I've been using Commission Junction for a while now, and it's been good to me, but I'm always looking to find new programs to see if there's something that'll work better for me. That's how I found 'Share-A-Sale', which operates much like Commission Junction however seems to have a wider range of niche type affiliate programs to join.

I only learned about Share-A-Sale through clicking on one of my Project Wonderful advertisers 'Tshirtbordello.com', as Tshirtbordello.com currently use Share-A-Sale to manage their affiliate program. You want a Flint Tropics No. 33 shirt? Give 'em a look, as they are currently offering a 'Buy 3, get 1 free' deal [follow the link] Cool Shirts! Buy 3 and get 1 Free!.

I'm distracted now, anyway, Share-A-Sale is looking to be a solid alternative to Commission Junction, if you are looking for something a little different.

The ebay affiliate program is currently making the transition from Commission Junction to its own newly launched eBay Partner Network. For anyone using Commission Junction based eBay affiliate links, this means you will have to join up to the eBay Partner Network and then, once approved, go through and update all your links.

I only realised that this was going to affect me on Monday. I was thrown into mini turmoil. I use phpBay Pro on a few of my blogs to plug some eBay auctions into posts, and it's proven to be quite profitable, however I was worried. Would this new change mean that I could no longer use phpBay Pro? Would I have to buy a new version? Would I even be able to do everything need to make the transition?

As it turns out, I was worrying about nothing. I visited the phpBay Pro forum, learnt that the developer, a guy called Wade, had already developed a new version of phpBay Pro designed to work with the eBay Partner Network, and that it was available to customers that had already purchased a previous version. So I sent off a quick message to Wade, got an almost instant reply, containing details of how to get the upgrade, and I was up and running again. I upgraded five blogs in under an hour, in between working on a flash game.

So to summarise, the transition was smooth and didn't cost me a thing!

I have to say that the customer service that Wade has provided has been beyond anything that I ever expected. I'm not sure how the guy finds the time to develop programs and then provide the level of support that he does, but somehow he seems to manage! phpBay Pro is clearly the real deal and it's good to see that he stands by his product.

Up until this point, phpBay Pro is the only money I've spent on any of my sites, besides money spent on hosting and domain names. If you have a WordPress blog and you want to include some eBay auction to generate some extra revenue, then I highly recommend picking up phpBay Pro. I use it most on my latest pet project guitar effects site. I made the $49 it cost me back in less than three weeks, and since then I've hit the $250 mark. It's paid for itself five times over in a couple of months. Not a bad return for a $49 investment!

UPDATE: In the three days since I made the change to the eBay Partner Network I've made $24.41. At that rate phpBay Pro pays for itself in 6 days!

So I kept my promise to myself, and two weekends ago went to the book shop and bought, Darkly Dreaming Dexter, and it's sequel, Dearly Devoted Dexter. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is the first book of the series that follows serial killer, who only kills the bad guys that deserve it, as he deals with some of his own internal conflicts as a new, flashy, serial killer wanders into his neighbourhood. Dexter is torn between admiration for this new predator, do what he does best.

I'd have to say the show is rather 'loosely' based on the book. The book was an excellent read I have to say. I finished it off in a couple of nights, which is unusual for me. Darkly Dreaming Dexter formed the basis for season one of the TV show Dexter, although after both watching series one and reading the book. If you've watched the show, but have decided to give the books a miss because you think you know what is going to happen, then think again. There are a number of differences between the book and TV series.

* WARNING: WHAT FOLLOWS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOTH SEASON ONE OF DEXTER AND THE BOOK DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER *

Firstly, the TV series contains a large number of sub-plots that are not dealt with at all in the book. For example, the book deals almost exclusively with Dexter's investigation of the "Tamiami Butcher", or the "Ice Truck Killer" in the TV series. Very little is made of his relationship with Rita, there are no appearances by her ex-husband, Deb does not 'date' Rudy, Angel is another lab tech, and not a Detective.

