Archive | June, 2007

Gmail Tweaks Worth Switching For

Jun/12 in Desktop Apps, Online Apps

Make Gmail BetterGoing with the recent e-mail issues I have been having – there are several neat things I have learned and picked up along the way while switching from Yahoo! Mail to Gmail. I know there are more people in this same boat so hopefully this will be helpful to all.

Maybe the best (pardon the pun) tool I have found while switching has been the Better Gmail extension for Firefox. It ads a lot of the little customizations that I have been looking to do. My big ones were to hide the invite box, hide the ads, and make Gmail use https:// by default.

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Switching from Yahoo! Mail to Gmail

Jun/11 in Online Apps, Personal

Switching to GmailWell I spent Saturday morning making the big switch from Yahoo! Mail (who screwed me over royally with the ad-fest they started) to Gmail. I really had not used Gmail that much since the launch – so I was happy to see they have improved it greatly since then. My overall reaction over the move? I am happy thus far.

Step One – Getting Ready for the Move

First thing I did was move all my Yahoo! Mail message from my folder into my inbox. I deleted a lot of old crap I really didn’t need anymore. I’m not that much of a pack rat when it comes to e-mail so this might be easier for some than others.

Step Two – Setting Up Additional Accounts

Second thing I did was setup all my e-mail addresses up in Gmail so that I could start the switch. This could not be easier. I also set my old Yahoo address up to go there as well – so I wouldn’t miss out on a thing.

Step Three – Configure Gmail’s Settings

Third, I went through and configured the Gmail settings and imported my e-mail from Yahoo! to Gmail. This was easy enough, because it picked up on everything that was in my inbox at Yahoo! and brought it right in.

Step Four – Get Things Labeled, Forget the Folders

From there I setup my labels and got e-mails archived. That’s it! Now things are going smoothly and the one thing I have been most impressed by is the spam filtering that Gmail does. It might take a little training but in a whole it is leaps and bounds over what Yahoo! Mail provides.

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Yahoo! Mail Gets “Ads” Upgrade

Jun/08 in Hot Web Topics

+ Remove These New Yahoo! Mail Beta Ads!

Yahoo Mail Gets AdsWell I guess it finally happened sometime last night. The nice sleek and clean interface of Yahoo! Mail became ad-tastic. As an AT&T DSL customer I was getting the “plus” E-mail pack with my Web mail from Yahoo. I have been over this story before though.

I don’t mind ads on Web sites that are more “general” – that isn’t what bugs me. I just don’t like ads in my applications – such as Web mail, feed readers, ect.

Here is some feedback from others who don’t like being in the same boat:

I am on the phone with Yahoo At&T right now and they maintain that this is a part of their world class service. They are actually telling me that over the phone! It does get better, they are trying to give me a case ID that….you guessed it….they cannot send via email! I am a mail plus customer as well, no way I am sticking around and paying for something like this. Off to Google and GMail.

I’m a paid AT&T/Yahoo Mail, and first the very fist time I’ve found it being “decorated” and “laced” with all sorts of ads. I suppose I’d just have live with them now.

The ads hit my inbox tonight. Unacceptably obtrusive and annoying. I cannot believe paying DSL customers are being treated this way. No way I’m gonna send AT&T/Yahoo more money for an ad-free “plus” account. That is part of what I’ve been paying for the past several years. Time to change my homepage to Google and set-up a G-mail account.

So looks like I have two options that I’d consider going with. Go out and find a Greasemonkey script to take ‘em out or go give my money to Google for their apps service. I’m starting to lean towards the Gmail option – just got to find the time to give Yahoo a swift kick in the rear and a wave goodbye.

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3 WordPress Plugins for the Paranoid SEO

Jun/07 in Web Development Tutorials

WordPressWe all have a paranoid search engine optimizer inside of us, don’t we? From day to day we worry about making it to the top of the search engines and we’ll sell our liver for a better spot than the guy down the street. Before you wake up one day in a bathtub filled with ice – let me give you a few suggestions for good SEO friendly WordPress plugins.

WordPress Links SEO Title Tag – In a nutshell, this plugin allows you to edit your titles across the board with your WordPress plugins. If the Web page on your Web site has a title – this thing can help you edit it. I just noticed the other day this one was upgraded by leaps and bounds from the previous versions so if you haven’t tried it out before – do so today. It also supports the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin too.

WordPress Links Google Sitemap Generator – Some say that creating a Google sitemap is about as much fun as doing ninth grade algebra in a freezer filled with dead bodies. Ok, maybe that is a little extreme – but why should you do all that heavy lifting yourself? The Google Sitemap Generator gives you an easy one click way of creating and updating your sitemap for Google.

