rigorous heat examinations.

What is spice?

Very little is known about spiciness.  Please note: if Wikipedia doesn’t know, nobody does.

The feeling of spicyness is caused by capsaicin, a chemical that causes burning when in contact with mucous membranes.  Spicyness is not a flavor, but it is pain.  Your body has an actual endorphin response when in contact with spicy food.  Nerves are actually being tortured.  It isn’t a flavor, it’s a sensation!

My frustration sets in…

Don’t get me wrong, faithful readers, I love spicy food.  But I’m not a thrill seeker when it comes to blasting my tongue with chemical pain.  For one, I have Acid Reflux and spicy foods are not good for my esophagus.  Two, I don’t think it’s entirely necessary to have the “flavor” in extreme doses.  When a little dab will do it, why do you need the whole truckload‽ That’s right… I used an interrobang.

Here!  Look at this chart:

	Real World		Spicy Food
	Sleeping		Bell Pepper (0 SHU)
	Gentle handshake		Pepperoncini Peppers (100-500 SHU)
	Headlock		Jalapeño Peppers (2000 SHU)
	Kick to the crotch		Cayenne Peppers (30,000 SHU)
	Spinning Back Fist		Red Savina Habanero (300,000 SHU)
	Biting the curb		Naga Jolokia (855,000 SHU)

I hope you have found this chart useful. Please print this page for your handy reference. It SHOULD prove wildly convenient when you need to know how hot something is. Extra credit: memorize the chart.

Patheticness…

Please note that my birthday is coming up.  Compensate me for my HARD WORK by buying me something you can’t afford!

Citations and Images

• Wikipedia several times over
• Google Image Search
• SXC.hu
• chiliplants.co.uk

For those of you that don’t already know, Google has thrown its hat into the ring of the browser wars. By “browser wars” I mean “the fight for being the only way that you can access the Internet.”

So far, Google has drawn criticism–mostly on it’s user interface though. It’s blue. I’ll discuss that in a moment.

I’ve been playing with Google Chrome for about two days now. And it’s worth using. Here’s why.

Security

Online scams and phishing (a type of online scam where you are fooled into surrendering precious information by an impostor website) have become increasingly popular topics in the last couple years.  The Internet has provided identity thieves an efficient, productive way to steal credit card information, passwords and much more.

Google has seen and has been active in thwarting this problem.  They’ve cross-referenced their massive catalog with the Internet with feedback from users and have made a blacklist available to anyone who wants to check for malicious websites in their programs.

As a tremendous benefit of having this information available, they have built in state-of-the-art security features.

First, any malicious website that has been cataloged by Google will not load.  Instead a prohibitive screen will warn you and give you an opportunity to leave before things get ugly.  This type of feature has been in Internet Explorer (boo!), Mozilla Firefox, and Safari for years now.

But most notably included is address highlighting that easily exposes what website you’re browsing, but also what mode (secure or non-secure) you are browsing in.

Take a look at this screenshot…

You can easily see that the site I’m visiting is bradkovach.com.  Since the “http://” isn’t in green, I know that I’m not communicating over a secure connection.

But take a look at this screenshot…

You can tell that I’m connecting to Facebook, but I’m connecting to the wrong site. (I should have used https://www.facebook.com instead of https://facebook.com).  It uses the color red (which has been programmed into society to signify a problem).  And it also puts a slash through the connecting protocol to let you know that something isn’t right.  Not pictured is the contents of the actual page, which are prohibitively red with two options: “Proceed anyway,” and “Back to safety.”  On this page, clicking “Proceed anyway” lets you continue to the Facebook server you specified, but Facebook does the right thing and forwards you automatically to the secured version of their 100-million-strong web app.  This demonstrates the use of

Among passive security systems that will allow users to make their own calls on safety, this is a serious, but simple step toward Grandmother-friendly site identity validation.

Speed

There have been a number of benchmarks done by independent 3rd parties that conclusively prove that Google has made the fastest browser… ever.  It can evaluate Javascript MUCH faster than any other browser  It also uses a super-fast rendering engine (WebKit) to draw the pages on your screen.  For websites that use Javascript heavily (Facebook, Gmail) this results in a significant speed boost when performing day-to-day tasks.

Chrome has also made the tab much more usable.  When Javascript grinds down one tab, the others remain usable since they are isolated by a cool computing concept called “sandboxing.”  This means that one tab could crash completely, and the others would remain independently stable.  Very cool.

