Joss Whedon Strikes Again

Sending this out to all friends and family who've been fans of Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) or of Doogie Hauser (Neil Patrick Harris) or even just fans of wacky stuff. Check out "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog". Doogie, I mean Harris, plays Dr. Horrible, a young, evil mad scientist in love. Nathan Fillion (Mal, from Firefly) plays his arch-nemesis, Captain Hammer.

They're using the Hulu technology, which, if you've been reading my newsletter, you'll know that it's pretty high quality video for the Web.

Here's the thing, though: It's only available for a limited time. The first act went up yesterday (July 15th). The second goes up tomorrow (the 17th) and the final one goes up on the 19th. All three episodes will only be available until midnight Sunday (7/15/2008) when they will disappear. Supposedly they will be available for download at a nominal charge and eventually available on DVD. Right now, though, they are absolutely free.

Don't be surprised if you have problems accessing it. Apparently the first day of Act 1 brought the server to its knees because of all the people trying to view the Whedony goodness.

Hope you all enjoy!

So, what's the best fun video you've seen on the 'Net recently?

We've Got It All

OK, if you thought that your idea for a wacky website was just a little too wacky, you can rest assured in the knowledge that you are probably well within the bounds of acceptable practice on the Web.

I am now thoroughly convinced that there is a website for everything. Today I discovered a site called "Stuff on my Cat". It is, as the name suggests, a site where people upload pictures of their feline companions with stuff piled on them. It's too hard to describe, just go check it out.

If this sort of thing tickles you, you might also try "I Can Has Cheezburger?" Of course, those around you might wonder why you are giggling like a nut.

So, what's the wackiest site you've seen on the Web?

Do You Own Your Website?

Hello, all!

I know I've been away for a bit. Details on that in an upcoming post. For now, I just wanted to let you know that the most recent issue of my e-zine has been sent out. This is the second part of my series on owning your website (and the dangers if you don't). This time we're talking about the questions you should be able to answer. Here's a short excerpt.

1. Are you paying for the site?

Very few things in life are free. Unless you have your site on
one of several advertising-supported systems, *someone* must pay
for it. Usually whoever is paying for it has the ultimate
control over it. Check your financial statements for a monthly,
quarterly, or annual payment for your hosting services. If you
can't find anything, then you might want to start to worry.

2. Who hosts the website?

more...

If you'd be interested in receiving my e-zine, you can subscribe on the ezine page of the Cyber Data Solutions website.

So, do you own your website? Are you sure?

Silly, But Fun

I saw my buddy Al Bogdan had taken this test, so I thought I would give it a go. I beat him by 3%! I think if I do some studying, I can do better.

87% Geek

So, how much of a geek are you?

Google 101, Part 2

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I attended a presentation put on by Google, Friends of CASA, and the NEW Center about the advantages of several of Google's products for nonprofit organizations. One of the first areas they discussed was the suite of tools called Google Apps.

Google Apps includes Docs, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Calendar, Gmail, Page Creator, and Sites. All of them are useful, but the folks from NEW Center placed a particular emphasis on the first three. They hold particular benefit because they address some of the fundamental issues that many nonprofits face with their IT infrastructure. The list is long:

• Donated (read "old") hardware. "There isn't enough disk space on this computer to load Office 2007!"
  
• Non-standardized hardware and software. "Ralph has a Mac Powerbook. Randi is using an old Windows 95 machine and I've got a Linux computer. What software will run on all of them?"
  
• Lack of professional IT staff. "Charlie is our IT guy. He's here every Tuesday. Or was that every other Wednesday? Was this an emergency?"
  
• Lack of adequate backup procedures. "Uh-oh, the computer crashed with the only copy of the grant application. Now what do we do?"
  
• Un-updated software. "I've got version 2.0 and Sally is using 3.1. Why can't I open the files she's creating?"
  
• Complicated procedures to share work effort with standard desktop software. "Who's got the most recent version of the grant application? What happened to all of the changes I made?"
  
• Frequent turnover of staff and volunteers. "Bob was the only one who knew where we kept all of the original disks for the software and he left a year ago with no forwarding address!"

