This server is what’s hosting my website. Now before you go ragging on me, I know I can go and order $4.95/month web hosting from HostGator. I’ve used some of the best web hosting companies in the past and still do for many other sites of mine. However, what’s the fun in that? I am doing this for the learning experience. And believe me, running your own web server out of your house practically FORCES you to learn and learn quickly.

My Compaq Proliant ML-350 web server is running Debian 6.0.5 Squeeze 32 bit. It has dual Pentium III 1.0Ghz processors and 1536 Mb of memory. I'm on a fiber optic line which delivers approximately 10Mbps up and down.

That being said, I really think my setup is comparable to a VPS slice. Most budget VPS plans give you about 256MB of memory and a very limited CPU amount. Also most really are picky about disk I/O rates. That said, really the only thing shared VPS plans have what I don’t have is the connection speed. However, based on my observations of the server performance — Internet connection speed is NOT my issue.

Apache is constantly getting bogged down. Overall the server seems to run fairly decent. However, when I get a surge of traffic, memory usage spikes really high. Same with CPU usage. That all said, I would really like to get some good solid advice on doing some tuning on this machine. I think it’s more than capable. In my opinion, it’s just a matter of getting this rig configured properly.

What questions can I answer for you in order for you to be able to provide me with the best advice and suggestions? Drop me a comment and let me know your thoughts. I also wrote more about this on Geeks. I am hoping to get some advice and suggestions from the community over there as well.

Anyway, I had a random thought and decided to research what the very first web browser was and to check if that browser was still current. Amazingly it is! And I even guessed which one it was! — Lynx.

Lynx is not only the oldest web browser but it's also the oldest web browser that is still active today!

It was a web browser developed back in 1992 by a team of students from the University of Kansas. It’s still very much alive and kicking. Ironically at one time –and maybe still– it was often used as a SEO tool to view webpages thru the eyes of web crawlers such as Googlebot.

The second oldest web browser is Netscape. It surfaced in 1994, just one year before Internet Explorer. However, Netscape is dead… so that doesn’t count! So I am guessing that many people would assume that Internet Explorer is the second oldest and currently active web browser, right? WRONG! It’s actually Opera! If Netscape was still around, they would share second place with Opera. Pretty neat, huh?

This graphical timeline of web browsers proves to be quite interesting. It was entertaining and educational to discover the roots behind some of the current web browsers used today.

If you want to learn more about the different web browsers that have come and go, and ones that are still alive and kicking but happen to all be the Internet’s best kept secret, check out the graphical timeline of web browsers on Wikipedia. It was actually quite interesting to follow the time lines on some of the dead web browsers I know about. Also, it’s really interesting to see what the roots are of some of the common web browsers. It’s totally worth your time to check out.

On that note, what is your current and favorite web browser and why? Don’t be ashamed if it’s Internet Explorer. I don’t think anyone will hurt you too bad if you admit that in the comments.

Reflecting back on how things were a few years ago and comparing how things are today, there’s a significant difference. For starters, Google is now a social and localization engine. They grew with the times — inline with Facebook and Twitter, more so Facebook. But also, they are constantly trying to implement new ways to prevent their index from being gamed.

Google has changed from being a super system powered by complicated algorithms uncontrollable by people into a new system based on social networking, user opinions, geotargeting and IP address localization. With these new changes, say goodbye to Google SEO and hello to Google+ SEO.

What is Google SEO vs Google+ SEO? A few years ago it was all about backlinks, PageRank, SEO and targeting keyword phrases. Today, Google has adjusted things so that these old ranking tactics and strategies prove to be ineffective or very hard to achieve. However, what many people do not realize is that it’s now easier to game Google than it ever was before.

Two reasons come to mind. The first — Google now allows people to have more control over what stays and what goes. A few years ago it was strictly based on chasing their ever changing algorithm. The second — Google has impacted what everyone does locally. In other words, if you want to know the business hours of Wendy’s or the best place to get your oil changed, you will likely use your iPhone or Android to query your search and then you’ll end up on Google Places.

These two elements alone depend largely on the action of people, rather than a super computer powered by a complicated algorithm. People have the ability to influence and ultimately control others. Humans are susceptible to bending the rules, deviating from personal values and ultimately getting paid off.

A computer system can not be tricked unless it is hacked. And hacking Google — aka Blackhat SEO — isn’t a very easy chore. Needless to say, and in my opinion — and experience so far, it’s much easier to achieve my “Google Goals” today rather than in past years.

Another way of looking at it is like this: Google is like a pond full of fish. However, Google tends to protect their fish from being caught. For many years they have been thinking of creative ways to prevent their fish from being brutally caught and consumed.

Finally, in part of adapting to the “social and transparent” growth of the Internet — (a.k.a “The era of the Internet where people share the most stupid and ironic things such as tweeting about taking a shit and running out of toilet paper“) — Google has seemingly decided to collect all of their fish from the old pond and transfer them all into a new pond — the localization, social networking and foolishly “I’m going to be transparent about everything I do” pond.

To me it would seem like those who have a global awareness  of this adaption — sometimes called thinking out of the box — may also have the realization that getting what you want from Google is easier than it was before. Of course, this is all in theory, and it may seem obvious to me simply because I haven’t been wrapped up in SEO for an extended period of time. However, this again is all a matter of my opinion and theory based on experience so far.

My time has been spent investing and focusing on localized SEM while at the same time witnessing this morphing take place from high ground. Social networking holds a huge impact on localized SEM coupled with geotargeting, IP address localization coupled with public commenting, remarks, reviews and statements.

Who knows, I am probably just crazy. But I do know one thing: Three years ago I was spot on with a niche and I exploited and maximized it to the fullest. The impact on what I did is still evident today. I am constantly reminded of this fact every day.

Google SEO vs Google+ SEO. Do you have any opinions on this? Or, can you at least confirm that I am crazy. I’d almost rather be crazy than continue following this particular interest. Doing so can make you crazy!

The key to giving older computers a second life is using Linux. Installing a more recent version of Windows is not the way to go. This will completely kill the system — well let’s just say the system will run so slow that you will want to kill it. Linux can be used to power older systems and deliver a wide range of functionality.

My 12 year old Compaq Deskpro EN P667 now serves as a powerful and secure Linux firewall and router. It's located in the closet of my home office along with an equally old web server, Compaq ProLiant ML350, from 03-13-2001. Both are responsible for hosting ConnZone.com and keeping the site up and running.

With Linux you can take any old computer and turn it into an email server, file server, print server, web server, workstation, or in this case — a firewall and router. You might be wondering why would anyone want to use an older computer as a firewall and router. Well, one reason that instantly comes to mind is power!

The Linksys WRT54G is one of the most popular routers around. It has been in production since 2001. And even though I am about to put this router to shame, it’s actually one of my personal favorites and one I still actively use today. I mentioned power. Well, despite the age of my old Compaq Deskpro, the specs actually exceed the specs on the Linksys Router.

This is my Linksys WRT54G V3.0 wireless router running DD-WRT. It delivers secured wireless for the second floor of my house, secured wired access for my home office, wireless access to my Xerox Phaser 8400 printer and is part of my BLUE IPCop network.

