SitePoint Supports Australian Fire Relief
Posted by: John The Geek
The folks at SitePoint.com have put together a sale which benefits both the buyer and the Australian fire relief effort. The devastation down under is extreme and here’s a way to lend a hand while scoring some awesome web design resources.
I have several of SitePoint’s books on CSS, HTML and Javascript and they are excellent. The PDF format books are normally US$29.95 each and well worth the price.
For this sale, SitePoint is offering any five of their PDF format books for a total of US$29.95, essentially an 80% discount. What’s more, they are donating the proceeds from the sale to the Australian fire relief effort. In short, you pay $29.95 and get 5 books and the fire relief fund gets the whole $29.95.
If you have any interest in web development technology, I highly recommend jumping on this deal.
Free Backups For Your Data
Posted by: John The Geek
Last year, the folks at Neobyte, makers of Titan Backup, offered the full version of their excellent backup software free for a limited time. I’m happy to report that they’re repeating the offer with a little different slant.
You can now get the full retail version of Titan Backup v.1.5 free from Neobyte. Note that this is not the current version of the software (v2.5), but IMO it’s still a great deal. The older version worked fine and you can’t beat the price!
You can download the free version here (opens in a new window):
http://www.neobytesolutions.com/trial-versions/free/titanbackup15.exe
After you install the software, use the following key to register and activate it:
000020-ACM8KK-1YXPMT-JZT49Z-05Z6JZ-7C68TR-9Y7FU9-6PD2P8
If you decide to upgrade to the latest and greatest, Neobyte is offering a coupon for a special upgrade price. Use this link to get your discounted price:
Special Titan Backup Upgrade Discount
I’ve got Titan Backup on all my machines and I recommend you jump on this deal.
Web Site Traffic Magnet
Posted by: John The Geek
Web site traffic and how to get more of it is a hot topic for Internet entrepreneurs. The problem is that the discussion tends to begin and end with the number of visitors.
Traffic to your web site is less than half the battle. These days getting people to your site isn’t nearly the whole problem. Once they’re there, you need a way to keep them there, or better yet, keep them coming back!
Offering your visitors something of value is the best way to get and keep them as regular visitors. What’s the most valuable commodity on the Internet? Information!
That’s what the Internet is all about, folks…providing information.
The challenge has never been that there isn’t enough information. It’s finding the information you want quickly and easily.
Someone once described the Internet as a huge library with the books scattered all over the floor! Sure, there are search engines and repositories, but you have to use a number of them to find everything you’re looking for. Now you can provide your web site visitors a way of searching not only for information, but information in multiple formats…all from a single window!
Check out the widget below. It’s called Page Magnetizer and it’s a way of giving your web site visitors a kick-butt concentrated source of information. Enter a search keyword in the box at the top. Notice how the related search links below change instantly.
Page Magnetizer immediately returns the relevant references from all the major information resources for text, video, audio, and more. In one area less than 500 pixels square, you have access to targeted research on any keyword you can think of!
Play with it a while and see what it’s capable of. I think you’ll be amazed. I certainly am.
There are hundreds of potential uses for this little gem. It’s just launched so the price is currently as low as it will ever be. If you want one for your site, click the link at the bottom of the widget and grab yours before the price goes up.
It’s All About Focus
Posted by: John The Geek
I read an interesting article the other day which claims in its title that “Hard Work Is Dead”. The author goes on to make his case by saying there are many more distractions today than before and those distractions cause people to be less productive than ever.
While I can relate to the difficulty of ignoring the various distractions, I disagree with the idea that it’s any different now than it always has been. There have always been people who are constantly busy, raising great clouds of figurative dust, who never seem to get anything accomplished.
The problem isn’t that there are more distractions. My 20-something nieces and nephew can watch TV, check their email, instant message, talk on the phone and do what seems like a dozen other things simultaneously. They’ve grown up multi-tasking.
