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computer down
2007-05-25 15:12:00
My HP DV9000t notebook recently had some serious issues.  I have had it for 6 months and love it dearly.  Why oh why would it mysteriously lose its audio device and mess up its own Ethernet drivers?   Was it a power surge?  Maybe a windows update?  I haven't done anything else but watch tv on it for over a month. At any rate I gave a call over to HP support.  We went through various options and basically I had tried everything they though of already.  Reinstall audio drivers... nope.  Check services.... nope.  Update BIOS... nope.  Side note, they used VNC to remote into my machine.  Kind of cool.  Next step, complete reformat and restore.  Turns out that my notebook had a partition on the HD so I didn't need any CD's.  Simply press F11 on startup and you are on your way. [More]
More About: Technology , Computer

Good By Network Solutions
2007-05-24 01:23:00
I have a half dozen domains registered through Network Solution s .  In the past month they have called me no less than 4 times to ask me to renew my domains (not needing to be renewed for months) and sign up all the extra services.  It didn't matter that I told them I was all set.  I host my own sites.  I don't want private registration.  I don't want to pay way to much money to register 10 years into the future.  They keep calling.   I have been meaning to transfer my domains over to godaddy for a long time and this was the final straw.    Godaddy offers the exact same service and for a lot less. In fact, the last Netsol sales rep reminded me that they are actually just resellers of Netsol.  On top of that Network Solutions DNS servers have been down for hours at a time and thus my sites using those DNS servers were down.  Yup, the goto company for domain registration has caused my sites to go down numerous times.  ...
More About: Good

naming the 'unauthenticated' user
2007-05-17 21:31:00
What are peoples preferences for naming the unauthenticated user account?  I have seen it named unknown or everybody or maybe even visitor.   This account is basically the user that is on your site that isn't logged in.  The name is important so admins can set the rights for what this person type can do.  If the name isn't accurate that may confuse the admin.  For support reasons I would like to lock down this user types official name so admins can't rename.
More About: Cold , Fusion , User , Cate , Ming

Boston Scorpio Tour
2007-05-17 14:26:00
Last night the Boston Cold Fusion User Group was held at Adobe's office and it was all about Scorpio .  Despite some bad weather there were 60 or so people who showed up to find out more about CF 8 and all its goodness.  There were no new tags or features mentioned as far as I could tell.  The crowd was kind of quiet which may have unnerved the speaker (Jason Delmore I think, I came in late) a bit.  Jason did a good job even though he was sick and every one was very excited to get their hands on Scorpio.  I am sure everyone in the room thought at least once 'that would have made my life so much easier'. After the presentation I asked Jason why they chose to use FCKeditor to bundle with CF when Adobe owns KTML which I  thought was a better editor.  He pointed out that they have been working on CF8 for a few years now and that the editor was done a while ago.  KTML was just brought into the Adobe fold 6 months ago.  Basically too late to b...
More About: Tour

Videos of my CMS
2007-05-16 19:48:00
I know that a lot of my blog readers don't really know what I do for a living and for those of you that are non-technical in nature my descriptions probably sound like gibberish.  I work for Savvy Software and am the lead developer for our main product Savvy Content Manager.  We just posted 30 short videos demonstrating some of the functionality of the CMS.  This is not a complete review of the product, but it should give some of you an idea for what it is I have been working on in general.  All powered by Cold Fusion of course. Our CMS has been doing quite well lately.  We get constant search traffic from schools, municipalities, and companies of all sizes.  It isn't unusual for one of us to talk to the likes of Disney and CareerBuilder in the same day.  I can't wait to talk to our latest customers that are going to CFUnited and network with some of my fellow CF friends. [More]
More About: Videos , Projects

Tabula Rasa
2007-05-16 00:45:00
Raise your hand if you are excited for Tabula Rasa .  I am very interested in trying the beta.  While not much info is available the videos look compelling.  Apparently you can lock onto targets which aids in action play without the difficulty that many have with first person shooters.  Richard Garriott is the executive producer.  He made some of my favorite games.  Ultima 4 and 7.  As a kid I dreamed of growing up and having his job.  The fact he is involved tells me there is at least a chance that the game involves more delema style decisions and complex emotional situations as well as a very imersive world.  I am not saying the game will be perfect because he is involved, but I think it is a good sign. [More]
More About: Bula , Tabula Rasa

