eHow.com - Clear Instructions on How To Do (just about) Everything
Very helpful site. find help with complex tasks or even those so simple you were afraid to ask for. Easy search, and it's broken down by category very nicely as well.
And this is NOT just for computer tasks. Check it out.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Silly Link Post
For my third post, I'll break the rules I set for myself. Not only is this a link post, but it's a silly, geeky one. One of my favorate sites is Digg, a site that lets geeks share links. Fun site, and one even the non-geeks can enjoy.
So, while walking home today, I saw this flyer.
Dumb, silly and unforgivable. Forgive me?
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
A Piece of Empty Space
So, why 'own' your own domain name? After all, these days you can get almost any service from the net without one. You can even have your own web page without one. That is even more true today than before.
But there are some real, practical reasons why you might want to have one... and maybe some that aren't as practical. I'll go into a few of them tonight.
But before that, bear this in mind. It's easy, and it's cheap. I got the start of this one up done in a day, and that included fixing two issues. Usually it would take you just an hour or two. And it costs me, all told, about 20 dollars. So, no super geeks needed.
The most practical use for your own domain is email. Sure, these days free email services with tons of features are everywhere. But with your own domain, you gain some advantages. The first one you notice is control. You can pick any name you want. There will be no need to come up with johnsmith56846 or some other typographical nightmare. When you use a popular service, you are literally compeating for a good name with millions of other people. With your own, you can literally own your own name again. And you also have a stronger level of control on how your email operates. Hey, it's yours, right? This is great if you have a family. You'll feel better about your kids having email when you can access the control panel.
There is a less practial, though no less real advantage. Sometimes some people make judgments based on where you get your service. It's silly, but it happens. Having aol.com at the end of your address seems to trigger this more often than most, and back when google mail was still in beta and hard to get, my gmail.com had a slight positive one. With your own, you avoid this.
And let's admit the best advantage... it's cool. Who needs AOL or MSN, anyway?
Now, what good is a domain name if you don't have a page? When you have a page on some service, your site name always gets second billing, and this can lead to a very hard to type and remember URL, filled with periods, slashes and numbers. Who needs that? Can you even figure out how to say it? Me, I just say "Yeah, it's Maximumwords.com... check it out sometime. I've got two whole posts up so far!"
Oh, and then there are those practical things, like more control of what you have on your page and how it works, and stuff like that. The little things. Some services tend to limit stuff like this. It's much better to have control of your site, rather than just having limited access to someone else's.
And then there is what is likely the least practial, but I think the most important, reason. If you have been just a user of the net, getting news from cnn.com and search from google.com, I think you are missing a key part of what the net is. Certianly, the utility that the net offers is amazing. You can pay bills, get the local news from small town in a Pacific island and more. The power of the net is that anyone, not just big companies, can use it. Unlike TV, or newspapers, or book publishing, the net is open. I can spend 50 bucks and put up a site that looks just as good as one CNN has. Now, to do so, you still have to be creative and put some work in.
But the dividing line is that... not having a printing press, or owning a TV station. And better yet, after you put up your first web page, and load it up on your favorite browser, the next time you are at CNN.com, you can say "Ehh... not bad. But I could do that."
But there are some real, practical reasons why you might want to have one... and maybe some that aren't as practical. I'll go into a few of them tonight.
But before that, bear this in mind. It's easy, and it's cheap. I got the start of this one up done in a day, and that included fixing two issues. Usually it would take you just an hour or two. And it costs me, all told, about 20 dollars. So, no super geeks needed.
The most practical use for your own domain is email. Sure, these days free email services with tons of features are everywhere. But with your own domain, you gain some advantages. The first one you notice is control. You can pick any name you want. There will be no need to come up with johnsmith56846 or some other typographical nightmare. When you use a popular service, you are literally compeating for a good name with millions of other people. With your own, you can literally own your own name again. And you also have a stronger level of control on how your email operates. Hey, it's yours, right? This is great if you have a family. You'll feel better about your kids having email when you can access the control panel.