My Linksys WRT54G v3.0 has a Broadcom BCM4712 CPU chip clocked at @ 216 MHz and has 4 MB of memory. My Compaq Deskpro Workstation 470003-260 ENL/P667 has an Intel Pentium III CPU clocked @ 800 MHz with the potential of being overclocked to 1 GHz and has 256 MB of memory with the option of upgrading to 512 MB. By the way, this Intel CPU chip released on Dec. 20, 1999 for $851.

As you can clearly see, the Compaq Deskpro is much more powerful than the Linksys router. I hope that this comparison in itself alters the perception of what many people consider to be “old and outdated” when it comes to computers. Microsoft –along with the major computer manufacturers– want you to believe that your computer is old and useless so that you will purchase another one.

My Compaq Deskpro EN P667 is over 12 years old and acts as the heart of my home and home office network. It runs 24 hours a day, acts as a secured wired and wireless network, proxy server, and routes traffic to my web server.

In my opinion, there is no reason why a computer shouldn’t last 20 to 30 years. Even an IBM PS/2 Model 8590 can be used for many applications and purposes.  Also in my opinion, a CPU chip that released 12 years ago with a price of over $850 should also last 20 to 30 years. That means this system has enough life left to give me an amazing, fast and secure firewall and router for another 10 to 20 years!

My IPCop system information page. IPCop powers my Compaq Deskpro EN P677 computer. It's over 12 years old and comes with an Intel Pentium III Coppermine 800 MHz processor and 256 MB of memory.

That said, if you are interested in turning your old computer into a Linux firewall and router, the process couldn’t be any easier. Simply download and burn IPCop to disc and follow the installation instructions.

Check my back soon because I will be including some detailed installation and configuration steps as well as in depth tutorials on maintaining your IPCop Linux firewall and router.

I have used Google Chrome as my default web browser since the beta release on September 2008.  Three features I like most about the web browser is the clean and simple look, the merged address and search bar, and the multi-process architecture. At the time, Firefox couldn’t match these features, or even come close. I have used Google Chrome ever since.  After using Google Chrome since 2008, I never once tested memory usage and compared the results with Firefox.

Today I decided to download and install Firefox for the first time since 2008. Things have changed a lot. The web browser has a very clean, open and simple look –just like Google Chrome. In fact, I actually think it looks more streamlined. Unfortunately, the address bar does not also serve as a search bar. I would have enjoyed seeing that. And lastly, Firefox has not upgraded to a multi-process architecture. Aside from this, I really do like the new Firefox look and I am going to immediately start using it again as my default web browser to fully test it.

Quickly I already discovered something that I must have overlooked a few years ago: Google Chrome is a memory hog. It eats up 3.5 times more memory than Firefox. I did some testing, collected some data and captured some screen shots for this post. Here are the details.

I am running Windows XP 32 bit. It’s highly optimized and tweaked to deliver the absolute best performance, security and speed. At idle I run only 16 processes and eat up 130 MB of memory. Open your task manager to compare and contact me if your computer performs much slower than mine. I can totally help you change this.

After opening up Google Chrome and letting the dust settle down for a minute, memory usage increased to 237 MB. Google Chrome basically adds 107 MB on top of the 130 MB of memory used at idle.

After closing Google Chrome and opening Firefox, there is a slight decrease is memory usage. Firefox basically uses 33 MB less memory than Google Chrome.

Here is the part where Firefox totally kills Google Chrome in being more efficient with memory usage.

I loaded Google.com and opened tabs for Yahoo.com, ESPN.com, CNN.com and Fox.com in both web browsers and compared memory usage. The differences were quite astonishing.

Opening these five websites using Google Chrome the total memory usage jumped to 515 MB. That is 385 MB of memory used on top of the 130 MB of memory my system uses by default.

Performing the same test with Firefox the memory usage only jumped to 286 MB, adding only 136 MB of memory used on top of the 130 MB my system already uses by default.

One of the things I do is refurbish older computers for resell. Prior to running this test I always installed Google Chrome on the computers I resell. After running this test I have decided to personally use Firefox full-time as my default browser to check other features and usability and compare the results against my personal experiences using Google Chrome.

This may result with me starting to include Firefox on the computers I refurbish instead of Google Chrome. The reason for this possible change is memory usage. Increasing memory in older systems adds to my expenses.

By the looks of things, it is possible for me to optimized and resell systems with as little as 512 MB. Currently I install a minimum of 1024 MB, mainly to accommodate Google Chrome.

Screen shot captured from Ubuntu.com

What do you think? Is Ubuntu becoming too commercialized? Now featured on Ubuntu’s website: Ubuntu TV. It looks pretty cool, but that’s not what this is about. I want opinions. I want to know what you think. For me, it was Ubuntu that pulled me away from depending on –and actively using– commercialized software. And now, I am questioning if Ubuntu has become a traitor.

Linux: the concept of using open source software. The vision of being able to use a computer efficiently and effectively without having a dependency on Microsoft software. After many years of having this ‘fatal attraction’ it was Ubuntu that enabled this fantasy become a reality.

Proprietary hardware and software: Bill Gates — sneaky, manipulative, greedy little troll… and leech. Steve Jobs — amazing artist, control freak and, quite honestly… human. The money went to his brain, just like it would have for me. There’s no denying that. But that’s not the topic.

I think Apple makes great stuff. But seriously, after paying for a product and becoming the legal owner of it, I should be able to go into my garage, pull a screwdriver out of my toolbox and easily have access to the inside of my iPhone. Not the case. Fine! But I should at least be able to purchase a screwdriver that will open it. Again, not the case. These screwdrivers and the screws are proprietary –or as close as Apple can get.

Disappointment. That’s more in-line with how I feel. Ubuntu is becoming the Microsoft of Linux. In my opinion a giant leap forward illustrating this occurred when Ubuntu released 11.04 with Unity. Total garbage. I will continue to use 10.04.3LTS until I can confirm that 12.04LTS will have that garbage of a shell purged from digital existence.

Prediction. Ubuntu is a business. They manage an open source operating system and have been slowly evolving and shaping it into a portal system that is used to solicit their products and services. This is a problem that will not go away. The only solution –assuming this is bothersome– is to pack up and move.

Solution. I always have Debian available in my back pocket. However, I also have my eyes on Slackware. If I do make the choice to move over to Slackware, I will have to learn a lot of new things. Slackware is it’s own base and entity. And everything I have learned so far with Linux –commands, administration, configurations, etc.– is based on Debian. Learning how to use Slackware will be challenging. The best analogy I can think to explain this would be like trying to incorporate U.S. Customary units after using the Metric system all your life. Or in my case, the complete opposite.

In my opinion, everything i am doing is worth my time and effort.  It’s all about my goal. I do not want to depend on proprietary software. I am not a resource of profitability for commercial organizations. I am me. And I am the only one who owns me. Computers are not going away. Software systems the bring out the functionality in computers are also not going away. So the way I see it — I have two choices with how I accept computer technology as a major part of my life.

One — I let it control me. I willingly and voluntarily allow commercialized products to create limits, set boundaries and dictate what is and what isn’t possible.

