Vista and then Fiji and then Vienna...

Will the delay in Microsoft's Windows Vista have a domino effect on other planned releases of Windows?

Link:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1948571,00.asp

All Social that one can stomach

One huge list of the new trend in Web 2.0 social websites.

Very impressive list that goes one step further than most lists and provides a very helpful description of the website.

Link:
http://.../all-social-that-can-bookmark.html

Trojan Freezes Computer, Demands Ransom

Trojan Freezes Computer, Demands Ransom - Yahoo! News: "A new kind of malware circulating on the Internet freezes a computer and then asks for a ransom paid through the Western Union Holdings money transfer service."

So, you're not worried about your computer getting affected? You currently don't run any antivirus software or at least Windows Defender? Good luck with that.

USB flash drive = security threat

Check out the list of hacking applications that can run from a USB flash drive. These applications can be run under your current user permissions from your work computer through the USB port. I'm sure there are many more applications to do whatever evil you're looking to accomplish.

Link:
http://...hacking-applications-that-run-on-thumb-drive/

Revolution is Wii

Revolution has a new name!

Live Shopping, Live...well, not for Firefox

Way to go Microsoft with the launch of Windows Live Shopping. Good move to release it without supporting Firefox. The only thing I can think of, besides stupidity, is that the publicity of such a bonehead move will be good for business.

Tucows' reputation is slipping away

Its so disappointing when a large download site like Tucows treats developers so badly. They seem to be focused on only publishing software that has paid the price for inclusion into their library and totally ignoring the users who can't afford the price and must wait in the queue.

How do I know this?
Because I have had applications in the queue for over 4 months now without moving up a single spot (they tell you your position in the queue).

Tucows, remember its the developers that submit thier software without paying the fees that help build up the site and its library. You are only able to charge because of the library that we built up.

Let your subconscious do the thinking

How to solve problems: let your subconscious do the thinking: "Although I'm not consciously thinking about it, it percolates away in my subconscious, and a solution often announces itself when I least expect it."

I do this all the time. Something else that I do to assist in the subconscious assisting in solving a problem is think of the problem as I go to sleep. I wait until I'm in that state where I am almost asleep and then start to think of it. You would be surprised how many times a solution comes to mind either just prior to sleep or during the night. Just make sure you write things down right away as most likely will not remember in the morning. Works great.

What about your browser?

The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all. They have a test that will tell you if the browser you are using is a web standards compliant browser. Not sure how accurate the information is or whether it matters all that much as IE and Firefox are both, according to the test, not compliant.

I had bookmarked this expecting to write a lot more about the test, others tests, and something about validating web pages but I lost interest so this is all you get.

IE7 Beta 2 shot for shot

A screenshot view of IE7 Beta 2

Matisyahu: This is what I am currently stuck on.

For the past few weeks I have been hooked on the Matisyahu - Live at Stubbs CD. Its a strange mix of reggea, jewish, spoken-word sorta a thing. Check it out and post your comments.

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/...

Google SketchUp Free for You

Developed for the conceptual stages of design, SketchUp is powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software. We think of it as the pencil of digital design. This award-winning software combines a simple, yet robust tool-set that streamlines and simplifies 3D design inside your computer. SketchUp is being used by anyone with the desire to.

Simple enough.

Link:
http://www.sketchup.com/

Tetris Final Game Challenge

YouTube - Tetris Final Game Challenge: You have gotta be kidding me. Trust me you have never seen anyone play tetris like this.

Watch and be impressed.

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKZrXvj5daQ

Colors on the web

Colors on the Web is a new website that has one purpose and one purpose only: talk about colors and how they pertain to website designs. This site is new so there may be some missing information but what information that do have is very well layed out, informative, and generally just done right.

Topics covered:

• color theory
• the color wheel
• color combinations
• color physics
• color psychology
• how to create a great color scheme for your website

Good job! Looking forward to the future of this website.

Link:
http://www.colorsontheweb.com/

Yahoo! Go - TV - What Is It?

Yahoo! Go - TV - What Is It?: "Now you can take Yahoo! off your computer and put it in your living room for everyone to see. View photos, search for video clips and watch movie trailers on your TV. Plus, your own digital video recorder (DVR) lets you record and watch your favorite shows anytime for free."

This can be huge money saving options over the standard DVR. Why not use your computer for more than browsing the internet.

Link:
http://go.connect.yahoo.com/go/tv/index

Three online business helpers

SimpleTicket:
SimpleTicket was designed to facilitate the support of our client’s computers and networks. It has been specifically designed for IT support companies who service multiple small business clients; however, it can easily be used by a company’s internal IT staff to support a single client with hundreds of users.

Link:
http://www.simpleticket.net


Blinksale:
Blinksale is perfect for anyone who needs to invoice clients for services or products sold. Blinksale is an excellent choice for attorneys, accountants, designers, IT professionals, software developers, journalists, contractors, engineers, architects, videographers, and more. Basically, if you need to send invoices.