Another major change in the book is that for a large part of the novel, the reader is led to believe that Dexter himself may be committing the “Tamiami Butcher” murders. The novel makes numerous references to Dexter having a 'Dark Passenger' within him, which is not even mentioned in Season One. Dexter describes the 'Dark Passenger' as often riding in the backseat of his consciousness until the urge to kill overwhelms him and he lets the 'Dark Passenger' take the steering wheel.

There are other far less subtle differences between the novel and the TV show, but if you want to know more you'll need to read the book!

NEW Darkly Dreaming Dexter 9780307277886

US $9.32

11h 50m

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay HC DJ 1 1 HTF

8 Bids

US $36.51

2d 1h 59m

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay Softcover new

0 Bid

US $5.99

2d 3h 1m

If you've persisted with WidgetBucks you may have noticed a drop in revenue-per-click (RPC) of late. The good news is that WidgetBucks are reporting an increase in RPC across a number of categories.

This is from their blog:

Over the last 48 hours, many publishers have been seeing a steady increase in their RPC (revenue-per-click) rates, recovering from last week's drop. We have been able to make progress on pricing issues with partners much more quickly than first predicted, and as a result the RPC increases can be seen across most categories and climbing toward pre-drop levels.

In other WidgetBucks news, the ad network is also rolling out new CPM ads across their network. Hopefully this also leads to an increase in CPM earnings.

As a way to supplement AdSense income, WidgetBucks are still worth a look, however, they wont be a standalone option until they can expand their RPC network to include more world wide traffic.

Well here's my contribution to the world of lists. It is a list of lists! How innovative you gasp!! People seem to love lists, and I'm not exactly sure why. I think that perhaps bloggers like lists because they can create a relatively easy post when they may be snowed under due to work and study for example...

Anyway here's my list of lists, some are funny, some are useful, some are just weird. Enjoy.

1. Top 10 physical transformations for film
2. Top 10 Urinals - a must read list
3. Top 25 worts album covers of 2006
4. Top 5 signs that your plane trip is going to suck
5. Top 40 Free Icon Resources for Web Designers
6. The top 5 car chases of all time
7. Guitar rigs of the stars - nine at the moment.
8. Top 20 Craziest Wardrobe Malfunctions of All Time
9. The 10 Worst Movie Posters of All Time
10. Top Ten Worst Movie Endings In History - totally agree with Sunshine!
11. Top 10 Worst Quotes or Lines From the Movies
12. The Top 16 Worst Movie Quotes to Utter During Sex
13. Ten Worst Games On The Wii
14. Top 10 Most Embarrassing TV/Radio Interview Moments
15. Top 10 YouTube videos. Ever.
16. 10 CSS Tricks you may not know
17. Top 5 Photoshop Tutorials

It's time for the second, highly self indulgent, Swollen Pickles comics round up. I should also mention at this stage that I don't actually by individual issues of comics. I'm a trade paper back man. I prefer to read through a bunch at a time, so I'd rather wait until a few are collected up and released that way. So, that out of the way, let me begin.

X-Men: Endangered Species

This trade collects the X-Men: Endangered Species one-shot and as well Endangered Species Chapters #1-17, that originally appeared as eight page vignettes at the end of the X-titles for a few months. Endangered Species follows the X-Man Beast as he tries to undo the damage the Scarlet Witch did at the conclusion of the House of M saga, with her 'no more mutants' thing.

In case your not up to speed, Scarlet Witch (Magneto's daughter) has reality altering powers, in the House of M 'event' she basically went nuts, and created her own little perfect world, things got weird, and at the end of that story arc she decided that the world would be better off without mutants. As a result, the world returned to close to 'normal' except for the mutant population. All but 200 or so mutants had be "de-powered", which has proven to be the major driver behind all the X-Men stories since then.

Back to Endangered Species, Beast is trying to cure the mutant population, but is not sure where to begin. He tries a number of different avenues, with little success. Throughout the story he's torn between science and magic as a means to an end.

As a stand alone story, Endangered Species is a little dull, and I couldn't recommend it to a casual reader. Not a great deal happens over the 192 pages. The art is up and down, with different illustrators taking up at different spots. As a bridge between the House of M story and the latest X-Men event 'Messiah Complex' it is worth checking out, but I wouldn't consider it a must have. I'd give it 2 out of 5 stars.

