An Afternoon at the World Trade Center in Portland with Apple Snow Leopard Server

Tomorrow as part of my duties as the founder of LIMUG I will be attending the Apple Snow Leopard server tour held at the World Trade Center Auditorium in Portland Oregon.

LIMUG is the LinkedIn Mac users group with 11,000 members. Be sure to check out the LIMUG website. (Cool logo eh?)

The Apple Snow Leopard seminar is going to cover hardware, software, setup, administration, and integration. It also covers podcast producer to, scripting for system administrators, and the iPhone integration.

The Apple iPhone integration being covered at this seminar is really interesting. There is absolutely no mention of Apple’s new iPad in their entire agenda. I do find it interesting that they do mention the iPod touch to which the new Apple iPad is being referred to as just a larger version. They do plan on discussing how the new Apple Snow Leopard Server can assist with automatically configuring these mobile devices and using that services such as mail, calendar, contacts, and remote access.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
With the advent of the smart phones it makes our jobs as Internet marketers more extensive and we have to consider mobile devices accessing the Internet. I’m attending this event with the hope of picking up some tidbits of information that might not only further my Apple knowledge but also my Internet marketing knowledge.

This event is actually sponsored by Apple Inc. and MacForce one of our local Macintosh suppliers in Portland.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

World Trade Center, Apple iPhone, and Apple Snow Leopard is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Using WordPress for a Blog post Just doesn’t get any Easier

When my MacSpeech Dictate arrived I couldn’t have been any happier. I couldn’t wait to get home and try it out.

I’d used speech rest of recognition software before, back in the old days I used to use headset to actually give commands to my computer to make it open programs and various little chores like that.

So I couldn’t wait to start talking to my computer and have it actually print out what I’m saying. I was interested in finding out just how accurate the program would be converting my voice to text. I was amazed. It was so easy spend a few minutes reading stuff into the computer and the next thing you know it’s typing what you’re saying.

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
I didn’t think that WordPress blogging could even get any easier but MacSpeech Dictate has proven that wrong. This blog post was actually dictated through a headset that was supplied with the software and it’s just so much easier than typing all this stuff out. This is the best dictation software I have ever been exposed to.

I can’t wait till were my clients tells me I can’t blog I’m not a good writer I’m just a good talker. Well I have a solution for its called MacSpeech Dictate and all you have to do is tell your story in its types it up for you.

The only problem for some people is going to be that you don’t have a Macintosh. There is other software like this available for the PC but since I’m not PC guy I can’t recommend it. MacSpeech Dictate is powered by Dragon so you might give that a look.

MacSpeech has taken the work of blogging for me and it probably will for you too.

WordPress, blogging, and MacSpeech Dictate were made for each other. Even though I’m sure that there are many other uses for MacSpeech Dictate but blogging is my passion.

Late,
Gary Pool SEO

First Time – MacSpeech Dictate for a WordPress Blog Post is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

USB flash drives can be used for more than just a sneakernet

Do you remember the old days when we used floppies to transfer data from computer to computer? Now we are using USB flash drives for that purpose. Oh but that little memory stick you are carrying can be much more than that old fashioned sneakernet.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

Sneakernet

Sneakernet is a tongue-in-cheek term used to describe the transfer of electronic information, especially computer files, by physically carrying removable media such as magnetic tape, floppy disks, compact discs, USB flash drives, or external hard drives from one computer to another.

Sneaker refers to the shoes of the person carrying the media. This is usually in lieu of transferring the information over a computer network. This mode of data transport is often used as an academic example to illustrate the trade-off between latency and bandwidth.

Here are 10 things you can do with a USB flash drive you may have not thought of

1. Run portable applications
   You can install portable applications on your USB flash drive.
   OpenOffice can be run as a portable application
2. Boot an operating system
   You can boot both Windows or Linux from a USB flash drive
3. Connect to a wireless network
   Using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP to save wireless network configuration information to a USB flash drive. Then you can use your drive to easily connect another computer or a WCN-compatible device, such as a router or printer, to your wireless network.
4. Create a password reset disk
   You can use a password reset disk to reset your password and quickly get back into your user account. In Windows Vista, you can use USB flash drive rather than a floppy disk as a password reset disk.
5. Boost performance
   Windows Vista will allow you to use a USB flash drive to speed up your system with the ReadyBoost technology.
6. Manage it
   Windows XP will actually allow you to manage the use of your USB flash drive with the USB Flash Drive Manager.
7. Use it as an MP3 player
   Just copy your MP3 files to your USB flash drive, plug it into your computer. Well it’s not really a player but a place for your playlists to reside.
8. Password-protect it
   With the Rohos Mini Drive you can safeguard data on your USB flash drive.
9. Run a Web site from it
   With Server2Go, you can easily run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl right from a USB flash drive.
10. Lock your PC
    Predator (a freeware utility) will allow you to turn a USB flash drive into a key you can use to lock and unlock your computer.

This post was inspired by “10 cool things you can do with a USB flash drive“ by Greg Shultz.

Late,
Gary Pool

Boot Your Windows or Linux computer from a USB Flash Drive is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How important is communication and contact management to your business?

