Getting the iPhone battery blues? Cheer up with new battery boost gadgets.

The iPhone battery life is one of the topics that most iPhone detractors like to point out as a fatal flaw. The reality is that, as far as 3G cell phones are concerned, they all (iPhone included) consume their batteries at an amazing rate! Well, at least for iPhone users, the battery blues may be over with a few gadgets designed to boost the iPhone built in battery.

I know first hand about this battery problem. On most days, I have plenty of access to a charge because I am in my car and in my office primarily. But on those days that I travel or when I am away from my usual routine, I definitely run down my battery down to the dreaded 20% alarm. How? Well, I use my phone for a lot of 3G intensive functions. I am on the web a lot and I use task manager, lists and notes applications that are constantly synchronizing. Throw in a healthy dose of email, text messages, podcasts and music (of course) and you can see how I can run out of juice in less than a full day! Amazingly enough, I don't actually talk a lot on my phone. :-)

So after the first "day" I was stranded without a phone, I began researching the options for enhancing the battery life on the iPhone. At first I was looking for portable "batteries" (like the hundreds available for iPods) but amazingly there were none certified to work with iPhone (and especially in the case of the iPhone 3G, would simply NOT work when I tested a few.) Also the form factor for these batteries, even had they worked, was just odd. Most would "plug in" at the bottom of the phone and stick out rendering the phone unusable (or at least uncomfortable to use.)

Then, I ran into the IOGEAR "Gear Power" which, although not specifically designed for iPhone, has an iPhone tip (available separately) that works well with the iPhone 2g/3g. An amazing little battery that claims to be able to recharge your phone up to 3 times, it is incredibly small and very lightweight. You connect this battery to a standard USB port to recharge it (a huge convenience but only if you lug around a notebook). Also, this battery uses the standard iPhone USB cable to connect to the phone (use your own cable with the IOGEAR tip.) You can even use the phone while connected to the battery as long as you can stand the USB cable connection. I've owned the IOGEAR "Gear Power" for a few months now and it works GREAT! Still, it is a "side battery" concept and carrying the phone in your pocket while connected to this battery is probably not so comfortable! (Picture: phone, usb cable, battery - all bouncing around in your pocket.)

So, although the "battery bost" concept has worked well for me, I still yerned for a device that somehow "attached" to the phone, perhaps changing the form factor slightly (a little bigger and a little heavier) but still allowing for "almost normal" phone use and pocket carry.

And today, I actually found two products in this very category!

The first is the Mophie Juice Pack. This product is a bit pricey at almost $100 plus shipping, but it does carry the "Works with iPhone" seal of approval - which is very important. It also looks real slick and well made - definitely with pocket carry in mind. Their website reports the device weighs 3 oz (my iPhone weighs in at 4.5 oz.) I have not tested this product yet. [UPDATE: I have a Mophie Juice Pack for my iPhone 3G and I LOVE IT! It's awesome and very well made. Look for a review coming soon on this device!]

The second choice is the Brando Workshop iPower Portable Power Station. At $44 direct from the manufacturer in Hong Kong, this product is a real deal, but does not have the "Works with iPhone" seal (although plenty of reviews by other blogs rate it well and confirm that it does work. Read reviews here and here.) From the pictures, the design is not as "slick" as the Mophie, but it definitely seems functional and it even comes with an additional speaker for the iPhone. Their website reports the device weigs 93grams (3.3 oz) so it is just a bit heavier than the Mophie. I have not tested this product yet. [UPDATE: I have a Brando Workshop iPower for my iPhone 3G and it's ok! It's not as well made as the Mophie, but it does function. I also noticed that when the battery is attached, the signal stength on the phone goes down consistently by 1.5 bars! If I take the battery off, the bars come right back. This has to do with the way the battery case wraps around the entire phone. However, for 1/2 of the price of the Mophie, this is a definite alternative for the more budget concious. Look for a review coming soon on this device!]

I am quite happy with the IOGEAR, but the appeal of actually having something "always on" my phone is strong. There have been a few times that I've forgotten to charge the IOGEAR pack and found myself with an extra battery with no juice. The fact that the "always on" devices will always be charged (as I charge my phone) is also very appealing. I am inclined to try the Brando first simply because of the attractive price! We'll see.

If you have any of these devices, I'd love to hear your opinions. Do let me know what you think!

How Cuil are you? A new search engine tries to bid for your attention.

No, I did not misspell "cool" in the title of this post. The word "cuil", pronounced "cool" according to the founders of the new Cuil search engine, is an old Irish word for knowledge. And also according to Cuil, they have launched "the world's biggest search engine." A tall claim to make, this new search engine available now at cuil.com is nothing more than an interesting curiosity, at least for now.

Started by "ex-Googlers", Cuil has received an incredible amount of press not just in the tech world, but also in the more main stream press. Their own press release starts with:

"Cuil, a technology company pioneering a new approach to search, unveils its innovative search offering, which combines the biggest Web index with content-based relevance methods, results organized by ideas, and complete user privacy. Cuil (www.Cuil.com) has indexed 120 billion Web pages, three times more than any other search engine."

