This beach cam comes to you from the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey and features two live streaming cams of people walking on the boardwalk, riding bicycles or walking or laying out on the beach. To change camera views, make a selection in the drop down menu under the word “source” near the top of the page.

Watch the Atlantic City New Jersey Boardwalk Cam

This Osprey nest cam comes to you from Milford, Connecticut courtesy of the Connecticut Audubon Society. I just looked at this a moment ago, and if you look at the image on the left it looks like an Osprey brought back a Koi goldfish to the nest! Anyway, it appears that the Osprey chicks born this year are flying to and from the nest, so at times the nest may be empty - but keep watching and hopefully you’ll see one or more of the chicks return. This Osprey nest cam has live streaming video.

Watch the Osprey Nest Cam in Connecticut

Another football season is upon us and once again, Coors Light is sponsoring their Silver Ticket Super Bowl Sweepstakes, where you could win a trip for two to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona. You could also win a trip to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, one of the playoff games, NFL t-shirts and more. You will need an entry code found on specially marked boxes of Coors or Coors Light in order to enter. If you do not have a code you can receive free ones through the mail by following instructions on section 3 of the official rules. Enter this sweepstakes by October 31, 2007 for a chance to win.

Enter the Coors Light Silver Ticket Super Bowl XLII Sweepstakes

Bob Burnquist of California builds the world’s largest skateboard ramp in his back yard for a mere $280,000.� Must be nice to have that kind of spare change.

Si TV is sponsoring the Movin & Groovin Sweepstakes, where you could win an all new 2007 Suzuki SX4. You could also win a walk on role on a SiTV program plus $1,000 in cash. Finally you may also be the winner of an Apple video iPod. Enter this sweepstakes by October 30, 2007 for a chance to win.

Enter the Si TV Movin & Groovin Sweepstakes

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts today, called net@nite, starring Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur, and during the podcast they mentioned a funny web site/service called MoanMyIP.com. MoanMyIP.com doesn’t just display your IP address like other web sites… it moans it to you thanks to the sexy voice of someone they hired - or perhaps their girlfriend?

Leo mentioned that he thought this may be the brainchild of the guy who created IPChicken.com, but, after doing a bit of research, I think it may be someone else.  Leo speculated that IPChicken.com has made hundreds of thousands of dollars… and it wouldn’t surprise me if his estimates were true considering the popularity of the site.

A quick search of MoanMyIP.com revealed dozens of blog and forum posts plugging the site indicating that the site is experiencing the viral effect - at least among us geeks. Check out the Alexa graph of its popularity:

I can hear the moans and groans already… Alexa, shemexa. Yeah, you can take their stats with a grain of salt, but at least they do provide a general indicator of a web sites popularity. So, what am I trying to get at? I’m curious what it takes to make a stupidly simple and profitable web site such as this. There are hundreds of super complicated Web 2.0 services out there…many which may be less profitable than this super simple one. MoanMyIP.com isn’t the only silly money making idea.  Other legendary sites include The Million Dollar Homepage, SantaMail, AntennaBalls, and more.

Here are a few ingredients I think are necessary to make a super simple profitable web site:

1) Be First - Alex Tew was the first person on the Internet to sell pixels for $1 each on The Million Dollar Homepage. The first person will get the most attention and will ultimately win. Hundreds of copycats followed, but his site was the only one to make a million.

2) Modify a Known Success - If you can’t be first with a great idea, put a twist on an existing successful idea. MoanMyIP.com did this by using a sexy voice to speak your IP address instead of displaying it. I repeat - modify a known success.

3) Don’t be Boring - We are all like monkeys.  Throw a shiny new object to us and we will all drop what we are doing and gravitate to the latest thing.  Think objectively…does your idea really grab your attention or are you deluding yourself?  Does it excite the hell out of you?  What kind of energy does it give you?  Why is the iPhone successful?  Because it is the latest “shiny object” to entertain us monkeys.

4) Would You Tell Others About It - What kind of sites, videos, pictures, etc. motivate you to tell others about them?  Is your idea good enough that you would forward it around, write a blog post about it or mention it in your favorite forum?  What bores you to tears and what doesn’t?

5)  Improve the Quality of the Buyers Life - Now I’m just blowing stuff out my a-hole..but seriously, I guess a great idea has to improve the quality of the buyer’s life in some way…shape…or form.  The Million Dollar Homepage improved lives by (hopefully) providing traffic to anyone who bought an ad - which gave them more sales.  SantaMail gives kids the excitement of getting a letter from Santa.  AntennaBalls helps you find your car faster.  How does your product or service improve the quality of a persons life?

Well, that’s about all I can write about at this point.  I’ve had about four margaritas and need to go to sleep soon.  But, I hope this might perk up a few entrepreneur minds out there and maybe they will post a comment to add their thoughts on this subject.  Yes?  Go ahead… please leave a comment, plug your blog or web site and continue the discussion.  If we all work together, maybe we can once and for all discover the secret to creating exciting, fun, super simple, useful and profitable ideas like MoanMyIP.com…and most importantly, cash in.

Gordon Laing of CameraLabs.com reviews the Canon PowerShot A640 compact digital camera.  The PowerShot A640 has 10 megapixels of resolution and a 35mm - 140mm 4x optical zoom lens.  The A640 is larger than most compact digital cameras, but the good thing about this is how easy the camera is to grip.  It has full manual control including aperture and shutter priority.

The PowerShot A640 has a 2.5 inch flip out and tilt LCD screen.  This is very useful if you want to take shots above everyone’s head or low to the ground.  You can also use the cameras optical viewfinder if you want to conserve battery power or if it is bright outside.

Some of the cons of the PowerShot A640 include the fact that the LCD screen has a low resolution and the size of the camera may not be desireable if you want a compact digital camera you can put in your pocket.  The Canon PowerShot A640 currently sells for approximately $350.00.

Canon PowerShot A640 in depth reviews and sample photos:

CameraLabs Canon PowerShot A640 review
DPReview Canon PowerShot A640 review
Steve’s Digicams Canon PowerShot A640 review

Canon PowerShot A640 sample photos from Flickr
Canon PowerShot A640 sample photos from Pbase

I hope Michael Vick spends a LONG, LONG, LONG time in jail thinking about what an IDIOT he is.  I hope he gets locked away for at least 25 years.  What an idiot… you have a professional NFL football career making millions, and you choose to kill dogs and go to jail instead.  Ok, just had to rant…. anyway, here’s a video of a kid feeding an autographed Michael Vick football to their dog. 

This beach cam comes to you live from Marietta, Georgia and features a live view of the beach and pier. Watch people sunbathing, swimming in the ocean, walking on the pier or having a bite to eat at one of the picnic tables. This beach cam can be remotely controlled so you can pan, tilt and zoom around. You will need to request control and you will have one minute to move the cam around.

Watch the Beach Cam in Marietta, Georgia

At long last, we may be able to watch videos on YouTube in high definition, thanks to Adobe’s latest version of it’s web video software: Flash Player 9. The new player supports H.264 video, which is the same as used in Blu-Ray and HD-DVD video players.

I tested the new player out by going to the Adobe Flash Player 9 download page.  I uninstalled my older version and installed the new one and tested it watching their demo video here.  The video looked excellent, but I don’t think I got the full effect as the hardware on my computer is too old to get the full experience.

I’m glad to see there is hope for higher quality web video on the horizon.  Hopefully sites like YouTube will take advantage of this and perhaps within a year or so HD web videos will be standard.

[via Read/WriteWeb]