Software and services that I use and can recommend . . .

Saturday, August 05, 2006

HubPage update, open to public

HubPages has opened the doors for public inspection.

Check it out at HubPages.

Let me know what you think.

Friday, August 04, 2006

HubPages, early days, goes into closed beta

HubPages sent me an invitation to participate in their closed beta
testing. The site is only open to members as they get some user testing
done and build a platform of hubs before opening the portals to the
public. I joined and built a couple of HubPages. I can't offer a link
to my HubPages, as they are not public yet. The site offers a "get on
the list" message and form at their temporary home page.

Email me for an invite to the beta so you can see some hubs and/or
create your own.

It's inevitable for me to compare HubPages with Squidoo since I've
played with Squidoo for a while and have some experience. In simple
terms they are both sites that allow members to build single pages
about a topic. The goal is to create good pages, develop traffic and
credibility and eventually be an acknowledged reference source on the
web, leading to ad revenues and more traffic. They feature different
looks for their pages. Maybe because I'm used to it, but Squidoo' s
pages seem a little more reader friendly, however HubPages uses its
screen real estate a little better. The major draw for a page developer
at HubPages is that there seems to be a better revenue opportunity.
It's clear that Squidoo' s model is too parsimonious and involves
too much work to maintain even a small revenue chance. HubPages makes
it easy to feature affiliate links.

Friday, July 14, 2006

PC Recommendations, a new Squidoo lens

Heath and others at Squidoo are often exhorting lensmasters to make specific recommendations to make the lens more useful and effective. I’ve been attempting to do that and decided to go the whole way and make some lenses that are just about recommendations.

My first is at www.Squidoo.com/pcrecommendations/

Since I’m a computer consultant it’s natural that I have good experiences (as well as bad) and some favorite products and services. In the PC Recommendations lens, I’ve started with PC memory and some end user utilities like spam control. I’ve described my experience and/or impression of the product and provided a link. Some are affiliate links, so I’m especially hopeful for them. Interesting that one of my recommendations is for Crucial Technologies, a major memory chip company with a huge on-line presence. They seem to show up on the lens as an advertiser all the time, so they are getting lots of value from my lens!

Friday, June 02, 2006

Well, I've tried MSN Spaces and Blogger and Yahoo. So it's on to WordPress. I've started a hosted Blog using WordPress. The intention is to consolidate several blog experiments into one ongoing blog with categories.

The blog is called One Stormy Day (that's www.onestormyday.com)

I'll keep this up for the foreseeable future, but all new posts will be at One Stormy Day.

Check it out and say hi. Thanks, Jack

Ps I’ve also created several lenses at Squidoo:
www.squidoo.com/iloveamystery
www.squidoo.com/otr
www.squidoo.com/benjaminfranklin
www.squidoo.com/fredricbrown
www.squidoo.com/retireinarizona
www.squidoo.com/arizonacities
www.squidoo.com/hoa
www.squidoo.com/computerconsultant
www.squidoo.com/eehibbard
www.squidoo.com/gasolinealley

Friday, May 05, 2006

ieSpell - Spell Checker add-on for Internet Explorer

I rely on spell checkers to cover me on my poor typing and spelling skills! Most apps that need them have the capability built in. This is not true of many web based text typing situations. An acquaintance at one of my clients suggested I check into ieSpell.

I tested it and liked it well enough to install in my IE browser. When you are in a text box you can simply right click and select spell checking. It seems to have a good dictionary, works quickly and, so far no hang ups!

No Mozilla version - yet. Free for individual use. Inexpensive license for corporate use. Download and install is quick and painless.

Checkout ieSpell here.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Anti Virus for family and friends

My current favorite anti virus software recommendation is the free version of AVG. I'm still using the Norton product for corporate use but that is far from cast in concrete! The free edition of AVG seems to provide good protection and is manageable by the casual user.

AVG seems to be trying to de-empasize the free version. I don't see any reference on their home page or their downloads page. Here is the link to the free version at http://free.grisoft.com/. If this link stops working, try a Google search for (free avg).

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Sharing pics on-line

Sometimes you just want somebody to see some pictures you took. Can't Email them (too many, too big), don't want to zip/ftp/CD etc (too complicated) ... You just want somebody to see your kid, your dog, your car . . .

I've been using Snapfish for a while now. A little effort involved, but works pretty well:

- You sign up.
- You upload your pics to an album.
- You tell Snapfish to share, and give an Email address.
- Snapfish Emails them with a link that lets them sign-up.
- Your friends look at your pics on-line.

Digital Photo Sharing at Snapfish

Works for me. Have you used any other services to recommend?

I’m a computer consultant, so I also use the computer in my personal life, for entertainment, as a resource for my hobbies. I test a lot of software, some I like well enough to suggest others look at. These are not recommendations or endorsements for any specific person or application. They work for me but may not work in your environment or fit your needs. If you have any comment or suggestions, please share them. © 2005 Jack Stankevicz, all rights reserved.