The validity of their claims, both in terms of size and innovation, remain to be seen. As for size of the search engine, Google no longer publishes the size of their content database - so it's not that easy to verify Cuil's claim. As for innovation, other than a cool looking and very simplistic (ala Google) interface, it's hard to tell but I am skeptical. I do know that for the websites that I support, my client websites, few seem to be "indexed". Even our own website, ActionOnline.cc, does not come up. True, I've not submitted it - BUT, if someone is going to make a claim about being the biggest search engine, one must first figure out a way to make sure that the little sites (the ones people are going to search to "see" if they really are bigger) are at least there! By the way, how did they decide what to include in their index? I wonder if they "Googled" a bunch of sites and started there!

But credibility aside, what is most interesting to me is not whether or not they are "better" (they clearly won't be for quite some time) but instead that they can "be anything" at all! In a world where Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo's search business because their combined market share is so small that they still trail "WAY" behind Google, a couple of ex-google people managing to get VC money to build a new search engine is just amazing to me. Microsoft, with all it's mightly millions in cash cannot get this much attention nor build a decent search engine - but a few googlers can? What does that say about the state of Microsoft and Yahoo?

Make no mistake, Google's dominance is NOT at all threatened by this new search engine, but Microsoft and Yahoo definitely are and their respective executives should take notice and react quickly.

Hey, here's an idea for Steve Ballmer of Microsoft: buy Cuil! I am sure they'll take a lot less than $33 per share and they certainly can't have any hugely inflated egos about their greatness! Or do they?

Google and other search engines will now index FLASH websites - let the race begin - but not the kind of race you think!

Google (and other search engines) announced a few weeks ago that they would not spider and index the content of flash files (flash websites). You can read the Google press release for the business explanation, but suffice it to say that apparently Adobe has made available to them the tools to spider and parse out the contents of FLASH. The specifics of how Google will handle this are covered in another document on the Webmaster Blog called Improved Flash indexing. If you are a web programmer, you definitely want to read the details of this very important announcement.

But if you are not a programmer, like most people out there, news of this new feature may lead you down a treacherous path. Why? Because just the fact that Google will now spider flash does not actually mean that flash is the best way to build a website. Don't get me wrong, flash components in a website - when used in support of a good website message - are very powerful, but "flash for the sake of flash" or flash to conceal the fact a website has no clear purpose and no unified message is not.

So, at least before - "everyone" knew that Flash was bad for websites (as least as far as Search Engine Marketing was concerned). Now, the race is on for clients who will not understand what this means and insist on the "all flash website"!

On the SEM side, my opinion is simple: tread lightly. There is not enough empirical data on how well the Adobe algorithm works - and how flash is impacting (positively or negatively) on sites that use it. However, on the USABILITY side, my opinion is unchanged. Flash is a tool, among many, all to be used in an effective balance in order to convey an effective message and a positive user experience on the web. The extent to which any one tool is used more than another is largely dependent on the website's message and audience.

Of course, the debate is going to continue. Bruce Clay, Inc (www.bruceclay.com) has come out somewhat against the "all flash website" and a colorful debate is evident on the many postings in support and against their article (see: Don't Build Your Web Site In Flash.)

For more reading on this topic, visit the Google Webmaster Central Blog.

2008 Search Engine Space and the "Era of Google"

The search engine space has always been incredibly dynamic and 2008 is no exception. Long are the days of Yahoo dominance in the US with Google continuing to slowly but steadily leapfrog way ahead of the others.

The current (as of 7/15/08) state of affairs is that there are a few major search engines and then everyone else. The current players with their market shares as of June 2008 are*:

Google with 78%
Yahoo with 12%
MSN and Microsoft Live with 5%
AOL with 3%
Ask with 1%
Others with combined at less than 1 % of the search share

(*source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/)

Better yet, as you read this post, you can check the current share by visiting the Market Share website by Net Applications. I can almost guarantee that if you are checking this months after I wrote it, the landscape will be MUCH different.

What does this all mean to the average website owner? It means that Search Engine Marketing is here and it needs to be a very important part of your overall marketing strategy.

iPhone 3G Launches - How it went for me!

Last year, I held off getting the iPhone right away - fearing long lines and a crazy experience. Besides, who "waits in line" to get a phone, right? So, I waited about 1 week last year and then bought my "iPhone v1" without as much as a wait. I took it home and within a few hours of using that phone, I was hooked - proclaiming it the BEST SMARTPHONE I had ever used (I was a huge fan of the Palm Treo line up until iPhone). I was especially impressed with the touch screen keyboard which I just could not believe worked as well as it did, better than the physical keyboard on my old Treo. Quickly, my old Treo became a thing of the past and I walked away from "third party applications" that I thought I could not live without - all for the better experience.

Now, 1 year later, here we are - an even better device with access to AT&T's fast 3G data network and version 2.0 of the software (which now adds third party applications among other much needed features.) I want one and I want it on the very first day I possibly can have it!