Kontera Removed
2007-05-15 23:43:00
I have decided to remove Kontera.  For those not familiar Kontera is a form of advertising.  As opposed to a traditional ad that shows text or images in an area designated by me, this program looks at the text of my site and automatically ads links to other sites.  I get a few pennies for a click.  Yes, a few pennies.  The money isn't really worth it.  Maybe if I had the volume of activity in the hundreds of thousands of users, but right now it just clutters up my site with no real benefit.  I will keep the account in case I need it for some reason.  [More]
More About: Move , Tera

user rights on shared objects
2007-05-14 15:28:00
We are reviewing and recoding some user rights code in Savvy right now.  Specifically having to do with how you apply rights on a page or template level.  Right now it is easy and intuitive (I think) to apply rights to a specific object on any page within the site.  Also to do so on a site wide basis.  So when applying rights to all objects on a page, or all objects on all pages made from a template, how do we deal with objects that may be shared across multiple pages/templates? For example lets look at the navigation object.  That object may be the main nav, and used on many templates.  When applying user or group rights to a template how should that filter down to the nav object.  Should it get the rights like one would normally think, even though that means the user can alter data shown on other templates they may have no rights for?  My initial thought is yes.  It is easy enough to exclude certain types of objects (such as nav) when a...
More About: Rights , Cold , Fusion , User

Johnchow Review Results
2007-05-11 01:16:00
As you may note I did a review of John Chow's web site recently.  The deal is you review his web site and he will in turn link back to you in groups of 10.  His site gets a lot of traffic so people are willing to dedicate a blog post just to get some link love in return.    His link back program has been a big hit for him and has also really helped his blog in the search engines.  Search on 'Make Money Online' and he is at the top.  All because of this link back program.  I was interested to see what would happen if I got a link from him.  How much traffic would result?  Would that trigger other links or reviews? So I did the review.  He posted the blog entry with link a few days later.  [More]
More About: Review , Results , Result

Top 10 Pet Peeves
2007-05-11 00:04:00
These are my top 10 pet peeves in no specific order.   A few notes. I have the right to change my mind at any time. I welcome your contributions in comment form. Don’t take them personally, it’s just a blog. 1) The woman in front of me this morning throwing her burning cigarette out the car window while turning right on red without stopping or using a turn signal. You really SHOULD buckle up your young child that is currently standing in the front seat. Perhaps even look into a child seat for him. [More]
More About: Personal , Peeves , Pet Peeves

Google Adsense Requires Google Account Now
2007-05-10 23:44:00
Those logging into their google adsense account may now see a wizard alerting them that they must now associate their adsense account with an actual google account.  About time!  Kind of silly that an adsense account didn't automatically become a google account, but then again that would explain why my issues began with their wizard. You see my same google account email address is used as my adsense email address.  Pretty standard stuff. The transfer wizard requires I enter my existing google account info so they can associate it and transfer the account over.  However since my emails are the same it results in an error.  You can't have the same email for adsense and google account.  What?  Let me say that again.  Google will not be able to associate your adsense account with your google account if you have the same email associated with both.  Some sort of paradox that would result in destruction of the Universe I am sure.  So, wh...
More About: Adsense , Google Adsense , Ense , Count

when should I sell my stock?
2007-05-10 14:46:00
When to sell my stock?  The ultimate question for the stock market newbie like myself.  I own 600 shares of just one stock. (outside of our family retirement stuff) I bought it a few years ago on a whim when it was very very low priced.  Right now it is up about 800% and a great success.  So when should I sell it?  The price has gone up and down a bit, but overall it has climbed pretty consistently. [More]
More About: Stock , When , Sell , Should

Adsense Flash Ads
2007-05-08 02:36:00
Google has started to roll out dynamic ad content into their adsense affiliates.  On my blog I have seen video ads for Cadillac so far.    I think this is a good move on their part.  The ads don't look like traditional ads from Google and as such will probably get a higher click through.  At least when the ads are new to people.  Another good part for web site owners is at least some of the flash ads don't redirect to other sites.  The ad I have seen on my site so far is from Cadillac and is pretty good.  Entirely a branding effort.  It is about time we see large brands not care about clickthroughs and instead focus on specific branding in context of user experience.   It is a short video and when over you are still on my site.  I love this.  I have no idea what the payout for me is however at least part of the payoff for me and other site owners is that you don't leave the site.  Watch the ad and then continue...
More About: Adsense , Flash , Ense , Sens , Lash

