Last update: 6/9/01; 19:42:09.
Thoughts and ideas as they occur to me.
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
WebGrammar by Judy Vohland. Need help with spelling, grammar, homonyms, punctuation, style, and capitalization? Or information in the areas of writing, education, typography, academic research, or Web development? Webgrammar offers resources for educators, students, editors, writers, Webmasters, organizations, businesses, and those enjoying continuing education. Don't miss her page of dictionaries and glossaries, along with the other resources she offers. 3:59:57 PM
Instant Gratification and Search Engine Rankings. Instant Gratification and Search Engine Rankings
Instant hits! Top 10 guaranteed! These and other claims are debunked by Peggie Brown who says that raising traffic is a long term commitment. 1:57:53 PMHoliday virus is no joke. Now go get the anti-virus. McAfee warns of season's greetings from a virus you don't want to meet. This virus affects Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express software. It appears to be non-destructive, but still bothersome since it replies to every email you get and replies with an infected message. 1:41:50 PM
Evite.com cuts workforce; Mambo.com closes. The party invitation site Evite cuts 60% of its workforce. Meanwhile, rival Mambo.com announces last call.
I like Evite.com because this site makes it easy to plan a party online, invite friends, track who's going to be there, and more. Of course, since I never throw parties, perhaps I haven't helped them very much! It looks like I'm not the only one. The linked article gives a good background on electronic invitation sites and what's happening with them. 1:35:05 PMMore info on publishing e-books. On one of my rambles, I found these links to sites related to ebooks and publishing.
Xlibris, iUniverse, iPublish
Perhaps you'll find them of interest, as well. 12:55:10 PMPublishing Law Center. The Publishing Law Center has a site that is devoted to providing quality information for the publishing community - publishers, authors, editors, web masters, and freelancers. You can search their entire site using key words such as copyright, trademarks, marketing plans, acquisition information, and subsidiary rights, for instance. Those searches will return a list of places where these key words appear throughout the site - both in articles as well as their links section. Or, you can use their drop down list of specific categories to locate information on publishing organizations, book conferences and exhibits, e-books, and a host of other important publishing resources where they've organized the content by specific categories.
On their site, you will find hundreds of links to companies and individuals who are part of the publishing industry or who service the publishing industry. Currently, the main topics include Copyright Information, Trademark Information, Publishing Magazines and Newsletters, Publisher's Associations, Book Conferences and Exhibits, Writer's Artist's and Musicians Associations, E-Mail Forums, Useful Databases, Publishing Consultants, On-line Hosting Services & Website Creation, Other Publishing Resources, Editorial Services, Electronic Books, and E-Zines. These links are updated regularly as new resources become available.
They also offer a free newsletter that will keep you updated on these topics. 12:04:35 PMU.S. Postal Service: Business Mail 101. On this page, the United States Postal Service presents Business Mail 101, a tool for beginning or infrequent mailers that will help you harness the power of mail for your business or organization. It will walk you through key decision points in making a mailing. It contains glossary terms and tips offering advice for your mailing. The site is searchable. Sections include: Getting Started, Shortcut (a decision tree to get you directly to the information you need), and Checklist for Mailers. The site has a link to a basic list of postage rates and fees, and includes links for looking up ZIP Codes, tracking Express Mail, confirming Priority Mail, and buying stamps on-line. There is a link to more information about international mail. 11:35:16 AM
Free online training via QuickTime movies. I don't want to mislead you. This company, Virtual Training Company, Inc., sells training via online movies, single-user CDs, multi-user CDs and other options for schools and universities. They provide training on many top-end products, including computers and software.
Unlimited online training is available for $25.00 per month, and I watched several of the movies and learned things about software I've been using for years and thought I knew. There are thousands of these QuickTime movies available. You can also purchase the CDs to get better framerates and sound quality.
You can get free training, but this is a demonstration and only provides partial access to each product. For example, only the first three sections (PhotoShop Basics, 13 clips; Navigating, 3 clips; and Setting Up, 11 clips; out of 14 sections and 13 hours of movies) of the PhotoShop 3.x product are available for free online, but the entire training product is available if you purchase the monthly access or purchase the CD, which sells for $79.00.
If you want to learn these products and you like having someone demonstrate procedures to you, the $25.00 monthly fee is more than reasonable for what is available.
I watched the movies via a slow dialup access (averages 24,400 bps -- I'm way out in the country) and it took some time for the streaming buffer to fill before the movie started. I switched to another site in a different browser window while this was happening. When I switched back to the tutorial window and started watching the movie, the playback was smooth and the sound quality was better than I expected. There were no pauses for filling the buffer once I started watching it.
Without attempting to list all the products available, they have training for the major applications software, Mac and Windows operating systems, scripting and programming, networking and server administration, web designing in HTML and javascript, and more. Once you go to the category of products you're interested in learning, there is a full list of what's available. Click on the product title to see the full outline of the course -- and to get access to the demo clips or full access if you're a member -- or click on the price to purchase the CD.
So, with the understanding that only partial training is available for free, with full access available for $25.00 per month, I highly recommend this company and its training. --JD 9:45:17 AMFree link tracking. Imagine if you could accurately and easily track every link on your website, click by click. Now you can! LinkCounter is a totally FREE tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way you measure your website's performance. 8:23:19 AM
NEW SERVICE: Free Security Analysis. Bravenet.com, in partership with Internet Security leader Symantec.com, has developed a pair of free tools to help you analyze your computer's security online.
1. PC SECURITY:
This tool tests your susceptibility to the following security threats and tells you how to make your PC more secure:
Hacker Prevention: Find out if your computer is susceptible to unauthorized network communication.
Virus Protection: Searches your computer for a current antivirus program and recent virus definitions. Find out if your computer is susceptible to Trojan horse applications.
Privacy Protection: Find out if your browser reveals personal information, such as your email address and the sites you last visited. Find out if your computer is exposing information about your computer to Internet hackers.
2. VIRUS CHECK:
The second security tool is the the Free Virus Check, which examines your PC using Symantec's virus detection technology to determine if it is infected by any known virus, including the following:
VBS.Stages / VBS.LoveLetter ILOVEYOU / LoveBug W97M.Melissa.BG / ResumeWorm W97M.Resume.A / Win95.CIH CIH / Chernobyl / Happy99
Try these free security analysis tools and find how well (or poorly) your system is protected.
(Note, I'm not recommending this service, just passing along the information. I don't use PCs, and therefore I have no knowledge of how well, or poorly, this might work for you. I do trust both BraveNet and Symantec, but bugs in software do exist. As always, when it comes to computer security, you must assume the responsibility for your actions and exercise judgement. -- JD)
8:20:09 AM
© Copyright 2001 John L. Dilbeck, jd@johndilbeck.com.