Back in July I was in Orlando for the Affiliate Summit.  I went to one of the presentations given by Dave Taylor and in the Q&A session one of the back and forths ended with a person saying to Dave, ”well I’m not famous on the Web like you are.” Right then and there I opened up my laptop, fired up my aircard and went to Godaddy. I searched for the URL www.famousontheweb.com. To my surprise it was available! Yes, of course I bought it.

Here’s my question. Can a business be built off a great URL alone? I know that the general rules of business and laws of the universe still apply but could you take a great URL and build a cool business around that URL? Did the founders of shop.com come up with the idea of an online store then buy shop.com or did they get the URL and decided to open up shop because they had such a great URL? Did the founders of dog.com acquire the URL then decide that since they owned the URL they might as well open up an online store for all things related to dogs?

What should I do with famousontheweb.com? I have a couple of cool ideas for something fun on the side. What would you do with it? Is it even that great of a domain name? Maybe I’m up in the night.

Don’t be shy - let me know your thoughts…

I came across these figures today (provided by the US Department of Labor) on the top 10 fastest growing occupations in the United States between 2004 and 2014. They are:

1. Home Health Aides - 56% increase
2. Postsecondary Teacher - 32% increase
3. Registered Nurses - 29% increase
4. Customer Service Reps. - 23% increase
5. Nursing Aides & Orderlies - 22% increase
6. Janitors, Maids, & Housekeepers - 19% increase
7. Retail Salesperson - 17%
8. Waiters & Waitresses - 17%
9. Food Prep & fast Food Workers - 17%
10. General Management Positions - 17%

The only two positions on the list that require at least a bachelors degree are the Postsecondary Teacher (PhD) and the Manager. Where are the computer programmers, IT professionals, CPA’s, marketing consultants, teachers and engineers? This list scares me for a couple of reasons:

1. It shows how aged our population has and is becoming
2. It shows that our culture is too dependent upon fast foods
3. It shows that our health care expenses will continue to skyrocket - look at the supply and demand 
4. In general, it shows that we don’t have our priorities together

If we can’t start thinking about our competitiveness in the world then we will continue to slide to other countries that would love to eat our lunch like China and India. I guarantee that this list in China and India would not include fast food works and janitors. 

Before Abraham Lincoln departed Illinois for the presidency he recalled this story:

A king sent his wise men out across the world to search for an undisputable truism that would withstand the test of time. They gathered back together and agreed on this one idea: this to shall pass away.

Abraham Lincoln then said, “Let us hope this is not true of America”.

We need to wake up before its too late or this will be true of America. Also, stay tuned for a post next week that will illustrate the above problem with some real numbers.

I just came across this story sent to me by Connect Magazine’s daily email blast. Utah-based film maker, Loki Mulholland has produced a “mockumentary” called “Believe“. The comedy follows a multi-level marketing “representative” in his pursuit to recruit an average joe to sell Believe’s home cleaning products. Hilarity ensues…

The fictional ”Believe” is loosely based on Amway. Mullholland was an Amway rep in the early 90’s - obviously it didn’t work out.

The film made the news today because Mr. Mulholland is showing ”Believe” in Michigan where Amway’s former CEO is making a run for the Governors office.  Of course, his campaign isn’t thrilled that Mr. Mulholland is showing the film, which basically mocks the guy’s life and company.

“Believe” was financed by Utah tech entrepreneur, Eric Ruff, which is interesting. I’d like to know how Mulholland and Ruff got connected. I’d also like to know Ruff’s views on “network marketing”.

At any rate, I hope the film comes to Utah. The trailer is great.

On a similar note, check out this story on Thomas and Leslie Mower, the founders of multi-level marketing company, Neways based in Springville. The Mowers will be spending a couple of years in jail for tax evasion. Ouch!

I am sure this can only mean one thing: WAR.

Apple is attempting to trademark “podcast”. Read about it here. Podcast Ready appears to be one of Steve Jobs first targets. The only claim they legally have (and rightfully so) is on “iPod”, but it appears that they would like to own all variations on the word “pod”. So what’s Apple’s strategy? Take everyone to court that has “pod” in their name and get the courts to side with Apple. Will it even get that far? Most of these “pod” companies are small and don’t have the financial resources to take on Apple in court. Yes, of course the guys at Apple know this and that’s why they are doing it.  

I love what Jason Calacanis has to say on this topic (fight Apple all the way and make them look bad in the process). Apple better be careful or they will “O’Reilly” themselves in this process whether they are right or wrong. This has the makings of being a very bad PR move for Apple. No one likes to see big companies like Apple go after “the little guy”. Ask Nissan and McDonalds.

