Great news for frequent Googlers

I'm a little late with this one, but did you hear that Demand Studios is eliminating user-generated content from their mega web site, eHow? Can I hear a hallelujah from the back?

According to their new terms of use, current eHow users will submit their articles through Demand Studios. Hopefully this means that articles detailing how to do basic things that everyone knows how to do with steps that are even more ridiculous than the title will be disappearing into the Internet ether. And maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to do a Google search on something without coming up with fifty million pages from eHow that provide absolutely no helpful insight to the topic at hand.

[How to Make Rectangle Ice Cubes:

Ice cubes are good for making your drinks cold. You can by ice at the store in the freezer section or you can make it at your're own home for LESS MONEY.

Things You'll Need:

a car or bike or feet to walk to the store
money
a freezer with some room in it for some ice cube trays

Step 1: Go to a "store."

Step 2: Look in the isle that sells stuff for you're kitchen.

Step 3: In the isle their, you might see some plastic, things that are called ICE CUBE TRAYS. They are rectangles.

Step 4: Buy one of those. Or two. It just depends on how much ice you want to make. If you like to drink lots of cold drinks than you can buy two. but if you only like a little bit of cold drinks. Then you can only get one. If you wanted to.

Step 5: Unload the grocery's when you get to you house.

Step 6: When you get out, your BRAND NeW ice cube tray make sure that you wash it becaue you just have to wash things that you buy at the store because people might touch them and get some germs on it.

Step 7: Fill up the littlerectangles with: Water. Cold or hot water works. "They' do say that hot water will freeze more quicker then cold water.

Step 8: After you do that than you can put the tray in your freezer.

Step 9: Wait for a while.

Step 10: Ta-Da! Now you can take out your ice cubes and make your drinks more cold!]

Now, since users will have to submit through Demand Studios, the articles will have to go through their approval system. Hopefully this will unclog Google just a wee bit. Can I get a what-what?


P.S. I totally made up the above article. If you don't know how to make ice cubes, you've come to the wrong place. If you found the above article helpful, well, I'm sorry. I'm just sorry.

Raise your hand if you're sick of the Gosselins!

America can't seem to get enough of the dysfunctional Gosselin family. There is even a slew of women fawning over Jon Gosselin. But why? Why do women find Jon Gosselin attractive?

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Riding that fence again

So yesterday I was whining about crappy content. Today I churned out five articles of common sense and made $75 for about four hours of work. That's what I love about Demand Studios. What other job let's you do that? Seriously. So here I am, riding that fence again. Demand Studios is great for writers in search of quick and easy income. It's not so great for the poor Googlers who can't find real, relevant information about the topic they are trying to research. Here I am aiding and abetting. And here I am making money off it. But oh well. I'm getting some new shoes. That's all that really matters.

Essential tips for new military wives

The life of a military wife is a life of adventure, stress, responsibility, change, joy and sadness. Although there isn’t anything quite like experience to prepare a new military spouse for the trials and tribulations of military life, there are a few tips that can help you traverse the world of the military with confidence.
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Demand Studios and Helium

I'm sort of on the fence about Demand Studios. I wrote an article for Helium about the awesomeness involved in writing for Demand Studios, but I'm still on the fence. The fact that it's my highest earning article on Helium does make me very happy, though.

Writing for Demand Studios does have its pros. It also has its cons. They say that their content is super duper awesome because it has to go through so many people before it gets published. That doesn't necessarily mean anything. Crap content gets churned out by the boatloads. That's not to say that there isn't some good content to be found on the site, but the good stuff is far more difficult to find.

I will continue to write for them but there is no way in H-E-double-hockey-stick I will write for them under my real name or even give out my Demand Studios pen name to even my closest of friends. The fact that I write for them is kind of a double standard, I guess, because I'm writing content that I'm not necessarily proud of. I'm writing content that is or should be common sense. However, I'm getting paid $15 a piece for common sense stretched out into 400-word articles.

While Helium is also a "content farm" of sorts, Helium is different from Demand Studios, at least for me. I don't write on Helium for the money. I write on Helium because it's fun. Writing for Helium helps me out when I'm having writer's block because there are far more titles on Helium that I would like to write to than what Demand Studios has to offer. I can't build, I don't sew, I'm not a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a computer whiz or a mechanic. Demand Studios titles tend to be tapered towards people with skills - the type of skills I don't have. I guess that's why I'm not a Demand Studios Super Earner. I write for them sparingly - only when I find titles I'm interested in.

Helium titles are more interesting to me even though they are far less lucrative. And as far as Helium goes, I'm not under the delusion that I'm going to make thousands of dollars a month from writing to titles I like on Helium.

If you want to make money from writing and you have a tiny portfolio of clips that so-called "real" publishers aren't interested in, write for Demand Studios. If you want to write and just have fun doing it, write for Helium. You might get lucky and win a few contests or marketplaces while you're at it. Or, like me, you could choose to do both. Any way you choose to do it, you will build up your resume and learn valuable writing skills along the way.

Terrible Valentine's Day gifts

Valentine’s Day has evolved into a day when couples everywhere exchange tokens of affection and cutesy ditties written in Hallmark cards. There are a few tried and true gifts to give for Valentine’s Day such as homemade cards and gifts, flowers and chocolates. There is also a long list of gifts that are tacky, taboo and thoughtless. Stick with heartfelt gifts and your sweetheart will surely be pleased. Avoid these common Valentine's Day gift mistakes:
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How military housing works

On-base housing is provided for military members and their families. Single service members under the rank of E-3 can live in dormitories. Service members over that rank can live off-base if they choose. Married military members have a choice between living off-base or in military housing.
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