Remember, I’m the guy who wants to get a screwdriver out of my garage just to open up my iPhone to see what it looks like on the inside — It’s harmless. I am curious… This is  how I learn. I am not a threat to Apple. I am not going to steal their design and create a gPhone — g stands for Garry btw.)

Two — I put myself in control. I choose whether or not I want to limit myself or set boundaries. I dictate what is or what is not possible.

You can not live by option two using Microsoft products. Nor seemingly can you do the same using Ubuntu. They cashed out. And soon, I will be checking out. Ubuntu has officially become too commercialized for me to continue to use.

It goes against my values. It goes against my goals. In many ways Ubuntu has morphed itself into the  oppositional force I stand against. And while undoubtably, Ubuntu is not Microsoft. –Ubuntu maintains an open source linux operating system. Microsoft sells a proprietary operating system– Ubuntu does have many strong similarities to Microsoft.

Unfortunately these are similarities that I do not like. Ironically my choice to soon abandon Ubuntu was ultimately caused by the creation of their product they called Unity. It was the final push that tipped me over the edge. With over 700 various linux distributions to choose from, there is no reason for me to continue using a commercialized by-product of one of the most amazing free and open source operating systems ever created –Debian. My choice with considering Slackwareis completely based on my desire to try something different during a pivot-able point in my journey of learning the most as I can about linux.

VPS web hosting gives users more control over the server compared to shared web hosting. With most VPS web hosting accounts users are granted root access. VPS web hosting isn’t a simple user friendly type of web hosting. It’s much different than cPanel shared web hosting. With VPS hosting you’re literally given a blank web server to do what you want with it.

In my opinion, the best, most affordable and highly dependable VPS web hosting is offered by Linode.com. If you’re interesting in setting up a VPS web server, I strongly recommend checking them out. Not only is their hosting services amazing, but their documentation is absolutely astonishing. In fact, that’s how I found Linode. About a year ago, I was fooling around with configuring and setting up my own web server out of my home office and ran across their tutorial on how to setup a LAMP server on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Shared cPanel web hosting has an average cost of about $9.95 / month. Linode starts at $19.95 / month. For just ten dollars more a month, you can upgrade from shared web hosting to virtually managing your own remotely hosted web server. I strongly recommending checking it out. You won’t be sorry. Also if you need help setting up your Linode server drop me a line and I’ll find time to assist you.

Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition:

Ubuntu 11.04 With Unity:

Unity is terrible! Finding things are extremely difficult. I don’t have time to research and learn why Ubuntu switched to Unity. My guess is that is was a move towards making Linux even more user friendly. The problem with Unity though is that they dumbed it down too much. To me it seems like even the most computer challenged people will have trouble using Ubuntu.

I poked around the net for a few minutes and didn’t find any answers yet, but I am curious if Ubuntu will be using Gnome by default again in the 12.04 release. If anyone know the answer to this, please drop a comment below. Well, it’s obvious what I think about Unity. There’s no hiding that. However, I really want to know what you think about it. Also, what are your thoughts about Unity in the upcoming 12.04 LTS?

- Which IOS 5 Features Work with iPhone 3GS

Anyway, I really like the new features and specs with the new iPhone 4S. I’m really excited about Siri, iCloud, and the upgraded camera. But now I’m wondering if it’s worth upgrading. This fall I can finally upgrade and I am not sure if I am going to try an Android. I have used an iPhone for three years and have been very happy.

I do want to change and use something different. But, I just don’t know if Android is there yet. What do you think? It is worth upgrading to iPhone 4S? Are many people considering replacing their iPhone with an Android? Spec comparisons are pretty astonishing. Take a look here:

• http://osxdaily.com/2011/10/04/comparing-the-iphone-4s/

The problem I have is that my bookmarks aren’t accessible on my iPhone. I tend to email myself links to be added next time I can add them to my bookmarks from a computer. If Google Chrome isn’t going to be available any time soon for iPhone, then perhaps a Safari to Chrome bookmark sync option can be developed instead? Anyone else bothered with this issue?

• http://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/03/sprint-commits-to-buying-20-billion-worth-of-iphones-to-get-redesigned-iphone-5-exclusively/
• http://mashable.com/2011/10/03/sprint-20-billion-iphone/

Hi,

Since releasing the new AdSense interface to all publishers, we’ve been continuously working to improve and support the new version. With that in mind, we’re writing to let you know that we’ll soon be retiring the old AdSense interface and asking all publishers to use the new interface.

If you haven’t already, we recommend switching to the new interface as soon as possible to familiarize yourself with the updated layout and new features. To do so, sign in and click the ‘Try the new AdSense interface’ link in the upper corner of your account. We understand that this adjustment may take some time, so you’ll still be able to toggle back and forth between the old and new interfaces during the coming weeks. You’ll see another notification in your account as we approach the date when this option will no longer be available.

As a reminder, the new AdSense interface offers additional insights in the form of detailed graphs and reports, new ad blocking controls, and increased efficiency through a visual redesign. We’ve now added many of your top-requested features — including the ability to create scheduled reports and view channels on the Home tab. We encourage you to watch our video tutorials at http://www.youtube.com/user/InsideAdSense#g/c/B067D355E59D96E0, which will guide you through completing common tasks in your account. You can also find detailed information in our Help Center for the new interface (http://www.google.com/adsense/support/as/).

With this transition, we’ll be able to focus on building new and improved features into the new interface more quickly. Thank you for your support, and we appreciate your patience and cooperation.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your AdSense product or account.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

It’s recommended that you update now so you can familiarize yourself with the new interface prior to it going live. And I agree. If you do not familiarize yourself with the new interface it could cost you delays with your level of profitability as you spend time getting comfortable navigating within the new system.

Affiliate marketing is much like owning your own brick and mortar business but with much less the costs. Think about it. What is affiliate marketing? I’m guessing I could search and find a dozen different definitions. The better question to ask yourself is what does affiliate marketing mean to me? In other words, I think affiliate marketing is what you make of it and that anything you want it to be. Personally, I do not much with affiliate marketing, but if I did, this is what affiliate marketing would do for me, and how it would work for me.

Long before the Internet, people created brick and mortar businesses. They either created, developed, and sold their own products and services, or sold products and services created by someone else, or combinations of both. Let’s look at products for example. Let’s assume that you own a vitamins and supplements, kind of like GNC. You have inventory, and products stocked on shelves. You did not manufacture the products yourself. Instead you purchased them at wholesale cost from your vendor.

Your job or goal, as the business owner, is to sell your product. You may run the store by yourself, or eventually hire staff. Regardless though, when a customer walks into your store, they are immediately greeted. Either yourself or hired staff will say hello and ask how can I help you. The customer communicates a desire, need, or want. And your job is to match up one or more of your products with their request and close the sale.

To run your business you need to have money to pay for your wholesale products, money for rent and utilities, and money to cover a slew of other expenses. With affiliate marketing, things are much different. In the world of Internet-based affiliate marketing, you can easily and safely take on the role of a virtual brick and mortar business owner and do without the incurred expenses and risks. The only difference really is that instead of a physical store you have a virtual one. That’s what I call a website.

