Oh, shit! Since Albotas.com relaunched last year, I’ve somehow had enough free time to accumulate a whopping 1,000 posts! Isn’t that kinda’ sad? I could be painting, or hiking, or exploring caves, or some shit, but instead, I’m sharing the wonderfulness of geek culture and art culture with the internet. Be grateful.
Cool projects are in the works, but it’s all totally a secret for now. Follow me on Twitter for sneak-peeky updates and stuff. These projects are also part of the reason I haven’t been posting as much this week. I’ll just say that Albotas is moving from a mere blog to a full-fledged business. More on that later. Until then, keep visiting, keep commenting, and thanks for reading this garbage!
By brownkidd on February 20th, 2010 in Albotas News
Google buzz launched nearly two weeks ago and there’s been mixed reactions all across the board. I personally think buzz has a lot of potential, but it’s up to all the internet users out there to make it work. Right now it’s kind of a wasteland, sort of like Twitter was for the first year or so.
Why should you give a shit about Buzz?
Because I said so. And, more importantly, because it’s a new way to share information with people from around the web and keep conversations going. What makes Buzz different from something like Facebook or Twitter is the way it integrates your other social hotspots like Twitter or Flickr. If you want, you can have it set up that all your tweets from Twitter show up as buzz messages. I especially like being able to upload pics to twitter and have the batch of uploads automatically show up to my Buzz followers.
Oh, and if you use Google Reader to access all your favorite RSS feeds and decide to click the little “share” button to share a cool story, it shows up to all your buzz followers! HOLY FUCK! Isn’t sharing fun?
And the most convenient part of all: it’s built in to Gmail – the one tab almost everybody keeps open in their browser!
So why the balls should you follow me?
I’m subscribed to a huge ass-load of RSS feeds and every day I find cool stories that just don’t fit into Albotas for some reason or another. Follow me, check out cool stories that I share on Buzz, and your boredom will be cured! But you’ll still be dead inside.
I’ll be holding special contests just for my Buzz followers! What kinds of contests? Sorry, but I’ll only tell my Buzz brethren.
Get a heads-up on new Albotas.com original content. Sometimes I go to awesome places and see some truly awesome things. I then post those things on my Flickr BEFORE I post them on Albotas. Since all my Flickr photos go to Buzz, you’ll get the jump on all the cool stuff I’ll be sharing. And there’s some pretty cool stuff coming up, trust me.
It’s better than being cold and alone! Think about it, you could just read stories on Albotas.com which is kind of a one-way stream of information, or we can be Buzz friends and share awesome content with EACH OTHER! Sure, this can be done through Twitter or Facebook, but Buzz lets our followers know whenever a new comment has been posted in a topic. This is a great way to meet new people with similar interests on the web.
Jared Newman from GamerCrave.com got in touch with me about a week or so ago letting me know how much he likes Albotas and he even asked if I’d be willing to do a guest blog over on GamerCrave and of course I said yes! GamerCrave is part of the uCrave network and they feature some truly awesome sites like StyleCrave, DesignCrave, and GadgetCrave, so it’s truly an honor. Exciting, no?
I’ve rounded up some of my favorite pieces of geek graffiti from the Daily Graffiti Archives into a collection, so head on over to GamerCrave.com and check it out! Be sure to Digg, Stumble, Reddit, retweet, and whatever else you crazy kids do with links these days.
Last night I found out that my humble little geek blog is listed in the Top 100 Gaming Blogs on the internet according to Technorati.com.
If you’re not aware of the almighty and supreme majesty that is Technorati, here’s how they describe themselves:
The leading blog search engine, Technorati.com indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. The site has become the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business. Technorati.com tracks not only the authority and influence of blogs, but also the most comprehensive and current index of who and what is most popular in the Blogosphere.
It’s really an honor to be listed among such great and influential sites (seriously, go check out the list, these sites are awesome!) and I’d always hoped — but never really thought — that my little site could make it this far.
