How To Loop a YouTube Video

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I like to listen to music while I work… sometimes I get stuck on a song that I like to hear… here’s what I do so that I can hear the same song over and over. Note that I normally hate repetition but I put one of these songs on while I work and it’s nice background noise… with no distractions, and no need to hit replay:

Step 1

Open a notepad file and save it as an html file. In Notepad you’ll want this code:

<html>

<html>

Step 2

Now, go to Windows Explorer and double click on the file – it should open in your browser, with a YouTube video embedded.

When you click on play, it will play to the end, then loop again and keep looping all day long.

I have about 7 videos on that page so I can put on different songs when one gets to be too much.

Step 3

To add a new video, just copy and paste the code above (from <p> to </p>) and change what is in bold to be the video code from the YouTube page (in yellow below).

You are telling the chunk of code above which video to show.

That’s it… I’m guessing I’ll update this post as people tell me what’s wrong with it, but it should work.

Not ALL videos work like this… some have protections placed on the YouTube side, and you’ll get a message saying you can’t loop it or show it… but many songs will loop. Just play around with it.

One of these days I want to figure out how to loop a playlist :p

Eight Lunches, Business, Entrepreneur thoughts

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As I let the feedback from Eight Lunches incubate, and I noodle on the direction of the next draft, I’ve thought a lot about business.

I think about it as if I really were someone’s business coach.

I think it as it pertains to my own business.

I think about it as if I were speaking to a group of 100 wannabe entrepreneurs.

Lately I was thinking about starting and sustaining a successful business. I’m sure people have thought about this a gazillion times, so perhaps there’s nothing new to this, but I’ve been trying to whittle down a model/system, so I could communicate it efficiently.

I came up with 5 steps or stages or components of this system… a system to create and maintain a sustainable business:

Idea. It all starts with an idea, whether it is NEW (the better mouse trap) or old (a pasta restaurant).
Execution. Not to use an ambiguous word that could be used in each of these five steps… but the idea here is to take the IDEA from step one and make it happen. This is, create the widget, open the restaurant, etc. This is take the idea off of paper and make it happen. And then wait for the build it and they will come/buy, thing, right?
WRONG. Sales. This is key. This is the make-it-or-break-it thing. Whether you sell licensing to your brilliant thing or sell widgets at 4 cents profit or sell one thing every year for a million bucks profit, you gotta sell. Even non-salespeople have to sell – the brand, and the company.
Delivery. Once you sell your job isn’t done… you have to deliver on what you sold. If it is a widget you put it in the mail (assuming it’s already been manufactured). If it is a custom quilt you have to sew it, if it is a consulting package or writing gig you have to schedule time to deliver on what you sold.
EVOLVE. I thought steps 1-4 was good but in the last four years I’ve found that there is this tricky little thing I call business evolution… my business has evolved dramatically from what I thought it would be (and what you would read in my business plan from 4 years ago) to what it is today. Having said that I feel like I’m in the most torrential part of business evolution… based on technology changes, competition, opportunities, economy and market, etc. If you don’t evolve you might not live long.

Five simple steps… books can be (have been) written on each of these things… but what do you think… am I missing something (that can’t be put in one of the 5 above)? Is there a list like this somewhere else that you like?

What can almost $5M get you (as a business)?

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I’ve been advised to go after my next round of funding, based on business goals/objectives (which are always lofty :)).

There are lots of thoughts about getting investment money, and my biggest concerns are with the investors themselves. This post from Tim Ferris was AWESOME… but his objective as an angel investor is different than many angels’ objectives.

One thing I’ve worried about is the ability of an investor (or group of investors) to have control over my strategic direction to the point where we are driven to do something that I don’t think we should do… or to shut down completely.

On TechCrunch there is a post about Wesabe, a company like Mint, that is shutting down. Their reasons are legit… as a company that provides FINANCIAL services (interface with your bank account, etc.), they HAVE TO have certain security in place, and they say they aren’t comfortable with the level of service they can provide right now… I totally get that.

But my concerns was this:

In Feburary 2007 [Wesabe] raised $700,000 from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, and later that year raised $4 million in a round led by Union Square Ventures.

How is it that a company gets 4.7M in funding and three years later it dives into the deadpool?

If I got 4.7M, what would my path to the deadpool look like? Alternatively, what would my path to fantastic success look like?

Makes me sad to think that wesabe is pulling the plug, but it really makes me think about going and getting money – money alone will not solve the issue (how to become successful/sustainable, etc.).

Or could it?

Mastering Social Media Marketing

Bloggers: Ready for hate?

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I came across an article in the online San Francisco Chronicle titled 20 habits of highly effective job seekers. This was written based on Ford Myers stuff… I have met Ford a few times at conferences and we’ve communicated outside of that. Nice guy.