Also, since Chrome is sandboxed, memory management issues have been eliminated.  Traditionally–and users of Firefox know this–browsers have been very sloppy at “garbage collection.”  This means that every time you close a tab, load a new page, etc, a fragment of the old tab/page/etc is left behind and cannot be removed from memory.  After a day of surfing, browsers can occupy upwards of 200 megabytes of memory–a hideously large amount for a web browser.

Aesthetics and Usability

First there was IE, and now there’s Google Chrome trying to reshape the browser interface paradigm.  Google has taken a new browsing tab, a fairly new browsing tool, and moved it!  Instead of appearing as a row below the address bar, they compose the title bar.  Not only does this save space, but it’s kinda handy.  When a Chrome window is maximized, a flick of the mouse toward the top of your screen will always land you at the row of tabs that you have opened.

And the most major criticism of Google Chrome so far?  It’s kinda ugly–on Windows XP.  Vista versions of Chrome look great (better than Firefox).  For the new features that GChrome brings to the table, the look of the application is a minor inconvenience.  A more translucent and space-efficient design would also help things tremendously.  But for now, it’s in beta.  Give Google some time.

In today’s modern web browser eco-system, page zooming is standard.  By page zooming, I mean that the ENTIRE page gets blown up, not just the text sizes.  Curiously absent from Google Chrome is a page zoom feature.  GChrome only supports text zooming, which is rather useless on many websites.

Plugability

One of the reasons that I enjoy Firefox more than other browsers is its dynamite extension system.  So far, Google hasn’t made a clear path to an extension API–so your useful plugins like AdBlock Plus will not exist.  Surprising, consider Google owns the two largest advertising networks on the Internet.  At some point, however, Google will hear the cries for easier extendability.

Conclusion

Google has made a browser: Google Chrome.  It’s fast, safe, and stable.  It has some minor inconveniences, but it’s a few days old.  Give it time and Google Chrome will be a serious contender in the browser arena. (Apparently, it already has a 3% market share.  WTF!?)

Try Google Chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome/

In the new, digital economy, security is becoming more and more important. Online accounts are available everywhere. Your data needs to be safe. Security engineers have been paying a lot of attention to online security lately. Here are some trends in online security that are making the Internet a safer place.

1. Security Keys

Multi-factor authentication, or a way of using MORE than a username and password to prove your identity, is making serious advances.

Security keys are one popular multi-factor method of securing online accounts. Basically, you’re issued a device that contains a unique code generation algorithm. On the keychain-sized device, a 6-digit code changes every 30 seconds. The algorithm is shared between your device and the server that you’ll be authenticating with, so the server can generate the number, too. When the time comes to login, both ends of the transaction are able to generate THE SAME NUMBER and authenticate.

Currently, eBay/PayPal is mass-marketing these security devices. You can secure (not that it already isn’t) your account for a one-time fee of $5.00 USD. After your account is secured, it needs a username a password AND 6 digits that change every 30 seconds.  Unfortunately, this is ONLY available in the United States, Germany, and Australia.

PayPal.com

2. Key-Based Authentication

Another advance in the identity-proving arena is key-based authentication. Rather than a username and password, a user has a login key that contains a unique set of information–unique only to the visitor.

The authenticating server is equipped with a public-safe variant of that private key giving the user the digital equivalent of a padlock/key system. When a connection is initiated with a server, your computer encrypts your key in a securely-encrypted tunnel, sends it to the server where it is then decrypted (if you added a password) and matched against the key file (padlock). If successful, you are securely authenticated to the service. Essentially, rather than a short password that you have to type in, you have a long (1024 bits isn’t out-of-the-ordinary) password file that takes the password’s place.

Public implementations of this are still in the works; however, SSH has been using it for a long time now.

Learn more: http://www.laubenheimer.net/ssh-keys.shtml
Secure Shell on Wikipedia

3. OpenID

Attempts at central online identity management have been attempted in the past, but many experts say that OpenID is the best, most efficient and most flexible unified sign on system to bless the internet so far.

Logging in with OpenID couldn’t be easier. Rather than a username/password prompt, you’re asked to provide your OpenID identity URL. This URL can be anywhere. AOL, WordPress, and many other websites host your login identities as OpenID identities. In emails I have exchanged with Facebook, I know that they, too, are working to become an OpenID provider.

After entering your OpenID identity URL, you’ll be sent to your OpenID provider (eg: AOL) to verify your identity. It is up to the particular provider to determine the challenges that grant you access to your account. Verisign Labs, who licensed the PayPal Security Key, is providing OpenID solutions WITH your PayPal security key.  Most challenge with a simple username and password.

More information here: http://openid.net/
VeriSign PIP: http://pip.verisignlabs.com

4. Ambiguous Password Failure

When programming an authentication system, care must be taken to not reveal the underpinnings of the system and its structure.

