The Conversion to Linux hosting is On

Until recently all my websites have been hosted by a company that was using the Microsoft Window platform. At the time I chose a host that gave me the flexibility of creating multiple websites in a shared server environment. That was almost 5 years ago and the Microsoft IIS Server software was paramount and most dominant with the majority of hosted services.

I now have the need to use more applications that are built specifically for both the Linux and Mysql environment. I am currently converting all of my websites to Linux hosted environments. I was fortunate to choose a host that kept up with the times and was prepared enough to help me make this move rather seamlessly.

When I first looked to create a website I was looking for more of a personal website hosting company. Even though I was creating these websites for small businesses, I was treating them as my own property. What I should have been looking for is a business website hosting company. One that would give me the tools needed to keep my websites flourishing with activity.

Right now I am fairly happy with my current host but if I had to choose one that would give me the best of both worlds in a personal and a business website hosting company I would choose Burton Hosting. Burton hosting has all the makings of a complete host. By that I mean a hosting company that can give you all you need to be successfully and most of all reliably maintained.

Ipod vs Zune

I have been in the market for a portable mp3 player for a long time now. The Apple ipod nano has been the front runner for some time now but has come into question now that the new second generation Zunes from Microsoft have entered the market. Both come in 4gig and 8gig models. The one thing that keeps me debating whether or not to get the Zune over the ipod is the Wifi features. The Zune has Wifi sync and Wifi sharing. The ipod nano does not.

One other feature that makes me want the Zune over the ipod is that fact that I can put my Zune on any computer I want. I would be limited on putting my ipod on just one computer that is subscribed to itunes. This means I could download music and wirelessly sinc it to my Zune from any computer. I could only sinc to my ipod from my home computer that was registered with itunes.

Then I saw and ad for a refurbished ipod nano on couponchief.com that caught my eye and I could not resist the temptation to at least check it out. This ipod nano is only a 2gig unit but for only $79.00 is seam like a steal for a first time ipod buyer like me. If I can convince couponchief.com to give me the free shipping as well I think they may have a deal.

If I get the ipod for that price I can wait another year or so and see what the Zune does for its third generation of mp3 players. Maybe by then Microsoft would have caught up to the awesome attraction and innovation Apple has over it at this time.

Little Known Application Suite Zoho.com makes a Big Dent

If you are a small business and you are thinking of purchasing software to run your business like the most well known business suite of software made by Microsoft Office, then you may want to read on and take a better look at what is out there.

Microsoft Office for Windows which consist of a suite of software programs that include Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher and Power Point. These programs are the core of software used by many small to large businesses. The most well know of the suite and most widely used is Microsoft Word which is a word processing program.

Zoho.com is a web based service that offers their own suite of programs for businesses. The one great thing about these online programs is that most of them are absolutely FREE. I am currently using 5 of the 12 main programs Zoho Writer (Word Processor), Zoho Sheet (Spreadsheet Program) Zoho Planner (Online Organizer) Zoho Project (Project Manager) and last but not least Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) .

My favorite program right now is Zoho Planner. Zoho Planner is a way for me to keep track of my business ideas and personal goals with an automated to do list. It also lets me stay organized by storing my documents and images while also sending me email reminders on what I need to get done for the day. The one thing that sets these online programs apart from their off line competition is the ability to share and collaborate with others in your business.

At a press of a button I am sharing my to do list with my wife, my spreadsheet with my coworker and my latest invoice with my accountant. All one needs is an email address to be put on a list for sharing secure access to any of my Zoho suite of programs.

The only draw back to this great way of sharing thoughts, ideas and documents is the fact that you have to be on the Internet to use the programs. If for some reason you don't have a continuous connection to the Internet you can't do business. Here is where the off line Microsoft products have their advantage.

So as a business owner I would need to way the circumstances and needs of my business. If being able to access your work off line is important to you, and you want to sacrifice speed, mobility and collaboration, then the more traditional Microsoft products may be your way to go.

Zoho.com has me hooked on business in real time. I totally enjoy being online almost all the time and reaping the benefits updated information that I can get right now. I also enjoy not having to be tied to a desk to do my most important work. I can do my work whenever and where ever I please in the world that has an Internet connection.

Zoho.com suite of online programs will give your business an affordable, fast and mobile way to conduct its operations.