I scoped out the 5 AT&T stores near me. I decided early on I wanted an AT&T store instead of an Apple store. My rationale was simple. This time around, the activation is in store... and Apple personnel have never had to activate phones. They may have been very well trained and have a great system - but Apple staff have never activated phones - no matter the training. I was going to play it safe and go straight to the "Evil Empire". I ultimately picked the store that was the most "out of the way" which for me was in Wellington, Florida.

I arrived at 5:45 AM and was number 27 in line. Not terrible at all considering that the first 4 or 5 folks had camped out overnight. Everyone else had arrived early in the AM. By 7:00 AM, AT&T staff were handing out water bottles (this is Florida and it's hot here). They also started passing out the "iPhone checklist" which almost everyone on line found quite helpful. I had seen it online, but most people there had not.

Promptly at 8:00 AM the doors opened and the process began. By 8:00 AM, there were probably 50 more people behind me in the line. The store was very well organized - bringing in only enough people at a time to feed a customer to each of 13 registers.

At 8:45 AM, I was called in. I walked up to a register and explained I had an iPhone 1 and wanted to upgrade. The AT&T rep then grabbed my old phone, swapped SIM cards, punched in a thin or two into the computer, offered me some accessories and 20 minutes later I left the store with my shiny new iPhone 3G ready to make calls. The process there at the store could not have been easier - but of course, I ended up waiting 3 hours - some of it, in the warm Florida heat.

Overall? Not too terrible - IF you were there early and had some patience.

You can see pictures on my Facebook page.

Virtual PC and its arsenal of files - how to manage your MS Virtual PC files.

I have blogged about using MS Virtual PC for development purposes and in the few years I've been using this technique, I have convinced many developers to try this it. You can search this BLOG for "Virtual PC" and see what I've said before. I use this very technique still to this day and I use VPCs almost every day. My only consideration these days is weather or not I'll be moving to alternate tools than Microsoft VPC, for instance, Parallels or VMWare, both of which are excellent products in it of themselves. However, that's a topic for another post for sure.

Today I want to talk about a seemingly obvious topic related to MS VPC that apparently is not so obvious to the average VPC user. This topic came from a customer of mine who recently sent an interesting question. This customer has been successfully using virtualization to simulate "TEST" environments before they rollout production updates to a mission critical application. Virtual PC has worked very well for them and it has saved them a bundle in hardware costs and licenses - not to metion the headaches it has saved them from by bing able to test their "new releases" without affecting their core business. Nontheless, his question was along the lines of "How do I backup a Virtual PC" so that I can "drop" any changes to it and start from scratch. It occurred to me that a review of the files that VPC uses was probably the best way to answer his question.

In VPC, there are various files:

.vhd – is the “Virtual Hard Drive”. This is the largest and most important file for VPC. It can be as much as 16GB in size (the MS VPC maximum single drive size). In essence, this is like an IMAGE of a computer’s drive similar (though not compatible with) Acronis Image or Norton Ghost. You may have more than one VHD to suit your needs, with each “mounted” on the VPC as a separate hard drive (this is a way to get around the 16GB limit – to have an operating system drive and also a “data” drive.) By the way, this file can grow to 16GB but only in NTFS drives capable of such a size. In FAT32 drives, files can only grow to 4GB... so, VPC automatically creates numbered files, each of no more than the 4GB limit. In this case, the files are named .vhd for the first file, and .v01, v.02, etc. for the additional files. See the VPC specs from Microsoft for more specifics. For the purposes of this post, though, I will just refer to the .VHD as a single file, but keep in mind it may actually be more than one file.

.vmc – is the “Virtual Machine Configuration”. This is the details of “how” the VHD should run (how much ram, what resolution, on what network, supporting audio, etc). This file is akin to your “computer hardware” but is a throw away and can easily be recreated if you have a good VHD file.

.vsv – is the “Virtual Saved State”. If you have chosen to “suspend” your VPC (similar to the HIBERNATE of a notebook), this is the “hibernation” file which has the contents of RAM and everything else VPC would need to restore your virtual machine in the same exact “state” as you left it – with running programs, logged in, etc. This is also a throw away file (to some extent) except that if you loose it or delete it you’ll have to “turn on” your VPC again (similar to turning on your hardware) and any open documents, etc you may have left in an “unsaved” state would now be lost.

Furthermore, let’s draw a distinction between the “saved running state” and the “hard drive state”.

The first, saved running state, means what programs are loaded into memory and what other operations your computer is “in the middle of” when you choose to suspend it (hibernate). You can save it all you want – BUT – I I’m not sure it’s very useful if the contents of the VHD change much. I suppose if the VHD has changed substantially (like for instance, if you’ve un-installed software) the VSV may not even be “valid” and may cause the VPC to crash. One note, you would literally have to make a copy of the VSV file somewhere other than where your VHD is stored because the minute you “resume” your VPC, this file would be used to recreate the environment and removed!

