Common questions, simple answers
At some point yesterday (Nov 12th, 2007) Google Webmaster Tools got a bit of a redesign. And at least one new feature was added – Subscriber stats. Now you can view the number of users who have subscribed to your RSS feed(s) using Google products such as iGoogle, Google Reader, and Orkut.
Are there any other new features I missed?
Screenshots:
 Dashboard Overview |
 What Googlebot Sees |
 Google Subscriber Stats |
 Tools Overview |
Posted in Blogging, Web Design & Dev.
– September 13, 2007
I read about this trick on Lifehacker to catch fruit flies earlier this summer. I’m glad I did, because Vancouver has had a garbage strike for something like 9 weeks now. Well, I have confirmed it works.
Posted in Other.
– September 13, 2007
This tutorial will guide you through using SpaceMonger – a Windows utility that scans your hard drive(s) and displays a graphical representation of how your disk is being used, or, where all that space has gone. SpaceMonger works with every version of Windows, from Windows 95 all the way up through Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. It works with every filesystem, be it FAT, FAT32, or NTFS, and it can handle network filesystems too. It’s available as a 30 day fully functional demo – after that you’ll have to fork over $19.95 USD for a 1 user license. Continued…
Posted in Windows.
– September 13, 2007
This brief tutorial will show you how to enable spell check in web page forms (text input fields) in Firefox.
Posted in Firefox.
– September 13, 2007
If you’re a big Technorati fan and want to display your blogs rank, MyTechnorati might be just the thing for you.
The installation and setup are very straight forward, and the author (Tyler Ingram – a fellow Vancouverite) is very responsive to support issues etc.
Posted in Blogging.
– September 12, 2007
This tutorial will guide you though installing and setting up GCalendarSync, which allows you to sync Google Calendar with your Windows Mobile 5 smartphone. GCalendarSync is free (it’s released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License) and absolutely genius. GCalendarSync doesn’t require that you dock your smartphone or use Outlook in order to sync your Google Calendar with your smartphone. Continued…
Posted in Windows Mobile.
– September 12, 2007
This tutorial will guide you in using Darik’s Boot and Nuke (”DBAN”) – to securely wipe (delete) all of the data from your hard drive. Why would you want to securely wipe all of the data on your drive? Perhaps you’re selling your computer, donating it to charity, or recycling it. Before you do so, consider this – even when you delete files, they’re not actually removed from your hard drive. Using data recovery tools, many files can be restored from the average hard drive. In fact, even after a hard drive has been formatted, data can be recovered from it. Using DBAN “prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis”. Continued…
Posted in Security.
– September 11, 2007
This tutorial will guide you in burning an .iso file to CD (or DVD) using the (excellent) free software CDBurnerXP Pro. Continued…
Posted in Windows.
– September 11, 2007
This article outlines 9 different ways you can secure your WordPress blog/site. Security is often an overlooked aspect of blogging, but a few minutes making sure things are secure can save you hours and hours of ‘fixing’ if someone decides to mess with your site. Continued…
– September 10, 2007
AllPeers is a Firefox addon (plugin) that allows you to use Firefox as a bittorrent client. This brief tutorial shows you how to use it to download files. Continued…
Posted in Bittorrent, Firefox.
– September 9, 2007
Update: Both invites gone, I’ll update when I have more.
I have 2 invites to Streamy to give away. The first two people to leave a comment get them (please use a valid email address in the Mail: field of the comment form, that’s the address I’ll send the invite to).
Posted in Other.
– September 9, 2007
This tutorial will guide you in installing, setting up and using AnalogX Netstat Live (which is free) to monitor your Internet usage (uploads and downloads). As a number of ISP’s are now disconnecting customers for using “too much” bandwidth (this one in particular), knowing exactly how much you’ve downloaded (or uploaded) in a given month can be very helpful. Note: the OS X version of this tutorial can be found here. Continued…
Posted in Home Networking, Windows.
– September 9, 2007
Last month I wrote a tutorial on How to “Pubvertise” Your Live FeedBurner RSS Content to a Wider Audience. I also signed up for a one week paid campaign in the FeedBurner Ad Network to try out the service (I had never previously paid to advertise Simplehelp). This post details my experience with the FeedBurner Ad Network.
Posted in Blogging.
– September 7, 2007
Living in Canada, I didn’t get into the iPhone hype as much as my US buddies (iPhones aren’t sold here, yet, and there’s no set-in-stone date as to when they will be). As an avid OS X/Apple (and Linux) user, I actually had to put quite a bit of thought into my latest purchase. It came down to two choices – a BlackBerry or the HTC S621 (”Excalibur”). Well, I’m not sure what BlackBerry plans are like in the US, but I would have ended out with a huge, huge monthly bill if I had gone the BB route. So, I’m now the proud(ish) new owner of the HTC S621.
Which runs Windows Mobile 5.0.
So now you’re wondering – why is an OS X/Linux person buying a Microsoft Windows phone? One simple answer: 802.11b/g. This is the only Wi-Fi phone sold by the two major west-coast wireless providers (though I guess technically there’s really only one – since Rogers bought Fido). So in the coming days and weeks you can expect a fairly large number of Windows Mobile related tutorials, downloads etc. Including “how to sync your Windows Mobile phone with OS X applications” and “a step by step guide on using Skype with your 802.11b/g enabled phone”. Since those are two of the first things I’ll be doing with this thing.
ps. even though I’ve read that a headset is required in order to use Skype (with this phone), you will never, ever, see me walking down the street with a bluetooth headset stuck in my ear. If you do, you have my permission to punch me right then and there.
Posted in Windows Mobile.
– September 6, 2007
Using Tor can help you anonymize web browsing and publishing, instant messaging, IRC, SSH, and other applications that use the TCP protocol.
This tutorial will guide you in installing, setting up and using Vidalia – a cross-platform interface for Tor, in OS X. Using Vidalia, you can start and stop Tor, view the status of Tor at a glance, and monitor Tor’s bandwidth usage. Vidalia includes Tor itself, and privoxy – which is a web proxy with advanced filtering capabilities. This might all sound a bit confusing, but it’s actually quite straight forward. Continued…
– September 6, 2007
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