The Next Cool Thing in Blogging

I just came across this cool way to blog by using the new mini whiteboard technology a company called SketchCast.com has created. Check out the demo below and give me your feedback on what you have seen. I will be adding my own sketchcast very soon but in the mean time visit Sketchcast.com and create your own.

Tech.Ed in Sydney 2008

I just missed Tech.ED this past August but I am looking forward to next year's location, Sydney Australia. I have never been to Australia and have always wanted to go "down under" as they say over there. Tech.ED is what I would be going their for on business but I am so looking forward to going early and spending a couple days in some of the smaller cities of Australia. I have heard and read so much about cities like Perth and Adelaide. I don't want to just take in the bigger without visiting the smaller. Starting with the western side of the land and Perth.

I remember the Crocodile Dundee movies and seeing some of the beautiful countryside of the western part of Australia were it was mostly filmed. Perth comes to mind because I have read its one of the best places were you can see some of the most fantastic beaches and at the same time take in a safari. Technology has made it so easy that with a click of my mouse I can get an answer to my questions about any of the Perth Hotels via email or instant messaging.

Adelaide would then be my next stop where I would visit one of the cities another one of my favorite Sci-fi movies, The Matrix was filmed. Who can forget the leap Morpheus made from the top of one sky scraper to the next, only to see Neo not have enough confidence to make the same jump. My leap of faith is to use the internet and email to help me find a suitable hotel in Adelaide that would put me right in the middle of all the action. I've been told that most of the Adelaide Hotels are very accommodating and Adelaide is more know for its gardens and parks within and around the city. I also hope to see a professional cricket match in the famous Adelaide Oval.

Finally Sydney, the site where most of the finale of Mission Impossible II was filmed finishes my trek across Australia but begins my adventure of its most well known city. I hope to be in Sydney at least 2-3 days before Tech.ED starts so I can take in and enjoy all the Sydney accommodation Australia has to offer.

Yes, I am very excited about Tech.Ed as an IT Professional who looks to further his career with all the great workshops and certification specials. I just want to take advantage of such a once in a life time treat of getting both my Geek/Nerd and my vacation on. So I will see you in 2008 at the Sydney Convention Center, September 2-5th.

New Kid on the Block of Email Marketing Services

The space of web based email marketing services has been dominated by a very small group of companies. The most popular of them all has been one I have been affiliated with for almost 6 years. Constant Contact by Roving Software is by far one of the most easy to use and cost effective email marketing services on the market. I have seen many try and fail at coming close to what Constant Contact has to offer. One such company iContact.com formally known as Intellicontact.com has probably come the closest when it comes to features and pricing plans.

Today I was informed of another company that looks like it has a shot at playing with the big boys. Viper Logic Corp., a company out of Palms Springs, California has developed their own email marketing services called "Vipermailer". Vipermailer.com has a very simple website but from the looks of things, a very powerful presentation of features and mailer templates.

As of this writing I have only seen emailed examples of their templates and read about their dynamic features and pricing. I will do a follow up blog when I have been given the chance to try their service free, for 30 days.

Speaking of pricing, I really do think Vipermailer.com has an advantage with their service plans where cost is based on the number of subscribers they have to send email marketing message too and not how many individual emails are sent per campaign. Both Constantcontact.com and iContact.com share this type of pricing strategy.

So for I am very impressed with Vipermailer.com and I look forward to sending out my first test campaign to my subscriber base and see what they think of this new email marketing kid on the block.

Yourchildsname.com

I read an article in today's Yahoo.com News about a couple who had a birth certificate in one had and a domain name in the other for their new born child.

I had at one time thought about doing the same for my two children many years before they were born as well but never did. I at one time did own my own name but I let it go and never renewed it. As a result of this article on domain names for children my wife looked up our family's chances of domaindum and we went 3-4. My son's name was the only one not available. I did get a domain name for my daughter's dedication but I am still debating on acquiring her given name sake.

I have always seen domain names as a great way to promote one's business or brand. I have even written about how one should use their email address that includes their domain name "Use Email Address to Promote and Market Your Business" but I never really thought that domain names were meant for children. I do understand how sports figures or movie stars should try and acquire their children's name for the sake of their future. I mean where would the world be if Paris Hilton could not get her own domain name.