Link:
http://www.blinksale.com


SimplyBill:
Simplybill brings simple invoice management to all. Instead of wrestling with overly complex accounting software or trying to mash-up a spreadsheet into some sort of design, begin sending attractive invoices in minutes.

Link:
http://simplybill.com/

All of the above are worth checking out and may just be the right solution for you.

How big is big: 750GB hard drive

Seagate Launches 750GB Hard Drive: "Seagate on Wednesday introduced its Barracuda 7200.10, the first computer desktop hard disk to reach the 750-gigabyte storage mark. The drive, with a retail price of $559 USD, is 50 percent larger than the previous 500-gigabyte marker leader."

Link:
http://.../Seagate_Launches_750GB_Hard_Drive/

Microsoft is scanning your system without your knowledge

MS Scanning Your System: "Microsoft today began expanding its anti-piracy program by quietly pushing out a software update that in many cases automatically scans Windows computers and reports on whether they are powered by unlicensed software"

Bound to happen...

Link:
http://.../microsoft_expands_antipiracy_p.html

New Site Launched by MS: Add-Ons for IE7

Add-Ons for Microsoft Internet Explorer: "Browser add-ons can help personalize the way you use the Internet. The add-ons available here have been carefully screened by Microsoft and rated by users to help you select the ones that suit your needs and preferences. Start exploring them today."

Link:
http://www.ieaddons.com

Tilt-shift photo effect

Mini - a photoset on Flickr: "For certain types of images, a narrow depth of field can make a real scene appear to be artificial, ie a miniature or model."

Take a look at this. I have never heard of this effect before but the results are quite amazing.

Mind Map of Linux distributions

Mind Map of Linux distributions - Version 2: "mind map of GNU/Linux with even more Linux distributions included and some color coding thrown in as well."

Coming to a sheep near you

Advertiser Counts on Sheep to Pull Eyes Over the Wool: "These ads are walking, woolly flocks of bleating sheep. Early this month, Hotels.nl, a Dutch online reservations company, began displaying its corporate logo on royal blue waterproof blankets worn by sheep."

I love it.

IE 7 Beta 2 available

Go ahead give the new IE 7 beta release a try and then go right back to using Firefox.

Like always don't install this on your main system becuase you just never know. Here is a list of possible issues and problems you may encounter with this release.

Link:
http://.../ie/downloads/default.mspx

Get Yahoo Mail Beta

Get Yahoo Mail Beta: "To get Yahoo Mail Beta, just switch your content preference to Germany, France or UK. Then you will be asked if you want to join the beta when you log into your Yahoo Mail. Say yes, and join the beta."

Its slow, its different, yup its a beta alright. This is so slow and there is a noticeable pause between clicking anything - very annoying. There is a very handy right-click menu for email messages. They need to speed this thing up...

Link:
http://.../get-yahoo-mail-beta.html

This is not web 2.0

Design for 2.0 thinks they have designed a web 2.0 looking website, think again. If anything this may be web .2 looking.

Where's that reset button, someone needs to try again.

When it comes to navigation, CSS is the right way

By now you should have dropped that bloated, poorly coded, and sometimes not support Javascript or Flash navigation for a CSS Navigation Techniques. Very nice showcase of common CSS techniques.

Link:
http://.../css-navigation-techniques-showcase.php

Yes you can access Google Email (Gmail) from Outlook

Access your Google Mail from Outlook.

Not only Outlook but:

• BlackBerry Internet Service ™
• Entourage 2004
• Foxmail 5.0
• Eudora 5.1 (Sponsored & Paid Modes)
• Netscape 7
• The Bat! v3.62 Professional Edition
• Entourage X
• Eudora 5.1 (Light Mode)
• SnapperMail
• Thunderbird 0.x
• Mozilla 1.7

Basically anything that supports a POP mail server.

USA National Gas Temperature Map

USA National Gas Temperature Map: "Now you can see what gas prices are around the country at a glance. Areas are color coded according to their price for the average price for regular unleaded gasoline."

Nice and clear, I think. Since I'm colorblind who knows.

Link:
http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_gastemperaturemap.aspx

WannaSpell.com

WannaSpell.com - I spent the entire time in one of the rooms preventing others from spelling anything. That was more fun then spelling CAT or DOG.

Top 10 Windows XP Tips Of All Time

Top 10 Windows XP Tips Of All Time "Despite all the hoopla about the introduction of Windows Vista, the truth of the matter is that the new OS isn't due for at least another seven to nine months — and it will probably be even longer before most of us start adopting it. Meanwhile, we've still got to deal with Win XP."

What is a Swicki?

"A swicki is new kind of search engine that allows anyone to create deep, focused searches on topics you care about. Unlike other search engines, you and your community have total control over the results and it uses the wisdom of crowds to improve search results."