If I want to get something done right, I have to concentrate on it. I can’t do several things at once and do any of them proper justice. My nieces aren’t smarter than I am, they’re just used to doing things that way.
All that said, they have the same problem everyone else does when it comes to being truly productive. Being productive isn’t about how many things you’re doing. It’s about the things you’re getting done and their relative importance.
Getting a whole bunch of things done doesn’t mean much if they’re not things that are important to your ultimate goal or vision. That’s where priorities come in.
The secret to being productive is to make a list of the things you need to get done, then prioritize them! That’s it. No magic, no esoteric rituals, no smoke and mirrors. Just make a list and decide which things on the list are the most important.
So, how do you decide which are the most important items? Again, no rocket science involved. The most important items are the ones that will get you closer to where you want to be. In other words, the items that move you toward your goal are the most important.
You can usually determine quickly which is the one most important thing you have to get done on any given day. Then, work down the list from there and decide the second most important, third most important and so on.
The reason you do that is so that you don’t have to repeat the exercise every time you get the top item done. Spend 15 minutes or so at the start of each day making your list and prioritizing it. Then, work on the number one item until it’s done, or until you’re not able to make progress on it any more for whatever reason.
The key is to focus on that top item and don’t do anything else less important until it’s done. When it’s done, cross it off the list and move on to the second item. Don’t do anything less important until that’s done. And so on down the list.
If you can focus on the most important items on your list, at the end of the day you’ll have accomplished (or at least made progress on) one or more of the most important things you needed to get done to reach your goal. Make this a habit and you will be very pleasantly surprised at the progress you’ll make toward your goals.
None of this is new, but it’s surprising how few people actually do it. It’s easier to let your life be driven by whatever’s going on around you. In the computer biz we call that “interrupt-driven.” In other words, you’re giving up control of your life to everybody else connected with you in any way.
I’m just as guilty of this as anyone, so I understand the problem. It simply takes the discipline to keep bringing your focus back to the most important task whenever it’s pulled in another direction. And the understanding that it’s not “their” fault if you’re not accomplishing your goals. If they’re distracting you it’s because you’re allowing it.
The question is: how important is it to you to reach the goals you’ve set? I can tell you from experience, if it’s not important enough to teach yourself to focus, you’ll never get there.
Take a few minutes and identify the things that have become habits in your life. Then, decide whether they’re helping or hindering you on your path to your goals. Get rid of the ones that aren’t contributing toward your progress and prioritize the ones that are. Focus on the latter and you’ll make amazing progress!
- No Comments - Tags: focus, focus on goals, priorities, priority list, reaching goals, task list
Facebook Virus Turns Your Computer into a Zombie
Posted by: John The Geek
PC World reports Facebook users are being targeted with a virus that takes over their PCs turning them into “zombies”. The virus is spread by means of messages sent through Facebook with titles intended to get the recipient to click on a link to a suggestive video. Clicking the link downloads a “Flash player update” which is actually the virus.
Facebook has posted instructions on how to get rid of the virus and change your Facebook password. As with most such “social engineering” virus scams, these are fairly easy to spot. I remember a series of emails with similar titles and links going around a couple of months ago.
Here’s the link to the PC World article for all the details:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/155017/facebook_virus_turns_your_computer_into_a_zombie.html
Be careful out there!
Secunia Personal Security Inspector (PSI) Released
Posted by: John The Geek
Secunia’s Personal Security Inspector (PSI) is now out of beta. I’ve been using this handy application for quite a while and have found it to be extremely valuable for keeping my applications updated.
Secunia PSI scans the applications installed on your PC and warns you if any are outdated and contain known security flaws. It also flags applications that are no longer being supported by their vendors.
Windows users typically keep their machines updated with Windows Update or Microsoft Update, however, Microsoft Update only scans Windows and Microsoft applications. Secunia PSI scans not only Windows and Microsoft applications, but a long list of other applications from other software vendors such as Apple, Adobe, Sun and many others.
