Hoopstick

So, there's this new e-tailer out there called Hoopstick which launched a few months back. They do the same type of deal as Woot where they put up an item a day (their schedule is still being worked out) for a lower than MSRP price.  But, there's a twist on Hoopstick that involves a supply and demand type system where if no one is "sticking" the product, the price will go down and vice versa.  

The Process

"Sticking" is a system where you "stick" the product for 45 seconds and it will stay at that price.  If the price goes up, you have those 45 seconds to lock in that price, but if the price goes down you can "kick-it" and restick it.  After you stick it there is a 5 minute grace period to fill out your billing and shipping information.  

Overall the site is very simple to navigate, and the system has been reliable in my experience.  There have been some killer deals and ... not so much.  But, I have ordered one item from them so far and it arrived on time through Fedex ground. The shipping price varies on the size of the item, but like Woot, Hoopstick generally charges $5 for shipping.  The item I bought was a refurbished 40GB hard drive with a 2.5" USB external enclosure.  

I had some trouble partitioning the drive at first but made a guide on their forum system after I resolved the issue on my own.  On that note they are a relatively supportless etailer (again like Woot), but this allows them to keep costs down.  I would guess that their business plan involves receiving excess inventory from big players in the retail business and selling it at discount prices, but their unique supply and demand system distinguishes them from competitors like, the oft mentioned, Woot.  

Hoopstick.com has made it through the last few months, but are still working out some kinks.  Their schedule hasn't yet been set in stone and the site does look a little shady.  Yet, from my experience they provide a reliable service that is legitimate and I hope to see more deals from them in the future.

Internet, Money, and Finance

One of my favorite websites and runner up of the Lifehacker Hive Five: Best Sites for Finding Deals Online, Dealnews just posted a list of ways anyone can make money on the internet.  I think I'm going to look into Adsense by Google for this blog.

Here's the link if you want to check it out: [How to make spare cash online]

Another that they don't have listed is iStockPhoto which after a fairly strict application process will distribute your photos, animations, illustrations, and more for free while giving you a cut of the profits.

Money related, a blog everyone should at least check out whether you are looking for financial tips or not is "I Will Teach You to Be Rich"

Testing my Justin.tv Channel

Password is "dsrjr" if you wanna watch.

Watch live video from Doug's Test Channel on Justin.tv

Finally, My Ordeal with Blogger and Google Apps is Over!

After spending probably ten hours over the last month trying to get this blog up the fruits of my labor are what you see here.  I at first heard about the custom domain feature which Blogger provides on Lifehacker.com, and combined with my desire to have my own blog I set out on this quest of sorts.  

All went well registering with Name.com for a website already configured with Google Apps.  I even found a coupon that saved me a few bucks.  But, that isn't what this post is about.  After fiddling around with Google Apps and getting the start page up with that service I went to blogger and made a blog that no longer exists because of this problem.  I set up a CNAME server to point to ghs.google.com and had Blogger point this blog to DSRJR.com.  Then I waited the two, three days and still nothing.  At this point I became frustrated with my inability to accomplish this seamingly easy task.  Over the next few weeks I fiddled with some solutions eventually causing Blogger to think that there was already a blog hosted at www.DSRJR.com, which is where I wanted this blog to show up.  

That leads me up to just a few minutes ago.  After spending another few hours trying to find a solution I finally decided to wade through the Google support forums and FINALLY found a solution that worked.  All credit goes to those forum users for the solution that I will list here:

1. Change CName records to www. and point to ghs.google.com

2. Enable the startpage service in Google Apps to publish a sample page

3. After the sample page shows up on your desired webpage (example: www.DSRJR.com) disable the start page service.

4. Point your blog at Blogger to your custom domain

So, in four easy steps I solved a month's worth of problems.  Thanks to those forums users at the Blogger Help Group.  I'd still be pulling my hair out if not for you guys.

Blogger has a tutorial for pointing your blog to a custom domain here.  Scroll down to Update your Blogger Settings to accomplish step number 4 above.

(post may be edited in the future with more details)