So for those who want to be successful with affiliate marketing, really all you need to do is come into this having the mentality that you are launching a brick and mortar business. You need to know what kind of business you want to launch, you need to know what kind of products and services you want to sell, you need to be able to stock your virtual shelves at wholesale, and you need to be able to offer your products and services to customers at competitive prices.

The great thing about launching a virtual brick and mortar business is that your products and services do not have a wholesale price. Affiliate products and services are free for you to put on your shelves and sell to customers. In many cases the amount of profit earned per sale far exceeds the amount of profit physical brick and mortar businesses earn. Think about it. I have seen affiliate programs that offer 75% of the sale or even higher.

What about the costs involved with building and maintaining your virtual store? In most cases if you owned a physical location you would actually be renting a business with a monthly costs in the thousands. Secondly, you have to pay for utilities, taxes, and an array of other miscellaneous expenses. With a virtual brick and mortar business, your only expense is the cost of building it, which that can be eliminated if you do it yourself, and the monthly fee that covers the rent, which is web hosting.

So now, you have reduced your initial start-up costs expenses down from a few thousand dollars to, maybe at most, a few hundred dollars, if that. Quite honestly, if you designed your own site, your only monthly expense would be web hosting. That’s around $10 dollars per month. Instantly your virtual brick and mortar business can be opened to the public and inside are shelves filled with products and services you acquired for free that can be sold to customers entering your store.

How cool is that? That’s what affiliate marketing means to me, what it can do for me, and what I would make of it. In order to be successful with affiliate marketing, my advice to you would be to act as if you wanted to build and own a brick and mortar business. Do not simply build a website and slap up a gamut of banners and advertisements. That’s stupid. That’s like allowing customers to walk into your store and ignoring them. Don’t get me wrong, good products can and do sell themselves. However, ultimate success of a business is fueled by customer service.

Pay attention to who visits your website. Try to connect with each and every visitor. If your site is or partly is a blog, respond publicly and privately to the people who comment on your posts. If they leave a URL behind linking back to their site, visit it and check it out. You can even go to extremes by pulling your server logs and tracking down visitors by their IP address. Do whatever you can to connect with the people that visit your website.

In other words, have the mentality that when someone enters your website it’s as if someone is entering your store. They open the door, the little bell rings that’s connected to the string, and you get up off your stool from watching TV behind the counter, and you meet your customer with a smile, and ask them how you can help them. They tell you about their desires, needs and wants. You match up one or more of your products and services with their request. You close the sale and give them an experience they will never forget. They join your mailing list so that they can come back and do it again but next time bringing in a bus load of their friends. That’s what I call brick and mortar affiliate marketing.

James,

In response to your most recent question:

I am going to write an article on the keyword “do it yourself dog wash” and submit it to Ezine Article Directory. Does this mean the results that came from the allintitle search is who I will be competing with. The ex. you gave when you made it to the first pg. of Google and it only had 5 competitor.That’s what I mean when I said how do I set it up. I hope what I am saying make sense, if not sorry for wasting your time.
Thanks
The Juke

I don’t submit my content into article directories, so I don’t have any advice for that. With your other question, the results that come from the allintitle search are not your primary concern. Mainstream users do not include advanced search operators in their queries. Your primary competition are with the sites listed on the regular Google results page for do it yourself dog wash. Compare the two queries and you will see that only two of the six top results appear on both queries. Focusing on the four additional listings on the allintitle search instead of focusing on the four additional listings on the regular search will be a waste of time.

Top Six Results For: Do It Yourself Dog Wash

Top Six ALLINTITLE Results For: Do It Yourself Dog Wash

The next two elements to consider are traffic and money. With researching keywords it’s important to determine if you can expose enough traffic to your content and if the amount of income generated from conversions will be worth the time and effort.

So let’s look at the keyword phrase you want to target: Do It Yourself Dog Wash.

Google Keyword Tool indicates that this phrase receives 5400 monthly searches and has low competition:

The report also show that there are multiple supportive phrases with similar results, thus giving you many alternative keywords to write about in a cross or secondary keyword targeting campaign:

Things are looking great!!! Right? Well… here’s the bad news, and the part that would cause me to dump the lead and start over with a new keyword trail.

It appears that Adword Advertisers have a very low average daily expense for clicks on these keyword phrases. Referencing the AdSense revenue share gives publishers a fairly accurate representation of how much money can be earned per click. Therefore, I think it’s safe to assume that a publisher would not receive much compensation for click conversions on these keyword phrases, and thus I do not think it would be worth the time and effort to push forward on the campaign.

This all of course is speculative research, and my opinion is no better than anyone else’s. But in the world of business, controlling your expenses and excessive usage of materials and resources is part of being successful. And in the world of Internet and search engine marketing, strategies and keyword research: programming, coding, designing and keyword strokes are just a few examples controllable expenses of materials, resources and time.

In other words, when I push forward on a campaign, I am not very happy when my efforts result in anything less than achieving top rank and top earning. I hope all this helps you in your journey.

There is no gallery post format on the WordPress iPhone app. That kinda sucks.

If I had known that would have happened six months ago when I signed the lease I would have just continued to work out of my home where I would have been surrounded by my OWN running and screaming kids. Seriously, why pay for something I could have free at home?

Anyway, the new office location is very quiet. The entire office is only shared with only two other people who also enjoy peace and quiet. I’m really excited with moving PLUS it’s actually only half the cost of my existing office. Enjoy the pics, I am going to have a lot of fun here and really enjoy my time spent working. I’m very excited.

Have you ever wanted to completely master using Google Webmaster Tools? This is a very useful program for bloggers and publishers who have an interest in the overall SEO health of their sites. If you want to know everything about Webmaster Tools perhaps starting with this guide may help get things going in the right direction for you.

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Google Webmaster Tools Guide

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Installing HP printer drivers on Linux is actually very easy to do. Of all the printer manufactures, HP has the best support site for Linux users. If you have a HP printer that you want to install on your Linux system, be sure to check out their site. Installing your HP printer on your Linux system is practically automatic.

Well now it’s available and I am excited to download, install, and try it. I haven’t used Mandriva Linux since it was originally called Mandrake Linux. And that was quite a few years ago.

Back then, during that time, Mandrake was one of my favorites, largely due to it being one of the only Linux distributions that I was able to successfully install. Some of the new features available on Hydrogen compared to previous versions a include hybrid live/installation DVD images, a revised system installer, a new graphics theme, RPM 5, a series of new desktop utilities from Rosa Labs, and KDE as the only officially supported desktop environment. I am pretty excited to try it out.

What many people don’t know is that Mandriva Linux was launched in 1998 under the name of Mandrake Linux, with the goal of making Linux easier to use for everyone. At that time, Linux was already well-known as a powerful and stable operating system that demanded strong technical knowledge and extensive use of the command line; MandrakeSoft saw this as an opportunity to integrate the best graphical desktop environments and contribute its own graphical configuration utilities to quickly become famous for setting the standard in Linux ease of use.

In February 2005, MandrakeSoft merged with Brazil’s Conectiva to form Mandriva S.A., with headquarters in Paris, France. The company’s flagship product, Mandriva Linux, offers all the power and stability of Linux to both individuals and professional users in an easy-to-use and pleasant environment.