This latest version of Secunia PSI adds a “Simple” mode for non-technical users. The Advanced mode gives the user extensive control over the patching process while Simple mode makes the process, well, simple for the average PC user.
Secunia PSI runs in the background and constantly monitors your PC, scanning periodically to determine if the status of any known applications has changed and warning you if it does. The program is unobtrusive and doesn’t seem to consume noticeable quantities of resources.
This is not an anti-virus scanner. You still need AVG or another good anti-virus application. Secunia PSI compares the versions of known applications on your machine with its list of the latest secure versions. If there’s a mismatch, i.e. you have an older version of an application installed, PSI will warn you and tell you how severe the threat is.
The user interface is clean and straightforward, showing you graphically which programs are insecure or at end-of-life (no longer supported), how severe the threat is, whether there’s a direct download for the update, and very importantly, where the application is located on your machine. The latter information is very helpful when PSI shows that you have two instances of the Java runtime, for example.
I highly recommend installing Secunia PSI on your PC and keeping your applications updated with the latest security fixes. You can download the latest version here:
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/
Amazon Kindle – First Impressions
Posted by: John The Geek
The Amazon Kindle is basically an electronic book. Amazon calls it a “Wireless Reading Device.” The Kindle has been on the market about a year now. I recall looking at it when it was introduced and thinking it was a very cool idea.
Well, now it’s a year later and I own a Kindle. And it’s very cool.
The first thing you notice about a Kindle is the “electronic paper” screen. It’s essentially black-on-white and the detail is very sharp. Text is crisp and very readable even in bright daylight outside. There are a number of screen saver pictures that come with the Kindle and these are very detailed, looking very much like fine etchings.
Operation of the Kindle is straightforward. On the left side are Previous Page and Next Page buttons. On the right, a Next Page button and a small Back button. A small scroll wheel below the bottom right corner of the screen controls the cursor and menu system. Push the wheel to click, roll it to scroll the cursor.
The Kindle has a headphone jack for listening to music or audiobooks, a USB port for transferring content from your PC to the Kindle and vice-versa, and an AC jack to recharge the battery. At the bottom of the screen are indicators for remaining battery charge and wireless connectivity.
Battery life is impressive. I’ve gotten 3-4 days from full charge to half discharged with it on 24/7. I’ve not run the battery all the way down. Amazon warns not to do that, but to keep it topped off. I’m still a Ni-Cad guy so I can’t bring myself to plug it in every night, but when it gets to the halfway mark, I’ll charge it back up.
The Kindle is on the Whispernet wireless network, aka Sprint. I get 4-5 bars of signal strength everywhere I’ve been with it so far. The wireless is fast. A 1.5-2MB Kindle book downloads in a few seconds.
The Kindle has about 180MB of available internal memory, good for a hundred or so books in Kindle format. There is an SD card slot to add more storage. I have a 4GB card in mine which will hold literally thousands of books and documents. The Content Manager allows you to move items from internal memory to the SD card and vice-versa, or delete items altogether.
If you purchase a book from the Kindle Store, it is delivered to your Kindle via the wireless and also stored in your online Media Library at Amazon. This means if you run out of space on your Kindle and have to remove something to make more room, you can redownload it from the Media Library at any time when you have more available space.
In addition to the content you purchase from the Kindle Store, you can convert various files to Kindle format. At the moment, Microsoft Word documents are supported along with MP3s, JPGs and a few others. PDF documents are in the experimental stage. I’ve converted several PDFs and the results have been varied, but this looks very promising. One thing I intend to try soon is to convert a PDF to Word using Adobe Acrobat and then having the Kindle convert the Word doc.
Conversion is simple. Just email the file(s) you wish converted as attachments to the email address given you when you register your Kindle. There are actually two addresses, one of which is free. The difference is that the paid address delivers the converted document directly to the Kindle via the wireless. The free version stores the documents on Amazon’s servers and sends you an email with links to download them to your computer. You then transfer the downloaded files to your Kindle via USB cable.