So thanks to all the PR companies and artists for hooking me up with cool news to share and free stuff for reviews and contests, thanks to everyone who’s ever submitted a tip, thanks to all the other blogs for taking notice and linking me, and most of all, thank you crazy kids for reading this garbage every day!
New goal: make Technorati’s list of top 100 sites on the net.
By brownkidd on February 2nd, 2010 in Albotas News
So, part of the new 2010 Albotas game plan includes being a little more transparent so you guys can see what actually goes on behind the scenes of a semi-popular geek blog. It should be pretty cool to see how the site grows in real time.
By brownkidd on January 24th, 2010 in Albotas News
Albotas.com has been invited to partake in a contest over at www.dsi-xl.co.uk where one lucky site-owner will win a free DSi XL BEFORE the official release date! This is a DSi XL imported straight from Japan which means I’ll be able to review plenty of import DSi and DSiWare titles!
There’s some really amazing sites involved in this contest and I really don’t think Albotas will win, but please go vote anyway!!!
I’ve been listed in the contest for about week and I’m only now getting around to mentioning it T____T I have some catching up to do, so please go here and vote!
I figure, Albotas gets anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 visits on a given day. If everyone that visits votes, I may have a fighting chance!!!
Spent all night fixing up this sexy new version of Albotas.com. It’s a new year, so I figured it was time for a new look. I still need to find some sort of plugin or way to show featured posts with thumbnails on the right sidebar. If anybody knows the trick or a good plugin, get at me!
I’ll be taking the day off to head to the emergency room for some wacky shenanigans my body’s been going through lately. I’m kinda’ scared, to be honest, but I’m semi-confidant it’s nothing serious. Let’s keep those fingers crossed!
Albotas.com has just launched an all new message board section of the site, aptly titled A Little Bit On The Awesome Boards! This is a brand spankin’ new place to talk about all the types of stuff featured on the site like the latest in video games, otaku culture, toys, awesome t-shirts, random pics and vids from the internet, and anything else awesome!
Most message board communities focus strictly on just one general topic, but hopefully the Albotas forums will be a great new way for people with varied niche interests to meet and connect with each other.
You can access the boards by simply directing your browser to boards.albotas.com. Sign up, log in, and have fun!
By brownkidd on December 25th, 2009 in Albotas News
What’s up, you hooligans!? I hope you’re all having an awesome holiday. I just wanted to take the time to thank all the good PR folks, advertisers, sponsors, tip submittors, commenters, and, most importantly, you loyal readers for your continued support.
I’m takin’ a break until the new year. Get ready for Albotas to kick off 2010 with full force. Expect more contests, more reviews, and more interviews. A Little Bit On The Awesome Show and blindboxed will also be making a return.
I look forward to your continued support in helping this site grow even bigger on 2k10. Expect awesomeness.
By brownkidd on December 17th, 2009 in Albotas News
As most of you probably noticed, the site was all kinds of effed up yesterday. I was away from Albotas headquarters for most of the day and came home to a broken site. Needless to say, I was a little panicked.
First thing I did was call MediaTemple to see what was up.
“We’re sorry. The number ou are trying to reach is currently not accepting calls. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
*Darth Vader voice* Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!
Okay, no big deal, right? Maybe they’re just having some server problems and it’ll all be sorted out.
Turns out, they were having some problems, but those problems weren’t what was affecting Albotas.
*Charlie Brown voice* Uuuuuugh!
So, I called again. I got a message saying the wait time would be 11 minutes. I waited for 15 minutes and hung up. A few hours later, I called again and the message said the wait time would be 12 minutes. I was on hold for 35 minutes and hung up, but this time I tweeted about it. Then this happened:
Say whaaat!? Okay, I wasn’t surprised that they had a Twitter. Who doesn’t? But I didn’t even “@” them, and they still caught my tweet and took the time to respond and try to help me out. These mofos are ON POINT.
Then a short while later I got this:
Freaking amazing. These guys were busy with some huge crash and their phone lines were all jammed up because tons of sites were down, and they still took the time to help lil’ ol’ me through Twitter. That’s some freaking excellent service.
I also received an email from them letting me know what happened (the database crashed) and they even took the extra step to include a link showing me how to prevent it from happening again.