The second is the hard drive state (as represented by a VHD). This is the data and programs (including the registry) installed on the VM. You can definitely back up this file to “recover” a VPC in a completely different state (with a certain version of software, for instance). As a matter of fact, I have SEVERAL images of VHD files that are ALL the EXACT installation of Windows XP at various states: (1) Windows XP as originally delivered by MS, (2) Windows XP with SP1, (3) Windows XP with SP2. I also have a Windows XP SP2 versions with IE6 and another one with IE7. These are ALL copies of the original VHD file (in separate folders to keep things organized and less confusing) and to which I have used a running VPC to apply different updates and installations of software.

So, to backup a VPC so that one can "go back" to a clean state, you want to make copies of the VHD files, move them around into a folder structure that works for you and then fire away various VPCs as you need to in order to apply (or test) whatever you need to. I often use a “throw away” VHD to test suspect software or items that I’m unsure about.
One final note, just because you are running a Virtual PC does NOT exclude you from properly licensing software. Different software programs and operating systems have different restrictions on how you may use them and install them, including on virtual PCs. Please check with your software vendor to verify that you are complying with any and all licensing requirements.

AT&T Releases details on the upcoming iPhone launch

AT&T finally released details today on the plans available for the new iPhone 3g as well as the process to follow for the purchase and activation. This time around, unlike last year's iPhone launch, phone activation will be done IN-STORE. AT&T is still holding to the date of July 11, 2008. They are now saying that iPhone sales will begin at 8AM local time! The 8GB iPhone 3G will be $199 and the 16GB iPhone 3G will be $299 (both with a 2 year AT&T contract - of course).

Read AT&T's release on the details of the upcoming iPhone 3G.

They even have a fairly decent iPhone page with lots of information at http://www.att.com/iphone.

They also have some videos, one for existing AT&T customers and another for new AT&T customers.

Finally, read the "Getting iReady" iPhone 3G checklist to help you decide which plan and features you'll want.

You may wonder if I'm getting one. I'm not sure yet... the "in-store" thing just sounds a bit crazy, but you never know. I may just be one of those people getting up at 4AM and going to stand outside my local AT&T store. Who knows... Yes, I have access to the 2.0 software for my old phone, but the 3G and GPS are really compelling reasons to migrate. Especially the 3G because with my "old" iPhone (which uses the EDGE network) I cannot browse and talk at the same time. So, being able to talk and use data (which the 3G version does allow) is also a very compelling reason to upgrade.

Finally, from Apple, here is their iPhone 3G Guided Tour.

Stay tuned...

3G iPhone is HERE!!

Live at WWDC 2008, Steve Jobs just announced the iPhone 3G. With 3rd party applications, full MS Exchange support, push email (via MobileME) AND GPS included, this is a completely new game changing device (notice I am not longer calling it a phone)!

If you did not listen to me last year, listen to me now. iPhone is the best phone/pda ever created!

(updated)
BTW, the 8GB 3G iPhone will sell for $199!!!

(updated)
The iPhone 3G will be available July 11th in 22 countries. The maximum price around the world is $199 USD. Now showing an ad.

(updated)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ads/hallway/medium.html

AT&T begins charging a fee on all online purchases made by subscribers! (A fictional news article as a tool for discussing Net Neutrality)

February 20, 2013, Bedminster, NJ - AT&T announced last week that it would start imposing a $7 service charge on all online internet purchases made by its subscribers using the "open internet". In a bold move, predicted to be emulated by the other major internet service providers, AT&T has taken the lead in combating what they deemed the "freeloader internet merchants". An AT&T spokesperson was quoted as saying "It is time that we begin to be properly compensated for the use of our network and our infrastructure by these merchants that do not pay AT&T any fees yet have free access to the buying power of our millions of consumers!"

The swell of criticism has been rising steadily from consumer groups across the country who call this move by AT&T nothing short of censorship monopolistic. "This is nothing more than a sleazy move by AT&T to bully thousands of internet merchants into paying them ridiculous 'access' fees. They were unable to make a business case with merchants to join their 'so-called Mall', so instead they concoct a plan to get their fees through the back-door!" - said a spokesperson for the consumer group Free-the-Internet.

When confronted with the strong criticism, AT&T was quick to point out that "Subscribers can easily avoid the extra fees by making their purchases via the new AT&T Net Online Mall, which is host to dozens of 'approved' merchants and thousands of quality products."

AT&T executives even hinted that online video access was next on their list of target websites since those websites often contain high-bandwidth files that "clog the AT&T network without paying their way". The major broadcasters refused to comment on whether or not they are in talks with AT&T for access to their subscriber base.

========

Ok, so this is NOT a real news story - at least not yet!

Since I misled you on the headline of this post, let me propose a different headline:

Why Net-Neutrality is the most important civil rights issue of our time!

Everyone that uses the Internet for anything on their computer (or any other device) needs to be aware of a VERY important fight developing quietly in the halls of our policy makers' offices (at all levels.)

Consider the following.

Back in the fall of 2007 Comcast was caught in its implementation of a technique to "shape" the traffic of its subscribers to prevent certain things as peer-to-peer file sharing (in this case Bit-Torrent) - arguing they had a right to do so to protect the quality of their network. This is despite the fact that subscribers receive "unlimited use" accounts. Well, apparently, these unlimited use accounts are unlimited as long as a subscriber does not download "the wrong file" or "use it too much"! By the way, when caught, the FCC held a hearing or two and as of March 10, 2008 had still not taken any action against Comcast.

