The below are six links I found in six minutes relating to hot topics, buzz words, most popular searches, etc…
Simple, look at what other people are writing about and go from there.
Choose a topic related to your blog which people are interested in, and start writing. This will help you with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well as that pesky BB, blogger block. However, if you are a tech blogger do not pick Brittney Spears, or Lindsey Lohan to write about. Obviously, go with something your readers are going to be interested in based on your blog’s focus. Your blog does have a focus right?
Look through the Pop, Buzz, and Hot with these links:
In July I shared by opinion that the iPhone Sucks and OpenMoko is better. Later I saw WIRED playing with the OpenMoko.
Well, WIRED’s at it again, but this time they’ve got the Google Phone, which they rumor will be announced in two weeks!
More importantly, like the Open Moko, Google’s Phone will be Linux powered, GPS enabled, and inexpensive.
I bet iPhone buyers are kicking themselves now.
No word yet on when the Google Phone will be available for purchase, but the Open Moko is supposed to be available to the public in October.
Decisions, Decisions. Not that I will be able to afford either.
Introducing Plaxo 3.0, the only online address book and calendar that syncs with Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, AOL, the Mac, Thunderbird, and your mobile phone! ItWire talks about Plaxo.
Having all of the above address books scattered across the web makes it impossible to keep any kind of continuity, or your sanity. Personally, I try to memorize as many phone numbers as I can. But there is only so much your cortex can contain, and the way email address are getting today, longer and longer, it would be impossible to retain all that information without hemoraging. There is a good slogan for the website:
“Use Plaxo! Prevent hemoraging!“
Most people scoff at the idea of “discovering their dream,” and for good reason, thinking they know what their dream is. Unfortunately, most don’t.
How can you not know what your own Dream is?
Simple, you are focusing on a typically impossible scenario which is generally beyond unattainable. You ARE NOT going to win the lottery. If you do, post a comment and I will issue a formal apology on this blog for a mere $1 million. You ARE NOT going to work from home by ordering a packet online priced at $19.99 and make $4,000 per month. Again, if you do, me + $1 mil = formal apology. Generally a dream is just that, a dream. Usually when we wake, our dreams evanesce into the aether.
How then, do you solidify your dream into a livable reality?
Since I was eight years old I’ve wanted to run my own multi-million-dollar business. Originally I would pretend I rode around in limousines and helicopters, had a secretary who took care of my chores, and 10 professional bodyguards who had no names. This was a dream. Between you me and the wall, it still is. That dream cannot solidify without a plan!
It would be inconceivable for a business to exist without a plan, but we walk through our personal lives daily with no forward thought.
As I’ve grown older I realized you do not start out a mogul, you build up to it, by planning. Analyzing my childhood fantasies I can break out real life applications for my today, and future. They are what is truly important, and what should be extracted from the dream, solidified, and made into a plan.
Shut Up! How do I make a plan?!
Verbosity is overtaking my fingers. Sorry, sorry, those 63 cent words are a weakness I exacerbate via personal joy through their, often unnecessary, usage. Ok! I’m stopping!
You’ve got the dream. Working from home is a possibility. Being a millionaire is a possibility. Riding around in limousines is a possibility. Making it happen must be a probability.
My process exists as dreaming up the most wildly imaginative future and enjoying the pleasure of the possible. But in order to make the possible the probable I break down my goals. Personally, working from home, spending time with my family, and living comfortably (but forgoing the helicopter, for now) are probable goal. Getting there starts with Step One.
What is Step One to making Dreams Reality, the Possible into the Probable?
Step One is so simple, and it’s taken me years of disappointments to figure it out. I will share it with you like this, “No man will climb Everest running.” Simple, zen, and cliche but absolutely true. A climber takes one step at a time, looks up, and realizes they are summiting.
I dream up fantasies of helicopters, millions of dollars, and bodyguards then analyze them down to the simplest action I must take to STEP forward.