Mandriva is actually a pretty old distribution, and one that I am very interested in using again. I will keep you posted with progress and my experiences using Mandriva. Whatever comments, feedback or thoughts you would like to share are welcome by using the comment form below.

The program is simple to install, simply open terminal and type: sudo apt-get install dosbox and then you’re off to playing your old DOS games from ten, twenty years ago. DOSbox Emulator works on many other Linux distributions as well; however, the installation process will be slightly different.

If you want to learn more about DOSbox Emulator I recommend checking out this post by taufanlubis and reading up on the DOSbox Emulator page on Wikipedia. Taufanlubis includes some actual screen shots of the installation process and pictures of the DOSbox program live in action. You should also visit the DOSBox home page, and also check out Ubuntu’s support page as well.

Regular Coke Classic leaves a nasty aftertaste, and Diet Coke has absolutely no taste to it and leaves you having to use the bathroom five times each hour. Regular Pepsi, despite so much sugar, tastes much better than regular Coke, and Diet Pepsi totally has more of a taste compared to Diet Coke.

But, you’d think that Coke Zero would fall in second place just like the other two, but it doesn’t. It actually tastes great! I like Coke Zero much better than Pepsi Max. And currently it’s my favorite. Let’s put it to a vote, what do you like better: Coke Zero or Pepsi Max?

Have you ever wanted to download and install the FIRST and ORIGINAL version of Linux? I am not sure if I found it or not, but I can tell you that this is one of the early versions available. It was called SLS version 1.03, by Softlanding Linux Systems founded by Peter MacDonald in May of 1992. SLS was very popular back in 1992 but was very glitchy.

The buggy SLS lead to the creation of the SECOND oldest Linux distribution called Slackware and THIRD oldest Linux distribution called Debian. The first version of Slackware was released on July 16, 1993 and Debian's first version was announced on August 16, 1993.

If have been wanting to know how to download and install the first and original version of linux, you can do that by following the link below. Simply follow the directions found in all the help files and cross your fingers finding about twenty floppy disks.

Index of /pub/historic-linux/distributions/sls/1.03 Read the post on Google+.

Today I was working on a laptop computer that the customer said was overheating. View the pictures below and you’ll find out why! I have never seen so much cat hair packed into a laptop CPU fan.

Tip of the day: If you want your laptop to last a super long time, simply blow out the vents and fans. This will keep your computer running at a normal operating temperatur

Laptops and Lap Cats
Just a little bit of dust and cat hair shouldn’t hurt a laptop right? Read this update on Facebook.

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What happens when Google+ cuts you off?

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Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board

CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2011—Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.

“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple's Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”

Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.

As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. Read the post on Google+.

Having some extra free time I have been able to try out other Linux distros. PCLinuxOS is one of them. My first impressions of the operating system compared to the others two I already reviewed (Puppy Linux and Linux Mint) is that it’s like the Windows XP of Linux operating systems. It has a very basic and bland appearance. It reminds me of a bare-bones tank. It’s strong, stable, secure, and without thrills.

Compared to the other two operating systems I tried, PCLinuxOS in my opinion, seems to perform the slowest. Also, it isn’t apparent that the operating system comes installed with a lot of features or programs. The installation was flawless, however, and I didn’t experience any issues with incompatible hardware, or lack of driver support. I installed PCLinuxOS on my Dell XPS M1530 and everything worked right out of the box.

While I am sure that this is a very stable operating system, all in all I am just not as impressed with it compared to the other two I tried. Also, it goes without saying that I like Debian and even the more commercialized Ubuntu much better. The way I feel about PCLinuxOS is that my expectations of Linux need to exceed what I can have with Windows XP.

I am not a Microsoft fan, but my preferred Microsoft operating system is Windows XP. Vista is a joke, and Windows 7 doesn’t impress me one bit. If I am going to go alternative and use Linux, I would like to see the operating system exceed what I could get from using Microsoft. Shame on me for being so critical of a super amazing program that is free. But, that’s how I feel.

I am not eligible for the upgrade to an iPhone 4 until later this fall. But heck if I can skip that and just go straight for the iPhone 5 and get one free on Facebook, I am signing up! NOT!!!!

I think if I click the link my computer would get infected with a virus, all my passwords would be stolen, and suddenly I would start getting emails from my friends and family asking about the very strange emails I have been sending them.

But maybe the offer is REAL!!! Want to click the link to find out??? lol

Wall Photos Read this update on Facebook.

Want to know how to make $1407 per day and have it deposited automatically into your bank account? Me too… should I click the link and find out? I am SURE there’s not a catch. I am SURE that this isn’t a trick or scam.

What I’m wondering is why Gmail automatically marked this SPAM as important. And second (not shown) how my email addresses got imported and validated in GetResponse. When I click the link to manage my subscription I get this message, “Unable to change your details.You are no longer subscribed to this campaign.” Something is fishy… I guess I will never find out how to make $1407 per day.

Wall Photos Read this update on Facebook.

My initial impression of Linux Mint is that it resembles a very elegant and high class version of Ubuntu. I would referred Linux Mint as being the Cadillac version of Ubuntu. By appearance it’s crisp, glossy, and very shiny with a very glassy looking green theme. Just like the name, it reminds me of spearmint. It’s refreshing and ice cool. I can almost smell the aromatic and minty oils oozing from the screen. 

The subtle difference with Linux Mint compared to Ubuntu really are complimentary enhancements. I absolutely love the three column menu located on the bottom left corner. The formatting of the sections are very practical, accessible, and user friendly. Out of the box, I installed Linux Mint 11 without any complications on my Dell XPS M1530. The WLAN card worked perfectly without manual configuration. An alert to download the NVIDIA video drivers popped up within a minute of loading the desktop. Sound works and the trackpad works.

Just like with Debian and Ubuntu I can easily installed additional software applications and programs using the Package Manager. Quickly I was able to download the Chromium web browser and get my bookmarks synced up. I was able to download GPARTED, and a few other apps that I like to use. With the chrome-like appearance of Linux Mint, it would have been great if Chromium was already installed.

All in all, this is a very elegant, classy, and distinguished operating system. It’s very stable, very functional, and has all of the Ubuntu structure and backbone that you have come to expect and depend on with Ubuntu. Only difference is that everything is enhanced and restructured in a way that I feel very comfortable with instantly. As I mentioned before, if you have been enjoy Ubuntu but would like a change, Linux Mint 11 is definitely the way to go.

If you have used Linux Mint before, what’s your opinion about the operating system? Do you like it better than Debian or Ubuntu? Did you run into any snags? What about issues with hardware compatibility or community support? What about other Linux distributions? How do they compare? If Linux Mint, Debian, or Ubuntu isn’t your favorite, then what is? I am very interested in your feedback and opinions. Use the comment form below to share your thoughts.