Many websites will reveal the existence of an account to a potentially malicious user by saying “incorrect password.” The problem exists that with that type of verification, a malicious user knows that an account exists under the requested name and can proceed to breaking in with a brute-force or dictionary attack.

Now, many websites are just saying that the username/password is incorrect. Not only does this foil malicious cracker logins, but it causes the user to reassess his or her login credentials.

Conclusion

If you’ve seen good online security practices in the wild, let the world know in the comments area.

ONE OF THESE DAYS I will get Dugg. Being Dugg is a word used to describe when your site hits the front page of social-news über-phenomenon digg.com, where “democracy” picks the best content.

I always try to write articles that are Digg-worthy, but I never get promoted. I have submitted stories that were subsequently promoted to the front page, but they were both videos.

I would do anything, short of killing myself. I write awesome content (including Top 10 lists!). I try to make the site fun-to-read and easy-to-navigate.

In order to make digg/popular, I would…

• Skip graduation.
• Kill an adorable kitten.
• Vote for Hillary.
• Swear at the Pope.
• Quit my jobs.
• Drop out of school.
• Cancel my Facebook account, even though it’s virtually impossible.
• Embezzle money.
• Edit my own (non-existant) Wikipedia entry.
• Buy Adobe(R) Photoshop(TM).
• Stop wearing underwear.

Situation: You’re sitting at your computer downloading stuff. You paid for it, and you received digital copies instantly. There were no humans, except you, involved, and there was virtually no labor involved in distribution.

Background

Supply and Demand is an economic concept that states that the best price for an item is found where a supply curve and a demand curve meet. It’s a very accurate way to determine how much to charge for an item–it’s the economic concept that drives the United States.

However, with globalization and the popularization of digital assets, such as a media file, the typical supply and demand curves are difficult–if not impossible–to chart.

The two parts of the S&D concept are, of course, supply and demand.

Law of Demand

When a price for an item is higher, demand for that item is typically lower. the relationship is inversely proportional. Basically–If people want something, they’re willing to pay for it.

Law of Supply

When a price increases, production must also increase to maintain profits.

Elasticity

Where changes in factors cause change in supply and demand relations an availability of a substitute is a great influence of Elasticity–if a competing product is stealing your business, you’ll change some factors (price, probably) to get them back.

You can see how a delicate balance of these laws would be good for the economy. This balance is referred to as equilibrium.

A recent example: The Nintendo Wii game console’s impossible-to-find status during the 2007-2008 Holiday season. Even at an estimated production of 1.8 million consoles per month, sales of over 400,000 kept the shelves wiped out.

An un-example: Fuel prices. They’re high because the oil companies want the money. Demand hasn’t risen, but it has fell due to high prices. But, if a dramatic decrease in fuel prices occurred, demand would raise–and then the price would have to skyrocket, yet again.

That’s great, but consider a digital economy:

Supply

Infinite. Rather than distributing goods, copies of the goods are automatically made and then distributed.

Demand

Variable, depending on the price set, and how the items are desired.

So does digital supply and demand exist?

Some say “No.” When using the traditional model of supply and demand, an infinite supply makes it impossible to calculate equilibrium–any calculator would return an ERROR.

But in a way “Yes.” You cannot sell a product without demand. Without demand, there would not be a buyer. Without a buyer, supply is not necessary. Therefore, without demand, supply is not necessary. You must have demand if you expect to sell your supply.

Therefore, an unlimited supply should not be factored into digital economics. Rather than a supply, a goal has to be set. How much did this production cost? And how many people do I expect to buy it? When those questions are answered, profit can be calculated.

Production cost:     $25,000.00  # I don't know how much money it takes

Desired cost         $      .99

Units Sold:              25,253
Actual Cost Per Unit	  $0.99  # Production Cost / Units Sold

Profit Per Unit	          $0.00  # Desired Cost - Actual Cost

Profit	                  $0.47  # (Desired Cost * Units Sold)-Production Cost

I built a digital economics toy that requires Microsoft Excel to play with. If you don’t have Excel, download this and upload it to Google Documents–the equations will work.

Digital Supply and Demand Spreadsheet

If you use Microsoft Excel, you can use the “Goal Seek” function to help you solve for values. In Office 2007, click “Data > What-if Analysis > Goal Seek” and set the values. You’ll find the calculator rather interesting.

The cost of producing these goods is the same for one item sold as it is for 2 million. The profit is what softens the blow. Interestingly, with these numbers, after 33,310,474.71 copies of this item, the Actual Cost Per Unit reaches $0.00.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

One parallel that cannot be drawn between online items and real, tangible items is the ability to sell and redistribute.

