Commodore VIC-20: My first computer

(as found on Consumerist)

Google to bid on 700MHz spectrum

Google's interest in the 700MHz spectrum auction has not been a secret. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said back in August that the company would "probably" bid in the auction, and Google announced several weeks ago that it was preparing all the necessary materials to make a bid. Now, at last, Google is making it officially official.

Google Phone, Google Broadband. Its all coming...

Link:
http://...-really-truly-official-google-to-bid-on-700mhz-spectrum.html

150 free vector logos

We have a collection of over 100 free logos created by our designers available for download. As our collection is growing daily, be sure to check back often for more free logos.

Here's a few more:
http://.../create-logo-for-free-with-help-of-blank.html

Link:
http://www.bestcompanylogo.com/freelogos.php

This blog makes it into a Google blog directory

In a directory under:
Computers > Programming > Resources > Weblogs

Pretty cool. Hopefully this will help bring more traffic.

Link:
http://.../Top/Computers/Programming/Resources/Weblogs/

Google Maps Adds Terrain View

See more:
http://searchengineland.com/071127-110049.php

Computer forensics with Helix

Helix is a customized distribution of the Knoppix Live Linux CD. Helix is more than just a bootable live CD. You can still boot into a customized Linux environment that includes customized linux kernels, excellent hardware detection and many applications dedicated to Incident Response and Forensics.

Helix has been modified very carefully to NOT touch the host computer in any way and it is forensically sound. Helix wil not auto mount swap space, or auto mount any attached devices. Helix also has a special Windows autorun side for Incident Response and Forensics.

Link:
http://www.e-fense.com/helix/

Breakdown of a Google search result

Page Title: Usually pulled from the TITLE tag set on the page. Can also be pulled from the Open Directory Project's (DMOZ) title. Setting the META tag NOODP prevents the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) information being used and will default back to onpage information. Limit of 63 characters.

Snippet: Pulled from the page content or meta description. If the search keyword is located further down in a page Google may pull the snippet from within the page, around the keyword. If for some reason the page was not accessible then Google may pull the information from the Open Directory Project (DMOZ). Limit of approximately 156 characters.

Plus Box: Used to expand the information shown for a company. Examples of why a plus box is shown would be: Stock Information, Map of company address

Url: Url of where you will be taken when clicking the search result

Filesize: Size of the page you will be taken to.

Cached: A snapshot of the last time the page was crawled. Sometimes next to the Cached link will be an indicator of the time of last crawl (like 1 hour which means it was crawled one hour ago)

Similiar pages: Pages that are similiar to the page displayed in the search result

Note this: Saves the result in Google Notebook. Displayed when you are logged into Google.

Site links: A helpful list of links within a domain that a user may want to go to beyond the presented result from a keyword search. This is a completely algorithmic result (not done by hand or evaulated by a human).

More results: Provides a search result for your keyword that limits the search to within the domain of the search result.

- Digg it -

(as extracted from the video from Matt Cutts)

How PageRank Works & Why the Original PR Formula May be Flawed

Great article discussing how Google's PageRank works. If you're doing any SEO then you really should read and understand this article. Could help.

Link:
http://.../how-pagerank-works-original-pr-formula-may-be-flawed

Top 5 free tools to destroy your hard drive's data

Remove evidence or just remove information before giving away or trashing an old computer. You would be surprised at what can be recovered from your hard drive if the proper steps aren't taken to permanently erase the data. So, here's a few tools to help you destroy your data.

Darik's Boot and Nuke - A self-contained boot floppy (can be a bootable CD) that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction. I just got done using this application on an old laptop.

Eraser - Eraser is a secure data removal tool, which allows you to remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it with carefully selected patterns.

Secure Delete - Secure Delete allows you to specify a directory (and optionally all subdirectories) in which all files should be deleted. When each file is deleted the contents of the file are filled with random data prior to deleting the file.

Wipe [linux] - Wipe is a secure file wiping utility and listed by some as one of the best utilities for securely removing data from a hard drive.

Active KillDisk - A powerful and compact software that allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely, excluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. It's a hard drive and partition eraser utility.

stay tuned for a tool to get data from an erased hard drive...

WinXP SP3 - Another reason to stick with XP

Vista, which is now more than 2x slower than the most current builds of its older sibling. Suffice to say that performance-minded users will likely choose to stick with the now even speedier Windows XP [sp3]

The new laptop I ordered is coming with XP - just not worth the hassle of switching when XP, IMO, is still a great OS.

Link:
http://.../windows-xp-sp3-yields-performance-gains.html

10 Absolute "Nos!" for Freelancers

I have never agreed with one of these top 10 lists as much as I do with this one. If you are looking to be a freelance designer/developer you should really read this list and understand why what he says is so very true.

Have something to add that is not on the list? Leave a comment.

Link:
http://.../10-absolute-nos-for-freelancers.aspx

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Win a copy of Expression Studio

A fellow MS MVP is making available a full copy of Expression Studio for whoever submits the best video tutorial as it relates to Expression Web.

Give it a shot and you can even use the free copy of Camtasia to enter.