So for now I will just consider getting both my name and my wife's name registered in the near future and let my kids make the choice for themselves if they want their own domain name.
But if you are so inclined to step out on faith and purchase a slice of the internet for your child please try http://www.proemailaddress.com/

Imac 24-inch wins out over Vista

A client of mine had me help them fist find a new all in one computer for them to replace their old outdated windows pc that was running XP Home Addition. Of course I took to the web and went to Bestbuy.com to see what was the latest on all in one computers. The first computer I found was the Hewlett-Packard TouchSmart All-In-One Desktop w/ AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-52. This machine looked perfect but had one flaw. It had everything my client wanted but would only ship with the new Microsoft operating system Vista on it. Unfortunately this was the case for many other computers I found including the Sony VAIO All-In-One TV Desktop w/Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core Processor T2080 PC.

Vista was the only obstacle with my client. They didn't trust it and heard to many horror stories about it. Not wanting to force them into anything they didn't want to purchase I suggested taking a look at an Imac. I sent them a link to the fastest iMac ever, the 24-inch iMac on the Best Buy website. The liked the information they read on it so much they decided to go and see it in person at the local Best Buy store.

Well turns out that they fell in love with the Imac and decided to purchase it from Bestbuy.com and get a huge savings on their computer accessories by going to the couponchief.com and using a 15% off coupon.

My clients are now the proud owners of an awesome Imac 24-inch all in one computer and I have Bestbuy.com and the Couponchief.com to thank for it.

Online Poker and the IPhone

The World Series of Poker gave away a prize of 12,000,000 dollars last year to a single winner. Many of the players at the final table were online poker players. Poker has taken the nation by storm. When ESPN, a sports reporting station is putting full coverage on such a high stakes game you know it has gotten quite popular. With the popularity you now have so many choices when it comes to playing poker online that it sometimes becomes very confusing.

Well there is a website that can help you navigate through some of the mystery around what online gaming site to choose from while catering to a small but inventive group of people. http://www.macpokeronline.com/ is a website that teaches you about the exciting game of online poker. Yes, it is geared toward mostly mac users but it has articles and news stories about the online gaming industry as a whole that keeps you coming back for more information.

I for one don't own a Mac and really have not been too in a rush to get one until Steve Jobs unveiled the IPhone. I was so impressed with his demonstration of this nifty new cell phone I crossed over from my PC world and took another gander at an IBook to use for my blogging and creating videos for You tube .

What I ultimately found out is that online poker players are really big mac and pc users. But what really surprised me to hear is that mac poker players get more girls/women then the pc poker players. Well, I don't know if that is altogether true statement but I do know that if I had a Mac and wanted to stay current on all the happening in the Mac world when it comes to online gaming macpokeronline.com is the site for me.

The release date of my IPhone is not until June 15, 2007 but you can see and become more aware of all your online poker needs right now at macpokeronline.com

Putting Pictures to Music

I have been uploading pictures to the Internet ever since I got my first digital camera almost 10 years ago. I started creating my own websites and putting my pictures in them using a photo editing program, html editor and a separate ftp program to transfer the files to the Internet. I would then have to use another program to create a slide show effect and yet another to add and mix the music. Lets not even look at the time and effort it took to put all these things together. I was looking at a good 4-5 hours of work just to get one group of pictures in decent shape to show my family and friends.

Forward the years to 2003 and lower the cost of a digital camera to the tune of about $150.00, down from the $800.00 price tag I bought my first digital camera for and you get an explosion of people taking digital pictures and wanting to share them with friends and loved ones. Now there are services like flickr photo, snapfish and shutterfly. These websites will store your photos online and let you present them in a slide show effect for free. Their money is made by convincing you that not only do you want to share those digital pictures of your beautiful baby girl but also purchase a set of picture prints to send to aunt Jane and uncle Leroy.


Well, its now 2007 and even big search engine websites like Google and Yahoo have gotten into the act of photo storage and display. We now have so many services to choose from and digital cameras now under the $100.00 mark, how is one to choose?

Music is my answer. I found a website called http://www.fliptrack.com/ that will not only allow you to store and display your many photos for free but they will magically mesh these photos with some of your most favorite songs. You get to tell a personal story with your pictures by mixing them in a music video style that is so easy to do. I was able to put together a flicktrack of my beautiful baby girl in less than 15 minutes. I do suggest you download fliptracks great picture and music mixing software to take advantage of all the many spacial effects if has to offer. Gone are the days of traditional picture taking. So lets all make sweet music with our digital pictures and give http://www.fliptracks.com/ the lead to our inner soul for sound.