X Men Endangered Species HC

0 Bid

US $.99

11h 12m

It's a struggle to figure out the order and numbering of the X-Men comics at the moment. This trade is listed as Volume 2, but collects X-Men issues #200-204. Read in conjunction with Endangered Species, this could be seen as another lead in to the Messiah Complex event. For this tale, Rogue is the leader of the X-Men, with Ice Man and Cannonball following along. She's also recruited some dodgy hired help including 'is she bad/is she good' Mystique, and Lady Mastermind.

A couple of interesting things happen in these issues that will lead into Messiah Complex. Firstly, Mr Sinister is most obviously back and with some sort of plan. His Marauders feature a couple of fallen former X-Men, Gambit and Sunfire. Sinister is also killing off those mutants with a knowledge of the future, whilst searching for Destiny's Diarys, which are themselves said to predict the future.

I liked this collection. The story was good, but the art was brilliant. Whilst they may not be popular with everyone, Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos are two of my favourite artists working at the moment. There is some manga inspiration in their art, which is bold and really accentuates the characters key features. For the X-Men fan this is a must, 4 out of 5 stars.

Moon Knight: The Bottom

Moon Knight: The Bottom Vol.1 collects Moon Knight (2006) issues #1-6. This is one of the most awesomest (I'm officially making that a word now) comics I've read, and would take up a spot with Cable and Deadpool and Immortal Iron Fist on my must read list. I've seen Moon Knight written off as a watered down Batman clone, but if you read this collection then you'll see that Moon Knight is a character removed from the Batman assembly line. Moon Knight (Marc Spector) is a brutal, violent, vigilante bad ass, but this series starts out with him wheel chair bound, addicted to pain killers and seemingly deserted by the Egyptian god Khonshu. Through flash backs, we learn that Moon Knight's Marc Spector body was basically broken in a punch on with his arch nemesis the Bushman. We learn the Moon Knight, having broken most of the bones in his lower body, gets the upper hand on Bushman and proceeds to carve off his face.

We also follow present day Marc Spector as he is forced back into action, manipulated by outside forces. Is it the mysterious "Committee" manipulating Moon Knight, or is it Khonshu looking to restore the former avatar to his former glory?

The art is this collection is ball rippingly awesome. David Finch is equal to Chris Bachalo and Humberto Ramos in my favourite illustrator stakes. Moon Knight is not a kids comic, it's violent and bloody. Finch doesn't settle with implying violence. When I say Moon Knight carves off Bushman's face, I mean he actually carves off his face. The story is 'gritty' and 'dark' and, as a set up for things to come, it's sit down good fun. I'd have to award this the highest Swollen Pickles comic accolade, 5 out of 5 stars. Hopefully Vol.2 can maintain the rage!

MOON KNIGHT THE BOTTOM HARDCOVER

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US $5.99

3d 5h 5m

marvel Marc Spector MOON KNIGHT 32 34 Lot of 3 1991

0 Bid

US $.01

46m

If you are one of those people that had been working hard to develop up a viable web directory, with the hope of turning it into a money spinner, then the recent page rank update conducted by Google, may have thrown a spanner in the works. A lot of directories suffered at the hands of the page rank update, in many cases losing page rank altogether. This is a problem for both the directory owner, whose link prices rely heavily on the directories page rank, as well as the buyers, who buy a link in order to have give their own sites a shot of page rank juice. No page rank, no juice.

For those still looking to pick up directory links, a quality directory, is an increasingly valuable commodity. The Dirmania Web Directory is one such directory. Dirmania markets itself as a "free web directory", however I find that claim a little misleading. Why? Well, placing a link on Dirmania is not free, it'll cost you $4 for a standard listing, and $7 for an express listing (see screen capture below).

Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm not sure how you could call something free, when you are actually charging money for it?

That aside, the days of the paid web directory may behind us, in which case finding resources such as Dirmania become an increasingly rare occurrence. What do you think? Would you pay for inclusion in a web directory to boost your search result standing? Why/Why not?