Link:
http://swicki.eurekster.com/

Add another to the pile

ajaxXLS is a web-based viewer application with a look and feel similar to Microsoft Excel. With one click you can easily open any .xls file in just a few seconds.

Yawn....

Link:
http://www.ajaxxls.com/

Microsoft Web Feed Directory

Very Nice. Microsoft has finally released a centralized location for all MS feeds. With search capabilities, featured web feeds, recently added feeds, and a layout that works in Firefox, I say good job Microsoft.

Link:
http://labs.communities.microsoft.com/rss/default.aspx

Video Game Development Team

Video Game Development Team "Have you ever wanted to be in control of your own development studio?"

Yeah right. Spend 200K and not even have a completed product. Sure, let me get my checkbook.

I Invented ... the Apple Logo

I Invented ... the Apple Logo: "I just put colors where I thought they should be"

Easy disposable email addresses with Gmail

Ok, so you have come across a website that requires an email address to signup and verify but you don't want to use any of you permanent email addresses. Well, this is where is a disposable email address comes into play. In the past I have discussed a service like Mailinator where you can create a temporary email address to use. But what if you want to keep a copy of the email and you want it grouped with all your other emails and you happen to use Gmail? You are in luck!.

Follow these steps (very complicated)

1. Use your existing Gmail email address except add a +[name] before the @ to seperate it out

So if your existing email address is MyEmail@gmail.com you can create;

• MyEmail+Temp@gmail.com
• MyEmail+Spam@gmail.com

Get it?.................Good.

A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab

A Tour of Microsoft's Mac Lab: "The Mac Lab is about 2000 square feet of solid computers"

This is a must see post...

Link:
http://.../tour-of-microsofts-mac-lab.html

If it was only a bit cheaper

WinInternal Administrator's Pak is an amazing suite of tools for those who get stuck repairing everyone and their friends computers. This is one of, if not the best, comprensive tool suites around for repairing all sorts of system issues. I can see why Geek Squad basically is stealing licenses of this suite and using it to repair systems they come across. Now if the price was a bit cheaper I could get my hand on the suite to test it but for the price its something I can't afford - even though for those in the IT business I'm sure its well work the price. (wish I could get a license for this).

Administrator's Pak is a complete suite of powerful, versatile tools that allow you to repair unbootable or locked-out systems, restore lost data, remove malware from infected systems while the system is safely offline using your existing antivirus software, and diagnose system and network issues.

Watch the Flash Demo - simply fantastic.

Link:
http://www.winternals.com/Products/AdministratorsPak/Default.aspx

Latest website design from Veign

I happy to announce the latest website design from Veign (me) of the Florence & Hutcheson website. This site is a huge improvement over their previous site and I think better reflects the professionalism of the company.

Link:
http://www.veign.com/dev_web_portfolio.asp

ZoomIt is simple and useful and newer

ZoomIt is screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations. The new version contains some small enhancements and fixes.

Link:
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/zoomit.html

Google's New Search Screens Exposed

Google's New Search Screens Exposed: "In an effort to beef up their search results, and usability, Google is rumored to be experimenting with their results pages."

I think this is one of a few things that Google can do to increase the usability of the results.

Comparing the Mapping Services

Comparing the Mapping Services: "We looked at all five of the current map services and examined their features and performance."

Link:
http://.../comparing-the-mapping-services/

MS Patch Snafu Grows, Users Seek Workaround

Microsoft Patch Snafu Grows, Users Seek Workaround: "The snafu involving one of Microsoft's recent security patches continued to grow as the developer acknowledged new incompatibility problems with some video drivers and users on the company's forums complained about having to uninstall the fix or resort to unsanctioned repairs."

Link:
http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/185303742

My favorite game when I was in school

Aside from the Atari 2600 Conan: Hall of Volta was probably my favorite game when I was in school. It was a puzzle type game and very addicting. Wish I could find an emulated version of this game but no luck...

Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan:_Hall_of_Volta

Atari 2600:
http://.../atari-2600-most-peoples-first-home.html

Is ZoHo what the future is for software and the internet?

You decide. They seem to have a decent base for online applications (applications that remove the software from the users computer and run off the internet). My feeling is this direction may be good for document collaboration, low-cost (if any) startup for an office suite for some users, and maybe mom-and-pop computer user but for users like me its not something that is attractive. I prefer to have control over patches to software, software upgrades, locations where my documents have traveled**. Who knows, maybe I will be in the future minority on this one.

Link:
http://www.zoho.com/


** - Even though the documents will reside on your system I still see them possibly traveling to the server for certain functions and features of the host application.

List of free computer programming online books

A very comprehensive list of free, online books for all kinds of programming languages.

