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Thoughts and things I care to sharelinks for 2007-05-09
- Another variant of using SharePoint. There is very little that you can’t do with SharePoint, or leverage it for.
- Chris nails several great tips about Internet and business. Good things to really understand if you are interested in leveraging the Internet for your business.
- I have to say that I’m getting really dissappointed in Bill Gates lately. He’s turning into the person that many have described him as for years. Its all about Microsoft and its solutions. Yes Silverlight is neat, cool, and powerful. Can it run on OSX
This is not your father’s Hotmail…
Well Microsoft finally released the new “Live” version of Hotmail. Since I’ve been using it for several months, I haven’t been able to talk much about it. Not that its features have been much of a secret, but I’ll hit the highlights here and let others offer up true reviews of the service.
It pretty much matches up the features that GMail has had for several years, and give users a full 2GB. Yeah, GMail still offers more but who really is using that much more space for emails? Archive & purge – that’s my motto.
The interface is quite familiar to most Microsoft customers – it mimics Outlook in a remote way, using AJAX techniques to it’s benefit. The interface usability is a winner over GMail for the average user. GMail is much, much faster however, because of the simpler mostly text-based interface.
Since my Hotmail account is the one account I’ve had for well over a decade (can’t remember exactly), it had been relegated to junk-mail duty for years. Meaning when I didn’t trust an online form – I used my Hotmail account. Since the service has been revamped, spam protection built in, search capabilities (quite good), and much needed space upgrade – I may find a new use for this account yet – or possibly move my hosted GMail accounts over to Hotmail… don’t know on that one yet.
links for 2007-05-08
- A quick recap of the company everyone loves to hate. I’ve been a MS user for many a year, and I always find these walks down memory lane fun.
- Well I’m sure we all hope this technology breakthrough comes to market soon.
- Hmm, new version of Google Analytics now available – check it out.
- While I’m stunned that Gartner figured this one out (I’m not a big Gartner fan), it is very true that server virtualization is one of the fastest moving technologies in the enterprise data center. Desktops will follow once a real business need is found.
links for 2007-05-07
- For anyone trying to tweak the Power settings in Windows Vista, here is a helpful guide.
links for 2007-05-04
- Chris Brogan brings up some interesting questions from a debate he was attending on Thursday. Go read his post and give your feedback.
- It seems that Microsoft is readying the next releases of their systems and operations management tools, mixing in their security products as well for the mid-size corporation.
- If this rumor is true, and the deal actually goes through – the results will be quite impressive. Microsoft and Yahoo have partnered many times in the past and this would actually be a really good pairing to challenge Google.
- Looks like an interesting show. I’ll be tuning in later to see what value it has.
- Guess its finally ready for prime time. Can’t wait to see if the new user interface is everything that everyone wants!
Why I Blog
So many times when I was in the corporate world, several co-workers and associates would tease me about my blog. Or mention as a point of humor about how you can Google my name and all the results are about me. For quite awhile I didn’t really know how to answer these folks or how best to describe why I blogged.
What I’ve figured out is that most people are still afraid of the Internet. More specifically, that their personal information may get distributed on the Internet. The reality of course is that for a small fee, anyone can get all the background information we want or need on anyone else.
The hardest part for me was to overcome my fear of having the world know who I am. I had gotten past that stumbling block before I consciously knew it – seriously, if you go back and read my two early blogs (I don’t count MSN Spaces), you’ll see that I really hadn’t an idea of what I was getting into.
So here are some reasons I blog:
- My personal space on the global stage
- A platform for voicing my opinions, viewpoints, ideas, thoughts
- A place to get feedback from anyone in the world (I don’t delete negative comments – only inappropriate ones)
- A place where people can always find me – from new contacts to old friends (my email address and phone number are always here)
- A portal into everything that I am – from here you can find my resume, my consulting company, my online professional links, my social networks and more
- A permanent place for all the search engines to find me (yes I want that)
At any rate, the main thing I’ve learned is that you can’t be afraid of people learning who you are. With a blog, you have some control of that, you have the ability to craft your personal brand which is much more than just your reputation.
By the way, today I found another tool to promote myself (or yourself – way wait?), called Ziki that is kind of an online self-promotion aggregator. It looks like a fairly interesting site for combining your important online bits and getting them rated higher in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
Will ‘Tech Snack’ Tide You Over?
C|NET Tech TV is starting another show hosted by Veronica Belmont called Tech Snack. Will it fill your void for your technology cravings, or leave a bad taste in you mouth? Time will tell. (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist the puns… 
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Link-baiting Aside
I’d like to take a moment to say Thank You to Kent Newsome for a link here to my blog. His post Link-Giving: An Alternative for the Rest of Us mirrors a bit of what I’m thinking on a lot of the A-List link-baiting issues. Personally I’m not interested in doing stupid human tricks for a cheap link from any of the A-List blogger’s. However, a link simply because someone reads my blog/feed means much more. It means that I’ve provided some kind of value, and that is all I’m trying to do here anyway.
New Poll: Self-Employment
I’ve added a new poll on my sidebar (scroll a bit, you’ll find it) that asks about employment. Do you work for yourself or someone else? Since I’ve recently made the jump to independent consultant, I was wondering what kind of opinions are out there on the topic.
So, select your choice and let me know! Thanks for stopping by.
links for 2007-05-03
- Looks like RIM really is serious about the mainstream “prosumer” market.
- Neat service that is already rolled out in parts of Europe. I was not able to participate in the beta for this service because it was not an option in the Minneapolis market. Should be pretty neat for any broadband T-Mobile customer.
- It’ll be interesting to see the features between FF3 and IE8 duke it out. FF2 is a clear winner over IE7. Yes Craig – its coming.
@MAC_Arms Pay taxes when you make your money, pay taxes when you spend your money, pay taxes when you successfully invest your money, pay taxes when you save enough taxed money to afford a house, pay taxes to live in your house, pay taxes when you sell the house that you paid taxes on to
Yup, taxes are criminal and we need serious reforms. I've always said that if you want to see a tax revolt, make withholdings illegal and have Americans write a tax check every payday. They'll revolt for sure. You don't miss what you never had.
I think it’s safe to say that @GovEvers should stop blocking audits in Wisconsin and open the books…
“Only AMERICAN citizens should vote.”
Sen. @berniemoreno says voter ID and proof of citizenship are simply common sense.
“We’re talking about a very low threshold — identify who you are and prove you’re a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. I think we’re getting closer to
Wrong. Democrats are solely responsible for hours-long airport lines.
They voted to defund TSA three times and won’t even entertain a conversation about reopening it. Why?
They’re using it as leverage to stop enforcing immigration laws.