Archive for May, 2005
· May 19, 2005 at 5:46 pm · Odds & Ends
I was looking through my stats for Mitchelaneous and I noticed a few hits coming from the WebsiteCreationz Web site. That got me interested enough to go check it out and see that apparently I am the current flavor of the month! Thanks guys!
I couldn’t find any contact information so that I could thank somebody personally, so I figured this would be just as good. If you look at the right bottom corner of the Web site I am listed there as the “Guest Blog”. I wish folks would let me know about stuff like this. So thank you to everybody at WebsiteCreationz who was able to make this happen!
The WebsiteCreationz Web site is very interesting to say the least. Seems like there are lots of great people there putting together lots of great content. If you are looking for a new place to skim some of the hot stories of the day I’d say give them a shot.
As a note though for anybody who does this for me in the future, please let me know! I am always happy to hear when folks are happy with what I have done, written about, talked about, so on and so forth. Just drop me an E-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com. I try my best to answer every single one of them that comes my way.
· May 19, 2005 at 5:27 pm · Odds & Ends
I have been thinking about this for a while, and now I have finally done it. The RSS feed for Mitchelaneous is now being pushed through Feed Burner. What does that mean? Time to update your feeds!
I have had this on my mind for a while now. Since I have to push the Web Hosting Show through Feed Burner to make it “podcasting friendly” I had more of a reason to get it done there. Here though, I’d like to just have a better understanding of how many folks are using my RSS feed. The solution? Push it through Feed Burner as well.
Will the old RSS link still work? Yeah. You would be doing me a huge favor though if you would remove it from your feed readers though and putting this one in instead.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/mitchelaneous
For those of you who are interested in picking up my feed for the Web Hosting Show, it is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/webhostingshow
I noticed that Feed Burner now has a paid solution as well, where you can find out more statistical information about what people are doing with the feeds your giving them. Once I get a little more of a cash flow I might have to try that out. The number one reason though why I like Feed Burner’s service is that they make RSS feeds pretty to read. I don’t want people to be confused about what the whole RSS and syndication business is all about. Showing them a butt load of XML code and saying, “Hey use that stuff!” isn’t the best way to go. I want to make things as simple as possible and Feed Burner helps me get that job done.
So get your feeds for my Web sites updated and I promise to keep delivering that great Mitch-like content you grown to love.
· May 19, 2005 at 4:42 pm · Odds & Ends
I have talked about this on my Web Hosting Show several times. I am launching a new weekly Web hosting podcast! The name? The Web Hosting Minute. Just think of it as your quick fix for the Web Hosting Show, every Thursday and under 60 seconds.
The first question a lot of folks have been asking me is how much information can you really pack into a minute long podcast? You would really be surprised how quickly somebody gets tired of talking into a mic. When I started this whole deal, I thought I could at least bring every episode of the Web Hosting Show to an hour at best. I quickly learned though that my usual limit it around 20 to 30 minutes.
The reason why? I really run out of things to say! Sure I could go on and on with side stories, but I know I never like reading stuff like that, so why would I want to listen to it? I like to get to the meat and potatoes of an issue, get it resolved, then move on.
So what will be in the Web Hosting Minute each and every week? I figured I’d leave it open to anything. It could be news, it could be a quick tip, it could be a quick discussion. If somebody wanted a sampler of what the Web Hosting Show is like, this is the place I would point them to.
So I hope you like this new addition to the Web Hosting Show and I look forward to doing many more!
· May 17, 2005 at 4:08 am · Odds & Ends
I have used FeedDemon for over a year now and have yet to turn back. It is one of the best applications and most run applications I have on my personal computer here. So what do I think about the news that NewsGator is buying FeedDemon? Hopefully it will be a good thing.
Now I know little to nothing really about NewsGator. Not that it is a bad company, I’ve just had no reason to use it. Between my My Yahoo! Web page and FeedDemon, I have all my syndication needs covered. I just hope against hope that this means that an even brighter future is ahead for FeedDemon.
Chris has posted a damn good interview with both Greg and Nick about the purchase that just about answered any questions I have at the moment.
It is amazing how fast news travels these days. I am sure a few more might come my way once I get the chance to think this over a little more.
So good luck to both Greg and Nick and I hope that good things will come of this!
· May 17, 2005 at 3:49 am · Odds & Ends
Now this is some pretty funny stuff. The guys over at IEBlog want to brag about Internet Explorer 7 having tabbed browsing, almost every other person that comments seems to be more worried about Internet Explorer fixing how it actually reads Web sites.
Personally I’d say the second is a little more important for a Web browser.
As a semi-Web designer, meaning I have done a layout once or twice here and there. I am far from an expert but not close to being a newbie. With that aside though, the reason I switched to Firefox was because Firefox just handles Web site coding better. Tabbed browsing is great, but I want IE to be able to handle basic Web standards for a change. Personally I’m tired of making a change to a Web site then having to check it in five different browsers to make sure I put all the “tricks” in there to make it look right.
When somebody writes a book, do they have to write several different versions so that every person can read it? No. So why should browsers and Web standards be any different? Now I’m not going to beat up on Microsoft too much. The reason I do it though is because I don’t want to see Internet Explorer 7 being all flash and no substance. Wow a built in pop-up blocker, extensions and tabbed browsing while using IE’s crappy engine. That is already around, and it’s name is Maxthon.
I’d really like to use Internet Explorer again, but I have yet to find one thing to really get excited about. It seems right now Microsoft is looking away from innovation and more towards playing the catch up game.
· May 16, 2005 at 12:46 pm · Odds & Ends
Syndication, RSS, feeds and atom; we have all heard the jargon words thrown around time and time again. Here recently it seems like RSS is picking up steam so I figured it was about time I started to really learn how it works.
That is where Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom by O’Reilly comes in to the picture. Sure I’ve used RSS feeds on my own Web sites. I have a good feed reader running all the time. What else is there for me to learn? Well, even if you know how to use it and what it is, that does not mean you know all about the inside guts that keeps it going.
The thing I like most about this book is it really holds your hand as you go through the different parts of an RSS feed. It lets you know what each part is, why it is important and what you should do with it. The book does not stop there though. It also gives many tricks and tips on how you can use RSS and Atom to create your own personal RSS feeds with just about anything.
Perhaps the most explosive technological trend over the past two years has been blogging. As a matter of fact, it’s been reported that the number of blogs during that time has grown from 100,000 to 4.8 million-with no end to this growth in sight.
What’s the technology that makes blogging tick? The answer is RSS–a format that allows bloggers to offer XML-based feeds of their content. It’s also the same technology that’s incorporated into the websites of media outlets so they can offer material (headlines, links, articles, etc.) syndicated by other sites.
As the main technology behind this rapidly growing field of content syndication, RSS is constantly evolving to keep pace with worldwide demand. That’s where Developing Feeds with RSS and Atom steps in. It provides bloggers, web developers, and programmers with a thorough explanation of syndication in general and the most popular technologies used to develop feeds.
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