Getting Educational Software

July 31, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

It’s that time of year again! Along with the new backpacks, sneakers, pencils, and protractors comes the new educational software for the students. All my kids work off of their own computers (we homeschool), so I shop around and buy a lot of educational software. One place that offers great prices on software is CostCaptain.com. CostCaptain is a Microsoft Authorized Education Reseller, which means that they offer 100% authentic, high-quality, brand new software for educational purposes. And homeschoolers can get the same prices and the educational institutions! I love CostCaptain because of this.

Currently on sale is the important Office 2007 Suite and the Vista upgrades, starting at $99 and $89 respectively. CostCaptain also has outstanding prices on Corel, Adobe, and Symantec products, too. The Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 is selling for best price I’ve seen around, $60.

CostCaptain.com promises excellent and speedy customer service, too! If you are in the market for some great prices on educational software for your homeschool, public school, college, public library, university, or if you are a teacher, check out CostCaptain.com. Buyers must show proof of eligibility to get the software at such low prices. See CostCaptain.com for more information on that and on the software they offer.

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , . 1 Comment »

The Magnificent Human Body

July 31, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

There’s a lot of talk in tech world about how robots or technology will someday, somehow replace human activity, perhaps even humans themselves. I am in complete disbelief of such a proposal. All you have to do is think of one word: unplugged. Lol. Seriously, our electronic world is, I think, a very tenuous one. Not only does technology need great amounts of constant, sufficient energy, it also needs humans to run and program it. And– perhaps most important– it will never be as efficient as the human body itself.

I saw this amazing video by PBS about how DNA replicates itself– think of how many times your computer has crashed or how crazy things get when your web host server crashes, and then watch this video– marvelous! God is truly an amazing creator!

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Posted in technology. Tags: , . Comments Off »

Choosing Web Hosts

July 31, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

It REALLY pays to choose your web host wisely. I have had my share of good– and bad– and VERY bad– choices. :-p I’m very happy with my current host, but it was two years of ups and downs before things really got settled. Websites are precious things– I make my living off of them. Having a good, reliable (and affordable) web host is SO important. So shopping around, comparing prices and services, and most importantly, reading reviews, is incremental. If you are looking around for some reviews on phpbb web hosting, b2evolution hosting, vBulletin, WordPress, or Joomla web hosting, look no further than WebHostingRating.com. There is a plethora of reviews and comparison shopping there. They also have excellent articles on shared hosting (which I currently have), options of hosting multiple domains (which I am looking into), cPanel tutorials, security issues, FrontPage hosting, and more. It’s a good site to get a view of what’s out there. When you are ready to start up your own home or business presence on the web, I always recommend getting your own domain and hosting your own websites. And the more informed you are from the beginning, the better. Check out WebHostingRating.com for more information.

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Posted in Internet, web hosting, websites. Comments Off »

A Spectacular Web Form Builder

July 30, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

I am a pro-blogger, and therefore I find it necessary to present my contact information on my blogs, for advertisers and/or readers who have questions or would like to do business with me. Publishing your email (even if it is a graphic image email) is not wise. If you have your email published in text form on your website, roaming bots can collect it and add it to their collection– and you’ll be spammed like all get-out. Some people create graphic images with their email address. Sure, this prevents the bots from capturing it, but humans can capture it! It’s a much slower process, but there ARE email harvesters out there who search websites for such email images, and collect them. Also, having a comment-enabled blog is helpful in receiving communications, but it’s a clumsy and very public way of getting information. So I use a comment form. A comment form is a script that you insert (on a particular “page” on your website). Your readers see a form, and they can fill it out. Usually there are spaces for your reader to type in their name, their email address, and a message. This information goes through a third-party database, where your reader’s typed message is sent out to you in an email. It’s a fantastic way to get communications from your readers, and it looks very professional.