Books in topics of:

• General Programming
• Ada
• Algorithms
• Assembly
• C | C++ | C#
• CGI
• COBOL
• Databases
• Delphi/Pascal
• Fortran
• HTML
• Java
• Javascript
• Linux
• Lisp
• Open Source
• Perl
• PHP
• Prolog
• Python
• Ruby
• Samba
• SQL
• UNIX
• Visual Basic and VB.net
• XML
• Misc. stuff that is worth reading

Link:
http://121space.com/index.php?showtopic=906

A new blog every second

On Blogosphere Growth: "Technorati currently tracks 35.3 Million weblogs, and the blogosphere we track continues to double about every 6 months"

With all those blogs it's surprising some ever get found let alone become what you can consider popular. I still spend a lot of time thinking on how I can increase the exposure of this blog - comments welcomed...

Link:
http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000432.html

Fixya brand based Troubleshooting and Support source

Fixya is the largest brand based Troubleshooting and Support source on the web. Fixya allows you to find any consumer product support information in a single and easy to use location.

Through its accumulated knowledge base, Fixya brings you the best solution for any problem on every consumer product out there. The site's unique solution rating mechanism, allows users to solve their product problem by learning from the experience of other users who successfully solved the same problem in the past.

Use in conjunction with Partstore and repairing something could be easier than ever.

Link:
http://www.fixya.com

Need a new XP desktop image

I know there are lots of desktop images sites around but this one specializes in XP designed images.

Link:
http://...set_albumName=XP&page=1

The Incredibles ASCII movie clip

This is freakin sweet: ASCII movie clip

(may be slow to load)

Coke Blak destined for the New Coke shelf

I tried Coke Blak for the first time today and it is just bad. Its kinda like Coke with a coffee twist. This drink will be on the shelf next to New Coke very soon. Its doesn't taste good, is too expensive ($1.80 for 8oz) , and other drinks in this class are much better.


I'll stick with Starbuck's Doubleshot for a quick energy drink.

Google Maps adds dragging window

Google Maps adds a new dragging window that makes exploring large areas much, much easier. Look in the bottom right...

Happy Easter!

I want a Freeware Utility to...

I want a Freeware Utility to ... 300+ common problems solved: "Extremely useful free utilities that do specific jobs really well and save time and money."

Very interesting way to present a freeware software list.

Link:
http://.../i-want-freeware-utilities/index.html

(I know I said I would never post another freeware list but my blog, my rules, and this deserves a post)

A sign of the UMPC future

Samsung Q1 UMPC befuddles top execs during demo: "In what must have been a liveblogger's dream press conference at Seoul's Grand InterContinental hotel earlier this week, not one, not two, but all three of the hardware and software executives using Samsung's Q1 UMPC for their presentations managed to experience technical difficulties with the device"

Lets hope not since I really, really want one...

Grab an entire website and browse offline

Most people use application like WebReaper and HTTrack to download an entire website for offline browsing but not me. I use them to snoop around and see how others structure their website, download all the code support files (like JavaScript files), and to grab all the graphic files and pages in one swift swoop.

You would be surpised how useful website copiers, offline browsers, or what ever you want to call them, can be. The two I've listed are the best freeware ones I could find...

WebReaper:
http://www.webreaper.net/

HTTrack:
http://www.httrack.com/page/2/en/index.html

Battle for Wesnoth

Battle for Wesnoth: "The Battle for Wesnoth is a free, turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme. Fight a desperate battle to reclaim the throne of Wesnoth, or take hand in any number of other adventures"

I have been hearing quite a bit of buzz about this game lately so I thought I would pass it along. Now if I just had some time to check it out...

Link:
http://www.wesnoth.org/

So, your sick of the slow and bloated Adobe Acrobat

Then your lucky as Foxit Reader is a free reader for PDF documents. You can view and print PDF documents with it.

It is blazing fast and does the job quite well.

Link:
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

You can run but you can't hide

Not sure I agree with a parents using the new service from Sprint - Family Locator. I think kids need a certain amount of trusted freedom. I did things my parents wouldn't be proud of, I was at places I shouldn't have been but I turned out great because of the values they instilled in me. I think in the end I am stronger and better for the things *I choose* to go through...

Firefox v1.5.0.2 released

Firefox v1.5.0.2 has been released and can be found on the Mozilla FTP sites. May take a few hours to be put on the public site but it is coming.

Download:
http://releases.mozilla.org/...

Windows Desktop Search 2.6.5 Released

"Windows Desktop Search (WDS) helps you find virtually anything on your PC or your networked drives including e-mail messages, calendar appointments, documents, and more."

Read about what triggered this release.

Download:
http://www.microsoft.com/...

Why XP Home?

Averatec touts 3G, Wi-Fi UMPC: "Notebook specialist Averatec will ship its take on the ultra-mobile PC concept this autumn, offering a handheld Windows XP Home Edition-based machine with a keyboard that sits underneath a slide-out 5in, 1,280 x 1,204 touch-sensitive screen."