I didn’t read his article (too long for my attention span), but I skimmed it to see if he mentioned JibberJobber again (that would have been cool!). He didn’t 🙁

I was interested in the 60+ comments the article got, though… they were… scathing! Hardly anything good from those comments! From accusations of being self-serving to “utter twaddle,” from BS to “worst article I ever read in my life…”

I’ve felt for a long time that getting comments from a newpaper article compared to comments on a blog is night and day… I don’t know who is reading and commenting on the regular articles but if you read it too long you’ll lose all faith in humanity. These people are mean, and cruel, and unforgiving.

And, they can provide an opportunity for growth as a blogger.

From the feedback I see in Ford’s article I see a grand opportunity to tighten the writing and message. Instead of 20 points, how about go with Covey’s example and do 7 habits?

Instead of calling these “strategies,” maybe they should be called mindsets (many have to do with attitude), or tactics?

How about drilling down on some of them and going into more depth, instead of just presenting them at a high level?

As blogs become more commonplace, and bloggers get their material in more traditional media, you better:

Be ready for scathing, hateful, unintelligent comments and feedback (and a few nasty stalkers),
Figure out how to improve the quality of your writing (grammar, spelling, word choice, etc.),
Ensure the message is high quality,
Figure out how to not be self-promotional… or not overdo it.

What do you think? Do bloggers need to step up (especially when not writing on their own blog)?

Buying a headset for your PC

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A few weeks ago I gave a fun presentation on hardware and software (and other stuff) for a home office. It was fun because the career coaches in the room were taking notes they could take back to their clients who were interested in starting a home-based business, OR settling in for a serious job search.

One of the things I recommend you get is a headset that plugs into the computer that becomes, essentially, your phone. I use Skype as my phone service but my headset allows me to have hands free discussions… this is critical so I can give webinars, take notes, etc. Also, I spend a lot of time on the phone and I don’t want my arm or neck to get tired.

While I was gone I had some work done in my office and was ultimately out of my office for about a month (yes, it sucked). While out, one of my kids found my headset and played with it (translation: broke it).

This isn’t the first headset that I’ve had broken. The first one was a nice, light, comfortable headset that plugged into the PC – you know, in those little round holes made for the mic and speakers?

When I replaced it I got a USB headset that plugs into a USB port… I liked this because I have a USB port on the front of my PC and the audio jacks are on the back, so I get some extra cord length.

I went to buy a replacement headset and my ONLY criteria was USB. I knew I’d find what I wanted for around $30… I got it at Target just in time to jump on a webinar, and learned there was another very critical thing I didn’t think about:

A MUTE BUTTON!

The headset I bought didn’t have a mute button… and that absolutely won’t work for what I do (lots of live webinars/teleseminars/radio interviews) and my environment (home office with lots of noise/activity).

So now my criteria for a headset includes:

Price – around $30,
USB – for more cord length,
mute button

I got all that and I’m good to go! Hopefully this one lasts longer than a year (not because of the device but because of all the ways I can accidentally crush it :p).

Want to be an author?

1 Reply

This is one of the most interesting reads I’ve seen on being an author and the publishing industry.

I’m working on my third book (Eight Lunches) and have a fourth on the back burner. I’m addicted to writing books, I guess.

Check out Thom Singer’s experience and learning from a publishing industry conference: The Changing Faeces of the Publishing Industry.

Mexico, the border and evil

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I’m pissed.

I just learned that a friend of mine who lives in Mexico was shot, multiple times, in Juarez.

Juarez. That town in Mexico that has had thousands (?) of murders in recent years (under two years, I think) as the gangbangers and drug lords try and figure out who is in charge.

It certainly isn’t the Mexican government. I can’t imagine why, or how, people can live in Juarez… it is a war zone and has been for too long. The Mexican government should have stepped in a long time ago and cleaned it up. They needed to take a chapter out of Guilani’s book and lay down the law.

Instead they have hell on earth. Literally. Well okay, maybe hell is worse, or will be worse for THEM, but for the innocent citizens of Juarez can you image a worse environment?

You can’t raise your kids there, you can’t simply go shopping, or go to a dance or anything.

My friend went to a dance… just hanging out, and a bunch of drug people (what to call these misguided killers?) went in and just opened fire on everyone. My friend has had 4 or 5 surgeries in the last month and is just getting out of critical condition.

I don’t know why he is in Juarez (he has grown up there), or why he went to a public place in Juarez. He probably won’t be doing that again. But I don’t want to think about his role in this tragedy. This made me think about something I’ve thought about off and on for a while.

You know there is a “border problem” between the US and Mexico… everyone is all excited about it and getting it resolved. From spending tons of money on Federal measures (la migra) to militia getting their own guns and doing their own patrols (minutemen) to creating a massive fence system to Arizona creating a state law authorizing police to ask for papers to prove residence… there are lots of bandaids in place to try and fix the root issue.