Its been a very interesting week for a lot of reasons:

• I nailed Podango’s first major sponsor
• I started to get the hang of working from home
• I bought my Canon XT Rebel (awesome!)
• I received the most intellectually insulting email of my life
• I discovered the joys of using Skype
• I had an old high school buddy find me through my blog
• My Connect article came out in print
• My Westminster students have been great in class and they are really getting it - makes teaching that much easier (thanks, guys)
• I rediscovered the joys of watching excavators and backhoes operate with my two year old son
• I gave out a lot of advice - I hope it was helpful…
• In turn, received good advice (thanks Doug and John)
• I finished reading 1984 - see my post on that here

By the way, what happened to summer? I’d like to get in one more Mountainpalooza before it gets cold. Who’s in?

I’ll be at the Portable Media and Podcasting show in Ontario, CA next week. If you’re going, please swing by the Podango Booth - even better come by Podango’s unconference and mingle with Robert Scoble and other cool podcasting people.

Anyway, I’m heading to Montana for the weekend. Have a good one!

If you don’t read Jason Calacanis, I would recommend getting on it. Jason is the CEO of Weblogs Inc., which was acquired last year by AOL.

I probably don’t agree with Jason politically but he is spot on when it comes to “Web 2.0″. His candor and strait talk is refreshing (reminds me a little of myself ). He’s not afraid to talk about any topic on his blog, which I like. Most people stick to one or two things and frankly that get’s old.

I really did not believe that the Weblogs Inc/AOL acquisition would work. I thought that blogging and Web 2.0 was way out of reach for the guys at AOL. Jason says that AOL is a Web 2.0 company. I find that hard to believe but by the looks of what’s happening at AOL, I think they might be coming around. Jason and his team seem to be changing hearts and minds at AOL, which I am sure is a very hard thing to do.

I have followed Weblogs Inc. for years. I remember when Jason posted about the company’s Adsense earnings. That was a huge moment for me. I woke up that day and started to realize that there was (and is) a revenue model for user generated content. That is when I realized that blogging wasn’t a fad - its was here to stay.

Jason, I thank you for opening my eyes and being the inspiration that got me excited about the Internet again. So far, its been a great ride.

I put in the Google search “Chris Knudsen” every so often to see how my nature search ranking is doing. chrisknudsen.biz is number one for the term “Chris Knudsen” I guess that’s not too surprising given that there aren’t that many guys in this world with my name. I know of one other Chris Knudsen in Utah. I run across people who know him all the time although we have never met.

The number two result for “Chris Knudsen” on Google is my photo album I posted on the Daily Herald’s Snap Photo service, which is strange to me since the page has no content other than my name and it beats out a lot of other heavy content pages. Anyway, check out some of my photos here. I love photography! As a matter of fact, today I am picking up a Canon XT Rebel. If I had a little more cash I’d pick up the XTi 10 megapixles but 8 will do for now. Its going to rock!

I’ve been using Skype for a couple of weeks and it rocks!

If you aren’t using Skype I highly recommend you download it today and give it a try. I have found that its not only great for making calls but its a better IM application than AIM.

You can reach me on Skype at chris.knudsen. Give me a call sometime!

The ALA is celebrating “Banned Books Week” September 23rd through September 30th. Google has joined in the festivities with their own page dedicated to Banned Books Week.

I think someone should put together a “Banned Search Results Week“.  

I love the way they think at Google…

I usually blog about business stuff so let me apologize in advance for this political post… 

I recently started reading Orwell’s seminal work 1984. I am stunned by the parallel nature of that book and the time we now live in. It is truly prophetic.

In reviewing the news online Sunday morning I came across this article titled Big Brother is Shouting at You from the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper. In the book 1984, Big Brother (Or BB in newspeak) is the all seeing all knowing personification of the totalitarian government.

In the above mentioned article, the camera’s in and around London (there are literally millions of security cameras in London today) are now being outfitted with speakers so that those watching you can now speak to you. If this sounds too weird to be true, then click on the link. I am not kidding - I am not making this up.

The article states several things that make me very nervous:

“The system allows control room operators who spot any anti-social acts - from dropping litter to late night brawls - to send out a verbal warning: ‘we are watching you’.”

“This isn’t about keeping tabs on people, its about keeping the streets safer for the law-abiding majority and helping to change the attitudes of those who cause trouble. It challenges unacceptable behavior and makes people think twice”

Notice in the article that they never talk about illegal behavior. They talk about “anti-social” behavior. So the London Police are now guarding against what they define as anti-social behavior? I wonder if protesting this system would be considered “anti-social” behavior?

In the book 1984, legal but unacceptable (anti-social) behavior earns you a trip to The Ministry of Love where a bullet is promptly passed through the base of your skull. Problem solved.

First they watch you, then they talk to you remotely - when does that become not good enough? What’s the next step beyond watching and talking to you?

Since 9/11 our rights have slowly been eroding. We might be making ourselves more secure with the Patriot Act and NSA homeland surveillance but at what cost? Benjamin Franklin said: “They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

How far is too far? How much are you willing to give up to Big Brother in an effort to defend “freedom”? Are you willing to lose your freedom for safety?

By the way, if you have not read 1984 you need to. I wish I could send a copy to every address in the UK. They need a good wake up call. I think America needs it too.