There is a less practial, though no less real advantage. Sometimes some people make judgments based on where you get your service. It's silly, but it happens. Having aol.com at the end of your address seems to trigger this more often than most, and back when google mail was still in beta and hard to get, my gmail.com had a slight positive one. With your own, you avoid this.
And let's admit the best advantage... it's cool. Who needs AOL or MSN, anyway?
Now, what good is a domain name if you don't have a page? When you have a page on some service, your site name always gets second billing, and this can lead to a very hard to type and remember URL, filled with periods, slashes and numbers. Who needs that? Can you even figure out how to say it? Me, I just say "Yeah, it's Maximumwords.com... check it out sometime. I've got two whole posts up so far!"
Oh, and then there are those practical things, like more control of what you have on your page and how it works, and stuff like that. The little things. Some services tend to limit stuff like this. It's much better to have control of your site, rather than just having limited access to someone else's.
And then there is what is likely the least practial, but I think the most important, reason. If you have been just a user of the net, getting news from cnn.com and search from google.com, I think you are missing a key part of what the net is. Certianly, the utility that the net offers is amazing. You can pay bills, get the local news from small town in a Pacific island and more. The power of the net is that anyone, not just big companies, can use it. Unlike TV, or newspapers, or book publishing, the net is open. I can spend 50 bucks and put up a site that looks just as good as one CNN has. Now, to do so, you still have to be creative and put some work in.
But the dividing line is that... not having a printing press, or owning a TV station. And better yet, after you put up your first web page, and load it up on your favorite browser, the next time you are at CNN.com, you can say "Ehh... not bad. But I could do that."
Monday, December 26, 2005
First Posts Are No Fun
So, I've done the blogging thing before, crashed and burned, and lost the domain name. But now I'm back, and the only people that care are the 5 people that ever read my blog (Hi, Mom!). So... now what?
In that other non-fun first post, I made a point of saying that good blogs had a focus, and that I would break that rule. Lame joke, but it was on me... a focus is good, even if it's a broad one.
So, I do have one this time. Before, I ended up just link blogging, putting out interesting sites I found. My main idea was putting out sites that my less than obsessive friends and family haven't found but might like out there for them. Fun, but not real creative, and it didn't really do what I started the site for... to push my writting skills some.
So this time I'm going to do the link blogging... hey, it's fun, and it fits my focus. And I have to do something with all this stuff floating about my brain. Before, I was aiming things at newbies... but today there aren't that many new people when it comes to the net. When you run across someone without an email, it's like running across someone without a phone number.
But those using the web everyday miss out on useful, or fun, or even important, things that they could be doing. And there are complex issues out there that never get on that 4 minute internet story on the local news. But many will effect you... you just won't know it till it does.
But I do... or at least I know some of it. And I hit the feeds hard trying to learn more. And I'll try to distill that here.
The net isn't about geeks anymore... it's about grandmothers IMing their grand kids, Mom's downloading music to listen to when washing cloths, contruction workers checking sports scores on there cell phones, and more.
In that other non-fun first post, I made a point of saying that good blogs had a focus, and that I would break that rule. Lame joke, but it was on me... a focus is good, even if it's a broad one.
So, I do have one this time. Before, I ended up just link blogging, putting out interesting sites I found. My main idea was putting out sites that my less than obsessive friends and family haven't found but might like out there for them. Fun, but not real creative, and it didn't really do what I started the site for... to push my writting skills some.
So this time I'm going to do the link blogging... hey, it's fun, and it fits my focus. And I have to do something with all this stuff floating about my brain. Before, I was aiming things at newbies... but today there aren't that many new people when it comes to the net. When you run across someone without an email, it's like running across someone without a phone number.
But those using the web everyday miss out on useful, or fun, or even important, things that they could be doing. And there are complex issues out there that never get on that 4 minute internet story on the local news. But many will effect you... you just won't know it till it does.
But I do... or at least I know some of it. And I hit the feeds hard trying to learn more. And I'll try to distill that here.
The net isn't about geeks anymore... it's about grandmothers IMing their grand kids, Mom's downloading music to listen to when washing cloths, contruction workers checking sports scores on there cell phones, and more.
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