In any business, large or small the importance of communication is the key. You need communications both internally and externally. So just what is the definition of communication?
According to dictionary.com the definition of communication is:

com⋅mu⋅ni⋅ca⋅tion [kuh-myoo-ni-key-shuhn]

1. the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated
2. the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs
3. something imparted, interchanged, or transmitted
4. a document or message imparting news, views, information, etc
5. passage, or an opportunity or means of passage, between places
6. communications
   • means of sending messages, orders, etc., including telephone, telegraph, radio, and television.
   • routes and transportation for moving troops and supplies from a base to an area of operations.
7. Biology
   • activity by one organism that changes or has the potential to change the behavior of other organisms.
   • transfer of information from one cell or molecule to another, as by chemical or electrical signals.

As you can see from the definition above why effective communication is probably the most important activity we can do as a business. Communication must be our number one priority in any business. Whether this communication is internal or external, it must happen. Without it everything will fall apart. One to the most important types of communication as far as sales go is contact management. I recently came across some incredible communication software.
(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)
When it comes to communication technology BuDuRu is at the top of my list. BuDuRu is a pretty intense communication and contact management system. It is hosted online and comes with a very reasonable price tag. Unlike other contact management software BuDuRu will allow you communications that will blow your mind. BuDuRu is contact management on steroids. It’s all about communication.

Buduru will allow you to access all the necessities of actually doing business.

You will have access to the names and functions of key people in your organization involved in the partner relationship. You will have up to the minute information about who your partners contact. You will also have contact information for the key people including any recent changes. Your partners won’t have to guess and play telephone tag. You will also have access to the areas of responsibility of key people including recent changes. You and your partners will know the right people to contact.

With your Buduru site you will be able to see the communications from partners, messages helping you to solve problems. You can also use the multimedia message service to partnersand/or tier members. This will allow you to communicate your solutions or issues.You will also have an “exceptions” report of partner transactions, allowing you to easily be aware of the most recent problems.

You will also have access to:

• IM client to partners – so you can dialogue
• Any offers of partnership from other buduru members
• Ability to offer partnerships to Buduru members

You have Applications

• Catalog – keep updates, revisions, etc. immediately available to partners
• IT Market – gives you access to people and equipment availability or needs among your partner and/or tier members
• Events calendar – schedule conference calls, meetings, etc. with partners
• Application Program Interface – you can interface with systems in your company

You can also access a partner site and see:

• Names and functions of key people in the partner organization involved in the partner relationship – so you have up to the minute information about who to contact.
• Contact information for key people including any recent changes – so you don’t have to guess and play telephone tag
• Areas of responsibility of key people including recent changes – so you know the right people to contact
• Multimedia message service to members – so you can communicate your solutions or issues
• An “exceptions” report of partner transactions – so you can easily be aware of the most recent problems
• Catalog – updates, revisions, etc. in partner catalog

When it comes to communication what does your report card say?

Would a communication based software like BuDuRu help your business?

How can you do any Marketing without communication?

We can all use better communication with each other, internally, externally, with service providers, and clients. Just give some thought every day to just how well you are communication both at work and at home.

Late,
Gary Pool

Communication, Contact Management, and BuDuRu is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

History, Current State & Future of the Corporate Internet Strategist Role – Gregory Miller

Gregory Miller
Managing Director
Network Tool & Die Company

(Post from Search Engine Optimizician.)

Brief Internet History

• 1968 – DARPA
• 1970 – First 5 nodes
• 1974 – TCP specification by Vint Cerf
• 1984 – On January 1, the internet with its 1000 hosts converted en masse to the TCIP protocol

The internet is a network of networks

The United States is not the biggest user of the internet.

October 31st the internet may be blown apart world wide into segments.

Caida.org has gorgeous mapping of the internet.

Heavy Traffic

• annual global IP traffic will exceed two-thirds of a zettabyte in 4 years
• global IP traffic will quintuple from 2008 to 2013
• in 2013 the internet will be nearly 4x larger in 2009 that = ~10 billion DVDs crossing the internet every 30 days
• globally mobile data traffic will double every year through 2013 increasing 66x between 2008 & 2013
• an “exaflood” is coming
• what is an exabyte? a tower of big books that is 200 million miles high
• in the US by 2015 – 1 Zettabyte

exabyte unit
2^60 = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes = 1024 petabytes or roughly 10^18 bytes.

zettabyte unit
2^70 = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes = 1024 exabytes.

The “Internet Strategist”

The Role

An expert i designing, developing. and directing long range plans to leverage the Internet as a principal instrument of business continuity

Examining all aspects and impacts… from the Board Room to the Mail Room

• digital commerce is only one perspective
• the view extends far beyond web site management
• the “iStrategist” must have a 360 degree view

Reporting…

• generally into executive management
• 40% report into the CIO or CTO
• 34.8% do not report into the executive management arena

On the internet we are building the Sears skyscraper equivalent with very little if any engineering.

Domain Expertise

• technology, operations, law & policy
• need not be expert in every area essential core competencies required
• generally more technically oriented
• business development & strategic planning capacity
• evangelist & innovator; clearly a thought leader

“Technology”

• inter-networking, architecture, protocols, & services
• emerging technologies
• skynet

“Operations”

• marketing sales & service/support
• logistics, manufacturing, & supply chain

“Law & Policy”

• security, privacy, digital commerce regulation
• internet governance

A lawyer is simply a “tool”.

