Today, I’ve introduced a theme change to this blog, and I hope you like it. As you can probably tell, the look and feel here are far different than the last design. Over the next little while, I’ll be working out the smaller issues and making an effort to clean up the overall look. But, for now, please take it for a spin and let me know what you think.
In a move that makes lots of sense, Google announced today a rebranding of its web-based tools console from Webmaster Tools to Search Console. As a tool I’ve come to love (and hate) over the years, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on this important part of any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Strategy.
As is often the case with Microsoft operating system releases, we’re interested in the beta and preview versions, releases dates, and what Microsoft will end up calling them. With a long history of just screwing up names (or at the very least, making them confusing), these things can tend to be a big thing while we use the software for the next few years.
As a publisher of multiple sites (and a reader, no less), I’m keenly aware of the struggle faced by the need to reach users, but the cost of doing it. If what we do doesn’t somehow lead back to our site, is this something we could ever embrace? With the recent announcement of Facebook Instant Articles, I’ve been thinking about this more. Is this a great development for publishers, or the start of a new, dangerous path for Facebook?
Windows Technical Preview 2 was released on Microsoft’s website and made available for download. Usually, this process is a challenge because we don’t always have the best and newest hardware available to test with; but I tend to find what I can in the lab to test as many features as possible. I took a bare-metal Dell PowerEdge server (with a RAID 5 drive setup), and installed off of a burned DVD.
In a recent blog post, Mozilla (makers of the popular Firefox browser) plans to set a date by which non-encrypted [1] websites would see access to browser features gradually removed. While the details aren’t yet clear as to the timeframe, or exactly what features will be limited; but it’s a definite message that powerful players are pushing encryption on everyone. This trend of “encrypt everything” is becoming very troubling.
Today, I noticed the public preview for Office 2016 is available on Microsoft’s site. The downloaded file is very small and goes out to download the rest of the application by way of “streaming” [1]. On a 25mbs Internet connection, I had the application installed in about 10 to 15 minutes. Given that a new version of Microsoft Office is a major milestone (and something everyone will a computer will eventually need to use), I thought I’d take a look at what’s new.
OwnCloud, a file syncing service like Dropbox. Files are stored locally on the user’s computer, as well as on the Owncloud server. Since the files are stored in OwnCloud, you can have many clients running on several computers keeping these files in sync. Naturally, an OwnCloud server needs to be set up, and I thought it was time to build one.
Taking screenshots is one of the most common things you’ll do with your computer. You may want to record something you can’t easily save, and want it clearer than taking a picture of your monitor would yield. Today’s Basics article is about taking screenshots.
I took the plunge on The Freedman Chair and backed the project on October 27th, 2013. The Freedman Chair was successfully funded less than 48 hours later. This presented me with the opportunity to chart the progress of this project as well as share my experiences both with shipping and the chair itself.