I like to let you guys know what we’re up to.

We’re currently buying and making a lot of new websites. Sometimes the websites work, sometimes they don’t. In life, you’ve gotta take chances.

One thing Add and I noticed for search is that a lot of people, millions in fact, search for the term “best … in 2012″ for example. An example might be, “what is the best podcast for learning English in 2012. We already know that the answer is China232. Lol. (I do actually believe that though)

We’re going to be working on this site and writing about a lot of the best of different stuff this coming year. One cool thing about making a site like this is that you get to research a lot of cool new products. Another cool thing is that it will help with our bargaining power if we can help people or brands get to the top of the list.

We’re honest enough to never be fake with this because we only work with people and companies that we actually like and think are the best in their industry. Something makes me sick about selling something that I know sucks. We bought the next 7 years of this series of websites and hope to really use them well by providing a lot of cool info and being able to bargain better with companies and people. It’s all about an honest win/win. That’s how we like to do business.

Anyway, I just wrote my first article and it’s not a big deal. Add is working on the design and obviously it’s not finished, but if you are interested and want to check it out it is www.bestin2012.com I’d love to hear your comments on the general idea of this. I’m going to be writing a lot. If you are the best in something, let me know and I’ll look into it.

Here is a video I saw on youtube that I thought might be interesting. It is a bit one sided but I’ll admit that I do share SOME, not all, of the views in this video. It’s over an hour long and is more like a documentary talking about how formal education is a kind of brainwashing that is more expensive than it’s really worth. I think it makes some interesting points and it shows just how insanely expensive education in the US is getting for most people. I do realize that university can be important and necessary for many jobs, but it can also be a money making business based upon empty promises. Let me know what you think if you have time to watch it. Start it anyway and you’ll get the idea.

Today I had one of those experiences where I was truly amazed at how ignorant I was about a very simple but common thing.

I was on a bike ride with a close friend and we started talking about photography. I never thought I was good at taking pictures, I just thought it was an easy thing to do. I actually hated hearing people talking about their “photo taking ability” because I thought it was such a joke.

Until today, I basically thought that all anyone had to do was buy a good brand of a digital camera for about $300 and and then just point and shoot. If it was dark, I used a flash (the light). If it was light, I didn’t. From a distance, many of my pictures looked not too bad so I didn’t realize there was a problem or that I had no idea of what I was doing. I knew they weren’t professional quality but I thought they were good enough and I never bothered to find out what the problem was.

My friend had an older 4.8 Megapixel camera and I had a pretty new Fuji 10.0 Megapixel camera. I thought that I could easily take clearer pictures without even trying because I had the better and more expensive camera. Wow. I was totally wrong. (We both were using the automatic “auto” setting). I thought that the auto setting meant that the camera did all the work for you and the person didn’t need to try.

We were taking “close ups” of the letters on business cards. It sounds like a boring and stupid picture to take but it’s actually quite fun and a great way to test the quality of a camera. A “close up” in camera language means a photo from a very close distance.

We put our photos on a large monitor (computer screen) and looked at them. His photos were WAY better and clearer than mine. I couldn’t figure it out. I didn’t realize that I needed to hold the button down half way and really look at the screen and make sure the letters were in perfect focus. I didn’t know that I needed to keep moving and adjusting the camera very slightly until I saw the letters perfectly.

When you take a photo from far away, it’s hard to see the quality. If you are taking photos of the letters of a magazine or business card, it’s easy. For my friend’s photos, we could “zoom in” on the computer and see the letters so clearly. “Zooming in” means to go really close and make a small part of the photo take up the whole computer screen.

On his photos, you could see each letter in very high detail. We could even see the glue that puts the ink on the card. For example, we could zoom in and see the letter “k” on the entire size of the computer screen. It just looked like a big “k” with little bits of glue. It was shocking.

Then we tried mine and they totally sucked. From a distance, the photo didn’t look too bad. It was just that up close, my picture was just terrible. It means that I didn’t really understand what Megapixels were and I just thought paying more money would make things better with no effort.

The truth is that having good eyes, still hands, and understanding how to use your camera is MUCH more important than the quality or price of the camera.

I don’t know this for a fact, but I believe that over 98% of the people who want to buy a digital camera for around $300 are just clueless. Most people know some of the top brand names and they know that the more expensive cameras are better. People buy cameras and don’t even learn how to use them. It’s weird. We do the same thing with computers too. We get a “good one” and then learn less than 1% about how to use it well. I’ve learned that I need to learn a lot more about the technology I am using if I want to really see the benefits. It’s not just about saving money, it’s about enjoying the benefits and not being a total fool.

I need to know more about cameras anyway because Add and I are working for Pivothead, which is the best mini hands free video camera ever. Click on the link and you’ll see what I mean. It’s really exciting. I love the logo of the guy in the backwards baseball hat too. I wish I could draw…

Anyway, I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences regarding this or a similar story you may have. Who knows, maybe it’s just me who is completely clueless.

Andy

This is a list, in order, of the world’s most populous countries. That means the countries with the “highest population” (most people living in them).

I’m interested in learning new stuff and some of these countries in the list really surprised me. I wanted to share it with you in case you feel the same as I do. I think it’s interesting to take a look at the list and then read about what’s going on in these countries.

This kind of thing can tell you a lot about the world and what the future MIGHT be like. I think it’s important to have a “rough idea” of at least the top 50 countries on the list. This kind of information is completely useless if you don’t think about what it means, but it is very interesting when you think about what this means for the world.

I’d love to hear from you guys about where your country is on the list and what is going on there. Is it a good place to travel to? Is it safe? Is business going well there? Which international brands are popular in your countries? What do you think the future will be like and why? Here is the link to the list:

List of Countries in Order of Population

Looking forward to your comments. What surprised you?

I will answer your questions/comments and then share my personal feelings after reading from you guys.

Note: Population density is also an interesting number on there. In case you don’t know, it means the number of people on average living in one square kilometer of the country. There is one country that has over 1000 people per square kilometer and another country with under 3 people per square kilometer.

Andy