The real issue, I think, is illegal immigration, and all of the problems this causes. It’s not the lack of a border (there’s a border between the US and Canada, and we don’t hear of the same issues with that, do we?).

Before I go on I have to say something about dumb Mexicans, because this usually comes up when talking about illegal immigration.

I AM MEXICAN. To be more accurate, I’m Mexican American. My dad was born in northern Mexico (the state of Coahuila) but was brought to the US LEGALLY and was raised in Texas.

For many years I had heard of the dumb Mexicans. The lazy Mexicans. Maybe some were hard working, but they sure like to drink and party! Not trustworthy – quick to steal your hubcaps. Don’t give them a can of spray paint because it won’t last long… these are just a bunch of ignorant people, right?

I struggled with my own ethnicity for a while. At 19 I went to live in Mexico for 2 years as a missionary with my church and I learned about a totally different kind of Mexican. Not the stereotypical Mexican, but … how to I put this, just a regular human being, like you and me.

There are cultural differences, and many of the differences come from the vast disparity between the freedoms enjoyed in the US… you know, the ones where you tell your kids they can be anything they want, AND THEY BELIEVE YOU? In Mexico I didn’t see that kind of talk, or belief. The culture differences, much of it influenced by various factors (a government corrupt at so many levels you couldn’t even compare it to corruption in the US, the Catholic church and it’s history in Mexico, the latino lifestyle, the history of being conquered by Spain, etc.).

But these are just regular people, like you and me.

I remember an eye opening experience I had in Mexico with a missionary companion who was from Mexico. This was one of the most educated Mexicans I knew (pre-college). A very sharp, eloquent kid – never missed a beat. Extremely witty. I always considered super-smart. His mastery of Spanish was really impressive, I loved to hear him talk in Spanish.

One day this super-smart kid tried to speak English to me. He had taken a few years of English in school and he could construct sentences just fine. BUT his accent… oh his accent. IMMEDIATELY my perspective changed from “brilliant kid” to “stereotypical (dumb?) Mexican.” And this was someone I knew, and knew how brilliant he was!

It was a strong example to me that even though we don’t understand someone, or they have a thick accent (Hungarian, Spanish, deaf-speakers, etc.), they are NOT DUMB.

Back to the root problem with the US/Mexico border. I have two proposals I’ve thought about.

One solution comes from a Utah state senator, Carl Wimmer. I was talking to him a few years ago when he was campaigning and he gave me the most logical answer to resolving the illegal immigration issue. He suggested that the US tally the amount of dollars illegal immigration costs the US (for example, in emergency room visits, or welfare paid out, etc.) and charge that back to Mexico.

Mexico wouldn’t pay it, right? Probably not… but, if we give aid to Mexico on an annual basis, why doesn’t the US gov’t just take that amount OUT of the annual aid? Assume we give the Mexican gov’t $10B in federal aid. Instead of that amount we take out $3B and let them know they are only getting 70% because we took out hard costs that exist because they are not sealing their borders well enough.

There are two sides to a border, right? Right now an open border does not hurt them like it “hurts” the US, but if it hurt them to the tune of $3B/year, they might think differently.

The other solution, which I recently thought of, is quite simple. Why can’t Mexico be a place that people want to live? If Mexico would simply clean up it’s act do you think people would be flooding the border to come to the US?

NO.

Mexico is a beautiful country, rich with natural resources and very smart people. They are hard working and love life. They have been robbed by their government and people in power, and forced to live in, under or around poverty (I saw it all while there for almost 2 years). In many ways they have become a nation of hopeless people. The dreams are for other countries, like the US. That is why it’s so appealing to cross the border and live life as a criminal… because this is where dreams can have a chance of coming true. Not in Mexico.

Mexico needs to change that. I don’t know how – is it the responsibility of the Mexican government? Is it the responsibility of the entrepreneurs and business owners? Is it the responsibility of the every day citizen?

I think it’s all of the above. This should be the new Mexican Revolution. Just as the US had to have a revolution, even a civil war, to get the awesome foundation, perspective, freedom documents, etc. that we have here, Mexico and its people must fight for freedom, hope, chance and choice.

Until they do that, from the top to the bottom, it will be a country that could have been. Instead of ruling by the people it will be ruled by a government mired in corruption and afraid of the drug lords.

Just like Juarez.

I hope and pray that Mexicans can take Mexico back.

Eight Lunches Update

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Folks… WOW. I asked for help and you came through, thank you!

I closed the comments from the original post because feedback is coming in and I need to digest it all and take time to rework the book. This will be the third draft… and then I’ll send it out for another round of review. Anyone who leaves a comment on THIS post will get an email with that draft, hopefully in the next few weeks.

I’ll share some feedback that I’ve gotten as soon as I get permission from the people who have given feedback.

THANK YOU!

Jason Alba (al – buh)

Just another JASONAlba weblog