May LUG will just make it on the 28th of May. Bangor Starbucks at 6 pm. We'll be playing with the new (9.04) Ubuntu, and I'll be trying to get everything working. Not a lot of written down format or anything, so we'll just be talking about whatever comes up. Come on by, it'll be fun. Or it'll be coffee, at least.
April 16 LUG meeting went well. I showed up, and had a cup of coffee at Borders. The wireless network there was being problematic (in Linux and Windows) so I moved to Starbucks. The next meeting will be at Starbucks, I'm not sure what date yet. I've been busy. Keep checking.
Starting April 16, the Bangor LUG will be meeting at Borders Bookstore & Cafe in Bangor on the Third Thursday of each month from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. All are welcome to attend, whether you're a kernel hacker, contribute to the Wine project, run the version of Linux that came on your netbook, have a Mythbuntu media server, or are just *nix-curious. No dues, just buy a coffee or something. Or not. Just show your face.
We'll be discussing driver issues, debating versions, talking about the new features of the different distros, and whatever else comes up. Tentatively on tap for this Thursday: Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope.
Bring your computer and have at it. Also, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bangor-Linux-Users-Group-Bangor-LUG/703514...
Google, that online giant, has released its own browser to interface with the wilderness that is the internet. Google Chrome, Windows only for now, OSX and Linux support soon, is in beta and has been unleashed on the world.
More than just another foray into the browser wars between Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and others, it integrates deeper with some web applications, such as GMail, Google Reader, Google Docs, and others to make them faster than the other browsers.
Admittedly, it is different in looks too. It actually uses as much screen space as possible, it combines the address bar/search box, so you can type your search or an address in the same place, and it has its own theme which overrides your systems theme.
If you're addicted to your Firefox addons, this probably isn't for you. If you are like most of us though, and just want something that works, and works quickly, give Chrome a try.
Backup is important, and not just to get out of parking spaces. I'm talking about protecting your precious data. If you run a business, or just take pictures of your kids, you have files on your computer that you would miss if it all went up in smoke while you were reading this post. There are alternatives.
The Western Digital My Book 1 TB External Hard Drive is a good choice for most people looking for simple backup.
If your place burns to the ground though, and you don't feel like running for your hard drive before your children, you need to have some sort of off-site backup plan. Here there are several options as well. One I use is called Dropbox (http://www.getdropbox.com/). You can sign up for a free account, and this acts as a synchronized folder between as many computers as you want, along with up to 2GB of online storage for free. Another alternative is Backup (http://www.backup.com/), now owned by Symantec (the Norton Antivirus guys). They have plans starting at $4.95 per month and can store up to 50 GB of data.
So protect those family pictures, tax returns, sales receipts and customer lists. You may want them tomorrow.
I've seen a lot of bad websites. I've also seen a lot of good ones. It amazes me though, how bad a "professional" website can be. Take a look around, you don't have to be an expert to notice the bad design of a lot of these places, and I'm not just talking graphically. There is much more to good design than pretty pictures.
For instance, easy navigation is a must. There should be an easy way back to the home page, and to any other important pages from anywhere on a site. Breadcrumbs, linked logos, links at the bottom or top of every page, full menu to the left, all good ideas.
Secondly, important information needs to be in a textual format somewhere on the website. Do not incorporate your telephone number in an image file without also placing it in text form on a contact page, and adding it as a tag on your image. Google cannot look at your picture and read the text in it. Yet. This means it does not show up in the search engines, and is not searchable.
Third, your website does need to look good too. You only have about 5 seconds to catch the attention of your visitor. Once you have it, you have a few more to keep it. It needs to be simple, clean, concise, and interesting. Here's where graphics come in, but sparingly. Remember, there are still those of us on dial-up or congested DSL or cable connections. And those of us with good connections are probably downloading something big, like the latest episode of our favorite TV show from iTunes, so we're not loading your site as fast as your developer did on his USB drive when he showed it to you.
Press the issue, keep it simple, keep it clean, and keep it usable. Pretend you don't know who you are, and you're trying to convince yourself. Become your own customer. Your real customers will thank you later.
Identity theft is something that we all need to worry about. I'm not talking about credit cards and social security numbers, I'm talking about all that personal information we willingly give up to anyone who cares to read our MySpace or Facebook pages. Sure, link to all your relatives. Now they have your mother's maiden name. Tell us where you went to school, where you grew up, where you were born, all about your first car, your favorite hobby, your first grade teacher. Wait, those are all security questions at your bank to prove that you're who you say you are. They don't prove anything of the sort, only that someone had a passing interest in finding out that information about you, and you made it easy for them to find.
Just because that creepy guy with the fat-free soy latte isn't looking over your shoulder, doesn't mean that he's not reading your blog.
I figured I'd add my $.14 worth, minus a quarter or two. Today, the iPhone 3G was released. Every cool person got one, or every tech blogger and his buddy got one anyway. Oops, guess I'm not a real tech blogger. Here are my thoughts:
First of all: It's expensive. Yes, it's neat, yes it's a good tool. I have a cell phone. I make phone calls with it. It was free with my plan. What else do I need my phone to do? Play music? I've got a used iPod Nano. Browse the internet? $399 ASUS EEEPC laptop for that. GPS + Google Maps? Well, how about a plain old GPS? I know, a ton of devices can be replaced with one. Nice, but I don't usually need all of them in my pocket at once.
Second: It's the first day! Everything has bugs when it first comes out, and this is no exception. Already horror stories abound about people that have waited for 40 minutes or more in the store, phone in hand, unable to activate it, only to be sent home to do so themselves through iTunes and being unable to activate it then too. Sorry, no phone today. Or how about the yellow tinge some people are getting on their screens instead of the nice clear bluish tint of most LCDs? Wait a month, let the bugs get worked out. Then get one.
So no, there will be no series of iPhone unpackaging photos on my site today, no videos of how great the newest Google Maps/GPS geolocation works, and no rants about not being able to use the phone part. I'll stick with my old samsung/motorola/nokia whatever I have for now. Thanks.
Some people don't quite know what we offer. This list will give you a sampling. Call for more info.
- Website Development
- Computer Repairs
- Networking
- Point of Sale Systems
- Computer Upgrades
- Free Business Analysis
- Servers
- Marketing & Promotional Materials
- Website Optimization
- Internet Marketing
- and more!
The business conference went well. I got to meet a lot of interesting people, and luckily most of them were not in my field. I did meet some people though, that I will probably be partnering up with, such as a local photographer, another web developer, and believe it or not, a farm in Levant.
All in all, it was an informative event, and one I hope taught me some lessons I can carry with me for a long time. Thanks.
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