gCaptain is proud to publish the great new layout for our blog page! Our goal was to provide you, the readers with the most user friendly ways to access all the great content that gCaptain has to offer and we think you’ll really enjoy some of the new features. As you may know, gCaptain prides itself on bringing tools of web 2.0 to the professional mariner and enthusiast alike, not to mention the latest news from the waterfront. Let’s take a look:
First, if you notice to your right you’ll see 4 large, grey icons. These are links to some great tools that we feel will be of use to everyone out there.
This link will take you to our Maritime Industry Custom Search Engine powered by Google. You can search within maritime related sites, gCaptain or both. Also, above this you’ll find a quick search box but by clicking this icon you will have greater filter options.
By clicking on this icon, you can sign up for our gCaptain RSS feed. What is an RSS feed you ask? It is a tool that allows users to access a great amount of content in a small amount of time. By subscribing, you will receive updates every time gCaptain posts new content and how you receive the content is up to you.
This icon will take you to Messing About In Ships, a podcast for mariners hosted by Sea-Fever’s Peter A. Mello and our very own Captain John Konrad with contribution from Captain Kelly Sweeney.
The envelope icon will bring you to the Contact Us page and we encourage everyone to use it. Email us with tips on breaking news or general questions. gCaptain is also always on the look out for people to share their knowledge of the maritime industry so if you feel you can contribute content, this is where you will find out how.
Below these icons you will find our Comment Box where you can see the articles people are commenting on. By the way, we really want everyone to comment as much as possible. It’s easy to do… all you need is an email address. Don’t worry we won’t spam you. Also we are planning a contest that will be open only to our commentors (we’ll update you on that later, so stay tuned).
Next, is Popular Tags, This provides you with an easy way to sift through gCaptain’s content related to certain topics of interest to you. A great way to get information.
Going down from there you will see our Sponsors, they make gCaptain possible so be sure to give them our support. You will also find a list our great Authors and Most Recent and Popular Posts.
Finally, you can still read the latest articles on our blog’s hompage but by clicking on the title of an article, you will be taken to a separate page that allows you to comment, find related posts, or share the post with friends. One new feature you will see here are the icons below:
These are easy ways to share gCaptain content with your friends. You can email it, post it on your facebook page or Twitter, bookmark it in Google, or share on StumbleUpon with a thumbs up (StumbleUpon is a great way to find unique content based on your interests that you would never find otherwise and we encourage everyone to use it, but it is addicting… you have been warned!). Also click on the More icon to access countless other ways to share our content.
So, these are the new and upgraded features that you will find on our blog page and we think that everyone will really enjoy them for surfing our content. But we want to know what you think! Let us know in the comments.
This is a word cloud depicting the most commonly used words this week on gCaptain. Thanks to Peter Mello for pointing us to this neat feature at wordle.
Growing up in New York was a kid’s dream. Summers were filled with sailing adventures on the Long Island Sound, frequent trips to Jones beach and days filled with reckless adventure. Winters were even better with lots of money to be made shoveling driveways an fun to be had sledding down steep hills. We didn’t mind the temperature extremes, traffic on I-95 or housing prices. We were kids.
gCaptain has emerged as a dream project for this mariner. We have the opportunity to discuss the day’s issues with the best in the business and do it from a place with a far nicer climate; San Luis Obispo California. The state of our industry has only helped make the dream a reality and, yes, gCaptain is beginning to turn a profit but not in the way any of us imagined.
A trademark of this site is a concentration on design, usability and a focus on the need of YOU the reader. People have taken notice and requested that we help meet their online technology needs and so far we have worked with some of the best names in the industry, revamping websites and building network systems. The maritime world is 5-10 years behind on the implementation of web based systems and for the first time in decades entry level employees are sticking around to take positions of influence. Those, like me, who graduated 10 years ago from maritime academies are just beginning to command large vessels, direct operations at shipping companies and edit industry publications. They have important businesses to run and are not happy working with old technology.
gCaptain works hard to lead the way in new web based technology but we are not the world’s best nor do we use cutting edge programming techniques with names like AJAX and django. We don’t have to. What we do is sit back, watch what works on technology oriented sites and wait the short few months till the frameworks are working, tested and considered blase. We then find the people who can implement the software and use our experience as ship’s officers to direct them in simple terms. Maritime folks don’t speak geek and Tech geeks don’t know ships. Knowing a little bit about both worlds enables us to act as a translator; assuring programming accuracy and keeping the project well clear of troubled waters.
