Julian Bez

Google TV is already there, available after 1000 Gmail logins

There’s a funny Google TV hoax going on. Apparently, someone made a video which demonstrates how to get access to a new site called “Google TV” using Gmail. All you have to do is send yourself a message and login and out again and again.

What makes me laugh is neither the fact that someone makes a video in such “believable” fashion nor that there are people who obviously tried what the guy in the video said – without luck. No, the interesting thing are those who immediately start posting that it really works. Reminds me of these people who say there really was a long horse. However, there’s even a guy on YouTube who films himself logging into Google TV. And some people really seem to believe that others needed a couple of hundred logins to get there. Stupid!

Video below, or watch in YouTube.

Do people really review things for cash?

The following is a paid review of ReviewMe.

There already exist some services that allow bloggers to earn money by just reviewing some products or sites. You just have to write a couple of sentences about the service and get paid. Obviously the ones who pay you expect to generate some buzz about the product. A new service of this kind has launched: ReviewMe.

As with some other sites, bloggers get paid for reviewing services or websites that should be interesting for the readers. However with ReviewMe, the Advertiser has to pay according to the popularity of the blog. Let’s say you have a very successful blog, the advertiser has to pay more and you earn more. The popularity of you blog is calculated based on statistics from Alexa, Technorati and so on. But there’s something else that’s different from other services. In your review you have to tell the readers that this is a paid post. ReviewMe suggests phrases like “Sponsored Post:”, “The following is a paid review:” “Advertisement:”.

The cost of having something reviewed starts at 40 USD, as a blogger you can earn between 20 USD and 1000 USD for each review. You get paid half of what the advertiser spends on the review. You basically can write what you want about the service, as long as it’s you opinion and at least 200 words long. Yes, you could tell everyone that the reviewed product sucks.

In my opinion, I wouldn’t review a product every day, even if I get paid for it. In the end no one would like to read that. Maybe someone with a popular blog can earn some good money by reviewing one or two products a month. What do you think?