Monthly Archives: May 2008

Decisions, decisions

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I’ve been mulling (or rather agonizing) about using Startlogic to host my new website, since my last post. Man, I didn’t know it would be this tough to make a decision, arguably so because I’m going to be spending some money to host my new site (my previous host in Geocities was free). The weather also wasn’t on my side-it has been hot and dry lately, which makes me want to turn on the air-conditioning for the whole day. Won’t do that, otherwise I’d end up with an expensive electricity bill.

I’ll probably ponder over it for another few days or so. No sense rushing into it, but I’m also not going to put it off too long. Have been writing a book and plan to sell it on my site. Looks like exciting and challenging times are coming up for me.

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Moving house, Part 2

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I’m sure you’ll agree that moving house is one of the most traumatic experiences one can ever go through in life, next to divorce or the loss of a loved one. I know, I had to move house once, and it took at least a week or two for the dust to settle. And hopefully I won’t have to go through it again.

The feeling seems (for me at least) to be the same now that I am strongly thinking of moving house on the Internet. My old Geocities website just doesn’t seem to cut it anymore, and this present WordPress blog of mine, though free, does have its limitations. So there are 3 big steps I have to take:

  1. Find a suitable web host and obtain my own domain.
  2. Import my WordPress blog into this new domain, and integrate it.
  3. Do a lot of work on this new website (the new house).

For #1, I’m considering either Startlogic or Lunarpages. Both offer very competitive rates, and have a ton of features available. I should know, I got all glossy-eyed just skimming through all that information. #2 I’m not so worried about, as importing my WordPress blog into it shouldn’t be that hard.

#3 is a different kettle of fish. I’ll probably be spending the most time on this, because I want to make a good first impression when I launch my new website to the world. So I’ll have to hunker down with lots of patience and determination (and not forgetting the coffee) but it just has to be done, lol.

If anyone has any good advice, I’m all ears. And I’d also like to thank my friend and fellow geek Doris, for her unending words of wisdom and cheer. Doris, when my website is ready, you can come over and visit (I’ll make sure the guest quarters are ready, heh heh).

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The Year of the Rat

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Holy moly, we’ve not actually reached June yet, but already two big catastrophes have struck Asia, namely Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma) and now that devastating earthquake in Sichuan, China (7.9 on the Richter scale). Thousands killed, injured, homeless, you name it. The pain is real. My prayers go out to all these innocent victims of Mother Nature’s wrath. And get this, Nargis is a Persian and Urdu word, which means daffodil.

The Chinese have a belief that things come in threes. I’m not superstitious, but I think another big calamity is going to happen before the Year of the Rat bows out early next year.

Latest news (as of May 16, 2008): Death toll in the China earthquake could rise above 50,000. Figures from Cyclone Nargis estimate 78,000 lives lost.

And this is supposed to be my year (I’m a Rat)

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Messenger TV for Windows Live Messenger

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To quote my fellow member Yahooligan in his excellent BBB post:

Microsoft has launched a new online service in 20 countries which will allow users to watch video clips at the same time as a network of friends and chat via Windows Live Messenger. The new service called Messenger TV will offer a range of clips on MSN Video including MTV shows and music clips from providers such as Sony BMG. The firm hopes the ability to watch clips with friends on different computers will create a new social experience and attract users who already spend hours on social networks.

“Online video has exploded in popularity over the last year, but to date it has been something people watch on their own. Messenger TV is set to change all that,” said John Mangelaars, the vice-president, EMEA, of consumer and online for Microsoft.

“Watching video online can now be a social experience, as people watch videos together, make comments and share reactions.”

The service will launch in 20 countries including many European countries, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Canada and Mexico but not the United States.

What happens if your country isn’t in the list of countries allowed to watch Messenger TV? Glad you asked, I’ve come up with a workaround:

  1. Add MessengerTV@Live.com to your WLM contact list.
  2. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options. In the General tab, click on Languages. Click Add and add English (United Kingdom) and move it to the top of the list.
  3. Double-click the MessengerTV contact in WLM to start a conversation. Type any message (a simple how are you? is fine). It will reply and ask whether you want to start Messenger TV. Click Accept and enjoy!

Messenger TV 1

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Getting into reading again

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Two days ago, I was rummaging through my closet and came across this computer book called Starting an Online Business for Dummies. Hmm, didn’t know I’d bought that book, must have done that a while back. So I picked it up and started reading…and reading…and reading. It feels a bit strange reading a proper book, as I’m usually reading newspapers and magazines.

I used to buy a lot of the For Dummies series in years past, when they weren’t as expensive as they are nowadays. I like the way they present the facts, interspersed with some humor and cartoons (Rich Tennant’s The 5th Wave is always brilliant). I remember buying Windows 98 for Dummies, Microsoft Office for Dummies, DOS for Dummies, Outlook for Dummies, etc. etc.

Anyway, Starting an Online Business for Dummies has given me some ideas. We’ll see what comes up.

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IFOS

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In case you’re wondering what that stands for, it’s Irrational Fear of Online Storage. My friend and fellow blogger Doris Kenney posted this in her blog. It makes for a very interesting read. The crux of the matter is this: would you store your personal documents somewhere in cyberspace, as a so-called secure form of backup?

As Doris has pointed out, there are quite a number of websites offering free storage space for your documents. Heck, I’ve signed up with one (Box.net) but I haven’t put anything there yet. The Lite plan gives you 1GB of free storage, and the file size limit is 10MB per file. Fair enough, but I feel this is only good for shared documents which are not confidential in nature. Sort of like putting your valuables into a safety deposit box in a bank vault. However, in cyberspace there are no physical barriers. So how safe would my documents be there?

At present I’m just going to make my backups to CD or DVDs. Yes Doris, IFOS is plaguing me but I feel more secure knowing my backups are within physical reach. How about you?

 

P/S Thanks to Doris for allowing me to talk about IFOS.

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Moving house

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Although I’ve liked my WordPress.com blog very much, I know there will come a time when I’ll have to move to WordPress.org, namely because it’ll give me a lot more flexibility. Of course before I do that, I’ll have to look around for a suitable web host, either locally or overseas. The Geocities host where I’m currently hosting my website is probably not going to do, since I don’t want all the ads. After getting a web host, I’ll need to download and install the latest WordPress 2.5 (is that correct?) import all my blog posts, etc. A lot of stuff for my brain to think about!

WordPress

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