You, the reader, click on ads less then we hope and take action (commenting on posts, buying tshirts, taking polls) far to infrequently, making it difficult to convert page-views into dollars. That’s ok. What you are good at is spreading the word amongst colleges.
gCaptain may never turn a profit but will always maintain the high standards that allow our writers, active participants and readers to make money. For all our readers gCaptain helps you stay informed and become better at your job. For us and our contributors it serves as a calling card and wins us contracts that pay good money.
We hope you can join us on this adventure as the timing is right. The industry is booming and well-informed people are in great demand. So please continue learning with us by reading gCaptain daily or step up to the plate and join us in profit by writing articles that win contracts, promotions and allow you to pursue a dream. We can’t succeed alone but we can help each other keep this industry steaming full speed ahead. I’m excited to start, are you?
Many thanks to those who recognized the site’s potential and have supported gCaptain by trusting us with their technology needs. Returning for our first round of client meetings back east I want to thank the guys at Marine Money for giving us our first big break… Jim we promise to complete the project ASAP! Northeast Maritime and Sea-Fever consulting for first making the path to solvency clear and the guys at Maritime Executive for answering every dumb publishing question we had. Did you know gCaptain does consults with companies, helping them break into the luctrative offshore industry? Neither did we until the guys at Faststream asked for our help!
That concludes our world-wind tour but I’d also like to give a big thank you to Captain Kelly, if you need a job aboard ship then he’s the person to call. Will Watson, the editors of fairplay, llyoyds list, Sail Magazine and, yes, the Wall Street Journal (ok, it WAS the online edition) for publishing the articles I wrote. Mikey and Tim for believing the dream. Last Cindy, Jack and Eli for letting me take this trip. Good thing for me they are well adjusted to me being away from home.
It’s starting to happen so please give us a call if your company needs a new website, tech translator or wants to tap into the knowledge of our contributing staff. If you would like to become a contributing author please contact me directly at 805-456-8644
A big gCaptain welcome to the 2,000+ new visitors that have stopped by gCaptain.com this week. The reason for the influx? Our CEO, Captain John Konrad, wrote an article on AIS technology for the venerable magize SAIL. To read the article you will have to visit your local newstand and flip to page 64 of the magazine’s May 2008 Issue… but if it’s the information you’re after, John has shared most of it already with Panbo.com’s editor Ben Ellison, click HERE to read that post now.
The following happen so close to gCaptain Headquarters here in Morro Bay California that our CEO called from his ship to make sure the building was secure and relatives were safe. The future gCaptain was a little close for comfort but all ended well.
Morro Bay isn’t a friendly inlet so our hats off to the guardsmen on duty that day. Give us a call (805-456-8644) and we’ll walk down some free gCaptain t-shirts for you guys.
More video from Station Morro Bay can be found HERE.
We are happy to announce we are continuing our partnership with CafePress.com who will be providing us with gCaptain Schwag featuring our famous Anchor Logo. In addition to the plain white t-shirt we are offering certified organic cotton shirts, stickers, magnets and even ceramic tile beer coasters!
Our Maritime News Discoverer is really taking off. Our google page views have almost doubled and feedback is excellent. Our one problem… we need you to vote on stories. It’s the key to the discoverer system.
So visit Maritime News Discoverer and if you like a story click vote. You should then see the story’s ranking number increase by one. Votes are how the good stories find their way to Discoverer’s homepage and bad stories get lost in-time.
So consider it your civil duty as a mariner and vote.
This link will take you to our Maritime Industry Custom Search Engine powered by Google. You can search within maritime related sites, gCaptain or both. Also, above this you’ll find a quick search box but by clicking this icon you will have greater filter options.
By clicking on this icon, you can sign up for our gCaptain RSS feed. What is an RSS feed you ask? It is a tool that allows users to access a great amount of content in a small amount of time. By subscribing, you will receive updates every time gCaptain posts new content and how you receive the content is up to you.
This icon will take you to Messing About In Ships, a podcast for mariners hosted by Sea-Fever’s Peter A. Mello and our very own Captain John Konrad with contribution from Captain Kelly Sweeney.
The envelope icon will bring you to the Contact Us page and we encourage everyone to use it. Email us with tips on breaking news or general questions. gCaptain is also always on the look out for people to share their knowledge of the maritime industry so if you feel you can contribute content, this is where you will find out how.
Not too tight, not too loose.