For several years now, the Recording Industry (via its industry association the RIAA) has been coming down hard on colleges and universities insisting that they do more to curtail file sharing by students - blatantly making the incorrect assumption that the only thing students ever share is pirated music. On their own website, the RIAA says "We believe that university leaders have a responsibility to acknowledge campus piracy, to take steps to prevent the theft from occurring in the first place..." It's just a matter of time before the RIAA makes these very arguments with the major Internet Service Providers.

Earlier this year, major papers reported that the likes of the MPAA and RIAA have been discussing with AT&T and other large service providers how to begin "carrying out digital fingerprinting techniques on the network level" in order to "detect" the transmission of infringing copyrighted materials on their networks. What's the problem? AT&T and the other majors are actually LISTENING AND CONSIDERING these plans to "inspect and filter" traffic from their subscribers!

Are you outraged yet? You should be!

Now, I am not about "free" or "pirating music" or "pirating videos or pictures" or any of that! I am not one of those people that think that everything should be shared at no cost. Artists, studios, authors, photographers and other folks generating interesting content should have a way to be compensated. There is a lot of great content out there!

Furthermore, I think businesses need to make money. I understand that. However, they must also have smart business models that match the marketplace they are in! They must be able to adapt and compete to a changing consumer and a changing marketplace. If you don't change well, you disappear as a business. That's capitalism. That's a FREE market!

However, the Internet is NOT a business (at least not "on its own"). It is a communication channel. The most powerful communication medium that has ever come to be. Yes, there are many business ventures that can (and will) benefit from the Internet. If we think about it that way, perhaps we could call the Internet a Marketplace. The most dynamic and largest one ever! And just like in any marketplace, the businesses adapt and compete for eyeballs and wallets.

Internet service providers should be simply providers - not traffic cops. They are conduits to this marketplace who should have no stake in one "business" versus "another". When you call a friend on the phone, there should be no one listening to make sure you don't say the wrong thing or, god forbid, play a copyrighted song to your friend! The phone company is not listening to you to "make sure" you don't do the wrong thing!

Similarly, no one needs to be looking at my Internet traffic. I don't need anyone's help to "do the right thing". I already do just that!

Here's some news to the RIAA and MPAA - I buy my music, I rent (even buy) my videos. I watch TV shows on the sites of those networks that have had the foresight to make their shows available to me. I am NOT ripping anyone off online!

But I digress...

The minute we allow the service providers to have a stake in what you do on the Internet, then get ready for them to manipulate their own network in their favor (big surprise). Then get ready for HUGE business to capitalize and explode the marketplace to their favor as well - slowly inching out the very interactivity that has made the Internet so powerful.

If we allow this to happen, the Internet will become the next television. When was the last time you broadcast your family videos over the TV? You are reading this post because I can publish it on an "open Internet". On a closed system (like the Television networks) I could not broadcast this very same message.

So, speak up and contact your legislators. Tell them "Net Neutrality is important to me."

Checkout the following sites for more information:
http://www.savetheinternet.com/
http://www.openinternetcoalition.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXkUahWnpTY

=======

References:
Is Comcast's BitTorrent filtering violating the law? (http://www.cnet.com/8301-13739_1-9769645-46.html)

Comcast really does block BitTorrent traffic after all (http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9800629-38.html)

EFF study confirms Comcast's BitTorrent interference (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071128-eff-study-reveals-evidence-of-comcasts-bittorrent-interference.html)

Comcast Continues to Blow Smoke (http://www.savetheinternet.com/blog/2008/04/01/comcast-continues-to-blow-smoke/)

CAUGHT: Comcast paying to push public out of Internet debate
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYGtNmmb2y0&feature=user)

RIAA FAQ - For Students doing Reports (http://www.riaa.com/faq.php)

AT&T and Other I.S.P.’s May Be Getting Ready to Filter (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/att-and-other-isps-may-be-getting-ready-to-filter/)

FCC chair "ready to act" against Comcast -- so what is he waiting for? (http://valleywag.com/366190/fcc-chair-ready-to-act-against-comcast-++-so-what-is-he-waiting-for)

Tired of the slow and clunky Adobe Reader? Try the FREE Foxit PDF reader!

I am a HUGE fan of the PDF format for documents. I have been sending invoices, contracts, presentations and more in PDF format for years now. I don't use Adobe Acrobat to generate PDFs, though, instead choosing one of the many "Print to PDF" drivers available. I'll add a post later on my favorite ways to create PDFs, but for now, I wanted to talk about a very cool (and fast) alternative to the Adobe PDF Reader.

As you know, in order to open and read a PDF file, you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader (or another program capable of understanding the format). The Adobe reader has always been free from Adobe. However, in recent years, the Adobe Reader has become a HUGE application, a large download and bit of a process hog. Well, I am very excited to report that there is at least one alternative to the Adobe PDF Reader. It's a very popular FREE program called, surprise, surprise, Foxit PDF Reader.