I’ve been searching around for a better third-party host to manage my contact form, as my current one has a lot of downtime (they are hosted on Bluehost, surprise, surprise). The good folks at HotForms123.com asked me to take a look at what they have to offer (Need Forms? We Got Forms. they said, LOL), and HotForms123.com looks great! I was extremely impressed that the contact forms can be customized (color, add graphics or your own logo, animated images). And you can even record and post an audio message for your readers to listen to, with a mini audio player in the form! It’s pretty amazing, and very sophisticated.

HotForms123.com promises that all form submissions are 100% secure, will NEVER end up in spam, and all communications are in SMS real-time. The basic one-form service is FREE and it includes unlimited form submissions, secure SSL forms, unlimited number of fields, and support via email. There are two business versions, if you want additional features, want to download reports, and analyze data. It’s a good one. I’m going to start up a free account. I look forward to being able to include my own logo on my forms! Check it out– HotForms123.com.

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Posted in blogs, business services, free stuff, marketing, websites. 2 Comments »

Planned Obsolescence

July 30, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

Will someone please tell me WHY there is this great big push to shelve technology– especially operating systems? And especially Microsoft operating systems?

OK, let me back off a little. There’s talk that MS will let Vista just fade away. It’s outdated, too buggy, and too bulky.

The Microsoft executive in charge of Windows urged some companies this week to dump Vista deployment plans and shift to Windows 7, the operating system the company has promised to ship in the fourth quarter.

“If you’re just starting your testing of Vista, with the [Windows 7] Release Candidate and the quality of that offering, I would switch over and do your testing on the [Windows 7] Release Candidate, and use that going forward,” Bill Veghte, Microsoft’s senior vice president for Windows business, said in a keynote speech earlier this week.

EXCUSE ME?! HELLO?! Just a year or two ago, Vista was hailed as THE FUTURE in operating systems! Now all of a sudden it’s junk? I think there’s more to all this than just the “this stinks” mantra that we hear every time MS releases a new operating system. It was only just a FEW short years ago when MS came out with XP. Do you remember allll the bellyaching that arose when XP came out?! I do! Everyone and their mother hated XP, they wanted Windows 98 back! But lo and behold, now XP is near perfection, especially compared with [evil organ music] VISTA. Vista must go, Vista must die! And what is there to take it’s place? Why, ANOTHER brand new, very expensive operating system!!

Something’s fishy.

So I predict that in 3-4 years from the release of Windows 7 (the sparkly new operating system coming out in October 2009), everyone will softly reminisce about the “good ol’ days” back when there was Vista.

Gimme a break. :cwazy:

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Posted in Windows. Tags: , , , . 1 Comment »

Win a Laptop With Charter Sweepstakes

July 28, 2009 — Mrs. Mecomber

Boy, I love these things. Charter is having another sweepstakes! I’m very impressed with this company– at a time when other Internet and Cable TV communications companies are pinching pennies, raising prices, and decreasing in customer satisfaction, Charter has stepped up the plate to be a real winner with their customers. It’s a great example of what a company SHOULD do to get more people– and to get more HAPPY people. A great, great company. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for Charter’s phenomenal high-speed Internet service to come to my area.The prices are very good, much better than what I pay right now (we are monopolized by one company available to us here in New York State).

So Charter is having another sweepstakes! It’s the Laptop-a-Day Sweepstakes. This is a very nice one– winners will get an HP 550 Notebook 15-inch with Windows Vista and a NeoTec Compu Backpack, perfect for back-to-school time. The contest is running NOW until September 15, 2009. The sweepstakes is only available to residential customers within the areas that Charter serves, however.

Charter recently had an HDTV-A-Day sweepstakes, and before that, they’ve given away laptops, Xboxes, and even a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid! (I need a new laptop, as I gave mine to my daughter for her schoolwork.) This particular laptop is a nice HP laptop, 160GB hard drive, Celeron processor, 15.4″ display– it’s a really nice model for a student or businessperson.

You can read up on all the details at the Laptop-a-Day Sweepstakes at Charter’s website. And you can also follow Charter on Twitter and see Charter on Facebook. Charter is also giving away gift cards up to $100 for folks who sign up for their services. I hope we get Charter service available soon!

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Posted in business services, deals, Internet. Tags: , , , . Comments Off »
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