Andrea linked me to an article discussing the future of Polaroid pictures. It seems the company is going to discontinue the look sometime after next year. Here is a direct quote from the article:

Polaroid is saying goodbye to its iconic, white-bordered instant pictures. It expects to stop selling the film next year.

Generations of photographers have watched Polaroid pictures develop almost magically before their eyes, but digital photography has made the instant photos seem less instant.

The article on wikipedia also gives some insight on the end of production for “instant film” here:

Group Worldwide) announced it would cease production of all instant film; the company will shut down three factories and lay off 450 workers.[1] Sales of chemical film by all makers have dropped by at least 25% per year in this decade, and the decline is likely to accelerate. Fujifilm is now the only remaining supplier of instant film in the United States.

Want to read more?

Here is the link to the first article: http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=19093

The Wikipedia article is located here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_film

I bought the domain www.ReptileWallpapers.com last November (11-05-07).

Just a few days ago I have finally launched a version of the website I am finally happy with. The website I am currently running was originally coded by David Leggett. I thank him very much for the opportunity to be able to work with this great setup!

I am currently collaborating with Daniel St. Jules to modify and add more features to the website. We are currently working to complete all coding to get the basic functions of the website working. Our final goal is to have the website very user friendly and Search Engine Optimized.

I look forward to partnering with many great photographers in the reptile community and hope they will be open to contribute some of their work. If you have some photos of your own that you would like to submit please visit the website and upload away! I can’t promise it is fully debugged but I am currently working hard to get everything functional and error free!

After recent discussion a few friends my friends and I are considering a camping trip without cell phones. This almost scared me a little at first. Did they understand I don’t just make calls with my phone? I browse several of my favorite sites, check email, play games, and impress people with mine! Hehe..

I recently read an article about someone surviving a week without his iPhone and it was a fun read :).

Check it out here: Sans iPhone: The debriefing

My dad sent this to me and I wanted to share it.

Stephen Wiltshire on YouTube

We would like to invite you to our newest project, Reptile Network! Reptile Network was created to be a parent site to my existing reptile related website, Gecko Topsites and Bearded Dragon Topsites. I hope in the future I can expand to more reptile related websites.

Reptile Network has many features that I hope can benefit the reptile community. It will of course feature a topsite list, as most of my other sites do. Also, it will feature breeder interviews, directory, and chat. More features may be soon to follow. Check it out at ReptileNetwork.net!

Many apologies for not posting lately. I would like to blame it on my constant and continuous studying for school but I just can not. I hope to make a come back to blogging very soon.

Last night a friend of mine gave me an amazing complement. She said “You have already done so much for the [reptile] community at your age” and she went on to say “I wish I had such direction in my life at your age.” Now, I thought at 19 I would stop getting these complements but I really do enjoy them. She was referring to my most recent project, www.ReptileNetwork.net. I have never felt that my websites I have created, be it reptile related or not, have really given much back. I am an entrepreneur and I am not sure if my goals have been set right. I always look for ideas that will be popular and possibly profitable. This opens a new door for me though, what if giving back makes things better for people in general? I feel like this would be better for myself, and the visitor. It could quite possibly end up being more successful than I had originally hoped for as well. In writting this I feel like it would be a good idea to open up to other people’s ideas, asking what they would like to see added to their community. I originally started with the phrase “It’s your community, make it what you want.” I feel like going back to the roots of things, and keeping this as my most important idea.

One of my biggest problems as an online entrepreneur is that I am always brimming with ideas, but it is rare that I follow through with them all, or even a few. I honestly need to start an idea notebook because I feel like a lot of them could be very profitable.

About a week ago my brother, dad, and I were on our way to Ikea. My brother, Chandler, had a thought process that closely resembles one that I commonly have and it left me in deep thought. His idea was to start a company that folds cranes (the bird) out of napkins and sell them. This seemed utterly ridiculous to me, but my dad helped him try to develop it further. My brother was so very convinced that it was his future, and would be his career when he was old enough to own his own company. My dad said, if you find the right market it may be successful.