Foxit Reader is a free (and small) PDF document viewer and printer. It is fast to launch and rich in features. It supports Windows XP, 2003 & Vista. In the past, you've had to download a huge PDF reader from another software company, go through a lengthy installation process and wait for an annoying splash window to disappear just to open a PDF document. Moreover, if you want to annotate a PDF document, you have to but the full version of Acrobat (at a few hundred dollars.)

You might think that this program is a "lite" version of Adobe Reader, but it actually has MORE features than Adobe Reader. So, not just does it perform a LOT better than the Adobe Reader, but you also get a lot more functionality!

Check out the Foxit PDF Reader at FoxitSoftware.com.

Speed up your "My Computer" (Windows)

If you click on My Computer to then wait a long time for it to display, your PC may be searching and monitoring for network resources. To stop this behavior while still being able to access your network resources, just change a simple setting in your Folder Options.

Step-By-Step:

Launch your "My Computer" and wait for it to fully load. Click on TOOLS, then FOLDER OPTIONS.



On the "Folder Options" window, click the "View" tab. Notice in the "Advanced Settings", the entry "Automatically search for network folders and printers". Un-check that entry and click OK.



Close out of My Computer and fire it up again. If the slow down was due to network discovery and monitoring, you should now be able to see My Computer much faster!

Preserve your Search Engine Ranking with the 301 Redirect!

If you have spent a long time and effort getting to rank well on the search engines, you want to make sure you do NOT loose these rankings when certain pages change on your site in such a way that their URLs (web addresses) might change. This is especially true when you change platforms or redesign your website. If you have this problem, you definitely want to read this post!

When a page is removed from your website, your webserver will usually return a "404 Page Not Found" error (also known as just "404".) When a Search Engine spider encounters missing pages, of course the links will be removed from the indexes. At the very least, a redirect avoids the 404 by telling the spider that the content for the page can be found elsewhere. It also tells the search engine that the "old" URL should stop being checked (and indexed) in essence replaced with the "new" URL.

By the way, the 404 and 301 are the HTML header response codes that your webserver will respond with when it receives a request. As you might know, when a user enters a URL on their web browser and tries to visit your site, the web browser establishes a connection with your server and makes a "request" for web content. The server then sees if it understands the request, and if it does, returns the content along with a response code of 200 (the "all ok" response code.) However, if your server does not know about the request, it will instead respond with the 404 indicating that "no such page was found here".

I am discussing this because this presents an interesting restriction of the 301 redirect technique which is that these response codes are ONLY under your control while the page is being "prepared" on the server for delivery to a web browser. Because of this, it is NOT possible to change a page's header code unless you have access to the server-side code for the page. In other words, you are only able to use a 301 redirect if your server (or hosting company) has provided you with a technology like ASP, ASP.NET, JSP, PHP, PERL, etc. You cannot change a page's header via the HTML for the page!

With that restriction out of the way and assuming you do have access to the server-side code for your website, a 301 Redirect can be performed on a page-by-page basis. Simply edit the page you wish to redirect and add the code according to the list below! It is not necessary to have anything else on the page but the redirect code.

ASP Redirect
<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location","http://www.new-url.com/"
%>

ASP .NET Redirect
<script runat="server">
private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently";
Response.AddHeader("Location","http://www.new-url.com");
}
</script>

PHP Redirect
<?
Header( "HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently" );
Header( "Location: http://www.new-url.com" );
?>

JSP (Java) Redirect
<%
response.setStatus(301);
response.setHeader( "Location", "http://www.new-url.com/" );
response.setHeader( "Connection", "close" );
%>

Save 15% on Adobe Software by joining NAPP!

Joining the National Association of Photoshop Professionals entitles you to many discounts, including 15% on Adobe software direct from Adobe! Are you still on Photoshop CS2? Want to manage your pictures with the new Photoshop Elements 6? Do you want to edit your family videos with the new Premiere Elements? They are all available at the Adobe online store - and now you can save 15%. Join the National Association of Photoshop Professionals today. Be sure to tell them you were referred by me, Eric Soto (easoto@iss-pr.com).

Of course, it's more than just discounts. Enjoy the monthly magazine, Photoshop User, full of tips and tricks as well as a website full of help, tutorials, tips, patterns, brush sets, videos and many member services and benefits.

Join the National Association of Photoshop Professionals today. If you tell them I referred you (Eric Soto, easoto@iss-pr.com), they'll throw some free perks my way.

Dell notebooks have trouble with Outlook appointments becoming "recurring" even though that was not the intention!

If you use a Dell notebook (and possibly other brands) and suddenly you've started to have all meetings you are invited to show up as "recurring", then you may want to read on. It turns out Dell includes a certain little Outlook Add-In which causes your accepted meeting invitations to become recurring in your calendar! Luckily the solution is very, very simple. If you are a techie or want to know the background to this, read on. Otherwise, if you only care for the solution, skip to the "Solution" section of this article.

