Archive for March, 2005
· March 12, 2005 at 8:02 pm · Odds & Ends
I have decided on which MP3 player I am going to order, heck I’ve already ordered it. It is the Dell Pocket DJ. It seems to be just right to fit my need. Really I don’t need anything that is going to give me 20 or so extra features I will never use or need. I just need something that will play a few songs, a few podcasts and that is it. Hopefully that is what this little bad boy will do.
This will be my first purchase ever from Dell, so I am really looking forward to how good the customer service and support will be. I’ve always heard good things about them, so here is my chance to try them out first hand. Usually I would go with HP, but it seems they have decided to go with pushing folks to buy an iPod. Not that I have anything against the iPod, I’m just cheap. So expect a full review of the Dell Pocket DJ here as soon as I get it in my hands.
· March 9, 2005 at 7:22 pm · Odds & Ends
Anybody have a good recommendation for an mp3 player? The more I get into the whole podcasting world, the most stuff I find that I’d like to listen to. However, I’m not really enjoying having to be within 10 feet of my computer to listen. I can only clean around here so often! Don’t need anything too big, a 60GB mp3 player seems like a real waste. Well, seeing that my computer’s hard drive is only 80GB I believe. I mainly just want something I could have to do work around the house or outside (I promise I won’t take it to the shower). So if you have any suggestions for me, let me know.
· March 8, 2005 at 5:04 pm · Odds & Ends
Some time ago I brought up the fact that I hadn’t seen too many blog out there about the Web hosting world. Now that some time has passed, and I have done some searching from one point of the Internet to the other and how found a few worth reading. So these days, I guess I can’t say I am the only game in town, but I am happy I’m not. It is about time Web hosting writers or content providers came to the top of the blogging pile! If there are any others that you know of that I didn’t cover, let me know.
The Host Blog
This is one I just ran into recently because I noticed Jarrod had posted some thoughts on an episode of The Web Hosting Show. There is lots of good posts here, and I haven’t had time to read them all, but I will.
The Startup Blog
This blog is one that covers Jonathan’s battles through getting his Web hosting company off of the ground. I have probably shamelessly plugged Jonathan more than any other person I know Online. It’s not that I don’t have anything else to get excited about though. It is because his content is so solid, true and fun to read. He is truly one of the most charismatic folks I’ve met in the Web hosting world.
The Hosting Chronicle
The Hosting Chronicle is one of those blogs I was introduced to through somebody else. After talking with Jonathan from The Startup Blog, I started talking with Johnder and noticed he had lots of good thoughts on how to best tackle the business side of the Web hosting world. A lot of the content is pushed towards the Web hosting community but honestly I think it could be taken as advice for any business.
Now I am sure these are not the only Web hosting based blogs or the lasts, but these are the ones that have gotten my attention so far. So check them out, add them to your RSS readers and let them know what you think. If there are any other Web hosting writers out there who have a blog or their own place for their voice to be heard, let me know and I’ll be sure to highlight you as well.
· March 8, 2005 at 3:39 pm · Odds & Ends
I have had a couple of questions thrown my way about the post production of my newest book, Lockergnome’s Guide to Web Hosting. I thought it might be of some help to future writers out there if I explained a few things and let a couple of my secrets out.
Yes, the kind folks at Lockergnome picked up the distribution of the book. Ever since day one though I had wanted to go through Lockergnome. Why? Well heck, they are good folks. At the time it was also the most cost efficient way of getting things done as well.
I’ve had a few people ask me, “Why not do a real page by page book?”. Well, that would have cost more money than I have currently right now to spend. Also, I have become a bigger fan of the whole e-book world here lately. I used to think they were a waste of time as well. Then I started reading some of those available on the Lockergnome Tutorials Web site, and I got to say, I’m hooked. So for those of you out there who think you couldn’t really get into an e-book the same way you get into a regular book, give it a shot! I bet you will be able to prove yourself wrong, just like I did.
Matt pointed out to me the other day an article he found about how some books make it into the Amazon.com rotation. Right now I am happy where I am at, but if I ever do another e-book I might have to give this method of distribution a chance.
Now as for the reasons why I wrote the book? Well, I knew I probably wouldn’t become a millionaire off of it, but receiving an income from it was a factor. This is what I make my bread and butter from, writing. For those of you out there who don’t like to buy things, you might keep in mind that your ad clicks and purchases from me are what keeps this Web site and my other projects going. Not trying to guilt anybody into anything though.
The other reason why I wanted to write the book was just for the fact of saying that I am now a published author. Now matter how good or bad the book does, nobody can take that away from me. It feels good to see it out there and to see others enjoying reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
So what are you waiting for? Go check it out and see what all the buzz is about!
· March 8, 2005 at 3:37 pm · Odds & Ends
Now before I get too deep into this, I just want to point out that I actually do like Fox News. Yeah, I said it. I’m not one of these folks who likes to sit around and bash folks on television for this, that or the other. Usually stuff I find on the News Hounds Web site is rather goofy things to get all worked up about. This however did get my attention:
As reported by Melanie yesterday, Creators Syndicate, the company that syndicates O’Reilly’s newspaper columns, sent our webmaster, Jim Gilliam and us a letter threatening legal action over Marie Therese’s inadvertent reproduction of one of O’Reilly’s columns. As her post now acknowledges, Marie Therese immediately removed the column and provided a link instead. But in a move reminiscent of O’Reilly, himself, the company quickly launched a new attack: “Creators Syndicate demands that you immediately cease and desist from your unauthorized use of the link to Bill O’Reilly’s column on his website.”
You can not keep people from linking to other people. It is just an impossible thing to do. Good or bad, people are going to give links and other folks are going to click them. Better yet, can we all just stop suing everybody to fix our problems?
· March 8, 2005 at 3:35 pm · Odds & Ends
Here are just a few links I have ran across and found interesting enough to recommend to all the Mitchamaniacs out there. More or less because I couldn’t find anything else to do with them. Enjoy!
Do you want to learn Flash for free? No not the super hero, the artsy stuff you see on the Web all over the place. Even though I feel like places should stay away from adding flash into their Web sites or having a totally flash Web site, this is pretty interesting. Might have to try it out. Last time I tried to do any flash work I pretty much got confused and quit. Blame it on my short attention span.
I really do not want my portable video game system to have a keyboard. Why? It takes some of that ability to be portable away. However, it looks like the Sony PSP has got it’s first keyboard attachment.
Always looking for ways to speed up your computer? Then go check out TweakHound’s Super XP Tweaking Guide! I have yet to read the whole thing, but from what I have read there is lots of good information there.
Google now does weather reports! Do I really need it? No. I just hope Google doesn’t forget that it is a search engine too.
Have you picked up your edition of Lockergnome’s Guide to Web Hosting? Why haven’t you!? If you’ve been in the Web hosting world for ten years or ten minutes, this is a book that everybody can find useful and informative.
If you have any links you’d like for me to check out, be sure to send them my way and I’ll be sure to give you credit for ‘em.