So then I ventured in to Debian. And let me tell you, Debian is amazing. Currently that is my main Linux flavor that I use full time. I just updated to 6.0 Squeeze and it’s a huge improvement over 5.0 Lenny. That said, I have the desire to try even more Linux distributions. I have had my eyes on Puppy Linux for a couple of months, and finally just installed Puppy Linux Lucid 5.2.8. Wow! This operating system is really cool. My first impressions so far is that it’s stable, super easy and super QUICK to install, and it’s very aesthetically pleasing. 

(This screen shot was taken this post was written and published using Puppy Linux LIVE CD)

I installed Puppy Linux on my Dell XPS M1530 without any problems. Everything worked instantly, including my WLAN card. Within minutes I installed Chrome, setup syncing, and was off to my blog to write a post about it. Pupply Linux is packed full of features, games, tools, and utilities. It’s much different than Ubuntu or Debian, but different doesn’t mean that it’s not as good. It’s just looks, feels, and operates differently.

If I choose to use Puppy Linux full time, it will take some time to learn all the in’s and out’s. But that’s okay! Learning new things is great! What I don’t like is being faced with challenges that I can not overcome or can not find solutions to. I haven’t experienced that yet with Puppy Linux. Nor do I think I will. My only challenge is getting familiar with the operating system so that I can utilize it to it’s fullest potential. That all said, if you are looking to experiment with different Linux distributions, I recommend giving Puppy Linux a test drive. You can run it completely from a LIVE CD, which means you can try it without making any permanent changes or modifications to your current operating system.

If you have tried Puppy Linux before, what were your experiences with the operating system? Did you run into any trouble? Or were you simply amazed with the operating system? How does Puppy Linux compare to Ubuntu or Debian? If you haven’t tried Puppy Linux yet, what are some of your reservations or concerns? I would love to get a lot of feedback on Puppy Linux and any thoughts you have about the operating system are welcome by using the comment form below.

The answer is yes! Free data recovery software does exist. However, it’s really hard find the right program. Most of the popular free data recovery programs really are not free. They are free to download and free to use. However, once the scan is complete, the only way a customer can actually retrieve their data is after paying for a software license. Granted, the cost for a software license is much less than paying someone to perform data recovery; however, it’s not really as advertised. Free!

There is a TRUE free data recovery software program that I use. It’s a little tricky to learn how to use it, but once you become proficient with it, using the program to recover data is fairly easy. The free data recovery software that I use is a program call TestDisk. Using this program I am able to fix partition tables, recover deleted partitions, recover FAT32 boot sectors from its backup, rebuild FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 boot sectors, fix FAT tables, rebuild NTFS boot sectors, recover NTFS boot sectors from its backup, fix MFT using MFT mirrors, undelete files from FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2 filesystems, and copy files from deleted FAT, exFAT, NTFS and ext2/ext3/ext4 partitions.

All in all, TestDisk is an amazing and free data recovery software application that truly works. Like I said though, it can be tricky to learn, and making a mistake can actually make recovering the data impossible even for a professional. So if you are interested in learning how to use TestDisk, I recommend experimenting with some spare hard drives you might have laying around the house or office. Also, I recommend copying and printing the manual so that you can absorb as much of the instructions as possible. The manual is actually well written. It progresses you through various scenarios as opposed to explaining a complete list of commands. The scenarios are very common and occur the most.

Once again, if you are looking for free data recovery software, don’t fall for all the other programs tricks. Most lie about the software being free. Most make you pay in order to retrieve your recovered data. TestDisk is open source and truly free. Your only challenge is learning how to use it. Which isn’t hard as long as your patient and willing to do so.

Sitelinks are cool. They put additional links to random sections of your website or blog directly below your main listing in Google. Over the last two months Google has been experimenting with Sitelinks format and recently released an update. +Rob Young wrote a post that explains more about the new Google Sitelinks, what you can expect, and how to get the best from it.

Google Unleashes Expanded Sitelinks: How You Should Cope

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Facebook is fun and a great place to keep up to date with friends, family, and topics that interest you. It's also a great place to share information with everyone you have connected with. However, there are some risks with what you post to your Facebook. InternetSafety.com posted the top five dangerous types posts you can publish on Facebook. Take a look and see if you are doing any of them and then ask yourself if it's worth sharing.

InternetSafety.com Blog » Top Five Dangerous Facebook Postings (That Seem Innocent)

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If you are obsessed with checking the weather and also obsessed with using Google you are in luck! Now you can have the best of both worlds. You can now check the weather using Google Maps! ReadWriteWeb posted a great article that will give you more information about the new Google Maps Layer and how to effectively use it.

Google Maps Gets A Weather Layer

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I remember the first time I tried to install linux. It was back in 1999 and I tried to install RedHat. I was majority unsuccessful. I remember being really fed up with Windows 98 and looking for something different. I purchased (yes paid money for) the discs on eBay. Back then, I wasn't very talented with a computer. And back then, it seemed you almost had to be a computer genius to install Linux.

I still wanted it though… since 1999 I have been intrigued by Linux. Running Linux on a computer gives you a special feeling of being free, different, and above everyone else who chooses to use Microsoft. As the years progressed installation started to become easier. But that lead to a new problem…

How in the hell do you use Linux once it's installed? I can't install anything, I have to mount this, I have to boot that, etc… Coming from using M$ for many years, Linux was foreign and VERY frustrating. I heard such GREAT things about it. Everyone enjoyed it. And I wanted it. But, for many years, I could never use it.

Fast forward to about three years ago and there lies my connection with Linux destiny – Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is the reason why I am finally able to use Linux. Ubuntu gave me the stepping stones to cross over from the Microsoft world to the Linux world. Apple Mac OS X also assisted with crossing the bridge.

Today, I know many Linux commands and use them often. Today, I less than half of my time is spent using GUI (Gnome). It's truly amazing how power Linux is and what you can do with it. But I must tell you that learning how to use linux is a complete bitch. It was an utter pain in my ass.

After 13 years, I am STILL learning Linux and I am STILL considered a Noob. But that's okay! I wouldn't have it any other way. It's simply amazing to see how much Linux has grown and how wonderful it has affected our technological lifestyles. Linux powers everything you see around you and more of the things that you don't.

Linux has totally changed the world and it really has been exciting to be apart of that. What was your first experience with Linux like? How do you feel about Linux today? And where do you see the future with Linux in the years to come?

After 20 Years, Linux Looks Better Than Ever | PCWorld Business Center

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The MagSafe plug on my MacBook Pro is one of my favorite features of the computer. As a computer repair business owner, I know all too well how often people trip over their laptop cords and break the power jack. It happens all the time.

The same can be said for iPhones, iPads, and iPods. Only difference with these, is if you trip over the cord, these smaller devices are REALLY launched into the air compared to a heavier laptop.

I am excited to know that there is the possibility of iPhones being developed with a MagSafe plug on the horizon.

Apple snags MagSafe patent for iOS devices (update: it's a movable magnetic coupling)

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If you are a blogger who wants to make money blogging then you will want to print out the MindMap that Darren Rowse created that illustrates the different ways a blogger can make money online with their blog, and post it on your wall, cubical, etc. next to your computer. Post it on your fridge, on the bathroom mirror, where ever you can be reminded of the possibilities.

