Tag Archives: blogging

Miscellaneous

New Year, New Look

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Welcome to the new Turbulent Sky. For all of you who’ve been following along, this is quite a face lift. Hope you like the new look. There may be some niggles and bugs that I haven’t yet fixed or discovered, so feel free to leave a comment if you find anything broken. I’ve moved the blog off from the “blog” subdomain since there’s no need to differentiate it that way and shortened the URLs of the posts by removing the date. Redirects should get any old links over to the right place. Feedburner has been updated as well so that all the RSS and Atom feeds point to the new location.

Enjoy!

Miscellaneous

Goodbye, 2008

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It’s hard to believe that yet another year has gone by. They seem to go faster every year. After blogging for over a year now, what’s new for 2009?

Of course, more fixes to interesting tech problems (including a long-standing Microsoft Word data corruption bug that I think I’ve finally worked around). Also, a new theme for this blog is certainly in order. I believe I’ve finally found one that I like that also fits the blog’s name. So, I’ll be busy with that for a little bit to get things dialed in and working just right.

Meanwhile, feel free to leave comments, questions and suggestions. Here’s hoping that your digital life in 2009 is prosperous and trouble-free.

Software

Getting Things Done (GTD) Online

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Trying to get things done while living in a digital world needs a digital solution. Web Worker Daily had a nice article today called, GTD for Bloggers: The Art of Stress-free Blogging. But it’s not limited to just bloggers. I found that I use some variation of many of these methods to manage my (mostly) paperless life, especially at work. No Daytimer, Moleskin or inked lists of tasks for me. It’s digital all the way, baby.

Software

Blogger, LiveJournal or WordPress?

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Although not new to writing (I’ve edited, contributed to, co-authored, etc. several published books on hardware, software and multimedia in my days), I am new to blogging. So, how did I choose Blogger as my platform? I actually like the features, flexibility, extensibility and control that’s available by hosting my own installation of WordPress, but the following are the main reasons that I started with Blogger:

  1. It’s easy to get started: Like LiveJournal and WordPress.com, Blogger is a service so I can just focus on what I want to write, rather than having to worry about the IT issues of running my own installation of blogging software such as WordPress. [Three-way tie]
  2. It’s free: Yeah, LiveJournal and WordPress (both the hosted WordPress.com and downloaded WordPress) can be used for free although some features cost extra. [Three-way tie, sort of]
  3. I can use my own domain: This is important so that if I choose to use a different blogging solution later with my domain, everyone will still be able to find my blog and all existing links to my posts will still work. LiveJournal and WordPress.com only allow use of a custom domain if you choose one of their paid subscriptions. Blogger includes this feature for free. Alternatively, you can install the WordPress software on your own server and use your own domain but that requires a web host (i.e., more cost and more things to take care of). [Blogger wins]
  4. I can have AdSense ads: Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but it would be nice to generate some income to help pay to have my blog on my own hosted site. With LiveJournal and WordPress.com, this just isn’t an option. [Blogger wins]
  5. Post URLs are SEO-friendly: For better search engine positioning, including words from the post title in the URL is helpful. LiveJournal’s pages use numbered filenames (e.g. exampleblog.livejournal.com/12345.html). [Blogger & WordPress tie]

Thus, from these five criteria, Blogger is ahead by two. Those of you who are more experienced may point out other features that would swing the results differently and I may encounter them as well over time. There’s nothing wrong with that. Different people have different needs. Blogger fulfills my key requirements at this time. Later, my needs will likely change as will the available choices. For now, Blogger leaves me flexibility of choice for when the time for a change arrives.

Happy blogging!

Miscellaneous

Welcome

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So, friends have convinced me to start blogging. Never thought I had that much to say but, thinking more about it, I do give a lot of advice on things, especially those having to do with technology. Thus, this blog will become my archive of what’s cool, what works, what doesn’t and how to deal with all the things that touch our digital lives, for better or worse.

Coming up next, a review of the Samsung SyncMaster 245BW 24″ widescreen LCD monitor. Stay tuned…