Source of Internet Strategists

3 Areas

• network & systems or web admin
• digital of database marketing eCommerce CRM
• business development & strategic planning

Emergence of the Pure “iStrategist”

• past 3 years a new breed has appeared strategic planning or business development

generally 4+ years experience in technology

• truly tripartite background from training & experience (i.e. engineer with an MBA/JD)

Internet Strategy Examples

• Automotive: Warranty cost containment – BMW
• Healthcare: Pain management Meds compliance – ReliefInsite
• Active Lifestyle: Reflex (see also: Nike) Autonomic Physical training – Reflex

The Product wants to become a website!
Greg once again gives us a TDF reference. (Astana jumping to bring back Cadel Evans in unison.)
What do you do to build a sustainable relationship with your customers / clients?
How can your web site help?

What is Required of a True Strategist?

Competency in Inter-networking & Internet

• architecture, protocols, services
• evolution and development & processes thereof
• security & privacy
• internet governance

Competency in Digital Commerce

• digital marketing
• trans. management (order, process, settlement, fulfillment)
• customer intelligence

Competency in Digital Supply Chain

Partner & Vendor services

• logistics (e.g., EDI… )
• manufacturing

Operations

• Communications (e.g., VoIP, SMS, Mail, etc.)
• Customer service & support

The Internet is working at a holistic level for the company.

TLD discussion

You’d give up court resolution
Non-profits get the nod in all matters
Digital Strategists discovered the flaws

Watch out for ICON!

Late,
Gary Pool

Build a Sustainable Relationship with Your Customers and/or Clients is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Ever Wish You Could LoJack Your Computer or Smart Phone?

Here is an answer for theft protection for your computers and smart phones. It is called GadgetTrack and they have products for Mac, PC, iPhone, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. This is not only for portables it will work on towers and desktops as well.

There is a installation review on the LIMUG site titled “MacTrack – LoJack for your Mac and iPhone Too” if you want to read more.

This anti-theft software works like LoJack you can turn it on and it will start sending you information to locate your computer.

One of the really cool features of this software is it’s integration with flickr. If your computer has a built in camera it will actually send you the picture of the culprit and his location.

Check out GadgetTrack so you too can sleep better at night.

Late,
Gary Pool

LoJack for Laptops – GadgetTrack is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Reference Guides to Make Life as a Web Developer Easier

Rebecca Kelley from SEOmoz first brought this article from Web Design Schools Guide to my attention.

After reviewing this article on cheat sheets or as I call them reference guides I thought you might enjoy some or all of them. I started with all 100 links to the guides but some were broken. Here is a breakdown of the links and their categories.

• HTML (13 links)
• CSS (14 links)
• AJAX (4 links)
• PHP (10 links)
• JavaScript (11 links)
• MySQL (4 links)
• Action Script (4 links)
• Color (6 links)
• Adobe (12 links)
• Miscellaneous (16 links)

100 Terrific Web Design Cheat Sheets that Will Save you Time, Money and Mistakes

Most web designers know that cheat sheets are incredibly useful. You can use them for quick reference, easy learning, and more. In this list, we’ve compiled an incredible collection of the 100 best and most useful cheat sheets out there.

HTML
13 HTML and XHTML reference sheets.

1. HTML/XHTML Characters: Code for various characters on this reference.
2. HTML Beginners – Web Monkey: Beginners HTML cheat sheet.
3. (X)HTML Attributes and Elements: Tags and attributes for XHTML.
4. HTML Help: HTML help sheet from GoSquared.
5. HTML Tags: VisiBone’s HTML tags.
6. Common HTML Elements and Corresponding Codes: Elements in action and their codes.
7. HTML: Reference for HTML tags.
8. XHTML: Clean and easy to XHTML reference sheet.
9. HTML Code: HTML tags quick and easy.
10. HTML & XHTML Tag Quick Reference: Quick referencefor commonly used HTML and XHTML tags.
11. HTML Tags/Codes: Current tags and codes.
12. XHTML Character Reference: Character entities in XHTML.
13. HTML: One page A4 document.
14. XHTML: Common XHTML practices.

CSS
14 quick reference sheets.

1. YUI Library: Yahoo! user interface library reference.
2. CSS Level 1 Properties: Level 1 CSS properties.
3. CSS Help: Help for CSS.
4. CSS: Easily reference syntax and more.
5. Blueprint CSS: Help with Blueprint CSS.
6. CSS Level 1 and CSS P Quick Reference Charts: Level 1 and processing.
7. Apple’s CSS Widget: Mac CSS reference dashboard widget.
8. CSS Panic Guide: CSS help panic guide.
9. CSS: Reference for CSS.
10. CSS: Pete Frietag – really simple and easy look at CSS.
11. CSS Layout: About.com – basics of CSS layout.
12. Cascading Style Sheets Quick Reference Guide: CSS quick reference guide.
13. CSS Shorthand: Shorthand reference for CSS.
14. CSS Level 2 Quick Reference: Quick reference for CSS Level 2.
15. Cascading Style: Basics and beyond in CSS.
16. CSS: Creating CSS files.

AJAX
4 cheat sheets to make AJAX easy.

1. AJAX: Definitions and ideology for AJAX.
2. AJAX Library: JavaScript base type extensions and more.
3. What’s AJAX?: Amy Hoy shares her knowledge about AJAX.
4. AJAX: Simple understanding of the code.