For example, if I purchased a CD from… say… Wal*Mart, I could use that CD a few times, and then I could take that CD and sell it or give it away. Online-purchased media, however, comes in sealed-to-your-identity packages.

You have NO means of giving that digital media to a friend. You have NO means of selling that digital media back to the market in ANY way. If you decide for any reason that the product is defective, you can’t take it back, you can’t get a refund–because it’s impossible with the current state of online markets.

In Conclusion

I think that supply and demand exists in a digital economy–but not in the same way as it does in the analog world. Items must be sold to meet a quota, not to meet market demand. After the quota is reached, all earnings are PURE PROFIT. Products aren’t being sold to us in a fair way, either. Rather than having the right to distribute a digital product.

Being in college means I’ve got to be even more of a penny-pincher than I already am. I’d love to go out for coffee with my friends everyday, and there’s a whole lot of movies I’d like to buy–but I’ve got to restrain myself. But when one of my friends brought over his copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl and three Wiimotes to play with, I was sold. Heck yes, I dropped a paycheck on the game (and an extra set of controllers so my roommate could play).

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game, and it’s already been so worth it. The Smash Bros. franchise is ripe with replay value, and its unique combat system–increasing damage in order to knock an opponent off a stage, rather than emptying their health meter–makes it a little more unpredictable and fun. It’s a Grade-A party game, but just as fun to play on your own. The Wii version of the game (the third in the series) enhances the experience with beautifully-rendered visuals, a wide selection of new characters and items, and many more different ways to play.

Characters’ attacks have been upgraded as well. Instead of being cumbersome and annoying to handle (N64 version), Donkey Kong is now actually pretty fun to play. Yoshi now packs a bit more punch, and most other characters now have improved mid-air recovery moves to help them get back on the stage when they’re knocked off–very nice!

Another fun little addition: characters now have three different “taunts” (i.e., expressing your pride in kicking someone’s butt) instead of just one. Some of them are pretty funny. My personal favorite is Snake’s (Metal Gear Solid) taunt. While most of the other characters brag and celebrate, Snake just pulls out a cardboard box and hides under it for a few seconds … and then stands up. The end. … That’s just awesome.

Anyway, if you still find yourself enjoying the N64 of Gamecube versions of the game, you’ll probably want to pick this up. It’s one of those “if you own a Wii, you should own this game” kind of games.

29 agents made their way to Thriftway on April 1st, 2008 to stun the town by freezing for 5 short minutes. Agent Mel made the video.

Watch on YouTube! (for when you’re at home)

Those present:

• Agent Kovach (me)
• Agent Pride Fighter
• Agent Silverwoman
• Agen Braina
• Agent Kenny
• Agent Bacon
• Agent PO
• Agent Big Al
• Agent D-unit.
• Agent Cooler
• Agent Bindel
• Agent Brain
• Agent Smart
• Agent KAJ
• Agent Kay-shizzle
• Agent Wonder Woman
• Agents Mr. and Mrs. Incredible
• Agent Surprise!
• Agent Wells (who wouldn’t STFU)
• Agent Stephens (who wouldn’t STFU)
• Agent Mentz
• Agent Tonka
• Agent Shinny
• Agent Robinson
• Agent Beth
• Agent MJ

 

 Freeze! Thriftway Highlight Film: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

WordPress has been a primary source of income for me. It has been the driving force behind my success in my local communities. A major WordPress upgrade is coming: WordPress 2.5. Because of it’s impending release, I will be postponing the completion of several projects in order to be able to support the newer, better WP 2.5. Please enjoy looking at some screenshots of 2.5! Click any shot to make it bigger.

New Administration Interface

A total revamp has taken place. A light-blue and orange color scheme looks progressive, some say it’s too artsy. As you can see, the new color scheme is fresh, and definitely unique. Use of the color orange shows important HUD-style information. You can see it used in the comments menu, where a count of unapproved comments is shown.

The administration panels have been “divided” into the left tabs and the right tabs. The left tabs reflect pages that will effect your site’s content. The right tabs reflect settings for the site, such as plugins.

From the Dashboard, you can see several tasks, including links to write posts (blog entries) and pages. The shortcut to the page writing screen is a welcome addition.

New Post Writing Features

Developers have also revamped the post writing experience, including MUCH better media management, and plugin-free media embedding capabilities. You can easily embed images, audio, and video with WordPress 2.5. Also, rather than uploading, you can hotlink media from another website with ease. When you upload media, you can upload MULTIPLE files at the same time.