Link:
http://.../expression-video-contest/

Camtasia Studio v3.1 for free through TechSmith

We're excited that you're taking advantage of downloading Camtasia Studio 3.1.3 absolutely free. Camtasia is the complete professional solution for recording, editing and sharing high-quality screen videos. It's easy-to-use, affordable, and is the quickest and most effective way for you to communicate.

Its may not be the newest version but Camtasia is such a powerful program that using an older version may be good enough for a lot of uses.

Link to get license key:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

Download:
http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe

Does your browser pass the ACID2 test?

The ACID2 test is a test page to help browser developers test their browser to web standards.

My Quick Test:

• Firefox 2 - fails
• IE6 - fails bigtime
• Opera 9 - passes
• Safari (win) - passes

Link:
http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid2/

Firefox 3 beta 1 makes is debut

Mozilla announced the official release of Firefox 3 beta 1 early this morning. The first Firefox 3 beta, which is available for download from Mozilla's servers, offers some hot new features for users and web developers.

Link:
http://...afirst-look-at-firefox-3-beta-1.html

The theory to everything?

Now I understand...

New Adsense for YouTube videos

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Just testing this out

What is ActiveX (used in some websites)?

An ActiveX control is essentially a simple OLE object. Originally, ActiveX controls were called "OLE controls" and used a .ocx file extension. This was actually the second-generation component architecture. The first generation was the Visual Basic Controls (.vbx). OLE controls were renamed ActiveX and continue to use the .ocx extension. ActiveX controls enable a program to add functionality by calling ready-made components that blend in and appear as normal parts of the program. They are typically used to add user interface functions, such as 3D toolbars, a notepad, calculator or even a spreadsheet.

Read the full article:
http://.../introduction-to-activex-part-one.aspx

Changing the position of the desktop wallpaper through the registry

Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Change the value for the TileWallpaper and WallPaperstyle settings per below.

Stretch

• TileWallpaper = 0
• WallPaperstyle = 2

Tile

• TileWallpaper = 1
• WallPaperstyle = 0

Center

• TileWallpaper = 0
• WallPaperstyle = 0

Why you would want to do this, who knows. But since I recently answered someone who was looking to do this I thought I would let everyone know.

Amazon's Black Friday Ads

When you think about Black Friday ads don't forget about Amazon. Be sure to check out their deals and be much happier shopping from the comfort of you home.

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/b/?node=384082011...

The 10 Most Common SEO Mistakes

6. Poor titles and headers - Keyword tools are wonderful weapons. These are valuable for far more than SEO. Keyword tools tell you what language people use when referring to your products and services. Even in a world without web sites, this is something you would want to know. Then you need to make sure you have pages and content that addresses the major topic areas that relate to your business.

Read the entire list and learn a little which can go a long way.

Link:
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/071116-103407

How to Migrate Your Custom Domain’s Email to Google (And Maintain Your Addresses)

Google Apps allows those with their own domain to move their entire mail infrastructure to Google. That means keeping your email addresses exactly as they are today (e.g. daniel@dmiessler.com) while gaining the benefit of being hosted by Google. Here are a few advantages to consider:

Link:
http://.../how-to-migrate-your-custom-domains-email-to-google...

Safari 3.0.4 for Windows released

Apple released a pretty big update to the Safari 3 Beta browser for Windows this morning. One of the most notable additions is the spelling and grammar checking, which can be done inline if you so desire.

Link:
http://.../safari-304-for-windows-spelling-and-grammar-check/

Download Safari:
http://www.apple.com/safari/

Create a logo for free with help of blank templates

Create your own logos from free blank logo templates designs. We [LogoTemplater] are creating free blank logos templates and free vector art images in Adobe Illustrator EPS files for free download. Use our graphics designs for your website, company or MySpace icon graphics.

I figured I would give it a quick test and here's is a logo I did in 5min:

Before:

After:


Link:
http://www.logotemplater.com/

Mantis Bug Tracker

Mantis is a free popular web-based bugtracking system.

Link:
http://www.mantisbt.org/

Miro is a free video player that plays all

Quite simply, Miro is a free application for channels of internet video (also known as 'video podcasts and video rss). Miro is designed to be easy to use and to give you an elegant fullscreen viewing experience. There are thousands of free internet video channels that you can watch. You'll be able to download all the videos that each channel offers and when new ones are released, Miro will grab them automatically. Unlike tiny videos on websites like YouTube, Miro videos are usually very high quality and look great when watched full screen. Since Miro downloads videos completely before you watch, your videos will never skip or stutter while they are playing.

Link:
http://www.getmiro.com

Microformats

Designed for humans first and machines second, microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards.

Basically its small snippets of HTML code that better organizes and identifies data like people, addresses, events and such.