PHP
10 reference sheets basics, tricks, and …

1. PHP: PHP functions one page reference sheet.
2. PHP Basics: Basics of PHP quick reference sheet.
3. Apple PHP: Get a handy little PHP cheat sheet widget for Apple here.
4. PHP: Blue Shoes – useful PHP reference sheet.
5. PHP Tips/Trick: PHP by putting these tips and tricks.
6. PHP 4 Reference Card: Be more productive in PHP 4.
7. PHP Help Sheet: PHP help sheet from GoSquared.
8. PHP Quick Reference Sheet: Quick reference to everything you need.
9. Smarty Cheat Sheet for Template Designers: Smarty to create a template design resource.
10. PHP Skinny Sheet: Visibone’s PHP Skinny Sheet – a lot of information.

JavaScript
11 references covering regular expressions, jQuery, and …

1. Mootools 1.2t: Use this cheat sheet to get the basics of mootools.
2. Regular Expressions: VisiBone’s reference sheet offers some quick excerpts to the regular expressions in JavaScript.
3. Common DOM methods at a glance: You’ll have easy reference to DOM methods with this resource.
4. JavaScript: With this cheat sheet, you’ll get a handy reference and reminder guide.
5. jQuery 1.3: Get quick reference to all of the important stuff you need in jQuery 1.3 from this cheat sheet.
6. JavaScript Reference Card: Quickly reference items in JavaScript using this card.
7. jQuery: Get this cheatsheet in printable form or on your iPhone.
8. JavaScript Reference Sheet: Use these excerpts to make JavaScript a bit easier.
9. Prototype 1.6.0.2: Using this cheat sheet, you’ll have quick reference to events, elements, and more.
10. JavaScript in Ten Minutes: This reference gives you a quick breakdown of JavaScript.
11. JavaScript and Browser Objects Quick Reference: Get an easy guide to JavaScript and browser objects with this reference.

MySQL
4 reference sheets for MySQL.

1. MySQL Commands: MySQL Command reference.
2. MySQL: Reference sheet for MySQL and functions available in PHP.
3. MySQL: Ssimple guide to MySQL.
4. MySQL/Quick Reference: Numeric types and more.

Action Script
4 migration sheets, AIR, and …

1. Papervision 3D: Papervision 3D in Action Script.
2. AS3 Migration: Reference for migrating from AS2 to AS3.
3. AIR ActionScript: AIR in ActionScript card.
4. Fuse: Reference sheet for Fuse.

Color
6 Quick reference color code, and web safe color charts.

1. Color Reference Hexagon Mouse Pad: Colors right at hand on your mouse pad.
2. RGB Hex Colour Chart: Codes for RGB Colors.
3. Web Safe Color Chart: Colors that are safe for use on the web.
4. RGB Values for Macbeth Color Checker: Values for a variety of colors.
5. RGB Hex Colour Chart: RGB color chart with 216 web safe colors, printable on an A4 piece of paper.
6. Color Reference Guide: Veign’s is a great visual reference guide for color codes.

Adobe
12 cheat sheets will help you with Adobe products including Photoshop, Flash, & Illustrator.

1. Pen Tool Cheatsheet: Quick reference for the pens in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
2. Photoshop CS3 Keyboard Shortcuts: Shortcuts available in Photoshop CS3.
3. Photoshop CS4 Keyboard Shortcuts: Shortcuts available in Photoshop CS4.
4. Photoshop Brush Tool: Photoshop reference for all of the brush tools and what you can do with them.
5. Flash CS3: Visual reference for Flash CS3.
6. Flash CS4 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts: Keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Flash CS4 on OS X.
7. Illustrator Keyboard Shortcuts-Mac: Illustrator keyboard shortcuts for the Mac.
8. Dreamwaver Quick Reference Guide: Get things done in Dreamweaver CS3.
9. Photoshop Toolbox Reference: Toolbox reference – what icons mean, their shortcuts, and what they do.
10. Layers Palette Keys: Layers palette reference guide.
11. Photoshop FAQ and Short Tips: Photoshop made a lot easier.
12. Black and White: Convert your images to black and white.
13. Photoshop Lasso Tool: Various Lasso tools and their functions.
14. Dreamweaver CS3 Mac Quick Reference Guide: Quick reference for Dreamweaver on the Mac.

Miscellaneous
17 reference sheets covering everything from Ruby on Rails to grammar.

1. Grammar: Pete Freitag’s common grammar mistakes.
2. Perl: Ssimple Perl reference sheet .
3. The Web Developer’s SEO: Essentials of SEO for web developers.
4. Web Designer’s Font Chart: Web browser fonts – web designer’s font chart.
5. mod_rewrite: Directives, regular expressions, common rules, and server variables.
6. .htaccess: The essentials of the .htaccess file.
7. Apache .htaccess: Help for about any .htaccess situation.
8. WordPress Help: Plenty of help for WordPresst.
9. What Goes Where: Sheet to remember where everything goes.
10. InVisible Ruby on Rails Reference: Guide to important functions, classes, and methods in Ruby on Rails.
11. Windows fonts/Mac fonts/Font family: Common fonts and their equivalents on Windows and Mac.
12. Approximate Conversion from Points to Pixels: Conversion rates from points to pixels.
13. Megapixels Chart: Calculate how many megapixels you’ll use.
14. W3C DOM Compatitbility Tables: Reference compatibility tables.
15. Will the browser apply the rule(s)?: Will your rules actually work in various browsers.
16. Google Advanced Operators: Google search advanced operators.
17. Perl: Reference for beginning Perl programmers.