As of this writing, the paid conversion address has not been charging the 10 cents they say they will charge for the service, but eventually I expect they will. The conversion fee isn’t unreasonable and IMO is easily justified in the time savings avoiding the download/upload cycle.
Not all books are available in Kindle format yet, but they’re certainly working on it. If you find a book on Amazon that isn’t in Kindle format, there’s a link next to it to tell the publisher you’d like them to publish it for the Kindle. I’ve been doing that with computer books as some of my favorite publishers aren’t putting out Kindle editions yet.
Purchasing content from the Kindle store is straightforward. You activate 1-Click ordering on your Amazon account and all your Kindle purchases are processed via 1-Click. There is a Search capability where you can search the Kindle Store from your Kindle by keying in search terms from the keyboard. The Kindle keyboard is a typical QWERTY layout, but the keys are very small buttons. Not all the punctuation marks are present, but when you need one, you press the Sym key which brings up a menu of them.
Thankfully, the period, forward slash and @ symbols are on the keyboard. Web surfing is available albeit in experimental mode and pretty much limited in usefulness to mostly-text web sites.
I leave my Kindle on 24/7 by putting it in sleep mode. If it’s idle with no activity for 10 minutes it will go into sleep mode by itself. There is a two-key combination to put it to sleep or wake it up depending on its current state. I also leave the wireless turned on although this probably consumes a bit more battery power than with it off.
In addition to books, you can purchase newspaper and blog subscriptions for your Kindle. All the major newspapers are available and well over 1,000 blogs as of this writing. I signed up for two sports blogs for 99 cents per month each. Whenever anything new is posted to the blogs, it shows up as a new item on my Kindle home page immediately.
I definitely love my Kindle! It’s allowing me to take reading material with me where it’s too cumbersome to carry a book or two and I can grab 10 or 15 minutes of reading as I get time during the day. If all my computer books were somehow transferable to the Kindle, I’d save a good percentage of the space in my home office! Hey, it’s nice to dream.
- No Comments - Tags: Amazon Kindle, electronic book, kindle reader
Living On Purpose Is the Key to Success
Posted by: John The Geek
You may have heard the term “living on purpose.” We all know from when we were kids that if you did something “on purpose” it means you intended to do it, as opposed to something that happened “by accident” or “I didn’t mean to.”
I’ve been in Internet marketing for almost two years and I’ve recently realized that I haven’t been marketing “on purpose.” That isn’t to say that I became a marketer accidentally. Obviously, I intended to become a marketer! What’s been accidental has been the result I’ve achieved.
Let me explain. When you set out to do something, it doesn’t really matter what it is, you’ll get a result. The question is: is it the result you wanted when you started out?
The statistics are pretty depressing: something well over 90% of all startup businesses fail within the first few years. The length of time it takes for the business to fail is often a function of how long the owner can continue to pour money into it without making a profit!
So, why does such a large percentage fail? Because they have no clear vision of what they want and how the business will help them achieve their goal. In other words, there’s no overarching purpose to the business.
Ask any Internet marketer, or any business owner for that matter, why they’re in business and virtually all of them will say “To make money.” There’s usually a pretty important reason why they want to make money, but no clear plan for how that’s going to happen.
Your life has a purpose and your business needs to fit with that purpose. If you don’t know what your life’s purpose is, obviously, that can’t happen except by accident.
So, how do you discover your life’s purpose? By examining your life and identifying what turns you on and makes your heart sing. You were put here on this Earth to be joyful so by definition anything that brings you joy is part of your purpose.
It doesn’t matter what brings you joy. The important thing is to recognize and acknowledge it. Once you’ve done that, you can focus on finding ways to do those things as often as possible. Ideally, you can do it for a living. Imagine that, having fun “working!”