I think its a waste to ship it with XP home. Most people that would spend money on such a small PC would be power users (don't think mom and pop would spend a grand on a UMPC). Give that, why not out WinXP Pro on it? Come on Averatec, think!

Windows Live OneCare

Windows Live OneCare is an automatically self-updating PC care service that runs quietly in the background. It helps give you persistent protection against viruses, hackers, and other threats, and helps keep your PC tuned up and your important documents backed up.

This will be a great application / service for all you who are too busy to protect your system.

Link:
http://ideas.live.com/...

Wheee!

Firefox Flicks: Wheee!

This is too funny....

Google Calendar launches!

Google Calendar finally launches. Heard it here first!

Points:

• Can tie events to Google Maps for quickly locating a location
• Can create public or private calendar events
• Can search your calendar or public calendars (say to keep up with a sports team or band)
• Can create and manage multiple calendars under a single account
• Quickly add holidays to your calendar by choosing the countries holidays to add
• Can share your calendar with people on your email share list
• Create agenda lists
• SMS, Email or Popup alerts
• 'Notify me on my cell phone' options
  

What's missing (or I have missed)

• A way to sync Outlook with the calendar (Found it - this is supported)
  
• Some sort of export function (say to CSV)

Link:
http://calendar.google.com/

Photo2Search: Explore the Real World via Camera Phone

Photo2Search: Explore the Real World via Camera Phone: "Photo2Search works like this: Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information—whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object—to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase."

Searching for the net's big thing

"every time you search on Google, the company makes 12 cents in revenue.

That may not sound like much but it all adds up when you realise that Americans alone did more than 2.7 billion searches via Google in January 2006, according to figures gathered by Nielsen/NetRatings."

That's alotta cash.

Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4780648.stm

Windows Live Academic launched by MS

"Academic search enables you to search for peer reviewed journal articles contained in journal publisher portals and on the web in locations like citeseer.

Academic search works with libraries and institutions to search and provide access to subscription content for their members. Access restricted resources include subscription services or premium peer-reviewed journals. You may be able to access restricted content through your library or institution."

Link:
http://academic.live.com/

Monitor your network (professionaly)

Professionaly and free with these two open source application: Zabbix and Nagios.

ZABBIX offers advanced monitoring, alerting and visualisation features today which are missing in other monitoring systems, even some of the best commercial ones.
http://www.zabbix.com/

Nagios is an open source host, service and network monitoring program.
http://www.nagios.org/

Will Self-Destruct

You can create a secure anonymous email message to a friend or colleague by entering their e-mail address and the message, i.e. sending a password or other sensitive information that you don't want other people to see.

The recipient will receive an e-mail with a link to a one-time secure web page which they will be able to view once and only once. Once the url has been accessed the message is deleted. You may enter your email address or just simply your name if you wish. If you do not enter an email address or name your identity will be anonymous to the message recipient.

Its secure in the sense that they won't store the information beyond what you tell them. You can to them to let the information be viewed once, viewed once for only a brief period of time, or multiple times. The issue is there is no SSL (padlock at the bottom of the browser) so the information is not being sent encrypted.

A great idea with lots of potential but they have some work to do to give more confidence to the user as to the secure aspect.

Link:
http://willselfdestruct.com

See the Page Rank of all links in a page

Webmaster Eyes: "Browse the web and see the Page Rank of all links in a page"

Makes finding out the PR of many pages very easy. Just another way to get information and good for SEO.

Link:
http://www.webmastereyes.com/

Did you notice the change?

Got a little bored tonight and decided to finally change the look of the blog. I have always thought the other one was too dark and wanted something a bit lighter.

Comments? Better / Worse?

IE users be warned about the latest updates

The latest updates via Window Update will change the way IE handles pages with ActiveX controls. Make sure you read the article and be prepared.

"So when we release the next cumulative IE security update, customers will only be able to interact with Microsoft ActiveX controls loaded in certain web pages after manually activating their user interfaces by clicking on it or using the TAB key and ENTER key. "

Link:
http://.../423560.aspx

United States Patent: 7,027,987

United States Patent: 7,027,987: "A system provides search results from a voice search query"

Big surprise, its from Google.

Hacking Google Analytics

See just how easy it could be to Hacking Google Analytics. When they say hacking they more mean: screwing with the stats of someones site as seen through Google Analytics.

Sure there is a fix using Inlcude and Exclude filters but really how many people will use these or know how to implement them?

This could be a new way to spam your sites name - imagine pushing your site or page name into the web stats of 1000's or 10,000's of people. I know I always check out pages that look questionable or don't seem right in my stats. I probably just gave someone an idea - enjoy!

Link:
http://terrill.ca/posts/google_analytics.html

The Successful Home Freelancer's Guide

Fire your Boss! The Successful Home Freelancer's Guide: "Most people, at one time or another, have a job that rewards their time and effort with wages or salaries. An increasing number of people, however, are becoming dissatisfied with that time-and-effort economy and seek the greater rewards that a results economy can provide."