If you’d like to visit the original article you can access it here.

Late,
Gary Pool

HTML, Ajax, Adobe, PHP, JavaScript and More is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Copywriting for SEO on Your Blog

Well I did make my first major decision of the SearchFest day I choose to attend the Blogging, Copywriting, and SEO Session in the big room. I didn’t even have to change seats after Danny Sullivan’s inspiring keynote.

Blogging, Copywriting, and SEO

Moderator: Scott Hendison – Search Commander, Inc.

Scott Hendison is the CEO of Search Commander, Inc. and a search engine expert. Scott is a former Portland computer & software retailer that built his Portland computer repair business with Pay-per-Click and organic search engine optimization.

Here are my notes as taken, with a little formatting thrown in.

Stoney deGeyter – Pole Position

Who is your market? – What are they interested in? – What are the needs?

Who it is you want to attract? You need to speak to them on their level.

• Keyword research
• How to hit the broad topics
• Topical concepts

Have a good pick-up line!
How do you capture the audience and bring them into the website?

• Compelling opening

Speak the language
Scannable
Bullet points
Bolds and italics

Use headings, use pictures

• Be really easy on the eyes (Anglina Jolie)
• Make the content more than just a book
• Formatting counts

• Keep them interested
• Appeal to their needs
• Ask questions
• Inform

Give more than they came for via Links

• Do it right and do it again
• Proof and rewrite
• Integrate keywords
• No stuffing
• Need value, desire

Rebecca Kelley – SEOmoz

7 Blogging Myths

The Black, The White and Everything In-Between

Blogging is a Link Magnet!

Blogging is a great way to attract links

• Crap is crap
• Great content can lead to links

Content is King

• If you blog it they will link
• Good content doesn’t magically spread
• don’t be afraid..

Dofollow Blogs = Easy Link Building
You dirty spammer

List of dofollow blogs

It’s List or Bust

• This presentation is a list
• causation does not = correlation
• Diversify your content

• Blog When it’s Convenient
• Blogging takes consistency
• viral content on empty blog is suspicious

• Look for Content on Google Trends
• Social Media Searches
• SEOmoz PopularSearches
• SEOmoz Blogscape

Don’t Over think it
Let your heart lean and you follow with your posts.

It’s Your Blog, Do Whatchoo Wanna Do

Your Website Needs a Blog – But you need to maintain it.

Heather Lloyd Martin – SuccessWorks

Marsha Brady Syndrome

Make your site dateable
You can… In just 7 easy steps!

Rethink your approach

• Tailor your blog to the economy.
• Will your “old” approach work in today’s economy?
• Rethink your benefit statements – are they still valid?
• Go where the action is

Keyword research…

• 2-3 keyword phrases per page ignore keyword density
• Consider if you have good copy
• Grab their attention

Title structure

• 60-75 characters including spaces
• include main key phrase/s in title
• Always stay current – Always

Give your copy an update check

• press pages
• conference/events
• product
• old articles that are obviously out dated

Let your personality shine through
Pages need personality

Ask for what you want
CALL TO ACTION on every page!

• Don’t lower your writing standards
• Enjoy ultimate success
• folded listings

Well there you have it. I did choose to go to the blogging session. It was a great session and I am glad I chose to improve my blog.

Late,
Gary Pool

How to SEO Your Blog – SearchFest 2009 is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

If you haven’ heard about this useful little piece of PPC Spy
ware yet you owe it to yourself to check it out.

I discussed PPC Web Spy in my post “Spy on your Competitor’s PPC Keywords“.

PPC WebSpy has been Updated

From time to time, Google changes the way they display search results.

Because PPC Web Spy relies on parsing html from Google’s website, if Google makes a code change, it affects PPC Web Spy.

When this happens, PPC Web Spy needs to be updated to make sure that it continues to work as expected.

It typically only takes a few hours, at most (usually only a couple minutes) for PPC Web Spy to make programming/code changes to correct any problems.

Anyway, the changes have been made to PPC Web Spy. You’ll need to visit and re-install PPC Web Spy for it to function as you intended.

Just go to the download page, login and follow the download instructions like you did originally.

If you aren’t using this tool yet I would suggest you try it it’s free.

Late,
Gary Pool

PPC Web Spy has been updated to keep up with Google is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you use photos in Windows XP’s 3D Flying Objects?

If you’re familiar with Windows XP’s My Pictures Slideshow screen saver to display photos of loved ones, here’s a twist that you might find interesting – you can use a photo for the texture in the 3D Flying Objects screen saver.

1. Locate the photo you want to use in this screen saver, load it into a graphics program, and save it as a BMP file. (BMP is the only file type the 3D Flying Objects screen saver will allow you to select.)
2. Right-click on the desktop, select Properties, select the Screen Saver tab, and select 3D Flying Objects from the Screen Saver drop-down list.
3. Click the Settings button and select Textured Flag from the Style drop-down list.
4. Click the Texture button and use the Choose Texture File dialog box to locate and select your photo.
5. Crank up Resolution and Size sliders to the Max setting and click OK to close the 3D Flying Objects Setting dialog box.
6. Click the Preview button to test your new screen saver, then click OK to enable it.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Windows XP’s 3D Flying Objects is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you place your applications into a tabbed user interface with WinTabber?