WordPress Links Ultimate Tag Warrior – No this one has nothing to do with that wrestler from the late 80s and early 90s. It is however the best tagging you can get for WordPress at the current date and time. Why add tags? It gives the search engines a few new ways to crawl through your content (as well as users) and gives you a few more places where you can rise to the top – if you have written enough good topics for a certain tag.

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Firefox Basics You Probably Forgot

Jun/06 in Desktop Apps

Firefox FactsI have been working hard at building up a better “basics” section for Firefox Facts. With all the news about Firefox 3 and all the people wanting to tweak the browser to fit their needs I think we sometimes forget that there are a lot of new people coming into the mix everyday.

Know of any other topics that you would like to see me cover? Drop me an E-mail and let me know.

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Google Reader – Share More Than 10 Items

Jun/06 in Online Apps, Web Development Tutorials

Shared Items on Google ReaderWhen in Google Reader you can choose to create a widget where you can display the stories or links you have wanted to share with others. That is how I created the Mitchelaneous Links Web page I told you about yesterday. I have been getting a few E-mails though from folks wanting to know how I got it to display more than ten items at a time.

Take a look at the javascript code Google gives you to post on your own Web site. The specific part you want to look for is broadcast?n=5. Change the number five to any number you wish, and that is how many shared stories that you will display.

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Get Download Link for YouTube Videos

Jun/05 in Online Apps

Download YouTube Videos

There are a few videos on YouTube I wouldn’t mind saving to watch later – take this one for example. Come on, I know you could all watch my Web hosting stress relief video all day long. Why go get a new extension to do a job I can do myself with a simple Greasemonkey user script? This is all you need to do – pick up the YouTube Video Download script at userscripts.org for Greasemonkey.

After doing so – you get a pretty little download icon as you see in the image above where you can download any video from the Web site. You’ll get it as an .flv file. Then you can play it in that format using a player like VLC Media Player or convert it to something else.

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Need New Reading Material?

Jun/04 in Personal

Mitch’s LinksI have always been fixated with the idea of having an easy to manage link blog but have never found an easy way to make it happen. Since I am using del.icio.us for my bookmarking, I don’t want to use that for my link blogging too.

So what is a geek to do? I decided to use my “shared” items list from Google Reader – do a little tweaking here and there and get it up and online that way.

The good news for you is you can now see the neat links I find via my favorite feed reader. (insert excitement here)

The good news for me is this is almost brain dead simple to do, so I shouldn’t lose interest in it because it seems to be too much work.

Everybody wins! Go check out the new Mitchelaneous Links section to see some of the links I have suggested that you check out. If there is anything else you’d like to see there – let me know.

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8 Favorite Online Favicon Generators

Jun/02 in Web Development Tutorials

Favicon GeneratorsWhat is a favicon? It is that little icon that appears next to your URL in the browser of your choice. This helps you identify the Web site quicker – and also with some browsers, allows you to have an easier time finding specific links in your bookmarks.

How can you make one? Well here are 8 of my favorite free tools for creating the favicon of your dreams:

+ FavIcon from Pics

+ Dynamic Drive’s FavIcon Generator

+ Favicon Generator and Gallery

+ Anti FavIcon

+ FaviconGenerator.com

+ Favicon Editor

+ Favicon Drawing Program

+ Graphics Guru Favicon Generator

Have another favicon creator that I might have missed? Leave a comment and let us all know about the one you love or hate.

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RegisterFly Customers, Welcome to GoDaddy!

Jun/01 in Hot Web Topics, Web Hosting

newgdg.jpgI have seen a number of folks out there confused as to why they are getting E-mails from GoDaddy saying that they are their new domain name register. Well, afraid it isn’t a scam folks. GoDaddy seems to be willing to pick up the slack where RegisterFly dropped the ball.

Web hosting and domain name provider Godaddy.Com is to receive domain name accounts from RegisterFly, it was announced this week. The move comes as a response to RegisterFly’s inability to maintain domain names registered by its customers and its subsequent loss of ICANN accreditation.

The company was the center of considerable controversy as its demise left thousands of domain name registrants stranded. Regsiterfly’s subscribers’ domains will automatically be moved to Go Daddy. On completion, over 850,000 domain names will have been transferred to Go Daddy.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, I can talk to you for ever on how bad GoDaddy’s Web hosting is but – as far as domains go, they are the king of the ring. So what do you think – is this fair or not?

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