Middle Ages Tech Support
2007-05-06 17:10:00
This is a pretty funny video about tech support in the middle ages. 
More About: Tech , Support , Middle , Tech Support , Ages

They Might Be Giants 'The Else' Review
2007-05-04 23:58:00
They Might Be Giant s just kicked off their tour for their new album The Else .  The album will be released in a few weeks to itunes, and then to stores in June.  Their first stop was at The Stone Church in New Hampshire just last night.  It was a great show.  The club only fit a few hundred and they easily sold it out for two shows.  They played a good mix of new and old songs.  We got a good taste of their new album.  Apparently there will also be a bonus CD.  My favorite new song is actually a track on the bonus CD.  We live in a Dump, or something like that.  It was catchy and fun. Their performance style is relaxed and casual.  They chatted with the crowd, and with the light crew.  They love their crew it turns out!  Oh, and they are doing some sort of contest.  Beards vs No Beards.  So far it is a tie at 1-1.  Not sure if only the lighting guys count.  At any rate, I recommend the CD and the sho...
More About: Review , Ants , Giants

var scope of query in cfc
2007-05-03 21:00:00
I made a silly code error.  I admit it.  In my CFC I had queries without var scoping them.  The result was some rather crazy errors for one client.  To my credit I had properly scoped and locked my loading of the cfc and its init vars, etc.  Why didn't I?  Not sure why but it just didn't occur to me that I needed to.  Makes sense now of course.  A handy guide to scoping in CFC was made by Ray Camden for those that need more general info. [More]
More About: Cold , Fusion , Scope , Query , Cope

Spam Stock Tracker in the Press
2007-05-01 19:01:00
This summer we should be seeing some good press for my Spam Stock Track er.  Be on the look out for Kiplinger Personal Finance magazine as well as something from Consumer Reports. On a side note I have done a quick update to the design, and plan on adding more features to the site shortly.  A lot of the spam is from old ticker symbols that have changed (though the values are all real time).  Any suggestions, let me know.
More About: Press , Rack

Johnchow.com review
2007-05-01 18:37:00
For those that don't know Johnchow.com is a web site with lots of tips on how to make money online.  Some I think are good, some are what even he would term as 'evil' and some just don't apply to a blog like mine.  One thing he will do, though, is link to any blog that reviews his.  I figure, why not.  Maybe get some traffic I wouldn't otherwise get, and all that jazz.  To do so you just do a quick review and link to his blog (as I did below).  He has one interesting post about the blog day of silence that happened a couple days ago and how it could be used for link baiting.  I hadn't even considered it... but I am not surprised by anything these days. John Chow dot Com is blog that helps you make money online. If you do a review of his blog, he’ll link to you so his readers can check you out.
More About: Review , View

I've got blog juice!
2007-05-01 03:19:00
On a rather silly note I ran the blog juice web site against my blog again today.  When I ran this last year my score was 0.9 and last month it was 1.2.  So I am improving.  Still not sure what blog juice is... but I have more of it now!
More About: Blog , Juice

Google Adsense API Headers with ColdFusion
2007-04-30 18:14:00
This weekend I was having trouble connecting to the Google Adsense API.  I was certain my headers were set up correctly, and yet google responded that my headers didn't exist.  Turns out I had my namespace incorrect.  Once that was rectified the API was easy to get at.  I haven't played with the data all that much, but they sure make it easy thus far. [More]
More About: Google Adsense , Cold , Fusion

consol game idea
2007-04-29 17:36:00
We had a small party last night and somehow all got around to playing guitar hero and dance dance revolution on our xbox360.  It was a lot of fun and I got to thinking that a great idea for a game would involve both.  Why not make a game that had the guitar, and dance pad at the same time.  Throw in some karaoke and maybe some of those motion sensitive drum sticks? Make it really fun for a whole group to play at the same time.  All the equipment already exists I believe.  It would add a whole new level to the 'family band' idea.  Note: Dad, if your reading this tell your clients!
More About: Ideas , Idea , Game , Cons , L Game

google search clusters and pagerank
2007-04-28 20:31:00
My blog is getting some odd search traffic patterns.  I see that for a given hour I may have 5 or more people search on 'hp dv9000t' and come to my blog entry.  Then no searches at all.  Then hours later another cluster.  Those searches are done by different people, different browser, ip, os etc.  I have been trying to figure out why they come in clusters for a few days when I found out that my google page rank may be going from 5 to 6. Is moving to a PR of 6 a possible explanation?  Google 's servers are numerous and so when you search it is likely you are hitting different servers at different times.  Maybe the cluster is from a server with a PR of 6?  Seems far fetched to me, but it is the only thing I can think of at the moment.
More About: Pagerank , Search , Google Search , Clusters