If you’ve been using a tabbed browser, chances are that you can’t do without having a tabbed user interface. Keeping each site you visit on separate tabs during a heavy surfing session is an efficient use of screen real estate and provides a great experience. (Ever hear of Firefox?)

You’ve probably also found yourself in situations where you’re working with other applications or even certain operating system components and wished that the user interface had tabs.

Suppose that you’re working with multiple copies of Windows Explorer and simultaneously working with files and folders on your hard disk and mapped network drives. Maybe you’re working with multiple text files and have several copies of Notepad open at the same time. Sure the Taskbar is designed for these sort of operations as is the task switcher ([Alt] [Tab]), but having multiple windows in a single tabbed interface sure would be nice.

WinTabber has created a FREE tool that will allow you to easily transform your multiple windows into a single tabbed user interface. Once you have WinTabber up and running, you can open multiple windows, and then with the click of a button, you can add each window to WinTabber. Once in WinTabber, each window becomes a tab (Figure A) and you can begin clicking tabs to switch between the windows.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – WinTabber is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you manage the most frequently used programs list on your XP Start Menu?

One of the many features of Windows XP’s Start Menu is the most frequently used programs list. When it comes to configuring this feature, Windows XP provides you with only two controls:

1. the ability to completely clear the list and
2. the ability to specify the maximum number of programs that can appear on this list at any one time

There is one other thing that would be nice to have control over, that is being able to prevent selected applications from appearing on that list.

You probably don’t need to have often used but inconsequential applications such as Calculator or Notepad showing up in that space. You probably would rather not have any other programs you occasionally use show up in that space, either.

Fortunately, you can prevent an application from appearing in the Start Menu’s most frequently used programs list by adding a special key to the registry.

1. Launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
2. Go to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications.
3. Right-click the Applications key and select New | Key.
4. Name the key the same as the application’s executable file.
5. Right-click your new key and select New | String Value.
6. Name the string value NoStartPage.
7. Close the Registry Editor.

You’ll need to restart the computer, or at least log off and then back on again for this change to become effective.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – XP Start Menu is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you configure Windows Explorer to display Windows XP disk drives?

When you double-click the My Computer icon in Windows XP, you see a list of all the drives on your hard disk.

However, when you launch Windows Explorer, it displays the contents of My Documents in the right panel. If you like the way that the My Computer view displays all the disk drives when you first launch it. Prefer the Windows Explorer view? There is a way you can get the best of both worlds.

1. Right-click on the desktop.
2. Select New | Shortcut.
3. Type C:\Windows\Explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, C:\ in the text box, then click Next.
4. Type My Explorer in the text box and click Finish.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Windows Explorer – Windows XP Drives is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you copy desktop themes to other Windows XP computers?

If you have created a favorite desktop theme and you work on more than one Windows XP computer, you may have considered recreating that theme on your other computers. Manually re-creating the desktop theme can be a boring, tricky and time-consuming operation. Here’s how you can easily copy your favorite desktop theme from one Windows XP computer to another.

1. On the computer containing your favorite desktop theme, right-click the desktop and select Properties. On the Themes tab (Figure A), with your theme selected, click the Save As button and save the file to the My Documents folder (or folder of your choice).
2. Launch Windows Explorer and access the My Documents folder.
3. Look for files with the .theme extension, locate your file, and copy it to a floppy disk or USB thumb drive.
4. Go to the other computer on which you would like to have your favorite desktop theme and copy the .theme file to My Documents.
5. Right-click the desktop and select Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box.
6. On the Themes tab, click the Theme drop-down list and select Browse.
7. In the Open Theme dialog box, access the My Documents folder, locate your theme file, and double-click it.
8. Click OK to load the new theme and close the Display Properties dialog box.
9. While Windows XP loads the desktop theme, you’ll see a Please Wait message in the middle of the screen. Your current desktop colors will fade to gray while the new settings are applied.

One warning to this approach, if part of your theme involves wallpaper you created or other graphical elements unique to that particular PC, those elements will have to be copied over along with the .theme file.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Sharing Windows XP Desktop Themes is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you install Microsoft Management Console 3.0 for Windows XP SP2?

The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) application provides you with an interface shell that you can insert various tools called snap-ins to create custom consoles. While custom consoles can come in handy for performing any number of tasks, Windows XP’s MMC 2.0 convoluted console-creation process can often seem to be counter intuitive.

Microsoft has made their new MMC interface developed for Windows Vista available for Windows XP. Version 3.0 of the MMC application provides more functionality for snap-ins than prior versions and sports a much better looking user interface that makes it much easier to create and use the consoles.

One of the biggest changes in MMC 3.0 for Windows XP is the new Add Or Remove Snap-ins interface. Instead of having to use a tedious procedure that involves two separate dialog boxes to build a custom console, the new MMC 3.0 provides a single dialog box that makes it much easier to create custom consoles.

Downloading and installing the MMC 3.0 for Windows XP is a pretty easy. However, you must manually enable the new user interface by adding a key to the registry.

