Vixiom Axioms

March 19, 2008

Spottt needs to filter their categories

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 9:47 pm

I’m trying out Spottt which describes itself as;

a free way to trade links with other like minded sites.

Spottt’s categories are somewhat generic, ‘business’, ‘fashion’, ‘pets’ etc., the closest thing to web development was ‘tech’ so I chose that category. However 50% of the ads for ‘like minded’ sites involve pictures of women in various forms of undress. Now I love me the womenz, but I don’t think “dork who blogs about ActionScript and Ruby” belongs with the CeleZone or Desi Babes - Sexy Indian Hotties.

Spottt Chicks
One of these Spottts is not like the others…

At least Crunch Gear shows up now and again, but I’d rather not have the Spottts which are visible only by black light.

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February 21, 2008

Network Solutions sucks ballz

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 2:28 am

My habit of using Network Solutions to check the availability of domain names then jumping over to GoDaddy to buy them will have to stop. Whenever I get an idea for a site I brainstorm a bunch of domain names by checking availability/similar names through Network Solutions because, despite their outrageous prices, they have the best interface for doing so.

However for the second post in a row I must declare shenanigans.

The other day it was Mosso’s ‘new’ hosting service that was really their old service downgraded and repackaged. Today it’s Network Solutions new practice of holding any domain you search for through their system ransom for five days. “Front Running” (registering a domain someone is searching for) is one of the dirtiest tricks on the intertubes. I wouldn’t be half as pissed if Network Solutions didn’t charge more than three times what GoDaddy does. If NS had lowered there prices instead of implementing this system I might have switched because as I mentioned they have a better interface than other registrars, now I’ll never use them.

See for yourself do a whois on networksolutionssucksballz.com and you’ll see it’s held for five days and can only be bought through NS.

Apparently it’s been going on for about a month now and the natives aren’t too happy about it.

Domain Registrar Network Solutions Front Running On Whois Searches
Network Solutions Holding Domain Names Ransom
Network Solutions PR Damage Control

Shenanigans!

[UPDATE] A safe way to lookup domains http://support.suso.org/dns/saferdomainlookup.php

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February 6, 2008

Blogging for Dollars

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 2:27 pm

Entrepreneur magazine has an interesting article on John Chow who has a blog on making money with a blog, whatever he’s doing must be working as he makes $25,000 a month!

Chow has also assembled his income-earning techniques into a 59-page web book downloadable at johnchow.com. Make Money Online is free, but it still makes money for Chow, thanks to its active web links that drive traffic to his site. It’s not a bad read, either; even if you don’t make blogging your career, there’s plenty there to help monetize your business blog.

I downloaded the booklet and it’s a mix of useful links and Tony Robbinsesque passages like the following.

Everyone has dreams and goals. The only difference between a goal and a dream is a goal is a
dream with action. We all have dreams; becoming financially independent, having a family,
helping charities, etc. However, how many of you have made a goal to achieve your dreams? If
you have, did you place a time limit on it, or did you just say “I’ll do it someday” or “I hope it
will happen”.

That reminds me of when I used to go every second weekend to stay at my Dad’s place in Richmond, BC (home of John Chow) and my Step-Mother would have my brother and I write down our long and short term goals, which is noteworthy only in the fact that we were three and six years old at the time.

Anyways I just implemented John’s tip about being more personal, in future posts I’ll delve into my brief addiction to Children’s Tylenol and why I have to sit down to pee.

I want my two dollars.

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February 4, 2008

Zazzle cancels my order

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 6:40 pm

I thought I might be able to sneak this design through but no luck as it uses the Firefox logo. Too bad it would have made a pretty sweet shirt.

USSR Shirt

It’s derivative of the old USSR Coat of Arms for those of you born in the late eighties.

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November 27, 2007

The Big Idea

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 12:53 am

My credit card company has a new site where you can win $10,000 if your idea is voted the monthly winner. I’m not too sure the risk/reward ratio is good enough to put your idea up on a public site (maybe lock down a trademark and submit some patents first).

My favorite show lately is The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. Donny is a fiery character so if nothing else the show is like a daily pep talk that gets you motivated to work after dinner rather than sit in front of the teevee. The show doesn’t focus too much on tech/internet but once you put yourself in an entrepreneurial mindset you’d be amazed how ideas just start popping up in your head.

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November 21, 2007

Droid Sans Mono funk dat sh!t, Bitstream Vera Sans Mono!

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 8:05 pm

It’s thanksgiving eve so I was being super productive by surfing every blog known to man when I came across one of my favorite topics, programming fonts, which is so nerdy that it occupies it’s own brane.

And while Droid Sans Mono doesn’t suck as much as Courier Mono it can’t even touch Bitstream Vera Sans Mono bitches!

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November 8, 2007

1 Out of 4 Homeless Are Veterans

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 1:01 am

I try to keep this blog free from my political views (go Ron Paul!) but this is one topic that never gets enough coverage in the news. You may have noticed that at the bottom of a post’s permalink page I have an appeal to donate to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, today there’s a story that veterans of the current wars are becoming homeless faster than ever. Whether you think a war is just or not it always has one by-product; scores of mentally ill veterans many of whom become homeless.

These are not your father’s Vietnam era veterans, they are the same age as you and me.

Study: 1 out of 4 homeless are veterans

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

Some advocates say the early presence of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan at shelters does not bode well for the future. It took roughly a decade for the lives of Vietnam veterans to unravel to the point that they started showing up among the homeless. Advocates worry that intense and repeated deployments leave newer veterans particularly vulnerable.

“We’re going to be having a tsunami of them eventually because the mental health toll from this war is enormous,” said Daniel Tooth, director of veterans affairs for Lancaster County, Pa.

The end of the year is coming up, if you’ve been a productive web developer you’ll need some tax deductions to reduce the amount the government takes from you. Why not make a donation to the NCHV throught Network for Good.

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October 23, 2007

Google Mapping the Santiago Fire

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 8:54 am

My house is to the west of the old El Toro Marine base, not in danger from the fire but it’s not too pleasant outside.

View the map

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September 24, 2007

What I did on my summer vacation

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 5:10 pm

Read the “The 4-Hour Workweek” on the plane to and from Paris, the chapters on productivity alone are worth the cover price. The wife and I ate at restaurants for each meal yet still both lost weight, something is seriously wrong with food in the US and A.

paris

Paris was great but the highlight of the summer was Underworld at the Hollywood Bowl. Funking fantastic.

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May 9, 2007

The end of the loadbar?

Filed under: Misc. Alastair @ 7:40 am

Looks like we’re on the verge of a rapid increase in the speed your web app can be delivered.

Comcast CEO Shows Off Super Quick Modem

Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience Tuesday, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, or roughly 25 times faster than today’s standard cable modems.

The cost of modems that would support the technology, called “channel bonding,” is “not that dissimilar to modems today,” he told The Associated Press after a demonstration at The Cable Show. It could be available “within less than a couple years,” he said.

The new cable technology is crucial because the industry is competing with a speedy new offering called FiOS, a TV and Internet service that Verizon Communications Inc. is selling over a new fiber-optic network. The top speed currently available through FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network is already capable of providing 100 Mbps and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.

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