I was just reviewing my website stats and it looks like 70% of the people are still using Windows XP instead of Windows Vista. Could it be Vista sucks? Vista is pretty much the updated crap of Windows ME. Remeber ME? Yeah well, don’t feel bad not too many people do except those poor folk who made that horrible upgrade. Just like ME people are downgrading back to the older Windows version. XP, while not perfect is better than Vista hands down.
My stats also show that people are not rushing out to download IE7 either. With MSIE8 coming out soon there is no reason to move to version 7 now. I for one will move on to Firefox and drop Internet Explorer altogether.
Now here is a bit of technology any sci-fi geek would think stepped off the screen of the latest Terminator movie, (you do know Christian (Batman) Bale has signed to do 3 Terminator movies don’t you?) This cool device shines a red laser keyboard on any flat surface. As they say over at ThinkGeek.com, the future has arrived. How Sweet is that?
I like it when real tech could double as TV and film props.
I think this could be considered the world’s most expensive keyboard probably only surpassed by keyboards on the space shuttle (or others purchased by the US government as they tend to over pay). Each key has its own OLED screen so you can customize it to your hearts content and at 1500 bucks it should do your work for you!
Apparently ThinkGeek.com can’t keep these expensive keyboards in stock. You can backorder them and get yours as soon as they come in stock.
What the hell is wrong with Microsoft? Why in the world would they change the default file type of one of the world’s most used office programs?
Microsoft Excel 2007 (as well as Word and Power Point) now have an XML based file format. The new Excel file extension is .xlsx, which of course cannot be opened with any of the older versions of the program.
Thank god I remembered we had one computer in our office that was new enough to have the latest version of the software on it. (I forgot because I never use the Microsoft Offfice 2007 products because I simply don’t like them.) At first I wasn’t sure that it would even be able to save it as the old version as the company that sent me the file could not figure it out and told me that was the only available file format.
I really hate the new tabbed browsing with in the new office programs and where the heck did they go with the good old fashion text menus?!? They hid them is what they did. I finally figured out how to find their help file (tiny little question mark was eluding me). The text menu where you have the option to choose SAVE AS is now hidden behind the little office logo at the top of the screen on the left-hand side. Who would have thought to look there? Not me. Can you make it any harder folks?
For those of us that do not have access to a brand spanking new version of Excel Microsoft has kindly [insert sarcasm here] created a tool (not sure if this is available for Word or Power Point) for us backward people who cannot upgrade every time they release a new, improved [insert said sarcasm again] version.
You can download this lovely little Excel 2007 to 97-2003 conversion tool at Microsoft.com. Even though it is free it does come with a cost. You will have to install all the updates for your version of windows before installing the converter. Which can take you a few hours, if like me, you are a little behind on your XP updates (who know they were up to XP Service Pack 3, not me).
For those of us with little time there is also an online converter, but this might not be an option if you too have a confidential file you need to convert like I did. However, unlike the Microsoft compatibility pack you do not need to have Microsoft Office installed on your PC to convert the file.
There are lots of sites out there to help you with site submissions. Most will cost you but a lot of them are free. Do a simple google search to weed them out.
I just stumbled on StartRanking.com which is a slightly different model. It asks for a text link instead of payment. Believe you me the best way to get a good google rank is to get a lot of text links back to your site or blog. I am willing to link to those who link to me so send me your requests or write a good comment on one of my topics and I will approve it and your site link too.
I received an email with one of those talking avatars – Site Pals. They are made using a service from oddcast.com. They are a pretty cool idea an animated figure [person, animal or alien] welcomes visitors to your site in your voice or someone else’s.
But the lowest cost is $10/month. That is pretty steep for a little flash animation you could host on your own site. I wish they would do a one-time fee with where you host it and there is no more cost to you. I would probably make a few of them, but not at $10/month or more no way.
Okay, so you’ve gotten the domain name you wanted from GoDaddy.com and you are ready to jump right in and get a site set up. Your next step then is finding a good hosting service. I recommend PowWeb.com. GoDaddy.com offers several different levels of hosting as well, but your best bet to get the most bang for your buck would be PowWeb.com.
PowWeb has a single plan which is loaded with all the services you would need by without having to upgrade your service plan to get them. Some of the finer points of hosting with PowWeb.com are:
Unlimited Mailboxes [you can give all your friends and family email addresses which they can check online or via POP]
24/7 Tech Support
Web based file manager [great if you don’t want to use FTP]
Unix Platform
PHP and MySQL [with 75 databases!]
SSL Secure Site for e-commerce [shared certificate] – Start your online store with your choice of free shopping carts installed with the click of a mouse.
Loads of free, easy to install programs like forums, content management for complete sites, galleries, shopping carts and lots more.
And you cannot beat their price for all these great services. Only $7.77 a month and if you check their site regularly they run specials all the time get your first year for as low as $5.77/month.
Ever need to send a large file to someone only to find out it is too big to go through email? I have.
Most email services not only cap the size of the file but they also restrict or automatically remove certain file types too.
If you do not have access to ftp or a web server you could be fresh out of luck or making you resort to snail mail to send out your files. Until now that is. I just discovered a great service called Driveway.
Driveway is a free online service that lets you upload and share the files you want with anyone you want. It really couldn’t be simpler either. You can store and share up to 2 GB of files with each file topping out at 500 MB each, which should be more than adequate for the average user.
Files you upload to Driveway do expire, so this is not a permanent storage solution mind you. You do have 90 days from the last time they were accessed before the files do expired. Some similar services expire after only 14 days, which can make it hard to retrieve the files and may even require another upload if the person you sent them to does not regularly check their email or was on vacation.
Driveway is a great alternative to emailing them when trying to send large files like photos or video to clients, friends or family. Give it a try and start file sharing. It is free after all.
I just picked up the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 3000 and I rather like it. Although I cannot seem to figure out exactly what makes it a notebook mouse over any other mouse. Maybe it is a little smaller than the other ones, which I like. Seems as if most of the Microsoft Mice are too big and feel weird in my hand.
Easy enough to operate. Especially since I had it up and running in a few minutes without ever even taking instructions out of the package. [Although the battery was a little hard to find in the mouse but I found it.]
Smooth operation and compact. I was asked why I wanted a mouse with my laptop. Well the biggest reason is I hated using both hands to run the touch pad. Plus the touch pad is too sensitive and causes an auto scrollbar with the slightest touch. This does not happen with the mouse. And they say it is a high definition optical mouse better precision. All in all I think it was worth the $25 I gave to Wal-Mart for it. I really like the little receiver that snaps into the mouse. Doing this turns off the mouse and saves the battery. I will have to see if I can get one for work then that darned mouse tail won’t bother me any more.
I have been trying to fiddle with OScommerce for a website and while it is working and all that. It is just plain ugly. And changing the overall look is not all that easy.
Yes, you can change the very basics quickly but we wanted a whole new look and without paying an arm and a leg to get it.
I did find a free template site on the forums but can no longer find it. They forums are very helpful for most things but as soon as you ask for help with a template they all clam up and point you to the contributions. The template contributions really are crappy [don’t want to tell them that though].
And everytime I do a google search for free templates I get nothing but the pay sites [google should try to figure a better way of filtering those results].
Any who if you know any good free templates post them in the comments and I will do the same as I finally find some.