1. Download the Microsoft Management Console 3.0 for Windows XP from the Microsoft Download Center.
2. Locate and run the WindowsXP-KB907265-x86-ENU.exe executable file to launch the MMC 3.0 installation wizard.
3. Once the installation is complete, launch the Registry Editor (Regedit.exe).
4. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MMC.
5. Right-click the MMC subkey and select New | Key.
6. Name the key UseNewUI and press [Enter].
7. Close the Registry Editor.

When you launch MMC.exe from the Run dialog box, now you’ll be able to take advantage of the new Add or Remove Snap-ins interface. You simply scroll through the available snap-ins in the left panel and click the Add button to build your custom console in the right panel.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Microsoft Management Console is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you retrieve information for multiple Windows XP disk drives?

You can obtain detailed information about the amount of available and used space on your Windows XP disk by right-clicking any drive icon in My Computer and selecting Properties. You get a fancy pie chart display that represents the disk information graphically, which makes it easy to quickly analyze your hard disk usage.

If you have multiple drives, performing this operation on each one can take quite a bit of time. Windows XP can provide the same type of pie chart display for all your drives in one tabbed dialog box.

1. Open My Computer
2. Hold down [Ctrl] and select each one of the drive icons
3. Right-click the last one and select Properties.

The resulting dialog box will have a tab containing a pie chart for each drive. You can use this technique with removable as well as floppy disk drives.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Multiple XP Disk Drives is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you add image thumbnails to a folder in Windows Explorer?

When dealing with a folder in Microsoft Windows containing many images, it is often helpful to see a thumbnail representation of each of those images in the Windows Explorer display. One warning, turning on the thumbnail feature will increase the amount of resources being used by the operating system. Those darn little thumbnails take up space on the hard drive and in memory when they are being displayed. Depending on your system, the available resources, and the number of images involved, you can quickly slow down your PC to a crawl if you just do it willy-nilly.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder of images for which you would like to see thumbnails. On the Windows Explorer menu, click Tools | Folder Options to get to the Control Panel. Click the View tab:

Under the Files And Folders section, you will see the Do Not Cache Thumbnails check box. If this box is checked, there will be no thumbnails cached on your hard drive. So if you want thumbnails, you will want to uncheck it. Click OK after you’ve made your selection.
To start seeing thumbnails, you have to change views in Windows Explorer. On the menu bar, click View – Thumbnails, and Windows will replace the normal file icons with thumbnails of the images. Windows will also create a new file in that folder called Thumbs.db, where the thumbnail information is stored.

The Thumbs.db file will be created in every folder you designate to display thumbnails. To apply your changes to all Windows Explorer folders, navigate to Tools | Folder Options and click the View tab. From there, make your changes and click the Apply To All Folders button then click OK.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Windows Explorer Image Thumbnails is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you tweak Windows Explorer to open in the directory of your own choosing?

The default display for Windows XP Explorer is to show the My Documents folder with all of its subfolders expanded and ready to be selected.

To get to the Windows Explorer Properties dialog box, right-click the Windows Explorer shortcut. You can copy the shortcut in the Start Menu to your Desktop to make it easier to work with. I have several Windows Explorer shortcuts in my toolbar for easy access. Each will take me to a different place. When you right-click and go to Properties and click the Shortcut tab, you should see a screen similar to:

To change the Windows Explorer shortcut to open a specific folder of your choosing, change the Target box to read:

c:\windows\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, X:\Folder of your choosing

For example, files can be saved on a network drive (U) in a folder dubbed Working Folder. The Target box for this shortcut looks like this:

c:\windows\EXPLORER.EXE /n, /e, u:\working folder

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Windows Explorer Directory is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

How do you permanently set your flash drive’s default AutoPlay action?

If you have a USB flash drive that holds your various Microsoft Windows XP files, you may want to configure the drive to automatically open Windows Explorer rather than display the AutoPlay dialog box. (On Mac OS X the flash drive automatically or should I say magically appears on your desktop.)

Just select the Open Folder To View Files In Windows Explorer and then select the Always Do The Selected Action check box but that only configures the flash drive for one file type. To configure your flash drive to open Windows Explorer for all file types at the same time:

1. Insert your flash drive into the USB port.
2. When you see the AutoPlay dialog box, you have to click Cancel.
3. Open My Computer, right-click your flash drive icon, and select Properties.
4. In the Properties dialog box, select the AutoPlay tab.
5. Now perform the following steps for each item in the Content Type drop-down list:
   1. Select an item in the Content Type drop-down list.
   2. Choose Select An Action To Perform in the Actions panel.
   3. Select the Open Folder To View Files In Windows Explorer action.
   4. Click the Apply button.
6. Click OK to close the Properties dialog box.

You should now use the Safely Remove Hardware feature to remove your flash drive – wait a moment or two and plug it back in. You’ll see the AutoPlay progress appear momentarily, and then you should see Windows Explorer open to show the contents of your flash drive.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks – Flash Drive AutoPlay is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Windows XP Top 10 “How Do You” Tricks and Tips

As a Mac guy over the years I have had a disdain for PCs. I have owned one only to check my work on Windows Explorer, or as I refer to it Windoz Exploder, and to run the antiquated PC-only programs. I guess Longhorn, I mean Microsoft OS X, I mean Mojave, oh yeah that’s it, it’s called Vista, has created some respect for Windows XP.