Darren Rowse originally shared this post:

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We have already seen this, if you take a moment you will release where. Facebook! As you scroll down through your news feed, the page keeps loading and loading and loading. Almost seeming like it never ends. Google is experimenting with doing a similar thing with the search results page. Only difference is that with Google the seamless scrolling isn't automatic. The user will have to click "show more results" in order to have the additional results load below the original ones.

I think that this will be a great enhancement to Google's search results. Initially, I think it will allow users more of an opportunity to review results that are normally on the second or third page. Consequently, this will work out well for publishers as well. The current format, it's not too often that users venture to the second or third page. With this update, I think that more people will view more than the first ten results before making a choice on which listing to click.

What do you think? If this update goes live, what impact will it have on users as well as publishers? Do you think that you would prefer the current system? If so, then why? I have yet to see this in action myself. If anyone has seen this let me know what your experience was.

AJ Kohn originally shared this post:

Google Tests Infinite Scrolling for Search Results Pages

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I have been hearing a lot about Dropbox. At first I thought it was the Dropbox that's already on Mac OS X, but it's not. It's a file synchronizing service that is compatible with most all computers that enables users to quickly and easily share or exchange or sync files and data between multiple devices.

It's pretty cool. I just downloaded it and will be checking it out. You should do the same. The app is free for download and the basic service is also free. It caps at 2GB of data though so you might be interested in signing up for the 50GB plan. It's only $9.95.

62 things you can do with Dropbox | Web | Macworld

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I am hearing a lot of great things about the new Yahoo! Mail. Recently I upgraded but that was the extent of my usage. Most all of my email addresses are powered by Google. I have my Gmail account that I’ve had for I guess six years or longer now, and then all of my company email addresses are powered by Google Apps for Domains.

Has anyone tried the new Yahoo! Mail yet? If

Accessing (Popping) Non-Yahoo! Mail: Adding a Non-Yahoo! Mail Account | Yahoo! Mail Help
share.yhoo.it Read this update on Facebook.

I had to temporarily remove 67 friends from my page so that I could make the name change. This change has been completed. If you were one of the people I had to temporarily remove, please reconnect with me by clicking the LIKE button. Read this update on Facebook.

The article is all about offering advice on how to run your blog if you’re sick. Although, these are excellent tips even when you’re alive and kicking. I haven’t visited Darren’s blog in awhile, and perhaps I should. He offers excellent advice, tips, and tricks with being or becoming a professional blogger.

A few of the tips mentioned in the article include asking your readers questions, running a poll, and updating and reposting an older post. These are all excellent ideas and there are three not mentioned here so be sure to read his full post.

Darren Rowse originally shared this post: Read this post on Google+.

As a blogger enjoy writing a lot. But I am pretty picky with making sure that my content stays MY CONTENT. Meaning when I publish content on places like Twitter, Facebook, and now Google+ I want to make sure that my domain name takes the credit for having the original content.

Another reason why I enjoy writing and why I am particular about making sure my domain name is credited for having the original copy of my content is because content has value. Content converts into cash. While I enjoy writing, I sure do enjoy earning money doing it.

When I publish something on my blog, eventually the content gets indexed in many search engines. When that happens, eventually that page starts to get traffic based on various combinations of keywords and phrases in the content I WROTE! Depending on the situation, I may decide to monetize the page with contextual based advertising.

If I publish content on places like Facebook and Twitter, or even contribute my thoughts using Google Sidewiki, I want to make sure that what I write will get ported to my website, which is a place that continually get’s crawled by search engines looking for new content to index. Read this post on Google+.

Here’s how to create a Google+ RSS feed. It’s very easy to do, special thanks to Russell Beattie, a programmer who created PlusFeed. If you want to create your Google+ RSS feed or create one from someone else’s profile to subscribe to, Simply add a Google+ user number to the end of Russell’s site’s URL to get an Atom feed of public posts. 

I took an added step and burned mine into FeedBurner just in case one day Google decides to make Google+ RSS capable all I will have to do is update the RSS URL in my FeedBurner account which would cause ZERO issues with my subscribers. If for some reason Russell stopped supporting this app I would have to notify my subscribers and give them a new URL (big pain in the butt). So if you decide to make your Google+ RSS feed, I do suggest burning it into FeedBurner.

Now that you burned your Google+ RSS feed into FeedBurner the last thing that you can do is add it into your WordPress sidebar. That way all your blog readers can check out your updates from your blog instead of having to visit YET ANOTHER social network to see what you are doing or saying.

All you have to do is go to your WordPress Dashboard and click on Widgets. From there just drag a RSS widget into an available sidebar and then enter your FeedBurner URL and then give it a name.

Enjoy! and don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE TO MY GOOGLE+ RSS FEED!!!!

Learning how to use Google AdSense successfully didn’t come easy for me. It took a couple of years to become proficient. When I was getting started, I didn’t have many resources available to help me learn about the program. If you are just getting started, you are already in a better position that I was years ago. And that’s because of all the resources available.

“AdSense webinars are free online seminars conducted and moderated by Google AdSense optimization specialists. This series of webinars is designed to help you learn what you can do to maximize your AdSense revenue potential.” -AdSense Webinars

One free resources comes direct from Google. As quoted above, they offer free online Google AdSense training videos. If you are new to AdSense in need of tips, or even an AdSense expert who wants to review your skills, these online webinars will be sure to help.

You can easily learn how to repair bad sectors on a Seagate hard drive. The process is fairly simple. Seagate offers the software for free. It’s called Seatools For DOS. It’s a small ISO program that you burn to disc and load up on a computer that you suspect the hard drive has bad sectors. Seatools will then analyse your hard drive and look for and attempt to repair any bad sectors it finds. 

Bad sectors on a hard drive can’t really be repaired. Instead most hard drives have spare physical sectors available that can be used to reallocate the bad ones. This is how Seatools repairs bad sectors. Once the hard drive runs out of spare sectors then it is considered to be time to replace your hard drive. Seatools will let know how many spares you have.

Seatools is only able to repair bad sectors on Seagate and Maxtor hard drives; however, don’t get discouraged if you have a different brand hard drive that’s giving you trouble. Most all hard drive manufacturers provide their own disk repair program. Hitachi’s Drive Fitness Test is a great example.

It’s called, “Hide All by…” The above screen shot is Kroger and it’s not even in English! How is this useful to me?

When you see a post on your News Feed that absolutely DOES NOT interest you and if it’s posted by someone or some page author that never posts anything that EVER interest you, you can click the little (X) on the top right corner and then click the Hide all by NAME link. Of course you can simply UNFRIEND or UNLIKE but sometimes that causes drama.

I wanted to match up a memory module on a customer’s computer and purchased one on eBay. I spent about an hour reviewing five different auctions and finally decided on the one to purchase. And it figures, I chose the wrong one because the module I received was bad.

The seller’s description said, “RAM was tested and is 100% working” it should have read, “RAM was tested and is 100% broken”. I ran Memtest86 on the module and instantly errors were scrolling down the screen.

The seller offered to transfer $2.60 to cover the cost of shipping back the defective module. Once he receives it he will issue a full refund. That’s better than what could happen. But it still sucks because mine and my customer’s time has been wasted. And now after one week passing I have order a replacement memory module from someone else.