Background
I've been sporting a new Dell Vostro 1500 for about 3 months now. I am very happy with this model and it's fast and efficient. I loaded it with 4GB RAM and manage my startup items very carefully to make sure I have no cpu-stealing crap-ware. I even took care to remove all the unnecessary applications that came with the notebook, making sure that I either installed everything in it OR that I knew (and needed) what was left pre-installed.

However, over the last few weeks I started to notice that I had a pretty full week with many recurring calendar items. All of the suspicious recurring items were "invitations" (meetings setup by others) that I had been invited to and accepted at one point or another. As I started to check with the organizers of these meetings, all assured me that they never made the meetings recurring at all. Somehow, the problem was on my end, that much was clear.

So, in order to figure out what could be going on, I would wait for the next request from someone and do some poking around before accepting. It turns out that instead of accepting from the EMAIL, Outlook also lets you see your "calendar" with the new meeting on it by clicking on "View Calendar". From there, it is possible to open the meeting and accept (or reject). So, as the next meeting came, I went to my calendar and confirmed it was showing up (and there was NO recurrence on the meeting). I opened the appointment and clicked on ACCEPT and much to my surprise, indeed something had instantly changed the meeting to recurring (complete with the nice recurrence icon). Opening the meeting provided NO way to eliminate recurrence (as you normally can with meetings you create yourself.) My only choice was to delete the meeting!

Research
Luckily for all of us, Google exists, so I immediately searched Google for "all outlook appointments are recurring when ACCEPTED" and the first link presented a similar issue. It's a BLOG posting entitled "Outlook appointments become recurring appointments" where the author had noticed that when he would edit appointments (not when he would create them,) somehow they would end up as recurring even though that had not been the intention. And the culprit according to this posting? A little Outlook Add-In called "Outlookaddinsetup". Although this BLOG cited the solution as the removal of the add-in, I needed to know more about the add-in and what I was about to "break" by removing it!

My next Google search was for the name of the add-in, and that brought up multiple forum postings and other articles including "Why does Outlook runs so slowly on my new Dell laptop?"
I personally did not experience slow down (or maybe I had not noticed) but this article also pointed to the same add-in and described it as "responsible for converting meeting requests to recurring meetings and creating calendar and contact folders when saving attachments" and part of Dell's Media Direct software.

I remember seeing Media Direct in my notebook and left it thinking it was the DVD player software from Dell. Apparently, there is more to this program than I thought. A quick click on the icon fired it up for inspection. Indeed, there is a feature in there called "Instant Office". Going into the feature does indeed show options for viewing contacts and calendar items. Apparently, when the notebook is off, it is possible to fire up Media Direct via the dedicated button on the notebook. Once it comes up (presumably faster than loading the operating system), it's possible to use this program to listen to music, view movies on the computer and this "Instant Office" which allows you to view Powerpoint presentations as well as contacts and calendar items. View the Dell's Media Direct marketing page here. This may be a nice feature for some, but for me, the way the add-in works (making meeting invites "recurring") makes it useless. I don't know if the problem is a "feature" or a "bug", but various postings on the Dell Forums confirm that MANY people have had this problem and have solved it by simply removing the OutlookAddInSetup program.

In all fairness to Dell, the Media Direct software is a product by Cyberlink for Dell. I did various Google searches on "Cyberlink, Outlook" and other keywords and could only confirm that add-in to be problematic - and - a huge resource hog.

Some posts recommend removing the Media Direct altogether. I don't think that is necessary, though, and simple removal of the problematic add-in has worked well for me and many others. I may not use Media Direct for the "Instant Office", but I do use it to play DVDs on my Dell. I suppose I could install another DVD player, but until Media Direct proves to cause other problems for me, I don't see the point in removing it.

Solution
Open up your Control Panel.
Select "Add/Remove" programs.
Find the entry "Outlookaddinsetup".
Click on REMOVE.
Enjoy your faster computer now with correct recurrence in appointments!

Finally, applications for the iPhone without hacking the device!

As I write this, Apple is carrying on a presentation on their new features for iPhone including a Software Developer's Kit (SDK). It's official - the SDK is here. Finally, there will be a way for software companies to develop native iPhone applications (not just iPhone compliant websites) that take full advantage of the phone's capabilities including contacts, the calendar, wifi, edge, etc. This is happening LIVE right now, so I don't have all the details yet, but this is a HUGE development in the takeover of the iPhone as the biggest "new generation" smart phone in existence. Apple quoted figures that the iPhone already accounts for 70% of all mobile web browsing! Bank of America already sees 25% of all their banking web traffic from iPhones!

This is all simply amazing and the iPhone as a platform for mobile web applications is finally here!

Add lots of content to your site without spending hours writing it.

Last year I blogged about how to use Content Syndication to increase your website's useful content. You can read that post: Good websites provide value to the visitor - the content syndication trick!

This concept is SO important that I need to repeat it in 2008. The best websites engage the visitor, provide value and useful content. There is absolutely no excuse in this area and cutting corners in the content of your website is only going to hurt your website in the long run.