Be warned: It's not easy and life as you know it will change. There is no getting away from the job and everything must be handled by you, at least in the beginning (accounting, sales, marketing, company development, and work on projects).

My Points:

• Make sure you love your work or be somewhat obsessed with it. The best consultants / freelancers have a weird obsession with their work.
• Make sure you set time aside to work on the business as well as work in the business.
• Relax everyonce in a while. Its really hard to get away from work but you need to step back and breath or you will go crazy.
  
• Setup your accounting software (or accountant) early. Makes life a lot easier. I use Quickbooks.
• Website, website, website. A professional website gives clients confidence. That's what selling is all about - building confidence.
  
• Get all your legal forms and business forms developed. Having these forms created and branded will make you look more professional
• Start selling right away. Don't spend too much time developing a foundation for a business. You can't have a business without clients.
• Read E-Myth.
• Check out some of the links I compiled awhile back.

Link:
http://.../fire-your-boss-home-freelance

Patch Tuesday

It's Patch Tuesday and MS has released quite a few updates for IE, Outlook Express and WinXP. Make sure to hop on over to Windows Update and get patched.

Link:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, and Windows ME Support ends on July 11, 2006

Support ends on July 11, 2006: "Support for Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows Millennium Edition (Me) ends on July 11, 2006. Microsoft will end public and technical support by this date. This also includes security updates. Microsoft is providing final notifications to customers to end the extended security update support for these products."

Say goodbye. Thank god!

Link:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifean18

Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye: Maybe you will find this a bit more interesting than I do (give it a sec, its live)...

Pageflakes

Pageflakes: "Your personalized startpage to the Web!
Read blogs and news, check your email, start Web searches, store notes, access your Del.icio.us bookmarks and much, much more. Everything is conveniently accessible from any computer and from one page!"

Now if I can just get off my ass to try one of these websites out I know it could save me some hassle. Its shocking how many sites I check daily and how many tech blogs, download sites, newsgroups, forums, and news sources that I constantly monitor.

Donationware, my choice

Not sure why I am even posting this but I am.

If you look at most of my applications they are donationware. The reason for this is I always wanted to give my applications away for free but due to the cost of bandwidth and the shear amount of time I spend developing I needed to defray the costs a bit. I thought the idea of Donationware, as brought to my attention through DonationCoder, could give me the best of both worlds. Bring some money in and allow my users to get the application for a cost that they think is fair.

In my mind the Donationware software model has been the right choice for me.

My Software:
http://www.veign.com/download_main.asp

DonationCoder:
http://www.donationcoder.com/index.html

Be sure to stop by the Forums of DonationCoder. There are a ton of good things happening over their. They offer some of the best software reviews around.

One site, many checks

One centralized location to check a website from the inside out.

Link:
http://uitest.com/en/check/results/

Making the Switch from Microsoft to FREE!

Making the Switch from Microsoft to FREE!: "A list of Very good Operating Systems and a nice sized list of FREE (except when noted) software."

For most average, and even above average, users the cost of entry if low (free) but to find support, especially for the OS, will be expensive. IMO MS is still a far cheaper solution in the long run....

Google Dark

Google Dark

Too depressing to look at for long periods of time.

This May Help Your Firefox Memory Leak

This May Help Your Firefox Memory Leak: "Now, this is by no means a REAL fix for the Firefox memory leak, but it certainly does appear to help it quite a bit. This little fix will move Firefox to your hard drive when you minimize it, and as a result it will take up less than 10MB of memory while minimized"

She Wants GoogleNet Now!

I Want GoogleNet Now!

Instead of writing my own blog post about this check out Sara in Tampa.

Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine

The Anatomy of a Search Engine: "In this paper, we present Google, a prototype of a large-scale search engine which makes heavy use of the structure present in hypertext. Google is designed to crawl and index the Web efficiently and produce much more satisfying search results than existing systems."

This is what started Google.

Very interesting read, expecially for anyone doing anything with SEO.

Link:
http://www-db.stanford.edu/~backrub/google.html

Strider Typo-Patrol Project

Strider Typo-Patrol Project: "In the Strider Typo-Patrol project, we develop an automated scanning system for discovering and analyzing typo-squatting domains. We show that a large number of such domains are parked with domain parking services to take advantage of their effective contextual-ads infrastructures. We also show that, by analyzing the ads-fetching traffic sent from typo domains to parking services, we are able to identify major typo-squatters and domain parking services that are heavily involved in large-scale, systematic typo-squatting, as well as those that are serving adult ads harmful to minors on typos of children’s web sites"

MS is always working on something and its pretty interesting to check out their Research website. Just never know what you will find.

Another quick version of Pixeur released

Pixeur is the ultimate in a Color Picker / Color Selector application.