When adding photos, you have a new size available: medium. It’s an intermediate between thumbnails and full-sized. The photo add screen will let you apply css classes to images using a pleasant wizard-style GUI. Theme developers should note that adding css classes align-left, align-right, and align-center to your css will allow users to utilize these new layout features.

Uploaded media also appears in the Manage > Media Library tab, where you can easily flip through sort and filter uploads by file type and search by name. The media listing shows where certain assets have been used, and offers a permalink to the asset.

Improved search

WordPress search will examine posts and pages for content in WP 2.5 without additional plugins or hacks. The WordPress community’s cries have been answered. Previously, I preferred using the Search Everything plugin.

Better Security Practices

A new class has been in the WordPress codebase, called $wp->prepare. It basically takes user input and sanitizes it for safe database storage. WordPress 2.5 expects developers to begin using $wp-prepare to ramp up security.

Work on the XML-RPC interface has been completed as well. As for performance? I don’t know what the status is. I imagine that all fortifications will need to remain in place for high-traffic sites.

WordPress 2.5 is expected to be completed by March 10, 2008.

For more on WordPress 2.5

• See the codex article here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_2.5
• WordPress interface guidelines
• Download a nightly build.

Making it to Digg/Popular is the dream of many. Traffic spikes, thousands of visitors, and poor planning can cause catastrophic failure if you don’t plan carefully. Here are 10 tips to make sure failure isn’t an option.

Disclaimer: This is what I’ve heard. I’ve never been Dugg.

Infrastructure

1. Have responsive servers

A responsive web server is crucial to serving visitors. Lethargic websites repel visitors, and ultimately you lose the Digg. If a request hasn’t been cached, it needs to be generated quickly, and the only way to do that is with a powerful server. My web host, hostrocket.com, guarantees that my web server has 4.4 ghz of processor and at least 2 gigabytes of RAM. That should do it. If you can, Gzip content.

2. Have bandwidth

A responsive web server is nothing if your “tubes” are plugged or are small. If your host is capping your bandwidth, you’re screwed. If you have lots of media, you’re definitely screwed. My host claims redundant OC-3/OC-12 lines.

3. Cache, cache, cache!

WordPress users especially! Database driven websites will grind to a halt when they make Digg/Popular. If you cache your site, your database servers won’t take a significant hit. Most content management systems include or have caching systems available. Drupal has caching built in. Wordpress users should get the wp-cache plugin and LEAVE IT ON.

4. Mirroring

If you have a video, and you’re pretentious enough to host it yourself, do the world a favor and upload it to a video sharing site, like YouTube or break.com, and then link to it from your page. They have bandwidth to supply streaming video to thousands… you don’t.

It also doesn’t hurt to visit your site on caching systems like Coral before you make Digg/Popular. Simply add .nyud.net after your domain. My website, for example, would be http://www.bradkovach.com.nyud.net on the Coral network.

Design

5. Reveal your feeds

If you have an RSS enabled site, show it off! Use the ubiquitous feed icon… Make sure your HTML declares that you have an RSS feed to light up feed finders in all modern browsers.

Put this between the <head> </head> on all pages.
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="[website
title here]" href="[link to RSS feed here]" />


6. Make your site easy to navigate

All the basics should be on your site. Make sure clicking the logo takes you to your home page. If there are dropdowns, make sure the user knows before he or she mouses-over. Add chronological context so that by “going left” users know that they are visiting older context and “going right” is newer content (or vice-versa).

Search is a must. If your CMS doesn’t do this, use Google SiteSearch. It’s free.

Make sure your website works in all major browsers. At least cover the big four: IE6, IE7, Firefox, and Safari.

7. Make Digg buttons available

If your users are coming from Digg, make it easy for them to support your content. Use Digg Tools to make sure your content has a Digg button that works.

Writing

8. Be cheeky

Digg users appreciate sarcasm. If you have opinions, let it show. Make sure diggers know that you are addressing THEM. Diggers also have tendencies that they go crazy over. Ron Paul and Apple gossip are categories that make people salivate/soak undies. The video game phenom Portal is another excellent topic.

9. Use lists

Lists obey the f-shaped pattern and help your visitors get through your content quickly. Diggers are busy people. Make sure you help them speed through the internet. Don’t consume their time. Unless you have games.

10. Think it out

A well constructed article will be organized. A little pre-writing goes a long way. I have this list scratched out in a Moleskine cahier that never leaves my desk. It isn’t much, but it helped me organized the flow of my article. Diggers are know-it-alls. They appreciate good grammar and a spell-checked document. Proofread and find mistakes.