The app has been available for awhile but recently got updated. It works much better than before. It’s almost as functional as accessing Google+ from a computer. You can download it from the App Store. Of course there is no charge. Here’s a screen shot of what it looks like.

According to this FCC Press Release, it appears that we will have this option coming soon. In the near future, and if you should have the need to do so, you will be able to text your emergency to 911. Can you help me think of some other emergency situations where texting to 911 would be more useful than calling 911?

If this bothers you too, here’s a very simple, quick, and effective way to unsubscribe from a mailing list if your email is powered by Gmail. Simply open the email, click the little arrow down button next to reply. This opens a drop down menu. Select filter messages like this. This opens the “Create a Filter” window. Click next. Select mark as read and select delete. Check apply filter to *** conversations below and then click create filter. Next time you receive an email from that person it will automatically be marked as read and immediately deleted. You will no longer see the email in your inbox.

And yet he continues to subscribe. That’s weird. lol

Usually when I install Windows 3.11 I’m bored and have nothing better to do with my insomniac hours. I go thru the entire process of updating, tweaking, and patching things together to see if I can get the OS to go online.

Do you do this too from time to time? Seriously, I’m not the only one right?

People came to this country to find opportunities. These opportunities weren’t to work at Walmart. People came here because they had ideas that they wanted to execute and make happen. These were people who were willing to risk their lives sailing across the ocean just to have a chance to position themselves in a way to see if they can make their dreams come true.

Here we are today, with the same situation. The only differences is that you don’t have to risk your life traveling across the ocean and that you have a lot of technology to aid you in your success. There’s no excuse for unemployment. If you are an able bodied and able minded individual, female or male, black, Hispanic, or white, you can earn for yourself and for your loved ones.

The problem you have is that you don’t have a dream or an idea to execute. Instead you’d rather complain about having your hours cut at Walmart or complain that your job is to push the shopping carts back inside the store. I normally don’t use profanity in my posts, but if this describes you and you’re not happy with your life then that’s a bunch of bullshit.

What are you good at doing? What kind of skills do you have? If you’re good at something than do something because doing nothing while being capable of doing something and complaining about your life is weak. Do you know how to use a lawn mower? Build a lawn care business. Do you know how to use a paintbrush? Startup a painting business. Do you know how to build websites? Well, do that!

The point is this: I understand that the economy is bad. I understand that the unemployment rate is high. I understand that places like Walmart are cutting your hours. That’s because they overtook our country and made into a big pile of shit. Importing was our downfall. But here’s the thing. Stop depending on the government. Stop depending on the economy that Walmart fucked up.

What we have here in front of us is the same land that people lost their lives trying to sail over here in a sailboat. Back then, there was no government. There was no economy. There was a bunch of aggressive, and highly motivated individuals that wanted to come here to execute their ideas. They are the ones that created economy.

They are the ones that eventually created government. And today, in my opinion, all that energy and power has died and ran it’s cycle. And that’s okay! Because right now, you can do exactly what was done 200 years ago. The only difference is that you don’t have to starve to death on a boat or get killed by a native American. You don’t have to get sick and die from the flu. You can get your breasts or testicles chopped off to save your ass from cancer. All you have to do is execute an idea from the comfort of your home office that’s powered by a computer that exceeds that processing power of the computers used to power the Apollo missions coupled with your high speed Internet access.

Unemployment is a joke. And there is no excuse for it. And it is your fault. You’re the one bitching and depending on some higher element to make things better for you. Go babysit a kid. Go wash a car. Create and provide a service. That’s no different than what was done 200 years ago. Only difference is that you got a free pass to live on the land while your ancestors had to die trying to get here. If you can’t find a job, then create one.

What about health care? Screw it, they didn’t have health care 200 years ago. Either your going to get sick and die broke, or your idea will make you enough money to pay your way through your sicknesses. Do something. Do anything. But don’t sit back and complain about things that people didn’t have here 200 years ago. They made it work and so can you.

All this was was written and published using an iPhone. A mobile telephone. If we live in an era where we can write and and create an entire web page using a telephone, then we can build on our dreams and create our own generation’s and era’s economy. Seriously, stop bitching and start surviving. And let your survival instincts recreate America.

One of the things I like most about Chrome though is the syncing feature available. With syncing I can use multiple computers and keep track of my browsing history, search history, and my bookmarks. FireFox and other browsers may offer this too but I am not sure. What is your favorite web browser and why?

If you’re looking to start your own business, or improve your existing one, I totally recommend reading up on as much information as you can. A few weeks ago I was digging around the TN.GOV website and found some amazing resources. One of the FREE online courses I was taking provided a reference to a book called The Art of Start. It was written by Guy Kawasaki. I purchased it, I am half way through reading it. I LOVE it. Guy has an amazing way with words and sharing his knowledge.

If you’re looking for a good book to read that will give you advice on starting up or improving your current business, snag a copy of this book. I got a copy on eBay used for $10. Also, if your business is brick and mortar, dig through your official county and State website, there’s likely to be a lot of useful info there.

Despite my chosen ignorance of having political awareness I do know that there’s a major issue going on with the debt of our country. The president was on tv two days ago telling me all about it. Blaming congress for the problems. Blaming both political parties. He worded things in a way that made it seem like he’s on my side and that he has nothing to do with these issues and that he is powerless to do anything about it.

And then today, I get an email from the president asking me to view his graphic. Instantly it reminded me of how my daughter asks me to see her coloring. She is proud of her drawing and wants to show it off. Same with the president. View the graphic. It’s an illustration about vehicles having 54.5 MPG by 2025. In all honesty, when I was a kid I thought by now life would be like the Jetsons. Instead I live in an era where my president is proud of his PhotoShop skills and wants me to see his graphic. I guess I’m supposed to print it and put it on the fridge next to the latest coloring my daughter drew for me.

I guess my problem is that two days I was told that my country and my life was in danger and today I receive some stupid email about some stupid dream and vision the president had about fuel efficient vehicles. Here’s a screen shot.

It sucks too when I am trying to sleep and all the snot transfers to one nostril. It’s great because I can breath out of one but eventually when I roll over I will go thru a period where both nostrils are clogged until all the snot transfers to the other.

I really hate it when I catch a cold but at least I don’t have the flu. I really can’t stand having a fever, feeling nauseous, and puking. So I guess like could be much worse.

What would you do if there was no such thing as Google? I remember many many years ago I would submit my sites into DMOZ and Yahoo Directory. It would literally take weeks to a couple months to get my listings included. I even become a DMOZ editor just to give me a little flex power with controlling my competition. Of course I will admit that today because DMOZ doesn’t really matter much.

Assuming there was no such thing as Google but everything else remained the same (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) I would probably start using Bing as my main search engine. I have been impressed with their service. Birds eye view specifically. That feature is awesome. I would do more social network marketing. I don’t do much of that currently because I don’t have much of a need for it and I’m not very social. Lastly, I would use my own email hosted on a private server. Either that, or AOL Mail. AOL actually has a very decent email service.

Assuming Google didn’t exist and everything as you know it today remained the same, what would you do? And what would your life be like without Google?