Google Goddess
May 27th, 2008Google Goddess
I Like Her Again
I’ve had my run-ins with the Google Goddess before - and although I’ve heard the term “Google Gods” before, I’m quite certain it’s singular, and feminine. But then right when I’m really pissed off at her about something, like PageRank for example, she amazes me with her glitter and charm, and I’m back to worshiping her.
For several years now I’ve ignored the services commonly known as Google Apps, or Google Apps For Domains. That was, until today when I saw an interesting reference to it in an article I was reading.
I promptly visited the Google Apps pages and over the past hour or so I’ve been learning everything there is to know about these services. I wont go into the technical details here - since I’m likely the last person in world that hadn’t already tried them out.
But I can say that I’m heading back to the Church of Google, and I’ll be sacrificing virgins for the Google Goddess shortly.
Fedora 9 Redux
May 16th, 2008Fedora 9 Redux
Almost Easy
Following up on the Fedora 9 adventure I mentioned yesterday… In a leap of faith I went ahead and installed Fedora 9 Linux on my laptop last night, replacing Windows Vista (No need for a dual boot on this machine).
The installation went very smoothly. Surprisingly, Fedora correctly identified most of my hardware and installed the associated drivers.
The only thing it missed was the wireless network card. If I can find the correct Linux driver for this without spending too much time or effort on it, I’ll be happy. Otherwise, I will quickly lose interest in this project and use a different OS. (Very short attention span here).
Fedora 9
May 15th, 2008Fedora 9
Let’s See What Happens
I’ve run Linux on a server at home for many years. I’m not a Linux expert, but have managed to get and old version of Red Hat running and it has proven very stable over time. I also have to dabble with Red Hat at my “real job”.
I have never tried the more “user friendly” Linux distros, such as Ubuntu. Although, I’ve been tempted. I just haven’t had the time to try it, nor could I afford the downtime on any of my computers while working through the installation.
The very recent release of Fedora 9, however, has me excited about Linux again. I do have some time now that I can allocate to this project, and will install it to a relatively new Dell laptop this week.
It’s been a while since I’ve looked at Fedora, but version 9 looks awesome. I’m sure Ubuntu is equally awesome, but I’m going to stick with the geekier Fedora for the time being.
If things don’t go as wonderfully as I expect, I’ll give Ubuntu a shot.
More to come…
It’s Just A Phone
April 24th, 2008It’s Just A Phone
I’m Not Impressed
So, we all know that I’m a computer geek. I live, breathe, play and dream computers. It’s not limited to computers of course. Any cool electronic gadget will keep my normally ADHD brain occupied for hours. In fact, electronics rank right after cheerleaders and money in my top 10 list of favorite things.
What I don’t get though, is why this doesn’t carry over to cell phones.
For the past several years, my business associates (also computer geeks) have drooled over the newest cell phone technologies, and are quick to visit their service provider for upgrades to the latest and greatest.
There’s usually a certain amount of unsolicited discussion when they first begin looking at new cell phones, then when they make the decision, followed by how they have to leave early to meet the FedEx guy and take delivery of the new phone, and the inevitable show-and-tell the next day at the office.
I usually just share the obligatory “oh, cool” with them, and then try to extract myself from the official cell phone demo.
Here’s my cell phone requirements:
- Must make and receive calls.
- Must be comfortable in my pocket.
That’s it.
“Hey, look! My cell phone has a GPS navigation system!”
Um… So?
I have a Garmin GPS in my vehicle. Why would I want one on my cell phone? It’s not like I’m going to drive around, holding my cell phone up in the air as I try to follow the tiny little map on the screen.
“My cell phone plays MP3s!”
Really? So does my iPod.
I do have a camera on my cell phone, but that’s not a requirement. It just happened to be on the phone style I wanted. The camera gets used maybe once per year – or however often the high school cheerleaders have those car washes.
For me, the most enjoyable part is watching all of these people run over to the window every time they get a call, because they have little or no reception otherwise. My “plain old” cell phone, however, works perfectly no matter where I am, or what building I happen to be in.
Of course, if I get lost in that building, I won’t have a built-in GPS to find my way out. I guess I can at least call for help though.
Easy And Perfect Web Design
April 9th, 2008Easy And Perfect Web Design
Finally Simplified
As a computer hobbyist and IT professional of many, many, years, one of the many topics I have studied is web design.
First, there was the technical side of it. The coding, HTML, JavaScript, XHTML, XML, Perl, MySQL database design and administration, web hosting, and all of the other cool geeky things related to web design and hosting.
Then came the graphical and user interface part of my studies. This is where I learned that a website must not only function reliably and fast, but it must also be user friendly, readable, and easy to navigate. Graphics should be limited - not only because they slow the page loading down, but also because they are distracting from the content.
It takes a long time to master each of these realms.
It occurred to me long ago that there must be a simpler way to learn all of the tools of web design. Sure, I’ve learned most of them over the years, but what if someone needed to learn all of this quickly?
After much research I have come up with the solution. Not just any solution - but a priceless solution for quick and easy web design perfectionism. There is a certain beauty to anything simplified and elegant, and this solution has both.
Instead of selling this information and guaranteeing my financial independence for the rest of my life, I will share the secret completely free, without cost or obligation, as my contribution to mankind.
The 2 Step Solution To Perfect Web Design:
- Look at any MySpace page or pages.
- Do the complete opposite.
Now, go forth and create a better Web…
Windows XP Lives Longer
April 5th, 2008Windows XP Lives Longer
Windows 7 in 2009?
An interesting comment from Microsoft at CeBIT… Despite previous claims that they would discontinue all sales of Windows XP in June 2008, they now are extending Windows XP sales through 2010.
In the same statement, Microsoft also suggests this will be “…one year after the general availability of Windows 7″.
Should we expect Windows 7 in 2009?
I think this can be possible. While I have no inside information, it seems that Microsoft now promises that Windows 7 will be what Vista was supposed to be - had it not been rushed and malformed with the shortsighted backward compatibility demands from their marketing department.
It’s quite possible that much of Windows 7 code was already written - during the early stages of the Vista development.
Search Engine Optimization
March 27th, 2008Search Engine Optimization
It’s Hard To Stop
Over the past couple of months I’ve just started to become more interested in SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Only over the past couple of weeks have I really begun to get serious about it.
So far, I’ve learned that the more I learn, the more I still need to learn. SEO is really cool stuff, and as someone who appreciates technology, logic, and algorithms, this is exactly the kind of geeky stuff that I enjoy. But, man, there is a ton to learn.
One of the speed bumps in this learning is that there’s still a lot of guesswork involved with Search Engine Optimization. Oh, there are some things that have been proven to help - or hurt, as the case may be - but Google or Yahoo can change the rules at the snap of a finger.
So far I’ve found a lot of great information out there and I’ve been sifting through it, and trying to comprehend it. I’ve put some of the theories into practice - mostly on my other websites - and I’m analyzing the results.
This will be a learning process for the foreseeable future.