Online Publishing has It's Advantages

Publishing on the Internet has had its ups and downs over the years. One of the many challenges is first finding people who want to read your words and sentences on a regular basis. Then if your online publication is lucky enough to have people coming to visit you really want them to come back again and again. But most of all your main objective is to make money off those frequest visitors. Hence you need to have advertising.

One of the fastest ways to make money from the content you publish is through contextual advertising. Services like Google Adsense and Yahoo Publisher give even the little guy an ability to make some extra money on a daily basis. I have been using both of these services on almost all of my websites and believe me when I say how good it feels to get paid over and over again for publishing just once.

One way of advertising that seems to be making a comeback is "Banner Advertising". Banner advertising was made famous back in early days of the Internet. Its effectiveness wore off after a few years as other forms of Internet advertising became more popular and cost effective.

Using a service like http://www.dclickads.com/ gives you the best of both worlds. Not only can you display banner ads that they will pay you for but they also have text link ads, and premium embedded link ads. So if you have not yet become an online publisher because you don't think you can make any money, try Google Adsense, Yahoo Publisher and www.dclickads.com

Traditional Shopping is Dead to Me

As a young boy living in the New York City, my mother took my siblings and me around to all the major stores to go shopping. I can remember walking through these huge buildings, floor by floor looking for the best deal my mother could find. With four children and on a nurses salary, my mom would go from one end of a city block to another just to take advantage of some competing sales one store had over the other. Oh and please don't let my mom have had a coupon she would cut out from the Sunday newspaper. That coupon was like a paper lighting rod that just had to get used before it was to expire at any cost.

Of course all I wanted to do was not be there--not be at any of those stores, because I knew at some point in time I would be left holding the bag. This is not a figure of speech. I was literally left holding my mother's bags of either clothes or groceries and she would be off somewhere in the store trying to pick up one last item. The most embarrassing part of it all was when she would forget an item just before we got to the cash register and I was left in the line in her place. She would tell me to stay in the line until she got back and of course she never got back in time. So there I was in front of the checkout cashier with no money and no mother in sight to rescue me from all the angry onlookers behind me waiting their turn.

Fast forward nearly 30 years and the intervention of the Internet and E-commerce. I am married now with two kids. I can buy just about anything over the Internet and never have to leave my home. If I want to shop at Target for my kids I can first go to http://www.couponchief.com/ and pick up a 10% off electronic coupon that will give me a discount when I finish my purchase at checkout. Not only can I shop online and get what I want without standing in any line but I can get a great discount on almost anything I purchase.

My wife and I will be celebrating our wedding anniversary this June. What a perfect opportunity to purchase a wonderful piece of jewelry from Blue Nile and get Free Shipping on all my orders. So, you can plainly see why "Traditional Shopping is Dead to Me" because with the advent of the Internet, Online Shopping and now discount coupons from The Coupon Chief there is absolutely no reason, and I mean N-O reason for me to be left holding the bag in a department store line again in my lifetime.

Are you a High Risk Business that needs to process credit cards?

The only thing you have to be to considered a "High Risk" when it comes to doing business in this economy is anything against the norm. If you don't have a store front aka sticks and bricks location then you are considered a "High Risk". If you do have a store front but it is in a really bad town, city or zip code, you are considered "High Risk" and most of all if you have questionable or to put it bluntly bad credit you are definitely considered "High Risk".

So what is a business to do when they can't make the grade of a traditional bank or "Low Risk Only" credit card processor? Well, fortunately you do have a few options. One way I have gotten around not even having a merchant account is use services like PayPal.com and Google Checkout. Both services don't care if you are "High Risk" or not, all they want to is a verification of who you are and what you are selling. You can be up and running in minutes with any one of these services. PayPal.com happens to be my favorite and I have been a verified merchant of theirs for the past seven years.

Now their is also and answer for all you that want to step out there and go the extra mile and get a traditional merchant account. There places to go even if you are considered a "High Risk" business. Advantage Processors.com and Easycharge.net two places you can at least start. So don't stagnate your business by not accepting credit cards. Give one of these services a try and take your business 2 The Next Level.