Google claims that Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations address a lot of these problems. Since the documents are located on Google's servers, you don't have to worry about backing things up. Google also maintains the software (it's always the latest version). As long as the computer can run a modern web browser and has access to the Internet, you can use these programs. They even have a fairly sophisticated sharing mechanism which allows multiple people to access and edit documents at the same time.

Now, to be sure, these applications are not perfect. You don't have access to all of the functionality that modern productivity suites offer. Documents are suited for web display, so if you are writing something which requires specific layout settings, you might have to use MS Word or OpenOffice.org Writer to do the final formatting. You also won't have access to all of the fonts that you would have on your desktop machine.

That all being said, though, just the aspect of being able to maintain your important documents someplace other than the computer on Shirley's desk is probably a good thing.

So, have you tried Google Apps? For what do you use it?

Don't Surprise Me!

OK, I like a surprise as much as the next guy. Really. When my wife decided to throw a surprise birthday party for my 40th, I was elated. The clock radio she got me for Christmas -- the one I can plug my MP3 player into? Delightful!

The kind of surprises I can do without usually involve software. Ironically it's often the little things that get under my skin.

For example, this evening I was working on incorporating all of my contacts into Gmail. Now, don't get me wrong. I like Gmail. Anyone who's been reading this blog knows that I am a big fan of Google in general.

This time, they did something that just didn't make sense to me.

As a result of doing this import, I had a lot of contacts which were duplicates of others and some which were just completely unnecessary. As a first pass to clean things up, I decided to delete all of the unnecessary ones. I spent about 15 minutes going through the list, clicking on the little checkbox next to any that no longer belonged. When I got to the end of the list I had 148 names to be deleted.

I clicked on the "Delete" button.

Gmail promptly informed me that I was only allowed to delete 20 entries at a time and I would have to go back and "unclick" some of the ones that I had selected.

What???

OK, for all of you who are designers out there: Don't do anything like this. Don't let me walk that far down the path and then tell me that it's a deadend. If I try to delete that many and you think I might be mistaken, pop up a dialog to make sure that this is something that I really want to do. If you don't feel like doing that, then you'd better do something pretty obvious when I click on that 21st entry.

So, now I get to go back and do the whole winnowing process again...

... but you can bet I'm keeping an eye on how many I've selected!

So, what sort of software bizarreness have you uncovered in your Internet travels?

Jott Updated

In one of my recent e-zine issues, I wrote about the service called "Jott". It's a neat tool which allows you to call up a toll-free number, leave a voice message, and have that message transcribed and sent to anyone on your contact list. It is a great way to send yourself little reminders if you don't have a pen and paper handy. In fact, it makes a great way to make your calls and take notes in the car if you have a BlueTooth headset and voice-activated calling.

I just got an email from them today that they'd updated their site and some of their services. It's worth a quick look. They've made it easier to organize the messages that you've sent and you can even listen to the original audio that you recorded. My favorite new feature, though, is the ability to register your own custom Jott Link.

I know, I know. You're all excited about that, too. And you'll be even more excited if you knew what the heck a "Jott Link" is.

A Jott Link allows you to manipulate other online services using Jott as the go-between. For example, I can call Jott and have it record a meeting in my business calendar on Google Calendar. I've also got it set up to record tasks on my favorite "to do" list service, Remember the Milk.

With this new feature, if you have a home-grown or proprietary web-based system that you use on a regular basis, you (or your Web programmer) can connect that service to Jott. So, for example, you might have your own proprietary contact management system. Using this feature you could set up something which allowed you to call up and record the name and phone number of a new acquaintance.

So, how could you use a free automatic transcription service?

Keeping on Track

Before I went full time on my business, I used to be able to keep track of my clients in my head. I rarely had more than one or two at any time, so keeping track was pretty easy. Afterwards, though, my client list began to grow and I knew that things would begin to fall through the cracks if I didn't come up with a system.

So, I started keeping a list on the whiteboard next to my desk. It was pretty simple -- just a list of the clients and a one-word status message. I kept a more detailed document as a Google Docs spreadsheet. It's been working pretty well, but, as you can see, my business has continued to grow and now I'm starting to run out of room.

Maybe I need a bigger whiteboard?

