Friday, December 31, 2010

Check Those External Links





I owe a big thank you to one of my readers of my Photography by KML blog.

I was having big issues, and I didn't even know it.

It seems that my blog was giving malware warnings to anyone who tried to view it.

It had been doing this for a few days.

What a good way to loose readers and traffic and put my reputation in a ditch.

Doug, over at Doug's Missoula Lifestyle Montana Living blog, contacted me to let me know what was going on.

And am I ever thankful that he did - I would never want to pass any computer problems on to anyone, and that warning certainly looked like I was a scary place to visit.

My photo blog is almost four years old, and I had some pretty old links on there to other blogs and directories.

I was pretty diligent about keeping up with the housekeeping of the old blogs, but I never gave a thought to the directories.

The bad link was to a photo directory that either went defunct or was corrupted by hackers.

Their website had that warning, but when my blog website was opened in a browser, it was also given a warning, because of my link to it.

Guilty by association - I learned a good lesson.

Check ALL the external links on a regular basis - it could come and bite you in the behind if you don't.












Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Where Has All the Software Gone?





There was a time in the not too distant past, that when you entered a computer or office store, you would be faced with many shelves and choices of software for your personal computer.

Have you checked these same stores lately?

Only a handful of choices remain, and they are mostly bookkeeping or virus protection programs.

No more going to the store to purchase a program on a CD with the printed documentation that can be installed on your computer.

Now you must buy it online - mostly in a downloadable format.

No hard copy on CD and no documentation or books to figure out how to use it.

If your hard drive bites the dust or you buy a new computer - no problem, just go online and pay for it again to download it.

NOT!

Some of that software is expensive so downloading it again is not always an option.

I try to keep a file on my computer with the original download in it so if I need it again it is there.

But that doesn't always work as sometimes the software needs some kind of installer through the merchant that just isn't available when you need to reinstall it again - it's a one shot deal.

I must say - I miss the days of having my CD's handy when I need to "fix" some corrupted program or simply reinstall it.

But I guess things just have to keep changing - even if they are not for the better.












Friday, December 24, 2010

Internet Advertising

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ClickBooth. All opinions are 100% mine.

We are all familiar with Internet advertising.

Some of them are subtle and are just small little ads in the sidebars or along the bottom of pages or posts.

And some of them are quite obvious - right at the top and big and flashing.

As with anything, it takes all kinds, and it's good to know there are so many choices when it comes to advertising - for both the advertiser and the publisher.

The advertisers design their ads to catch your attention in hopes that you click on one of them and see what they have to offer.

The publisher also hopes that you click on one of them - he earns money from the clicks that come from his site.

Everyone wants us to click on the ads - and sometimes those deals are just what the consumer is looking for, and the click happens.

Everyone is happy then.

But when browsers just click on the ads for the "fun" of it, it becomes a problem for the advertiser.

He is paying for that click, and gets nothing out of it.  The publisher will get credit for it, but it becomes a sour deal when those empty clicks happen over and over again.

That's where a Clickbooth CPC service comes in.

They have a CPA program set up that only charges the advertiser when an action is performed on his site when the browser arrives through a "click".

This is certainly more cost effective for the advertiser - no more empty clicks for him.

Once again, it keeps both the advertiser and publisher happy and hopefully it makes for a happy customer too.

So, Google AdWords, Meet Your Competition: Clickbooth is the wave of the future for affiliate marketing.

They are one of the major networks available for providing this service to their publishers which provides more diversity for everyone.

They surpass the industry standards and their ads will soon be seen on MSNBC.com, CNN.com, and ESPN.com - keep an eye out for them - and remember - you read it here first!

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Facebook Changes





I am just getting back from working on my Facebook page.

I set it up almost 2 years ago to use in conjunction with my photo website.

As I added more blogs, I loved how I was able to interface them with the feeds and the boxes and the tabs.

I had everything in one place and used several apps to update and post to my wall.

All was going well - I loved using Facebook.

Then they did away with the boxes.

OK, I could handle that, just added a few tabs to take their place.

Then they slowly started removing some of the availability of the apps.

I could get around that too.

They changed the wall style and hid some of the tabs.

