Other Stuff

Open source software is becoming widely accepted as industry standard. Open source is software that is authored by anyone who has something valuable to offer. There is an open source application for almost every computing need. Open source software is secure, well tested and often free to the public. Large corporations are buying open source applications for large amounts of money. In many cases, open source software is giving the software giants such as Microsoft some stiff competition.

The days of paying hundreds, or even thousands of dollars for an operating system are long gone. No longer is the choice just Microsoft or Macintosh, now there is open source software. System Administrators and even end users are no longer at the mercy of the software giants who dictate what software must be used and how it is used.  read more »

Running several sites, and being a client service director for a blogging company, whenever I mention RSS to anyone, I get a blank stare and an uncomfortable silence. Then I have to go into great detail to explain it to them. Then I still get the blank stare and the uncomfortable silence. I wish more people would use RSS, just think how much better of a world it would be. RSS saves me so much time, and I feel that we've only begun to see the benefits. To do my part, and help relieve my frustration, I'm going to begin a series of posts to try and educate people on the benefits of RSS...stay tuned!

It's a familiar scenario: A product you purchased recently has developed a problem, so you call the company's toll-free number and are connected to a "customer service associate" in India or the Philippines. You describe your problem but have a hard time understanding what the company representative is saying. You try several more times to communicate why you are calling but cannot get information that you can comprehend. You ask to be transferred to someone in the U.S. and are then put on hold for what seems like an eternity. You hang up in frustration and vow never again to purchase anything from this company. (Weinstein, 2007)

Outsourcing needs to be stopped and America needs tighter restriction on corporations outsourcing jobs. Outsourcing jobs to foreign countries will lower the value of the work and cause American workers to lose jobs. Outsourcing is hurting American workers and the American economy, while foreign economies become bigger and stronger.  read more »

The internet is something that most people do not use to their advantage. Some people know enough about computers to check email, write Word documents, surf the web and maybe play some games. But there are still many people who do not know how to use the internet properly. Typically, the older generations find computers to be something they do not need, nor do they want to learn. While children today are being brought up surrounded by technology like cellular phones, video games, computers, and iPods. In this day and age, most children can do more with a computer than the older generations.

If more people took the time to learn about the internet, they would see that it can truly make life easier and more enjoyable. For instance, the computer can be used to pay all monthly bills and do all banking online. It is possible to have all of bills automatically deducted from a checking account. No more writing checks, licking stamps, or going to the post office. Everything just gets paid automatically and on time.  read more »

Darren over at ProBlogger is running a contest over the next week or so. He is claiming that he is giving away over $54,000 worth of prizes. Wow, Killer!

"Over the next week here at ProBlogger I’m planning to give away over $54,000 (USD) of cash and prizes in the ProBlogger Birthday Bash! You heard me right - over $50,000 in cash and prizes have been donated by generous sponsors to this event and every cent of them will be going to ProBlogger readers in the coming 7 days. The prizes will be given out over a number of days through a variety of different competitions."

Check out his post for the details.

The Daniel Kovach Scholarship Foundation is giving away $10,000 to a blogger this year.

Full scholarship details are available here:
http://www.collegescholarships.org/our-scholarships/blogging.htm

This 2nd Annual Blogging Scholarship offers a large prize of $10,000, which will be awarded at the Blog World and New Media Expo in Las Vegas, Nov. 8-9.

I am proud to announce that Go Blog Yourself now has a blog job board. You can view up to the minute blogging related jobs on our job board. This information is taken from several sources, ProBlogger, Indeed, Freelance Switch, to name just a few. I hope this can be a great resource to find Blogging and Telecommute jobs.

If you know of any other resources we need to add to our job board, please let us know. Also, if you would like to post jobs to our job board, please contact us. The fee is $20 for two months.

You must register to get the full functionality of the site.

The first thing to do is to register if you haven't already.

If you have registered then just need to login. You can have the website remember you so you don't have to login each time. The Login link is located at the top of the page.

Once you login, please fill out your profile.

Personal Information - Share as much information as you feel comfortable. Help us get to know you.

Content  read more »

Content
Fresh, original, regularly-updated, interesting content is what the search engines are looking for. Don't use duplicate content. Don't copy and paste from other sites. Write everything yourself. Offer something valuable to your users. Write interesting, fun to read articles.   read more »

Social Networking seems to be the "It Thing" these days. Everyone is on Myspace, everyone uses YouTube and there are countless others. Matter of fact, it's becoming very challenging to keep track of them all.

I've converted all of my WordPress sites to full fledge social networking sites using Drupal. My thought is, even if nobody ever signs up and uses them, they still function like my old WordPress blogs...but better. They are more search engine friendly and they have a ton more features and are more stable.

There seems to be a heated discussion over on Problogger. You can read about it here. What does everyone here think of the idea of bloggers exchanging their favorites with other Technorati users. Seems like people will always find loopholes in products and services, then exploit them. I personally think this falls under the black arts.

What do you think?

How come most of the people on the web are guys? How come you never meet any women programmers or developers? I'm sure they're out there, but it seems like the web is dominated by...the man.

Sure there are women bloggers, and women that have sites, etc. hell we even have a woman running for president. But you don't hear about an 18 year old girl creating Napster or WordPress. I'm sure this sounds completely sexist, it wasn't meant to be. I just think we need to start hearing more from the ladies. 

Come on Girls take us into Web 3.0. 

Pros

No More Driving - No longer do you have to join the rat race to get to work by 8:00. I live in Minnesota, so in the winter the morning commute can be very ugly. I no longer have to suffer thru this. I also am saving a ton of money on gas as well as use my vehicle only on weekends.

Eat Healthier - Now that I get to eat all of my meals at home, I save a ton of money on fast food. Not to mention, now I can eat more healthier meals as I have full access to my kitchen.

Workout at Lunch - I usually go use the treadmill during my lunch.  read more »

Cons

Distractions - Lots of distractions such as TV, pets, household duties, phone calls, etc.

Dedicated - You have to remain dedicated and stay on task without a supervisor. This can sometimes be difficult.

Appearance - You may think it's great not shaving or wearing shorts all the time. Sometimes it feels like I'm slobby all of the time.

No socializing - It get's a little lonely. Sometimes I miss the potlucks or the lunch's with fellow employees.  read more »

Today, most of us use email and the internet to connect with others and maintain effective business relationships. While a large amount of searchable data on people already exists on the internet, this information is not always well organized, easily locatable, user friendly, or under individual control in terms of what’s displayed and how. It remains difficult to get your hands on the necessary business contact information you need to grow your business, or to help you get more leads and close more deals.  read more »