This is all an overly long preamble into talking about an online tool that helps to keep track of all of this information. It's called CreativeProOffice.com.

CreativeProOffice is a free service (I'm not sure how they pay for it as there don't seem to be any ads). With it you can track clients, projects, tasks, files, and even submit invoices. It's a remarkably complete service. It's not perfect for me, but I could easily adapt it. So, why am I not converting everything over to using this service?

Well, I'll tell ya. It has to do with the nature of free software. If it were an application that I could download and use on my desktop, I probably would. Even if UpStart Productions (the maker of CPO) decided to stop supporting the application, I would at least have it on my computer and could use it for many years before I might run into problems. Unfortunately, this is an online service. If UpStart decides to stop supporting it, the site could vanish overnight, leaving me without a tool that I might have come to depend upon. I need to think long and hard about whether that is an acceptable risk.

So, would you use such a service to track your clients and projects? What are you using right now?

Going Wi-Fi

As a self-employed entrepreneur, I tend to spend a lot of my working hours in my home office sitting in front of the computer. Every once in a while, though, it's nice to get out. I can pack up my laptop and head out for one of many locations around the area which offer free wi-fi.

Of course, I have some of my favorite spots (the various branches of the Ann Arbor District Library especially). Sometimes, though, I would like to meet a client in a location like a coffee shop that has connectivity. What can I do then?

Well, I could wander from shop to shop with my laptop to see whether I can connect. Or, I could call around for the information. Or I could check out an online directory of services such as WiFiFreeSpot.com.

WiFiFreeSpot has listings by city and airport showing who has the free connections. Some of the information is a bit dated (there's a restaurant listed in the Ann Arbor section which doesn't exist anymore), but in general it's the most comprehensive listing I've found out there. There were even a few surprises on the list for me -- one of the local barber shops even has a free connection!

I don't know how often I'll need the service, but when it is time to get out of the house, it's nice to know I'll have a variety of options for my office away from home.

So, have you ever camped out with your laptop at a coffee shop? Did you get more or less work done?

Thank You for Thinking of Me, But...

Seth Godin had a great post yesterday about the simple practice of checking before forwarding. The basic gist is that, before you blindly forward things along to your entire mailing list, you owe it to everyone on that list to verify the truth of what you are sending along.

Seriously.

I receive forwarded messages all the time from friends and family members. Some are jokes, some are just cute messages or cartoons. I'm pretty much fine by that, so long as it doesn't get excessive. What really gets me all cranky is when someone forwards along a message which promulgates a particular political, religious, or philosophical viewpoint. Often I don't actually share these viewpoints and equally as often, the messages upon which they are based turn out to be false.

Here are a couple of rules that I think would help clarify the email atmosphere:

1. As Seth suggested, before you forward a message, go to the Snopes site and verify its veracity. Even if you think you can't find it there, check anyway, especially if the story is supposed to be true.
2. Always add a personal note as to why I might find this worth reading/viewing. Even if it's only that you found it cute or funny. I appreciate that you want to share, but I want to know your feelings about the message at hand.
3. Construct the recipient list for each individual message and as you do so, at least pause for a moment as you add each recipient and ask yourself the question "Would they really appreciate seeing this?" If you don't know for sure, then I would err on the side of not sending it.
4. Understand that if you don't follow these rules, and if the falsehood is egregious enough, I will have no compunction about responding to the entire group about what the real story is. After all, I looked it up on Snopes. At the minimum, I will at least respond to you and leave it to your discretion to reveal your gullibility to your original victims.

OK, I'm going to get down from my soapbox now before I fall off. My apologies to any whom I've offended, but this one just really gets my goat.

So, have you checked out the Snopes site? What did you look up?

Speedy Bag Delivery!

... If not a speedy reporting of such.

Well, life seems to have fallen into more of a groove now. On the personal side, we were able to locate a nanny for little Kaylie. Cara has been an absolute god-send for us. Now I can slowly dig myself out from under all of the tasks that have been piling up on my desk.

The first thing I wanted to get off the pile is more of a joy than a "task".

Just before the new year, I got a chance to chat with and deliver a welcome bag to one of the newest member of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, James Macsay. Now, when James gave me his business card, it was for "Macsay & Associates, Inc." and it claimed that he specialized in "Organization Development and Communication".