So now as the year 2008 is coming to a close I am going to post a Microsoft Windows XP Series.

How do you:

1. Permanently set your flash drive’s default AutoPlay action.
2. Tweak Windows Explorer to open in the directory of your own choosing
3. Add image thumbnails to a folder in Windows Explorer.
4. Configure Windows Explorer to display Windows XP disk drives.
5. Install Microsoft Management Console 3.0 for Windows XP SP2.
6. Copy my desktop themes to other Windows XP computers.
7. Retrieve information for multiple Windows XP disk drives.
8. Manage your most frequently used programs list on your XP Start menu.
9. Place your applications into a tabbed user interface with WinTabber.
10. Use photos in Windows XP’s 3D Flying Objects.

During the next few weeks I will be revealing each one of the “how do you” Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks posts listed above.

Late,
Gary Pool

Microsoft Windows XP Top Ten Tips and Tricks is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

Vista Sucks – Windows XP still Reigns Supreme for Microsoft Users

Vista still sucks in the eyes of the public and now Microsoft is admitting it! The Windows Vista reputation is so poor Microsoft has even verified it by the launch of their Mojave ad campaign.

On Friday October 3rd, Microsoft bent over again and gave computer makers a six-month extension for offering Windows XP on newly-shipped PCs.

Will this move drive the final nail in Vista’s coffin?

IT departments have basically been ignoring Vista. Back in June 18 months after Microsoft had launched Vista, Forrester Research reported that only 8.8% of enterprise PCs worldwide were running Vista. Microsoft appears to have put Windows 7 on an stepped up schedule that could speed up it’s release date to sometime in 2010. This just provides IT departments with all the reasons they need to simply avoid Vista like the plague and wait to eventually upgrade to Windows 7.

So why did Microsoft Windows Vista Fail?

• When Microsoft released Windows Vista a lot of existing software and hardware was not compatible with it when it was released in January 2007. Many important programs and peripherals were totally unusable in Vista. Vista became known as the OS that broke things that Windoz users were used to doing in XP.
• Vista wasn’t supposed to even exist. When Microsoft launched XP it was actually trying to change its OS business model to convert customers to software subscribers. Windows XP would essentially be the on-going product name and would include all the software upgrades and updates, as long as you kept paying for your subscription.
• No one wants to use a new computer that is slower than their old one. Vista has over 50 million lines of code. This has the effect of slowing down Windows Vista, especially when it’s running on anything but the latest and greatest hardware. Even then, the latest version of Windows XP will outperform the latest version of Microsoft Vista hands down.
• Many low-cost netbooks and nettops, soon to b flooding the market, are powerful enough to provide a solid Internet experience for most users, they don’t have enough resources to run Windows Vista they will run on XP. Over 1.1 billion PCs in use worldwide and over 70% of them are running Windows XP. That means almost 800 million computers are running XP, which makes it the most widely installed operating system of all time.
• Apple has put Windoz Vista in the spotlight and shown everyone that the emperor really has no clothes. The great “I’m a Mac” ads have given Vista a merciless pummeling and made the bloated OS the but of many jokes. Microsoft tried to counter with the Bill Gates – Jerry Seinfeld adds but they went nowhere. Now they are trying the I’m a PC ad campaign but is it too little too late?

By the way just in case you don’t know I use a Mac.

Late,
Gary Pool

Will Microsoft Windows XP Out Live Windows Vista? is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician

With the Beta 2 release of Internet Explorer 8 Microsoft is hoping to stop the flood gates that are going right to Firefox.

Will Internet Exploder 8 be successful?

It has been downloaded by many and the reviews are mixed. If you’d like to test it out yourself Internet Exploder 8 can be downloaded from Micro$oft. As expected there is no Mac version but XP and on both the 32- and 64-bit editions of Vista, Server 2003, and Server 2008 are all supported. There are different downloads for each OS, so be sure you choose the right one.

In my opinion like most of the new Micro$oft releases they are just trying to copy the ones that are already out there doing well. (i.e. Longhorn Windoz OS X I mean Vista or is it Mojave now?) This is still just a Micro$oft copy of Firefox and Safari. Sometimes a copy is a good thing.

10 things about IE 8 that stand out good and bad

1. IE 8 loads faster than IE 7
2. IE 8 much more stable than IE 7
3. Firefox like crash recovery
4. InPrivate browsing feature (porn mode)
5. Tab Grouping (right-click a tab, you have options)
6. Accelerators (little add-ons to make it quick and easy to apply tasks to highlighted text)
7. Firefox like suggestive search
8. New Security (hey it’s a M$ product)
9. Tool bars become part of suggested sites bar
10. Like Firefox and Safari has become W3C compliant

Microsoft Updates Internet Explorer to the 21st Century

Well at least for us that work with code if IE 8 takes off it will help by not having to create IE specific CSS and other oddities like IE 6 and 7 have required. Does any one still design for IE 4.5, 5.0 or 5.5?

Will IE 8 stop the migration to Firefox? We will have to revisit this question upon the release of IE 9. Regardless, my hat is off to Micro$oft for updating Internet Explorer into the 21st century.

Late,
Gary Pool

Internet Explorer | Microsoft Updates | 10 Features? | W3C is a post stolen from the Search Engine Optimizician