About:
http://microformats.org/about/

hCard Microformat Creator:
http://microformats.org/code/hcard/creator

Windows 7 "top feature request list" leaked to the public

With Windows still managing to find its way to over 95 percent of the desktop computers sold each year, it's not surprising that one can find plenty of people interested in giving their feedback about what future versions of Windows should be able to do. A few years ago, before Windows Vista had even shipped, Microsoft sent out a wish list form asking people what features they would like to see in the next version of Windows, currently code-named Windows 7. The top wished-for features in this list were recently leaked to the public and have popped up at various sites (e.g., Neowin). While anonymous sources at Microsoft tell us that they bear no relationship to the actual feature set Microsoft is currently writing for Windows 7, the list does provide interesting insight into what the Windows-using public most wants from Windows.

Link:
http://...early-windows-7-feature-list-leaked-to-the-public.html

9 1/2 Ways - To Get Customers to Open Your Direct Mail

A recent study by the Direct Marketing Association found that nearly 70% of consumers prefer to receive announcements and information on new products from companies they are familiar with via conventional mail, versus less than 20% who prefer e-mail pitches. But with so many companies sending out direct mail, even a carefully culled and targeted mailing list is often not enough. Here are some ways to ensure that your direct mail gets opened:

Interesting. Especially the item about using blue ink.

Link:
http://.../9andhalf_ward_mail.html

FastCGI Extension for IIS 6.0

The FastCGI Extension for Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 enables popular application frameworks (such as PHP) to be hosted on the IIS web server in a high-performance and reliable way.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...

HTTrack Website Copier

HTTrack allows you to download a World Wide Web site from the Internet to a local directory, building recursively all directories, getting HTML, images, and other files from the server to your computer. HTTrack arranges the original site's relative link-structure.

Link:
http://www.httrack.com/

as found through Nettech's Blog

IE Automatic Component Activation (Changes to IE ActiveX Update)

Back in April 2006, we made a change to how Internet Explorer handled embedded controls used on some webpages. Some sites required users to “click to activate” before they could interact with the control. Microsoft has now licensed the technologies from Eolas, removing the “click to activate” requirement in Internet Explorer. Because of this, we're removing the “click to activate” behavior from Internet Explorer!

It’s important (and cool) to note that this change will require no modifications to existing webpages, and no new actions for developers creating new pages. We are simply reverting to the old behavior. Once Internet Explorer is updated, all pages that currently require “click to activate” will no longer require the control to be activated. They’ll just work.

Link:
http://.../changes-to-ie-activex-update

Yazzle: Is it Spyware or Adware or Garbage?

Decide for yourself by reading this:
http://www.spywareremove.com/removeAdwareYazzle.html

Quote:

"Yazzle parasite will generate tremendous amounts of popup and pop-under advertising."

Think what you want but I would avoid anything that has Yazzle included in it.

Network Monitor 3 One Click Capture Tool

Wish you could get a network capture from a computer with no capture software installed? Wish you could have a network traffic "flight recorder" on a USB key? Here's your answer!"

The motivation behind creating this tool was to provide an extremely simple way to get a trace from an end user. And the name says it all, though maybe a small bit of false advertisement as it may take a bit more than just one click :). Once you have it downloaded to your machine, you can launch the executable and it will lead you through some simple dialogs that install the tool and start a trace. Once the trace is complete, which means it was manually stopped by the user or the default time of 2 hours have passed, a window will be opened to the location for the capture, called OneClick.cap.

Link:
http://.../nm3-one-click-capture-tool-beta.aspx

Get your @live.com email address today

Microsoft has finally made available the @live.com email address. Reserve your name now before somebody else does. Oh, and different countries can get their country tld's...

I have the Veign live.com email address.

Start here:
http://get.live.com/getlive/overview

Veign: My latest website design

See more at:
http://www.veign.com/design-portfolio.php

Also, check out my development portfolio

gOS

We're creating an OS ecosystem that is complete. We come with all the software you need to browse the web, email, instant message... play movies, music, and connect to iPods... create and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, images... out of the box. Plug and play!

What can you do with it?

Turn Your Old PC into a Webapp Monster with gOS:
http://.../turn-your-old-pc-into-a-webapp-monster-with-gos


Link:
http://thinkgos.com

Schmap provides dynamic travel guides

Exploring a Schmap Guide is a uniquely interactive experience: maps and guide content are dynamically integrated, allowing intuitive, real-time access to reviews and photo slideshows for places of interest.

Link:
http://www.schmap.com/

Google's phone announcement

A few hours after Google's dramatic announcement which some sources had still been anticipating as a mobile phone bearing the Google brand, we actually know less about Android than we did -- or thought we did -- at 11:00 this morning when it was announced. During a midday press conference featuring key Google executives including CEO Eric Schmidt, reporters called into question most of the principal facts surrounding the new Open Handset Alliance - most importantly, the ingredients of the Android platform.

Link:
http://.../Googles_Phone_Platform_Its_Not_an_OS_So_What_Is_It/

Add a delay to sending your emails to prevent the Oh-No's

How many times have you sent an email and then realized a few seconds later that your snarky comment was sent to the entire mailing list, or left an embarrassing typo in an email to somebody you were trying to impress?

A 5min delay is usually enough time to fully process the email you were going to send.

Link:
http://.../use-outlook-rules-to-prevent-oh-no-after-sending-emails/