Pretty exciting stuff, right?

It may well be, but the reason he joined the Chamber was in his persona as "Jimmy Mac", one of the ringleaders who produces and hosts "Radio Free Bacon".

Yes, you read me correctly. That's "Radio Free Bacon", as in the breakfast side-dish. RFB is a group who presents a series of live audio shows, somewhat reminiscent of NPR's "A Prairie Home Companion". In this case, though, the variety is definitely home-grown Ann Arbor. In fact, they recorded the last series at Zingerman's Roadhouse, a popular local eatery.

They are gearing up for their 2008 series right now. The new shows will start on May 18 and will again be at the Roadhouse. There's also some talk that one of our local stations WKQI 107.1 may broadcast the shows. Check out the Radio Free Bacon website for more information and to listen to archived versions of the show.

So, does your community have it's own radio variety show?

More TV on Your Desktop

Yesterday I wrote about Hulu, a service which allows you to play high-quality streamed video of both current and classic television programs on your desktop. Hulu is in private beta right now, which means if you want to use the service, you have to sign up to be a beta-tester and then wait for them to sent you an invitation.

This procedure can take some time so, if you would like to test the offerings of Hulu while you are waiting, you can point your browser to OpenHulu. This is one of several services which are licensed to stream the Hulu content. The site is still a little rough -- they are openly asking for help to refine the interfaces -- but the content is the same as you will get on the main Hulu site.

As an aside, I am continually bemused by the variety and quality of services which are coming out on the Web. I've been using the Web since the days of the earliest visual browsers and I remember when streaming audio was choppy and difficult to listen to. Now we have remarkably clear video streaming and Hulu is already experimenting with high definition video.

Amazing stuff.

So, what Web stuff have you found to be the most surprising and cool?

TV on Your Desktop

I was fortunate enough to be reading TechCrunch today when the notice went up that there were some private beta invitations available for the much-anticipated Hulu.com service.

What? You've never heard of it?

Hulu is a site which provides premium content on the Web. "Premium content" includes both current and classic programs from a variety of providers, including NBC Universal, FOX and a smattering of others.

When I logged in I was able almost immediately to stream a recent episode of "Monk" to my computer screen. I checked out "The Office" and browsed through a number of clips from the Sci-Fi Channel, including their recent "Tin Man" miniseries. I was especially thrilled to discover that Hulu has the complete run of one of my favorite short-lived shows, "Firefly".

The video quality was remarkably good. Despite that, my desktop computer had no problems keeping up with the playback. My "so old that Moses must have brought it down" laptop was even able to do a fairly respectable job (though I didn't try to run it on full screen mode -- I'm not expecting miracles, after all).

The videos show with "limited commercial interruption". In the case of the hour and 26 minute "Firefly" pilot episode, this meant that there were 5 30-second commercials. Not a big deal, but if you really can't stand commercials, then you may have a hard time since there isn't any convenient way to fast-forward (though you can attempt to restart the video after the ad spot).

Some interesting features include the ability to "pop-out" the video to a separate smaller window, go to full screen mode, and even to embed clips or even whole videos in your content. The latter facility even allows you to specify a smaller chunk of the video if you wanted to make commentary on a specific part of the offering. I would have loved this tool back when I wrote about meeting Gil Gerard of 1970's "Buck Rogers" fame (Hulu has a selection of Buck's adventures in their library).

I'll be interested to see how this develops. Right now the catalog of videos includes whole seasons of episodes, but not usually the entire run of a show. Will they continue to add episodes until the entire run is available? Will the episodes expire? Do people even want to watch TV this way?

So, how would you use the Hulu service? Or would you?

Fun Phone Tricks

I've had my LG enV "smart" phone for almost a year now. I have to say that it has been an awesome tool to have at my side. It's my alarm clock, my GPS, my web browser and my night-time reading. I've used it to take photos and notes and even to record an interview.

Heck, I even use it to make and receive phone calls!

Last weekend I discovered another neat trick. This one involves searching using Google.