All in all, my mind was essentially blown. I used to host Albotas on 1&1 back in the day and their service was terrible (although their wait times were way shorter) and it usually took hours for problems to be resolved and even then, they could usually never pinpoint what caused problems and took no efforts to help me prevent future problems from occurring.
So glad I switched to MediaTemple. So glad the site’s back. I feel like a greased-up He-Man riding a winged unicorn through the clouds.
Anybody else ever have crappy/amazing web hosting experiences? Let me know in the comments.
Yesterday I asked you guys to email cool shit while I was out of town. None of you listened. So now you have to look at this picture of a guy with a cassette tape shoved up his dick. I hope you’re happy.
I’m also refusing to post for the rest of the day. I could easily troll the internet for cool shit for you guys like I ALWAYS do, but you’re all on time-out until tomorrow. Until then, just think about what you’ve done and email me links to weird/funny/awesome stuff to feature on the site.
I’m playing video games and watching TV for the rest of the day, suckers.
By brownkidd on November 26th, 2009 in Albotas News
Just wanted to say a BIG thanks to all the loyal Albotians out there who keep coming back to my little corner of the interwebs for their fill of awesomeness. I started this site in 2007 and it’s crashed a good amount of times since then, but I came back strong this April with the relaunch and I’m pleased to announce that, so far, November is shaping up to be the best month for traffic on Albotas.com!!!
Traffic report from 10/26/09 to 11/25/09 z0mg Albotas.com record!!!
To put things in perspective, here’s the traffic report from 09/26/09 to 10/25/09. Crazy, right?
So, seriously, thanks to everyone for visiting the site regularly, leaving comments, following me and Albotas on Twitter, and re-tweeting all my stupid links. And thanks to all the new readers as well. Hopefully you’ll keep coming back!
I hope everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving. I made a freaking AWESOME ham that I’ll be taking to my Mom’s place along with my girlfriend and her 3 kids. I’ll be back to posting tomorrow.
Feel free to drop some Thanksgiving related comments below!
For those of you who read that last post and didn’t believe me, here’s some sprites. The idea is to create a short game, but it’d probably be way easier to make a short movie in Flash. Either way, it still has a long way to go.
The main premise is that ALBOTAS.COM exploded from all the awesomeness, so you get to play as brownkidd (aka me) and go through various games and fight weird creatures/pop culture icons. Oh, and there’s an invincibility star that turns me into a rampaging zombie!
Spoiler alert: the final level is gonna’ be a shmup with an evil version of the Albotapus logo as the boss.
I’ve always wanted to make my own game, so I’d really like to make this a short game using Game Maker instead of just making a Flash video. I’ve already made some crappy breakout clones, but I’m hoping I’m in over my head. I’ll keep you dudes updated with new characters and animations and whatnot.
Me and the Albotas.com crew will be heading out to Philly for the VGXpo tomorrow! We’re pumped to play some retro games, buy some stuff, check out some cosplay, and test play Nintendo’s holiday lineup.
Final Volume of the Scott Pilgrim Saga, ‘Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour’ Drops July 20th
Super Mario Bros.: How It Really Happened
The 1-Down Mushroom Would Probably Turn Mario Into a Zombie
Neon Papercraft Game Boy Is All 80’s and Stuff
Ridiculous Street Fighter Tattoo is Ridiculous(ly awesome)
Daily Graffiti: Little Kid Peeing on ED-209 from RoboCop
Misaka Mikoto 1/8 Scale Figure Pre-orders Open
Nerdgasm: The PSP… you’re playing it wrong.
Sick PVC Statue of Momohime from Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Fresh-ass Fanart: Michelangelo’s La Pietá Gets Remixed Nintendo Style
Daily Graffiti: Creepy-eyed Pikachu
Street Fighter Prosecuted In Car Vandalism Case
Nerdgasm: Lucky Wiimote
Keepers of the Silhouette Tower – Handmade Custom Dunny Series by f+
Creepy Steve Jobs Head Made Out Of Cheese