Most of my friends know, I often have ideas that I am passionate about. I feel like these ideas are gold mines, and absolutely must be followed through. Let me give you a few examples. Second semester of my senior year I had it set in my mind that I needed an office. From this office I would go out and find clients for web design, and probably only break even. For some reason I felt like I really needed to do this. Thankfully, I never did. I do still think it would be a fun and positive experience but I know it would have probably put me in the negative or only broken even. Another one I have had in the past few months is to open a laser tag location with my dad. These ideas, thinking back over the ones I have had, need to be followed through. If I could only have a 1 to 5 follow through rate I think I could be successful.

Tonight I talked with a few friends about death. If I could live to be 80 years old, I could have 61 years more of life. Roughly 3 times the amount of time I have lived this far. I think I can accomplish what I want by then, travel where I want as well. Money is the issue. The goal for myself is to never be strapped down to a corporate job that controls my life more than I do. I hope to be a successful business owner that will be able to do as I wish with my life without worries. Long shot, but how amazing would that be.

By the way, I love Bret Dennen.

I wanted to take the time to wish all my friends a Happy New Year’s! I hope 2008 is happy and prosperous for everyone. I look forward to proceeding with projects and learning more over the next year. I hope to meet many more wonderful people and continue relationships with friends I am in contact with now. Resolutions? I have never been a big one for those, but I’d love to write here more.

Happy New Year

I really wanted to start this entry with this picture, but couldn’t get it to fit. It’s Christmas time but it feels very different this year. I know I should be thinking of the reason for the season but this time around isn’t quite the same. This year Dad has had a hard time keeping business and is struggling to meet his end of the year quota. Knowing these kinds of things makes me miss childhood but I know it is part of growing up. He informed me this year we were to go shopping for Christmas together because he hasn’t gotten anyone a thing. Now normally it is a big deal that Dad buys super awesome presents and tries his best to keep them from him. This year, after dealing with health issues and work, Dad just hasn’t been the same. While we were shopping he asked if I wanted this or that, and I said yes please. He said it would be a surprise when I opened it. I thought that was just going to be one or two things, but I picked out all of my presents from him! My mom of course bought me a few things, but she buys the oddest things. Last year I got a humidifier from her, and she is always a big fan of stocking stuffers. Those little things that make no sense to be in a Christmas gift lineup, or are useless. She mailed me a pack of hot coco she got for free I am sure just a few weeks ago.Outside of this, it is the first year I have helped wrap the presents from Santa. Dad just kept telling me how burnt out he was. I think the stress of work, his recent diagnosis of high cholesterol and dealing with my mom is just a combination that has resulted in a need for a break. His reasoning today when I told him things don’t feel the same was “This happens every few years.” He went on to say that Christmas should just be a gift or two, look around — it’s ridiculous he said. Growing up is weird.

Over the Winter break I have been spending a lot of time online looking for ways to produce a steady income with little work. Isn’t this everyone’s dream? I have put considerable consideration in opening up a proxy network but I am worried. It is a big investment, sounds like a good amount of work (3-4 hours a day) and will be hard to break $1,000 per month. I think developing a good website in the field of reptiles will be my solution. I am working with a friend to develop a new site that will serve as a portal to my other reptile sites, as well as hopefully be useful to reptile keepers. I currently run a few websites relating to reptiles. One is Gecko Topsites, averaging between 90 and 100 unique visits a day. Bearded Dragon Topsites was my next venture, but is not near as successful, only getting 10 to 20 unique visits a day. Finally, is Reptile Wallpapers which is still under development but will be a good site if I ever get the code sorted out. My new site, called Reptile Network will be a portal to all these sites, as well as a link database, free image hosting, chat, and topsite. Wish me luck!

I think my strength is that I develop many ideas, my weakness is ability to keep them sorted out and follow through with them. When writing essays to apply to colleges last year this was always a question, maybe I have finally answered it. Dad told me I should list something I could turn around into an advantage, but I am not sure how I can use this to my advantage.

Well, this is my hodge-podge of what is going on lately. I have so much more to say but feel like if you’re reading this you’re overwhelmed enough as it is. Find any of this interesting? Leave me a comment saying hi or asking a question… it’d be some real motivation to write a little more.

Happy Holidays