Lisa and I were out doing some shopping to get some things for decorating the house for Christmas. I was looking for replacement bulbs for the lighted deer sculptures that we usually put out under the tree in front of the house. They were very specific bulbs. I needed clear, 3.5 volt bulbs.

After failing to find them at the hardware store, I was dreading the thought of driving from place to place in search of these little widgets. Then I realized that I could search for the specific stores I was considering using the built-in web browser on the phone and just jot down the phone numbers.

A few seconds later, I was searching Google for my first target. Up it came, with no problem, including the phone number. Then I noticed something. The phone number was a link. "I wonder what it's linked to?" I thought to myself.

I "clicked" on the link and suddenly the phone began to dial. Gotta say that I was quite pleased. It was such a little thing, but it made the whole process just that much easier.

I don't know if this works with all cell phones, but you might want to check this out. It's a heck of a lot easier than carrying a phone book with you wherever you go.

So, what was the last gadget that surprised you with its usefulness?

Re-Use and Re-Imagine

I worked some more on the Community Housing Network site upgrade today. I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is a good thing as two other projects are starting to heat up a little. Never a dull moment.

At any rate, my work today allowed me to re-use some code from another system. For programmers, this is somewhat of a Holy Grail. Using or re-tooling old code can often save quite a bit of time and effort in a project.

In this case, I had designed a chunk of PHP code a while back, which automatically switched testimonials on a page. Each time you reloaded a page it would grab a random testimonial from a directory on the server. You can see the results of this on both the CNP of Ohio site and on my own Cyber Data Solutions site.

Now, the folks at CHN wanted a series of different images on their front page. I could have used Flash to create an animated slideshow, but I personally think that such things actually detract from the page. So instead, I used my "random testimonial" code and tweaked it a little so that it would display different pictures instead. You can see it on the CHN test site, if you are interested.

So, what do you think about having animated slide shows on a web page? Do you find them fun or distracting?

Looking at Things from All Sides

I've been working on the Community Housing Network project over the past few days. Among other things, we're completely revamping the look of the site. My graphic designer came up with a beautiful new look and now I just have to make it work within the Drupal framework (Drupal is the content management system which CHN uses on their site).

This stuff is actually pretty fun for me. I treat it as any other puzzle and just have a good time coming up with tricks and techniques to make things work the way I want them to. There is one tiny little challenge, though, that really gets under my skin.

I have to own about nine different computers to adequately test everything.

After I've done all my work, I have to test the system on a variety of different operating systems and browsers. What looks perfect under Firefox running on Linux (my main desktop machine) will likely look slightly different from a Windows box running Internet Explorer 7. It in turn will look different from a Mac running the Safari browser.

It's a small thing, but to really have a professional site, you need to take this into account.

Fortunately for me, someone else must have been having these same problems, because theres a site now which will test your pages under all combinations of browsers under these three operation systems. It's called Browser Shots and it's a tool any good designer should have in their arsenal.

At least until you can afford to own nine different computers!

So, how well does your site stand up to different platforms and browsers?

On Articles and Weapons

Today I taught my first martial arts weapons class. Our Karate school recently implemented a program where black belts are to declare a "major". Once a month they attend a class focusing on that subject. I'm in charge of the weapons classes.

I also recently uploaded a new article to EzineArticles.com. My goal is to upload at least one new article a week. This one was about using creativity to renew your enthusiasm for networking. According to the response message I got, my new Platinum status should mean that the article will be reviewed and available to the public within two business days.

So, what to the two situations have to do with each other?

Really, it comes down to the benefits of sharing. In both cases the immediate goal is to help others by conveying information and/or ideas. The indirect benefit, though, is that my own skills improve as a result of the sharing. In the case of teaching about martial arts weapons, my students ask questions which I wouldn't have considered previously. With writing the article, the very act of putting my ideas down on paper made me think them through and examine them a little more closely to make sure that they held water.

So, the next time you go out to share with others, just remember that you'll be getting an awful lot in return.

So, what was the best return you've ever received on a "teaching investment"?

Karate Video: Bo Form

I've been meaning to post this for some time now, but haven't had a chance to do the little bit of editing required to get it ready for public consumption. Back on August 18th I had yet another of my monthly tests for my third degree black belt. This time we were allowed to present a demonstration of our own choosing. Since I've been training in traditional weapon styles for a few years now, my choice was an easy one.