No problem - they were still there, just not out in full view.

Now they are changing the whole profile, and stupid me had to go check it out.

I wanted to see what I would have to "fix" this time.

Well - everything is gone now - no tabs, no links, none of my blogs are there or any of my friend's blogs that I loved to browse through.

And there is no going back.

Once I hit that button to preview the new changes, that was it.

I am now stuck with it.

I am thoroughly disgusted with these changes.

Everything is gone that I built on my page.

It really sucks and I don't see the use of dealing with it in the same way I have used it in the past.

I have set up a page for my Photos by KML site only that will update from the photo blog.

But that is the only one that will show, as I can only link to that one blog - it is more of a business page.

It still has the old look to it - but I wonder how long that will last.

But I suppose - this is a free site to use - you get what you pay for.

I welcome you to "like" my facebook page at the above link, and thanks for stopping by!












Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Automatic Updates





It seems that every program on our computers that connects to the internet wants to automatically update itself when they get the call from their creators.

Well, I do not like this at all.

Most of them have the courtesy to ask before they do, but not all of them do.

The operating system and the virus ones both do as they want, when they want, and I really don't mind those ones.

They just slow the system down as they update, so it would be nice to know they are working instead of just having them "running quietly" in the background.

If for some reason your computer gets any kind of malware or virus software on it, some of them will want to "update" too.

One of the computers in our house has a "virus protection" program that wants to automatically run and update - only it is not a legitimate virus protection program.

Not sure when it "became" an icon on the desktop or from where it came, but it needed to be removed.

The virus scanner and malware scanner didn't catch it, but I know it didn't belong there - we never purchased or installed this program.

We tend to be quite wary as we browse the internet, and this was a surprise.

They are getting trickier so we need to keep aware!












Saturday, December 11, 2010

Gadgets for TV Too

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of GlideTV. All opinions are 100% mine.

TV is certainly not what it use to be.

There are many new ways to view TV these days - at the time you want, where you want, and what you want.

Who would have thought as a kid growing up forty years ago that you watch TV programs this way?

One of the new gadgets designed for TV is one that is called GlideTV.

It combines the technology in a computer with the smarts of the new HDTV to deliver quite a new experience.

Many traditional TV viewers now use the Internet TV to watch their favorite shows.

But that involves staying seated at your computer - sometimes not in the most comfortable chairs either.

This new TV gadget lets you watch that same Internet TV from the comfort of your couch.

The handheld touch pad uses wireless technology to find and watch your favorite Internet TV programs on your HDTV.

In fact you can watch any online video content on your TV, and it is compatible with both PC's and Mac's.

My husband would love to have this technology at his fingertips - You Tube is a favorite of his and viewing it on the TV would only make it better.

 "Like" GlideTV on Facebook and enter to win one of these cool GlideTV Navigators.

Be sure to check them out!

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Thursday, December 9, 2010

New Blog Design





First, I must apologize to my readers for the mess that was my blog during most of yesterday.

I had been using one of the free templates that designers offer online.

From the mess, it seems that most of it was constructed from images that were hosted on another server by the web designer.

Well, the bandwith of that user had gone over their limit, so the images were no longer available.

I guess I learned a good lesson today - you get what you pay for!

I have decided to go with one of the templates that blogger offers for now.

After the holidays I will search around for something different.

Or I will give it a try on my own.

Depends on how hard it all is!












Sunday, December 5, 2010

New Tablets





There have been some new devices on the market lately that have been catching my eye.

I have always been interested in those e-readers that can hold hundreds of books, and I keep telling myself that someday, when I have more time for reading, I am going to get one.

Now, enter these new tablet devices.

No two are the same - and they all offer different features.

Some just sit on the counter or desktop and stream info from a Wifi connection.

Some have e-readers in them (nice!)

Some have cameras in them (very nice!)

And some are just like a laptop without all the bulk.

They are very portable - using wifi internet connections everywhere.

Some fit in your pocket, others in a shoulder bag.

All different sizes, features, and price ranges.

If I keep waiting, as I have regarding the e-reader, there will soon be one that does everything - that will make the choosing a lot easier.

But it does make one wonder, what will they come up with next?

It is a grand time we live in!