Look around you and notice that the happiest people you know are the ones doing what they love to do. You may think that you can’t make a living doing what you love to do, but the fact is that you very likely can. Once you know and embrace your purpose, anything is possible!
Knowing your purpose gives you focus, and focus is critical to success. Talk to anyone who is successful at anything and you’ll find that they are totally focused on what they do. That’s why they succeed while others all around them are failing.
If you’re struggling and/or not getting the results you want, I highly recommend taking some time to identify your life’s purpose. I’ve recently completed a 12-week course called “What’s My Purpose?”. It has helped me to discover my life’s true purpose and given me the focus around which to build my life and my business. If you’re ready for the life you want and deserve, you can get all the details here:
http://whatsmypurpose.com/johnsawyer
Critical Windows Patch Released – MS08-067 (patch 958644)
Posted by: John The Geek
Most Windows users are familiar with “Patch Tuesday”, the Microsoft monthly release of security updates for Windows and other Microsoft products. In a rare move, Microsoft has released an emergency security patch outside its normal Patch Tuesday cycle.
Security bulletin MS08-067 (patch 958644) addresses a new threat that is obviously pretty severe for Microsoft to release a patch deemed an “emergency” fix. When your Windows machine prompts you to update, assuming you’re like me and don’t let it do them automagically, the recommendation is to apply this patch immediately. This patch affects all versions of Windows.
I’m normally not in any rush to apply security patches as there have been enough cases of them causing more problems than they solve when first released. I usually wait a while until my newletter and industry sources indicate they’re safe. In this case, the word is to apply this patch now, so I made sure all my machines are patched.
Earn 1K A Day Online?
Posted by: John The Geek
If you sign up for my marketing mailing list, the first recommendation I make is to spend just under 8 bucks and grab a copy of Dennis “The Five Buck Guy” Becker’s “5 Bucks A Day, Jr.” report. I call it “the best 8 bucks you’ll ever spend online” because it contains exactly the advice every Internet marketer needs, at least those like me who spend their first year “chasing the shiny things” and never following anything through to completion.
Since purchasing my copy of “5 Bucks A Day, Jr.” I’ve gotten to know Dennis as a straight-shooting guy who is sincerely interested in helping other marketers be successful. A few months ago I joined his membership site entitled “Earn 1K A Day”.
The focus of “Earn 1K A Day” is providing resources to help you reach your first $1,000 day. The forum is outstanding and loaded with successful and future successful marketers all sharing their questions and answers with one goal in mind: to help those willing to make the effort to succeed.
The forum is just one part of “Earn 1K A Day”. Another benefit of membership is the amazing collection of reports, software, courses, and PLR/MRR products included in the $39.95 monthly membership dues. You simply read the reviews of the available products, choose the ones you want and download them. Some are for personal use only, and others can be resold. The obvious benefits are that A) you get expert opinions on what the products do so you know what you’re getting before you download them, and B) you’re not laying out additional money to get them!
I’d be willing to bet a whole lot of money that you’re spending way more than 40 bucks a month on products to try out, most of which you won’t like or use. Then, you have to go through the hassle of asking for a refund, or end up eating the cost.
In addition to the included products, there are many member-exclusive deals offered on recommended products every month. These are typically products offered by other members and are of the highest quality. Because you’re a “Earn 1K A Day” member, you’ll pay a lot less than the general public pays for them plus you’ll have direct access to the author and other users to get your questions answered.
I think by now you can tell that I’m really excited about my membership in “Earn 1K A Day”. I’ve joined a lot of sites and bought a ton of products in my marketing efforts and I’ve dropped most of them. “Earn 1K A Day” is one membership I’ll keep because it’s worth way more than what it costs me every month.
Check out “Earn 1K A Day” for 60 days. If you don’t agree with me that it’s a worthwhile investment, Dennis will happily refund your money. I’m betting he won’t have to.
Recommended!
