Callum Macdonald » Callum-Macdonald

I might be on Seth’s book!

Callum — Sat, 24 May 2008 04:47:32 +0000

Seth posted a request for people to send pictures of themselves for the cover of his next book. What a genius idea! So sure enough, I whipped off a headshot. You never know, I might be immortalised in print!

Which begs the question, will I have to buy the book to find out? Is that part of the genius?

I finally joined Flickr

Callum — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:19:16 +0000

Somewhat begrudgingly, I have finally joined flickr. I was delighted to discover that I got the url flickr.com/photos/chmac – my usual username. It’s somewhat confusing, I log into flickr with my yahoo account callum_macdonald then my flickr username is callummacdonald (no underscore) and my url is chmac. Oh well, the chmac part is the important bit!

Here’s my first flickr photo…

Risen to Number 2

Callum — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:20:02 +0000

In a scroogle search for “Callum” I have risen from the mirky depths of around 15 to second place! For the past few weeks I’ve been on a concerted effort to litter the web with my calling card as simply “Callum” instead of my full name. The aim was to increase my exposure to the single search term. It seems to be working.

I can almost taste the victory… :-p

WP Mail SMTP v0.3

Callum — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 11:15:19 +0000

A few people reported problems with the WP Mail SMTP plugin. I’ve resolved a few bugs and added a new feature that allows you to set the From name and email address of all mail sent by the wp_mail() function. I’ve thoroughly tested this version (unlike previous versions, oops!) and I’ve released it for immediate update.

Please note: SMTP authentication does not work in version 0.2, I encourage all users to upgrade immediately.

Affiliate Revenue Sharing

Callum — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:06:13 +0000

A friend recently told me about rakeback poker sites. When you play poker, you pay a small fee to the casino for the use of the table, this is called a rake. If I introduce you to Poker Website X, they will pay me a percentage of your rake. The latest affiliates offer to share that percentage with you, it’s called rakeback.

I think this concept will take off and spread to other affiliate schemes. For example, the travel related site BeWelcome.org could sign up as an affiliate with somebody like Expedia (an online travel agent). If BeWelcome receive 5% of user spending, they could split that with the user. The result as a user is a 2.5% discount on Expedia.

The same principle could apply to any number of affiliate schemes. From selling books to cars or credit cards. I think there’s a great untapped market here, particularly amongst existing community web sites like Facebook and MySpace. These sites could command impressive deals with affiliates and offer their users great bargains. It’s a win-win.

Using the purchasing power of 30m Facebook users to get better deals would be great for business on all sides.

Ocean’s Thirteen

Callum — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 19:07:15 +0000

I saw Ocean’s Thirteen this evening. If I had to summarise the film in one word it would be “predictable”. I don’t want to say it wasn’t a good movie, because I enjoyed it, but it was nothing compared to the first two. There was nothing unexpected about the whole film. The idea is great, the gig is funny, there are some good parts, but overall, it was just predictable.

Goodbye Broadband

Callum — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:30:31 +0000

Today I’m leaving Rena’s kind hospitality and heading back to stay in an apartment devoid of internet access. Back to the daily commute to and from the cyber universe. Alas, this game must begin again. But only for another three weeks or so…

I’ve Been Fired!

Callum — Tue, 22 May 2007 10:13:02 +0000

This morning I woke up to find an email in my inbox telling me that my volunteer services are no longer required by CouchSurfing.

Apparently I have “fundamental differences in ideology and communication styles”. I’ve asked for clarification on that, fundamentally different from whom. I’m not holding my breath for an answer!

One thing was stated clearly in the email, CouchSurfing is not going open source. Not now, not any time soon. So at last the OpenCouchSurfing campaign has received one answer. That’s real progress I think.

Interesting times…

Review: Shooter

Callum — Fri, 11 May 2007 04:40:37 +0000

I saw Shooter (new window) last night. Overall, I thought it was a great movie. It’s a typical action / thriller / conspiracy film, some interesting plot turns. There’s a great scene where the dog gets him a beer from the fridge, almost makes me think about getting a dog!

It’s not a clever film, if you’re one of those movie buff types you might not like it, but I found it entertaining and enjoyable.

Birthdays in Bangkok

Callum — Tue, 08 May 2007 04:16:30 +0000

I celebrated my second consecutive birthday in Bangkok yesterday. As is my usual custom, I took the day off work and instead attended to a few personal administration issues. First on the agenda, it was getting very out of control…

Then I wandered by Lumpini Park for a little jaunt in the swan shaped pedal boats. I’ve seen the next scene countless times in the park, but it never fails to bring a smile to my face…

Alas I couldn’t bring myself to participate, I just wasn’t wearing the right brand of spandex, but maybe next time!