Haloscan, that blog commenting software that has been around for years, is closing the service. This is from their website.
Haloscan, the legacy comment system that JS-Kit acquired last year, is physically starting to fail (the software and hardware). In order to minimize the disruption for users and avoid a hard stop, we have worked hard to provide two ways to transition off the system.
This transition will happen in batches of users over the course of a couple of months. The first batch of users will start getting a notice of the upgrade right away on their Haloscan admin dashboard.
Once presented with the upgrade message, Haloscan users will have 2 weeks to make a decision. You will have the following two options.
1. Upgrade to Echo for a 30 day free Trial and then $12/year – all your comment data will be transitioned over automatically. Read below for important information about Echo.
2. Export your Haloscan comment data and turn off their service – Haloscan comment importers are on the way from various vendors.
If you do not choose a specific path within the 2 weeks notice, you will be upgraded to the Echo trial automatically.
Haloscan was very popular with Blogger, since Blogger’s commenting functions are woefully inadequate (even after a few small tweaks by Google). I tried Haloscan a few years ago, and wasn’t too impressed. Of course, the Blogger commenting functions are terrible. But rather than continue to work with Blogger, I just went to Wordpress and my own self-hosted blogs. It’s been a great experience, with Wordpress.
Regarding Haloscan, some bloggers are afraid they may lose all their comments across hundreds of posts. I *think* Haloscan is offering a free comment migration back to your original blog host, through various third-party vendors. Not sure, though, because it seems some things are still up in the air. Read the FAQs here.
This is an amazing little application! It’s PDFmyURL. I heard about it from Kim Komando. It’s a little application that converts a web page into a PDF file. I love it! I frequently travel to areas with no Internet connection, yet I do still need to work from web pages for my jobs. PDFmyURL allows me to save the webpages into PDF files while I am at home; then, I can move these files onto my netbook, and away I go! It’s extremely convenient.
PDFmyURL also has a little bookmarklet that you can drag onto your Firefox bookmark toolbar. So, when you visit a web page, you can click the little bookmarklet and the page will be immediately converted into a PDF. This is a great app!
You can see my bookmarklet (circled in red) in the screenshot, below. I converted my blog, TheOlderGeek.com, into a PDF file. The quality of the conversion is excellent.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Coldwell Banker. All opinions are 100% mine.
Wow! I wish they’d had these tax credits available when I purchased my home. It’s a great time to be a home buyer– with the housing market in a slump, property prices are very low, and people and banks are eager to sell.
Coldwell Banker, that outstanding real estate company, has some information on the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits available to first-time and new home buyers. In a nutshell, here are the details:
If you are a first-time home buyer, or have not owned in the last three years, are eligible for an tax credit of up to $8,000.
If you own a home and have lived in the home as your principle residence for five out of the eight years you have owned your home, you can receive up to $6,500 in tax credit when purchasing a home.
There income limits and deadlines, so if you qualify, do not delay.
This video is good and has more information about the tax credits.
This is a great incentive to get the home market moving again. I love the Coldwell Banker website, too– I routine search for properties to keep tabs on property values in the country. You can search the website for home and property listings, too.
Be sure to definitely check this out to see if you qualify!
Did you realize that you can control what Internet sites (including advertisements) are displayed on your computer? Within Windows, there’s a file called “Hosts” that essentially controls what websites your computer can connect to. You can modify the Hosts file to block websites on your computer. It’s a great way to block ads, malicious sites, and as a filter for unwanted websites.
There is a terrific website, MVPS.com, that has loads more about the Hosts file. They also offer a pre-made Hosts file that you can use to block websites (mostly ad sites).
It’s so easy nowadays to find a home, thanks to the Net. Wow! I loved poring over homes for sale… dream dream! LeasePurchaseSearch.com has made it all very easy, too. It’s a website dedicated to helping prospective homeowners find the perfect home under a lease purchase contract (rent to buy). Thanks to the unstable housing market, property values have plummeted, which makes it a perfect time to get a home. Not everyone has all the money upfront for such a large purchase, and not everyone can get a big bank loan, either. A lease purchase option is a terrific way to work toward owning your own home.
The website makes searching very easy: you can search by city, state, zip code, home price, bedrooms, and bathrooms. The search results are clear cut– many have photos– and they offer details on the property, with contact information. Nice! No longer do you have to call dozens of realtors or scour the newspapers for availability of, for example, Lease Purchase Philadelphia opportunities. It’s a great way to search for a beautiful home.
Forget carrying all those silly credit cards. Just use your smartphone to pay for things? Isn’t that great? …And don’t worry that you are using a device whose lack of security capabilities makes Windows 95 look like Fort Knox…
Your cool new smartphone, your car, and your entertainment devices have neat GPS features…. making it easy for you to find your way around. This also makes it really easy for anyone else to find you– anytime, anywhere. But hey– at least you don’t have to look at maps anymore.
Twitter, Facebook, and the like are great for telling friends and colleagues what you’re doing… “Hey everybody! We’re all in Europe for the next two weeks!” The problem is, potential criminals also know…
Great points, and it sure makes you think twice about how our electronic toys make us so vulnerable.
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Haloscan Closing Its Doors
Feb 6
Posted by Mrs. Mecomber in Blogger, blogs, conversion programs | No Comments
Ouch.
Haloscan, that blog commenting software that has been around for years, is closing the service. This is from their website.
Haloscan was very popular with Blogger, since Blogger’s commenting functions are woefully inadequate (even after a few small tweaks by Google). I tried Haloscan a few years ago, and wasn’t too impressed. Of course, the Blogger commenting functions are terrible. But rather than continue to work with Blogger, I just went to Wordpress and my own self-hosted blogs. It’s been a great experience, with Wordpress.
Regarding Haloscan, some bloggers are afraid they may lose all their comments across hundreds of posts. I *think* Haloscan is offering a free comment migration back to your original blog host, through various third-party vendors. Not sure, though, because it seems some things are still up in the air. Read the FAQs here.
Haloscan is closing February 20.
Tags: Blogger, blogs, comments, Haloscan