Strange how things move on and times change, technology advances and we adapt.
Originally to promote and list your website or business you would use online directory services such as DMOZ or sites like Yell. There are also a whole host of niche industry specific sites where you can list your site, hey I even wrote my own free php script which others could use for this purpose and I ran on my golf resource site. Some are free and some paid for.
Well now there seems to be a new push, promoting your site in a more visually appealing way. Categoristation is still needed but these sites seem to work and it’s something different.
First there was the million dollar home page, albeit it wasn’t free, we now have the Milliondollaravatar and there a now loads of new sites cropping up offering the same kind of service.
There are even some good sites targetted towards the wave of new web2.0 sites and applications, check out bla.st and the cool Go2Web20.net listing the the company logos, again a form of promotion and linking.
So to list and promote your site there is now even more choice and opporunity in promoting your business, virally spreading thw word and helping with your SEO.
Well we did it. The whole family spent the whole of Saturday without using a computer of any form. I found it fairly easy but my wife found it ‘frustating’.
The big shock for us was the amount of times that you just potter round the house and on route check emails or quickly surf for something, which we didn’t do on Saturday.
It was also strange not being able to look stuff up, I had to phone the bank to see if they were open ! Which goes to show how much computers and the internet have become a major part of our lives and almost a neccessity for modern existance.
So all in all no big loss and something we will definitely do again but maybe not every week ! 
Tomorrow is officially Shutdown day, can I do it, can we do it ?
Writing this I have officially 35 minutes and 34 seconds to pack up and shut down for a full 24 hours, although given I have to sleep that’s almost 32 hours. Will I do it ? will I wake up at 00:05 on the 25th and boot up ?
Computers are now a complete part of modern life and not something we just use at work. Can we really just give them up for a whole day ? what would that mean for the world ? would stock markets crash, businesses stop, economies tumble ? could it have a positive impact on our lives, the environment, our world ?
For me, it’s not keeping up with the latest news and sport, reading the latest tech blogs, programming, checking emails and running my golf business. What about the 24/7 society we now live in, the support I provide my user base ? well at least it’s Saturday, we shouldn’t all have to work the weekends right ? Well my families all decided to try so we will see and it’s definitely not a bad thing.
So cheerio and see you on Sunday 25th. Plus I only have 26 minutes and 40 seconds left of surfing
Everyone now uses youtube, right ?
Then why is it so difficult, or not simple, to post youtube videos on the majority of forum sites and blog software ?
For my blog I’ve had to turn off the Rich HTML text editor so I can copy and paste the embed code which will then upload.
For my golf site, online golf score tracker, golf handicap service, golf stats analysis etc, I’ve had to update the Rich HTML text editor used within the golf forum and golf blog system to TinyMCE and then use a cool plugin. The previous editor was to buggy and difficult for the users of the site to use.
I guess with so many programming languages, software variations, technology companies that the boundries of standards gets pushed and competitive advantage is what pushes revenue from development. This is turn results in choice and value for the consumer but with choice comes the slight variation of similar things ie customisation, mods and tweaks. Which results in the difficult problem of catering for all, offering simplicity, a great user experience whilst still keeping everything technically simple, which is never going to happen. I develop and have worked in IT for over 10 years and know I still deliver things that I think a simple and make sense but to the majority it’s all new.
Guess this is the challenge, well my challenge for 2007 at least. As well as playing more golf and lowering my golf handicap 
Yesterday I took my daughter for a day out to the National Space Center in Leicestershire.
It was pretty cool and thoroughly enjoyed by myself and 3 year old daughter. There was lots to do for children of all ages and it was very interactive which made it good and worth the visit. Best of all under 5’s are free and they also had a system in place where you paid for a years pass for further free visits throughout the year.
It was definitely worth the £11 it cost me, which seemed excellent value for money given we were there several hours and it was an overall great educational and fun experience.
It was also a coincidence that last night was also a lunar eclipse of the moon. I tried taking a picture with my digital camera.
but I think you really need a professional camera/telescope to do it any justice
Well I’ve now completed the first week of my new job working from home. It definitely poses some minor challenges and requires discipline but it’s definitely worth it. I’ll post later relating to this topic.
Unsuprisingly you end up working more hours given you no longer have to commute but you get a greater work life balance. I’ve also found my productivity is vastly increased without the constant interruptions and disturbances of working in a busy office. Also helps that my office phone is out of action
Thankfully I still get to go out for meetings and have projects meetings to attend via conference call or in person, so I’m not completely locked up in a 6×6 padded room with white walls.
All in all for me a great first work and very excited about the times ahead.
Office library
My coffee room
, , | darren | 
March 31, 2007 10:23 am | 
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