In last year's article I provided a few links to get content, however, here are some new content ideas for 2008:

• BLOGS - Just like you are reading this blog, there are thousands of others with lots of fantastic information. Of course, you don't want to "steal" a blogger's content, but there are many tools that allow you to place interesting blogs of your choice right on your website - with full credit going to the blogger. Hey, there is value in "content aggregation" for the convenience of your visitors. Of course, "buyer beware". When you reference a blogger, you are promoting their views. Make sure these are views you agree with - OR - that you present the links while warning the visitor that you may or may not agree 100% with the blogger. Looking for blogs? Check the BLOG page at CNET.COM or even use Google to search "blog" and any topic of interest.
  
• Voxant Newsroom - an interesting aggregator of video content from many sources (like the AP, Reuters, The New York Times, etc.) They even claim to give your website a share in their advertising revenue when videos play. My only caveat with using something like this is make absolutely certain that you include content that is 100% relevant to your website's purpose. Including "all content" or "non relevant" content won't impress your users - on the contrary will leave them wondering why they are presented some "foreign" topic.
• CNET.com is an excellent source of technology news. Check out the CNET Feeds Page.

Again, content is KING! If you want a website that consistently attracts visitors, then make sure you are giving them a reason to visit you!

Seek out your Interactive Marketing Association and join NOW!

Many cities now have "Interactive Marketing Associations". These groups can be invaluable resources in your Search Engine Marketing efforts for both networking with other professionals and also for education.

Did you know that many "hot" search engine techniques which might work today, may actually hurt your ranking tomorrow? The field of Search Engine Marketing is extremely dynamic and staying on top of all the changes can be a challenge. This is where your local association could prove to be a great resource.

In our case, the South Florida Interactive Marketing Association (SFIMA for short) is a great organization indeed very active in networking and education. For instance, just today, I attended a fantastic full-day workshop where three top Search Engine Marketing experts covered both basic and advanced techniques for both natural search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing. The lineup read like a "who's who" of Search Engine Marketing in our area and beyond:

• Jay Berkowitz, CEO of TenGoldenRules is based out of Boca Raton Florida
  
• Joe Laratro, President of Tandem Interactive is based out of Hallandale Beach Florida
  
• William R. Leake, President and CEO of Apogee Search is based out of Austin Texas
  

All the speakers work with clients and conduct training nation-wide.

If you have any web presence at all, you should strongly consider joining your local association. Chances are good that they too will be putting together excellent learning opportunities for their membership. 

No local group in your area? No worries, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is also an excellent resource that operates on a national scale and boasts an impressive membership roster.

Weather local or national, getting involved with other Search Engine Marketing professionals can make the difference between top placement and no placement on the Search Engines.

Scrolling on the iPhone

Certain web pages have scrolling areas (usually iFrames or scrolling layers) used to better organize content without extending the height or width of a page. On the iphone, these scrolling areas do not show the usual "scroll bar" visible in your desktop web browser. However, despite the lack of a visual cue that the area is scrollable, iPhone Safari allows users to scroll inside these areas using a "two finger" scroll. Whereas traditionally, one would use a single finger to move up or down on a website, to scroll on these pages, simply use two fingers over the scrolling area to move "just" that area up or down. Since some scrolling areas are small, it may be easier to do this after first zooming into the scroll area.

To read a post from Apple on this topic, click here.

Take a Segway tour in a city of your choice!

During a recent trip to Austin, Texas my wife and I were looking to enjoy the "sights and sounds" of the city. We only had a day, so we decided to try a Segway tour. Much to my surprise, the tour was fantastic and a real incredible way to enjoy the usual walking tour without any of the walking. I was all for that!

The Segway, in case you are not familiar with it, is the most modern "scooter-like" vehicle in existence. Actually, calling it a scooter is am insult since the vehicle is actually an incredibly powerful computer complete with servos and gyros that keep it perfectly upright even though it rides on only two wheels. It was released a few years ago amidst much "hype" of it going to revolutionize the world, much of which never materialized frankly because I feel people are mostly afraid of new technology like this. Still, the Segway is here to stay, for now at least, mostly as a novelty item.

However, interestingly enough the "city tour" industry seems to have embraced the technology while at the same time adding some "techno glam" to the "city tours". Houston is no different with at least two different companies offering such tours. We called both companies and ultimately settled on Gliding Revolution (http://www.glidingrevolution.com/) because we liked their website a bit better (and you know me and websites!)

We arrived at our appointment time to find a real cool and friendly staff eager to take us about the town. In case you are wondering, they were ALL about safety and after a brief but complete class on "Segway driving skills", both my wife and I felt comfortable on the vehicle. At that point, escorted by the excellent guides from Gliding Revolution, who completely watched for traffic and ensured safety, we were off to enjoy the city. Had we walked the same distances we covered on the Segway, we would have been exhausted and would have needed three times the amount of time that the Segway tour took.

All in all, the experience was fantastic and I would definitely repeat it if in Austin again. I can't wait to visit other cities and enjoy their Segway tours.

Actually, I can't wait to have a Segway of my own, although I am not sure where exactly I would use it! Ah, if only the mall and grocery store would let me "glide" around!