Home Renovation no no's
2007-04-27 21:28:00
Jen and I are no strangers to home renovation.  We are, however, quite aware of our own limitations in knowledge and skill and are more than happy to call the experts when needed.  I love these sorts of sites who show photos of home projects gone horribly wrong.  Some of the photos you need to read the description to understand completely, but photos like this speak volumes.
More About: Home , Crazy , Nova , Renovation , Reno

DataMgr Rocks!
2007-04-27 00:59:00
IF you haven't already checked it out you really should give DataMgr a look.  There was a Cold Fusion meetup (all online) meeting where Steve showed off DataMgr and answered questions.  I think I must have said 'damn, that would have saved me time' at least 15 times. At first I thought it was mostly for getting DB structure info, creating and altering tables, etc.  But there is real power in the data management, relationships, etc.  Watch the recorded video (to be posted shortly).  Check out the demo, and download the code today.  This would have saved me so much time last month.  I have half a mind to rewrite a lot of my code to use this now.
More About: Rocks

Continue with Kontera
2007-04-26 18:28:00
I was just writing to my friend Chris and discussing my use of Kontera when I realized it may make for a good little blog entry.  Kontera is the service that adds all those extra links in my blog text and if you click on them a little pop up opens to show you an ad. Basically for every 100 or so page views I figure I get .01 - .30 dollars.  Right now I just don't have enough traffic to justify the busy look that the links give my blog.  I do wish this blog generated 100,000 page views a day, but that just isn't going to happen.  So should I keep it or give it the boot?
More About: Tera , Conti

CF Conferences
2007-04-25 16:35:00
I will not be able to make CF.Objective this year.  Just wasn't in the cards.  I am, however, excited to go to CFUnited again. If you haven't been to CFUnited you should try to fit it in.  There are great sessions for all experience levels and the networking is also fantastic.  It really helps to have a few other developers outside of your organization you can chat with about CF from time to time. IF you are already planning on going, book the hotel now.  The main conference hotel is already full, and I am stuck 1.5 miles down the road.  Bummer man.
More About: Cold , Fusion , Conferences , Ferenc , Conference

Static Publication of Dynamic Content
2007-04-25 01:31:00
We have a client who needs to take the content and pages of our Cold fusion CMS and store the information as static HTML on another site and possibly server.  Whenever we get a request like this I like to find a way to build the functionality into the core product if it is feasible.   In reviewing their needs I found a few possible ways to go.  [More]
More About: Fusion , Content , Stat , Publication

Poll, Rating and Comment Widgets for your site.
2007-04-24 15:20:00
I found this handy little site that quickly and easily lets you add a poll, comment area or rating to any page on your site.  You simply add two lines of js code.  I am doing a poll.  On adding those lines you view the page.  You are shown an admin interface to add/remove poll options, and how it expires, etc.  Viewers of your page see nothing until you have saved your options.  
More About: Technology , Widgets , Site , Cold , Fusion

where does one draw the line?
2007-04-24 03:50:00
I am getting much more traffic to my blog after my recent efforts to do a make over.  That is great, don't get me wrong.  I am also getting a lot of emailed requests to link, promote or review sites or products I have no connection or interest in. [More]
More About: Review , Here , Line , Where , Draw

Google Adsense API for ColdFusion?
2007-04-23 00:09:00
I see that Google has released the API for adsense to all developers now.  I have a possible project to use it with and haven't found anyone that has done it with Cold Fusion yet.  I will not have a chance to play with it for a few weeks at least, but I will be sure to post here and release the CF API if no others have been found before then.  If you know of one, post a comment! For those that are not familiar, you can use the API for many things.  One is to share revenue with other users.  So if you have a site with many content contributors you can let them create adsense accounts (or use their already existing) and specify the percentage shared.  It is a good way to encourage user participation for many sites.  You can set the shared % that you keep from 0-75%.  Plus you get a bonus if the user reaches certain milestones within the first 180 days.
More About: Adsense , Google Adsense