More Blogger Templates!

I just discovered some more terrific Blogger templates, all free for the taking. They are absolutely eye-popping! Blogger Buster has the list of them– a long list of them (beware, the page is very graphic heavy). I am very impressed with the styles. No more clunky Blogger templates! And these templates look easy to customize, too. Blogger blogs are really the way to go if you are new to blogging, want easy access (Google owns Blogger, and the sites are almost never down), and cheap hosting (free!) even if you buy your own domain. Blogger really can’t be beat. I think they should follow others’ examples and start offering some cool promotional items.

Enjoy the new templates, I know I will!

Filezilla FTP Software

I’m always trying out new software, and I recently checked out Filezilla FTP software. It’s got a very clean interface, so that’s a plus.

I found Filezilla to be a little clunkier than my other FTP programs. For one, the login seems to have too many steps. And the software signed me out after a period of time. I tried to change the settings, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. Changing the settings is not user-friendly.

I was amazed by Filezilla’s speed. Uploads went very smoothly. Navigating around my FTP files was a little difficult; like I said, there seem to be added steps here and there. But overall, Filezilla is a great FTP program, and it’s one of the few remaining that are free. It is very competent to do the job.

Shared Web Hosting from Concentric

I am keeping my eyes peeled for shared web hosting businesses. I’m looking for better service (if you read my blogs, you know what problems I have with my current web host), and I hope to compile a list of hosting companies, as a handy resource.

I have just discovered a company, Concentric at Concentric.com, that has some great rates! For $6.95 a month (which is extremely affordable and comparable), you can get 2 GB disk storage, 100 MB traffic allocation, email, DNS manager, and more. I’m still surfing the site a little, checking out all the features, but thought you might want a heads up, too. They have a great Products & Solution page, and also offer web business services. Check it out, looks great!

Too Much Email!

This is just a small rant. :S I’m realizing that I have subscribed to far too many emails. I have over 300 waiting in my inbox, email that has been sitting unanswered for about a week. I love all the email subscriptions, and a lot of them are helpful for this blog.. but I just can’t read them all anymore! How about you? Are you overwhelmed by email??

Laptop WebCams - Not a Good Idea

As much as I like technology, I never liked the idea of automatically-inserted webcams in laptops. Kind of like DVD players in vehicles– it sounds really neat and is probably very convenient, but it creates a whole new bag of problems what go with it. Like this one:

Peeping Geek Arrested for Using Laptop Webcams to Spy on Women

A Gainesville [Florida] man has been arrested for allegedly installing software on a woman’s computer, then using the software to remotely control the camera on her computer to take videos of the woman and her friends…

The alleged victim is a Hialeah woman who told police she had a man perform some maintenance on her computer in early July. The woman told police she discovered the program on Monday along with about 20,000 photos of herself and her friends that had been made from the videos taken with the camera.

The man arrested in the case was identified as Craig Matthew Feigin, 23, who was charged with modifying computer data and disrupting or denying computer system services. He was arrested at 2 p.m. Thursday and was being held at the Alachua County Jail Friday night on a $20,000 bond.

Makes me want to puke. There’s a mugshot of the slimeball, too. What a CREEP! He needs a serious slathering of some acne cream, not to mention, several years in the penitentiary. YUK. :-p

InLine Comments for Blogger

Blogger, the most popular free blogging platform, has really been making leaps and bounds lately. I’m glad to see the newer developments with the software (better functionality, more user-friendly, etc). (I’m still waiting for some better templates… I guess I shouldn’t hold my breath about that, it’s been– what? 10 years with the same templates? Blogger dudes: lay off the excessive promotional products and get some new templates, eh?)

The main beef with Blogger, still, is their laborious and outdated comment form system. I just hate the popup comment boxes, and what’s worse is the “page” comment form that takes you away from the blog post. Oftentimes, I completely forget what I am going to say in my comment because the comments are so distanced from the post. WordPress has a much better comment system.

With that said, there’s a little tweak I’ve recently learned about, to give your Blogger blog an “inline comment form.” That is, at the bottom of your post is a little box where you can type in your comment text. Add name email, and URL, and you’re done! It’s a fine tutorial done by Blogger Buster, and you can see it here. I highly recommend it. Inline comment forms are far, far superior to Bloggers dumb old popup windows. Try it out and see if you suddenly have more comments to your posts!

Great Educational Freeware

It’s back to school time! Software has made incredible leaps and bounds since my daughter began her elementary classes with Windows 3.1 and DOS. Wow, that seems like eons ago! Here are some good free software I’ve compiled for your scholars of all ages. Be aware that I have not tried all these programs, but they are all freeware at this writing, and they all come with good reviews from sources like C|Net.

Graph
This is sophisticated but simple software that enables you to build coordinate graphs for mathematics.

Zotero
A Firefox add-on that helps you collect, manage and cite resources and references from the Internet. It looks like a great program for any kind of writing assignment. I’m going to have my daughter try it out.

Owl & Mouse Games and Maps
Some of the best freeware educational programs are here. They are still favorites with my older kids- I wrote a detailed review of these free programs here.

Hulu TV
This is a website with loads of documentary and educational videos, all free of you have the Internet speed to run them. There are also “regular” TV shows, so you may need to monitor Johnny to make sure he’s not watching Gilligan’s Island.

iCue
Another free video website, done by NBC. It’s a compilation of old and new NBC news videos and specials.

Flashcards Friends
A nice website with loads of virtual flashcards. It’s has a lot for children, but it also has a lot of educational stuff that interests adults, too.

Merriam Webster’s Concise Dictionary
Yep, the whole dictionary, downloaded in a searchable program. I used it for a while until I got a small search bar add-on for Firefox. But this is very handy for those times you are not online and if you don’t use Firefox browser.

I’ll keep the list short for now. I’m on the prowl for more stuff, so stay tuned for further posts on this topic!

MPEG Encoder Software

FINALLY! Boy, these things are hard to find. I’ve been on the hunt for quality video encoding software for months. I am beginning to do a lot of video and audio work here at home, and the kids are experimenting more with it, too. My four children are becoming excellent musicians, and are starting to lean toward making their own audio and video files. I am also looking to expand my travel blogs with more video. I’ve been displeased with some of the encoding software, because so many of them are SO difficult and complicated to use. This Blaze Media Pro that I found looks very good. This is from their website:

Blaze Media Pro is powerful, all-in-one media converter, editor, burner, and ripper software application supporting all popular media formats, audio and video conversions, audio CD ripping, video construction, video decompiling, audio editor and recording, audio and data CD burning, video CD (VCD and SVCD) burner, video DVD burner…

It does everything but boil eggs. Yowsa. The cost of the product is $50, but there is a free 15-day trial period; the link is here. I haven’t downloaded it yet, but I think I will. I’ll give an update when I do. Check it out yourself, and feel free to leave a comment.

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