Whats new:

• Added Auto Set Clipboard. If the CTRL key is pressed when selecting a color then the HEX value is automatically copied to the clipboard
• Added ability to double-click a color in the local color scheme and set the color
• Added F1 message box to give some help information
• Added ability to drag and drop a color from the color scheme to the history

Check it out and please let me know what you think..

Link:
http://www.veign.com/download_app.asp?app=107

ThinkAll.com on Rip Off Report

The word is starting to get out of the scam that ThinkAll.com is doing with its so called free cd's. There are now reports on RipOffReport.com (1, 2) as to the underhanded business practices.

Stay away from from ThinkAll.com and make sure you check your credit card statements as there may be unwanted charges.

This company makes me sick!

Link to the story:
http://.../thinkallcom-think-again.html

Ten video sharing services compared

Ten video sharing services compared: "The number of video-sharing sites has shot through the roof recently, as dozens of companies try to become the Flickr of the online video world. To this end, many video services have started offering new features like editing and remixability in an attempt to snatch a piece of the ever-expanding online video pie. "

Google Romance?

Google Romance

How long is this joke gonna be around for?

You have questions, they have answers

Came across a new question / answer site called QuestionVille. Kinda like Yahoo! Answers except with a very web 1.0 feel - UI design needs a major overhaul.

I find the sites boring to read, slow to answer (why wait when you have Google), and generally just a place for kids to screw off in (lame questions).

Microsoft Outlook Phone Number Converter

Microsoft Outlook Phone Number Converter: "This download updates Russian phone number area codes in your Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 and Microsoft Outlook 2002 contacts."

I'll take two, thank you!

One of those little apps everyone should run

Quick Access Info bar is one of those applications.

As many as 20 to 30 processes may be running invisibly, silently in the background on your PC. Some hog system resources drastically slowing down your computer; others are a threat to security and privacy; others may be harmless.

The Windows Task Manager displays most of these processes but you have no information to learn and understand what is what.

That's where Quick Access Info comes in. This little application lets you quickly search the Process Library to get information on the processes that your computer is currently running. This is a great to find out if your system is running any kind of malware.

If you think the Task Manager is too technical of a place for you to be then you may be right. But think about the person that has to fix your system. This little application could make their life that much easier.

Link:
http://www.processlibrary.com/quickaccess/

The smartest robot pet yet

The smartest robot pet yet: "everything about the one-week-old Camarasaurus is very unrobotic. Its movements are fluid, not rigid; its actions are seemingly spontaneous and unprogrammed; and its skin is smooth, seamless and stretchy."

Link:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/...

Google Toolbar for Firefox v2.0 Beta

Google Toolbar for Firefox v2.0 Beta

Is everything going to be online?

I guess the days of a heavy desktop will someday be long gone. The future is a centralized application pool that users share, whether in a corporate intranet or a more public internet site. It seems everything will slowly be pushed to the browser. Only thing on your computer will be some cryptic cookies for settings and your data and of course Firefox.

Why not? What's stopping it? Bandwidth? I read an article where they pushed the equivalent of 60 DVD's / sec across a wire - that's fast. Hard drive space? Please...enough of that to go around. At some point the main bottleneck for this will not be the network connection.

Here's the start:

• Online Picture Editor with Pixoh
• Online Video Editing with JumpCut
• Online Calendar with 30 Boxes
• Online Word Processor with Writely
  

There are hundreds of online applications that can take the place of desktop applications and I really don't feel like creating a master list. This was more to point out the larger applications being created...

Group Calendar for Outlook

Share Outlook schedules in a group calendar and create appointments for others. Thats basically what Group Calendar does. Could be a great add-in for organizations where you need to share you schedule across multiple users.

Link:
http://www.group-calendar.com/

Wow Winzip has made alot of money

WinZip's revenue information

Free WiFi hot spots

Free-hotspot.com is an online destination for mobile professionals and computer enthusiasts seeking to locate and connect to FREE HotSpots around the world.

Very accurate for my location...

Link:
http://www.free-hotspot.com/

Google Real Estate

Google is expanding once again and now its into Real Estate type results.

Click this link:
http://...r=&q=homes+for+sale&btnG=Search

Then enter some information in the Refine Your Search area near the top. See the new results. Cool.

Firefox enters the double-digit market share!

For the first time Firefox hits 10% market share.

Congrats!

How I Work: Bill Gates

How I Work: Bill Gates: "If you look at this office, there isn't much paper in it. On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity."

Quick SEO Links

Just because a client asked I thought I would also share.

SEO Links:
http://www.seomoz.org/
http://www.highrankings.com/forum/
http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html

SEO and META Tags:
http://www.seomoz.org/articles/search-ranking-factors.php
The meta description tag is almost completely outdated in markup, but is still useful for describing your page accurately to the search engines. In some cases, the engines may even use this tag as the description of your site in the results page listings, giving you greater control over your content and message. It is questionable, however, that keyword use in this tag has any influence, whatsoever, in affecting the rankings.