Working for myself, as a web designer, requires me to have clients. STEP ONE was getting my first client. Owning my own business requires me to have enough clients to sustain myself and my family without a W2 job. STEP ONE is accumulating and keeping clients. Being monetarily secure requires growing the business. STEP ONE is hiring employees.
Wait?! That’s Three STEP ONE’s
Right! There never is a Step Two. When you’ve taken step one, you’re there and ready to step forward from that point, another STEP ONE.
I always self destructed my dreams because I thought far out into the future. Basically, I was still dreaming, standing still, not stepping. Breaking down my big, grandiose dreams to Step Ones created manageable situations.
Keep making and taking STEP ONE’s and you will soon look back at how far you’ve walked without ever taking more than ONE STEP!
“Take but one step at a time for stability. Jump forward to fall.“
- Ellis Benus of E. Benus Technologies, or EBTech for short.
There will be much more to come on this subject!
NetFlix for Books exists! It’s BookSwim.
This might be a great resource for any technology related reading. Personally, dropping $50 on a book which I’m certain will be outdated in a matter of months, or was at publishing, hurts my wallet and spirits. BookSwim might be an alternative to such expensive tech-reading.
Pricing starts out at $19 a month with a selection of over 150,000 books and free shipping both ways.
This seems a bit high to me, as buying a book would be a little more than twice that, and I would have it forever. However, if I purchase more than four books a year, then BookSwim wins out on pricing. ( $19 * 12 = $228 & $50 * 4 = $200 ).
It’s worth looking into.
CNET just posted an aritlce mating the title above, minus “CNET’s.”
That reminds me of The Rundown.
The Rock: “You know, back in the states, Brazil nuts like these go for 15 dollars a pound.”
Girl: “Well, those fell off the tree out back and here we don’t call them Brazil nuts.”
The Rock: “What do you call them?”
Girl: “Well, you’re in Brazil, so we just call them nuts.”
Anyway, that was frivilous, but the article is not. They cover:
Web Worker Daily introduced me to Irfan View, a lightweight graphics editing application.
How have I never heard of this application before?
If you’ve ever dreaded opening Photoshop to crop or resize an image, mere seconds of work but minutes of waiting, Irfan View is for You!
A mere 1.1 Megabyte download and you too can utilize this program’s many features, including:
I’ve read a lot of instructables, my favorite was previously the Book Shelf Door.
But it has taken a far back seat to the Lego LED Flashlight!
THREE ( 3 ) is the magic number you are thinking of…
Ninty Six Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty Two scratches the surface of possible combinations your website might be subjected to. Different operating systems which each have different web browsers installed viewing at different screen resolutions.
It’s impossible to cover them all but you can see how a website looks in several combinations.
Viewable with any Browser is an awesome campaign to have non-browser specific website design. While idealists can hold their, er… ideals, currently web designers attaining this perfection surpasses difficult.
Browser Shots is a web designer’s answer. Browser Shots allows you to see screen grabs of your website in combinations that you choose. Do you want to see what your website looks like in Konqueror viewed at 800×600, or possible FireFox 1.5 at 1600×1200? Under the desired operating system check boxes next to possible browsers and use the drop down for Screen size, Color depth, Javascript (Enabled, Disabled, & 3 versions), Java (Enabled, Disabled, & v. 1.6), and Flash (Enabled, Disabled, & player 9).
List of Operating Systems | List of Web Browsers | List of Screen Resolutions
Recently my brother-in-law supplied me with an old HP desktop tower he wanted worked on. Unfortunately, he had none of the original hardware or software discs and the machine was too old to have a separate restore partition. Note: I used to hate those recovery partitions, now I’ve grown to love them, because no one who’s machine I work on keeps CDs.
Back on topic, I could not determine what Brand/Model # network card he had in the machine as it was third party. So I went hunting for some software. PC Wizard was a quick download and it immediately identified the Brand and Model number so I could download the requisite driver.
However, PC Wizard does a lot more than that. It can supply: Hardware Information, Software Information, System Benchmarks, and a lot more. Check out PC Wizards feature page for a complete list.