Lisa shot the video and I used the Microsoft Movie Maker software to create the titles and prepare it for upload to YouTube. I hope you enjoy it!



So, have you uploaded any videos to YouTube?

Helium Follow-Up

OK, after my initial foray into the world of Helium -- an online repository for writers and publishers of articles -- I must say that I am intrigued. I'm still not entirely happy with the site, given its somewhat limited editing capabilities. Perhaps that will be addressed in the future.

What I do like is the community rating system.

When I submitted my article the other night, it was to a topic which had nine other articles already under it's rubric. At the time, I was rated 6 out of 10. Apparently it gave me the benefit of the doubt that I was in the middle of the pack as far as writing quality. The site then presents pairs of articles to those who volunteer to rate them. Each person is asked to read both articles and indicate which they think is better. Obviously, the one which is deemed to be superior rises in rank, while the lesser article drops lower.

The system presents articles from random titles, so an author can't go in and easily game the system to push their own article higher.

When I checked back today, my article had risen to 2 of 10 (not bad!). Out of curiosity, I checked out some of the articles to see to what kind of quality I was being compared. The article at #1, was quite well written. It was short and succinct and its author used a list structure which made everything quite clear and readable. I certainly didn't mind coming in second to that.

Then I looked at the lower end of the range. For every good quality that #1 possessed, #10 seemed to decide to do the opposite. It was long, unfocused and rambling. The author chose to use poor grammar and "creative" spelling. Where the first was authoritative, the last was amateurish. In checking with the other pieces, each seemed to be positioned about where I would expect them if I were to try to arrange them myself.

I guess the upshot for me is that Helium is not only yet another article submission site, but it also acts as a fairly impartial judge of ones writing style in the marketplace of ideas.

So, have you checked out any article submission sites?

Writing a Name for Yourself

I finally got around to submitting some articles on EzineArticles.com.

For those who are unfamiliar with the service, it provides a repository where authors can upload articles which can then be used by anyone to provide content to ezines, print publications, and even websites. While the authors don't get paid for their work, they do get to claim two benefits from the association. First, by being published by others, they become known as experts. Second, part of the publishing agreement includes printing the author bio, which, in addition to the basic author description, can also include links back to the author's website.

The process is pretty straightforward. First, of course, I had to register for an account. This is the same process I've had to go through on dozens of other sites. There is no charge to join as an author, so this didn't slow me down much at all.

Once I had registered, I went to submit my first article. I've written numerous articles in the past, both for my ezine and for other publications. They needed to be retooled for a general audience, but that wasn't too difficult. I filled out the appropriate fields, and with a click it was off to the EzineArticles editorial staff.

Should you decide to investigate the possibilities, here are some things to consider that will make your adventure a little easier than mine:

1. Read the editorial FAQ. This will speed up the submission process tremendously, It's well-written and clear, so you have no excuse not to obey their rules.
2. Before you start submitting, first fill out your profile, including uploading a photo, if you so desire.
3. Write up your author bio. If you already have one ready before you start your first article, the submission process goes a lot faster.
4. Check out the list of categories and subcategories so that you have a good idea where your article belongs. Be sure to read their requirements regarding where things should be categorized. You may disagree with them, but irritating the editorial staff (who will be the ones giving the final yea or nay) probably isn't your best course of action.
5. Read over the article three or more times and do the preview with the spell-checker on. If you have to, read it out loud to make sure the words are saying what you think they are. No one will want to read your masterpiece if it is full of typos and grammatical mistakes.
6. Find a good keyword generator. One of the fields you must fill out for submission is a list of keywords to help people find your articles.
   

As of this writing, I've now submitted six articles, mostly about networking. So far two of them have been approved (it takes about a week or so for each article). Right now I'm a "Basic" member. After you've had ten articles approved, they consider you for Platinum status. From what I understand, that means that your articles pass muster and they give you a higher priority when it comes to approving your pieces.

I just checked and the two articles which have been approved have been viewed 4 or 5 times each. I'll let you know if anyone actually decides to publish my work.

So, do you have articles on EzinArticles.com or one of its competitors?