Where am I?

Have you ever noticed that certain websites know where you are located? How is this done? It’s called IP Geo-location.

An example is here. Click on the link below and scroll down a little.

http://www.ip2location.com/free.asp

Earthquake Insurance

I live in California. Do you have earthquake insurance? I’ve read only 12-15% of the homeowners in California actually have earthquake insurance.

Let me know if you whether you have it and why or why not. I just sent out an informal poll to about a dozen people and I’ll post the results.

I’m interested in knowing your thoughts.

- Ron

Applie iPhone OS 3.0 Software Update

It’s official. The latest update for the iPhone is out. Connect your iPhone to your computer and in the iPhone Summary pane, click Check of Update.

Click Download and Install. Do not disconnect your iPhone until the update has finished. Enjoy!

Gmail gets rid of spam

I recently switched one of my domain names to Gmail.  If you have your own domain name, you can use it with Gmail and receive email like you@yourdomain.com.  Well, I had another Internet services provider (web/email hosting account) and I was getting a lot of spam.  Their service did a decent job of filtering spam, but spam was starting to get out of hand.

Now with my domain set up to use the free Gmail service; I  have almost entirely eliminated spam.  There is more infomation about how Gmail fights spam in this article.

I have received about 500 spam email yesterday, and only 1 spam email it didn’t catch.  And anything it thought was spam was indeed spam.  This is great!  Additionally, Gmail servers are fast.  If someone sends you an email, you will get the email within seconds. 

If you are using another email server for your domain, you may want to consider switching to Gmail.  And, if you don’t have Gmail, I have written an article about now is the time to get one.

Internet Explorer 8 IE8 Issues

I have IE 8 installed on one of my extra computers.  I never try new stuff on my main computer especially like this. 

I just got an email from someone that needs help with Internet Explorer version 8.    I’ll look into this over the weekend.  Post your comments if you have a solution.  And, what browser do you use?
————————– ————————————–
Hi, Ron.

   Don’t know if you can help or not but after downloading Internet Explorer 8 I’ve had a couple of problems.

    First any link that I click on in an email that has been sent to me, I get a message that says “Application Not Found” and that’s on any link.

Also when I’m on Internet Explorer I get a message that says “Protected Mode is Currently Turned off for local internet zone.   So I think the settings have to be changed.
———————————————-

Part of the Microsoft Update, it wants you to install it.  What do others thing about it?  In case you need to uninstall it, Microsoft has an article on how to do this.

Google has some new cool options – timeline wonder wheel

Have you even wanted to do a search and are interested in anything new that was posted in the last few days?  You might get back thousands of results.  But what if you can just ask for anthing that was posted in the last week.  Now you can!

Google’s new features that were recently announced.  Look for Show Options Google’s search results page (after you do a search); give wonder wheel, timeline, and related searches a try.  You can easily narrow down and refine your search results!

Last year, I remember using google to find out about a crime in a particular city.  With these new search options, it probably wouldn’t have taken me the 5 minutes I spent to finally find the information I was looking for.

Give it a try.  Let me know what you think.

- Ron

 

 

 

 

 

Why Did I Sell WebDispatch.com?

First, selling WebDispatch.com was a difficult decision. The company was doing well despite the macro-economic downturn. It was running largely by itself, which is no easy feat for a small business like this, and which took a lot of patience and time to achieve. And the business continued to grow. I had the privilege over the years of meeting many people in the local community and solving their frustrating computer issues; this was rewarding. For many customers, I got to be the hero–and I got paid for doing it! I also provided my staff with jobs, which helped to support the local economy, and there was really little chance I would need to lay them off like many other smaller companies are doing today.

Over the last couple of years, I had been approached by various parties asking if I would be interested in selling the business. I hadn’t given the idea much thought before then.  At the beginning of the year I told my staff that I was considering selling the business. Here’s why.

I haven’t been involved with the day to day operations for over 2-1/2 years.  Many of you didn’t even know that I had another job!  I felt the business needed more of my time and involvement to help with its continued growth.  But I have developed other priorities.  So in the best interests of everyone involved, I decided the time was right.

I’m happy to report I have found an excellent husband-and-wife team to buy the business.  Teri and Jim have years of technical and business management experience.  I think that they will continue running it in much the same way it’s running today.   They are very focused on customer satisfaction and are both technically savvy.  The entire staff is still there and customers probably won’t even notice any change.

I highly recommend you contact WebDispatch.com for  any of your computer repair needs.

For now, I’m dabbling in all types of technology: Linux, Apple, Twitter, web analytics, web site promotion, technical marketing, blogging and so on.  I am catching up on the latest technical trends, which gets to be a bigger job every year.  My current employer, Omniture, is the leader in online business optimization.

I will keep you updated on this blog on what I’m doing today.

Thanks for your support.

Have a website that is slow?

Today, I was working on a new website (for any of you techies out there; I’m using Joomla).  The server was responding slow.  I asked someone else in another state to check it out.  He said it was slow.  Well, I discovered a nice web site checking tool that will calculate the load time from multiple locations worldwide. 

Spot Check Website Performance Check – Aletra

http://alertra.com/spotcheck.php

It’s time to get your own domain name!

Are you still using an email account that is tied to your internet provider (e.g. att.net, comcast.net, aol.com)?  It’s time to get your own domain name and free email hosting.

You shouldn’t be using an email address that is tied to your provider. If you ever decide to change providers, you may not be able to keep your email address.

My recommendation is to get your own domain name (e.g. from GoDaddy) and then sign up for free domain email hosting from Gmail.

Gmail is available to individuals, businesses, educational institutions, community organizations — anyone, in fact. Those who choose to pay $50 per user account per year for Google Apps Premier Edition also have access to a further layer of spam filtering, increased storage, and some other features. I have been satisfied with the free service.

Use your own domain
A free Gmail account allows you to use your own domain name. There are details and an introductory video.

Personal experience

I have set up several people with domains and tied it to Gmail. I also use it for a few of my own domains.

Everyone should have their own domain name and tie it to their email address.  A domain name is only $10/year. Email hosting via Gmail is free!

WebDispatch.com Customers

Customers of WebDispatch.com  — The company continues to grow (thanks) and the entire staff is still there.  I am pleased that almost everything remains the same.  I recommend that you stop in to say hello and meet the new owners, Jim & Teri.

The new owners, Jim and Teri, have a lot of experience; both technical and running a business.  I will continue to help out when called upon.