Optimizing Firefox

Optimizing Firefox: "It's empowering to tweak your browser as you see fit, but the price often comes in the form of slower performance and memory hogging. Though Firefox has long been accused of leaking memory, there are simple ways to reduce RAM usage and increase speed. Here are a few extensions and tips designed to lighten your load."

Exntension and the customizations is what, IMO, makes Firefix an excellent browser. Its seems if there is something you need to make life easier than someone has probably written and extension to do it.

My current extension list:

• Adblock
• BlogThis
• Flashblock
• Google Toolbar for Firefox
• IE Tab
• ListZilla
• Live HTTP Headers
• Resize Search Box
• Sage
• Tabbrowser Preferences
• Viamatic foXpose
• Web Developer
• Who Is This Person?

Link:
http://www.download.com/Optimizing-Firefox/...

Get started with Google AdSense

A well compiled Flash tutorial on getting started with AdSense.

Link:
http://services.google.com/.../gettingstarted/...

19 is enough

Orbox B

What happend to Urchin stats?

I knew about Google Analytics and its use of Urchin stats as its primary reporting tool but I didn't know that Urchin seems to be missing.

Urchin.com now redirects to the Google Analytic site.

Hmm.

30 Gigs

30Gigs.com started off with the idea of creating a "All in one" site for the webmaster and avid computer users. Combining personal file storage, GD2 signatures and anonymous email all in one service, which would be free. Our main goal is to provide as much space as possible for today's webmail users where tons of storage space is needed.

The thing I find hard is to get away from the offerings of Google. Just seems that as Google grows it gains revenue, which buys top developers, which develops better web applications, which prevents smaller companies from getting the traffic to help build their site. How can you compete with Google if they choose to develop it.

Link:
http://30gigs.com/

Open Source is a valuable resource

I use Open Source software for many, many solutions. I'm often amazed at the effort developers will put into an Open Source Project. SourceForge is the probably the top site for watching some of the best open source projects around. Check out the Software Map for easily locating what's going on.

Resuming Normality

Maybe. After another day of outages on the server and trying to get all my domains up and running again I heop to get back into the swing of things shortly.

Is it so hard to just have a website work. Dedicated Server maybe around the corner...

Interesting Flash effects

And who says Flash can't be cool?

Link:
http://www.andyfoulds.co.uk/flash_design.html

Stay connected to your family?

"Cingo is a simple, easy and powerful new way to experience the internet and organize your family in one great location!

From the clean, uncluttered home page to feature-rich sections such as News, Movie Listings, and Shared Calendar and To-Do Lists, Cingo helps your family to easily stay connected online. "

I was going to try this out and really give it a go but I am so sick and tired of creating accounts just to try something in Beta. If these sites want to attract more users then offer a demo where I can click around and see what its all about - or at least a comprehensive screenshot archive. Everytime I see a site like this, with no demo or screenshots, and they force you to create an account to try out, I always think something is up and they are more concerned with collecting your information then pushing their product (probably not the case)

Link:
http://www.cingo.com

Virtual Wingman

Virtual Wingman:
"What is the Virtual Wingman service?!?

Mix one part e-greeting card, one part relationship counselor, and one part those old MadLibs books your parents would give you to keep you quiet in the back seat during road trips and you've got the Internet's greatest new time waster!

Wanna send an anonymous note to that hottie you met last weekend? Did you accidentally shrink your boyfriend's old college sweatshirt (but can't think of the right way to tell him)? Fill out our simple survey, and our award-winning writers and comedians will do your dirty work."

Strange...

If anyone has the time to try the service out I would love to get an example of the email that was written and sent. As of now I just haven't got the imagination to come up with anything. Probably be pretty sad to send an email to myself - did I say that out loud?

Link:
http://www.arrivistepress.com/.../

Web activated telephony

You can setup a call between two numbers but not too sure of the implications of using such a service. I think a lot of people would use this to prank people by having the numbers call each other and appear that each person called the other.

I tried it and it does work but it seems kinda dangerous to enter your phone numbers.

I wasn't going to post this but what the hell. Try at your own risk...

Link:
http://jajah.com

Visually compare search results between Yahoo! and Google.

Compare results between Yahoo! and Google provides a visuall representation between common results found in Google and Yahoo and their placement.

This is truely cool...

Link:
http://.../yahoo-vs-google.html?q=veign

Worst tech of 2006 (so far)

Worst tech of 2006 (so far):

Who would in their right mind would install Kazaa? From the Worst Tech List:
"The latest version of Kazaa's P2P file-sharing app is loaded with all the fixin's! Unfortunately, those fixin's include system-gumming spyware, ridiculous flashing ads, and useless toolbars."

That is one dangerous application. I can't believe its lasted this long. (check out this...sssshhhh you didn't hear it from me!)

Link:
http://www.cnet.com/...