iZachy » General http://izachy.com blogging to web 3.0 and beyond Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:19:38 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Giving Away HP TouchSmart 600 Computer http://izachy.com/2009/12/21/touchsmart-600-givingaway/ http://izachy.com/2009/12/21/touchsmart-600-givingaway/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:31:01 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/?p=155 Continue reading →]]> I'm giving away a HP TouchSmart 600 PC on my dad blog. The deadline to enter is Wednesday (December 23, 2009 Pacific time). Here are the specs of the HP TouchSmart 600 Computer:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6500 [2.1GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB] (600t)
  • Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6600 [2.2GHz, 2MB L2, 800MHz FSB] (600xt)
  • 23" diagonal 1080p Full HD widescreen with 16:9 aspect ratio
  • 4GB DDR3-1066MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
  • 320GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive (600t)
  • 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive (600xt)
  • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • NVIDIA GeForce G200 (600t)
  • 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT230M, and game console connections (600xt)
  • Slot-load SuperMulti DVD Burner
  • Wireless-N LAN card and Bluetooth
  • Internal antennas for 802.11 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
  • 6-in-1 memory card reader, 5 total USB, audio
  • Integrated high-performance 2.0 speakers (no external speakers)
  • HP low-profile, wireless keyboard and HP wireless optical mouse
  • A built-in, adjustable-tilt webcam and mic
  • Removable feet for wall mounting (bracket and adapter sold separately)

HP TouchSmart 600 PC

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]]> http://izachy.com/2009/12/21/touchsmart-600-givingaway/feed/ 0 Giving Away Two HP Notebooks and a Timbuk2 Laptop Bag http://izachy.com/2009/09/02/netbook-giveaway/ http://izachy.com/2009/09/02/netbook-giveaway/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:27:46 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/?p=139 Continue reading →]]> Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you guys know I'm giving away two HP notebooks and a cool Timbuk2 laptop bag on my dad blog. The giveaway runs September 2-6, 2009. Here are the prizes:

  • HP DV6 Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo P7350, 4GB RAM, 16" screen (1366 x 768 pixels), 500GB SATA HDD, BluRay LightScribe DVD drive – specs may be different than the one I reviewed)
  • HP Mini 110 Netbook (Intel Atom 270, 1GB RAM, 10.1" display (1024 x 576 pixels), 160GB SATA HDD, 6 cell battery – specs may be different than the one I reviewed)
  • Timbuk2 Laptop Bag (the notebook bag may be different than the one I reviewed)
  • Syncables Software (for syncing files across multiple computers)

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]]> http://izachy.com/2009/09/02/netbook-giveaway/feed/ 0 Bye Bye Pluck http://izachy.com/2006/12/27/pluck/ http://izachy.com/2006/12/27/pluck/#comments Wed, 27 Dec 2006 18:15:19 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/12/27/pluck/ Continue reading →]]> PluckI guess I must have been in the Batcave too long. I just found out last week that Pluck was discontinuing its RSS reader. So, if you have one those "Subscribe to Feed with Pluck" link, you should remove it. Here's a blurb from their web site:

All consumer RSS reader services to be discontinued on January 5, 2007

All versions of Pluck's RSS readers for Internet Explorer, FireFox and Pluck's web edition will be discontinued on 1/5/2007. The RSS Readers have served our community of end users well for several years, but with Pluck's focus in other business areas, the venerable RSS readers are set to be retired from our product line.

Over the next two months, you will have the opportunity to export your RSS feed subscriptions to other RSS readers of your choosing. Please visit the RSS reader support pages for details on how to export your subscriptions and bookmarks for use in other readers.

You have until 1/5/2007 to export your data, after which our servers will be turned off and your data will be deleted. Note that the Pluck RSS readers are not supported for use on the new releases of IE (version 7) and FireFox (version 2).

free Internet Retailer

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/12/27/pluck/feed/ 0 Monetize This http://izachy.com/2006/12/18/monetize-this/ http://izachy.com/2006/12/18/monetize-this/#comments Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:53:43 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/12/18/monetize-this/ Continue reading →]]> I was going to put up a Christmas photo, but then I read Darren's post about looking back on the year and making predictions about the future. I think the photo below sums up both the past year and the upcoming year.

monetize this

This past year (and earlier), the blogosphere has become a giant experiment on monetization. As bloggers (including me), we are constantly looking for ways to monetize everything we write, every item we review, every video and podcast we produce, and every photo we take. And every month, a new company forms to help us monetize this, that, and the other thing. Is this what blogging has become?

As for the future, I see more of the same next year. However, I expect more and more companies will focus on monetizing videos (including free video editing tools) and content for wireless devices. Monetization will continue to drive the web in our future. Even though I'm not entirely thrilled with this, I don't think monetization is necessarily a bad thing. Do you?

free eWeek

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/12/18/monetize-this/feed/ 23 Too Many Sites in One Basket http://izachy.com/2006/10/10/too-many-eggs-in-one-basket/ http://izachy.com/2006/10/10/too-many-eggs-in-one-basket/#comments Wed, 11 Oct 2006 01:32:55 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/10/10/too-many-eggs-in-one-basket/ Continue reading →]]> I had another bad day with my web hosting company this morning. The six sites I have hosted with them all went down for about two hours. This is the second time in less than a week my sites went offline. Something is going on. I'm actually tempted to move my sites, but I worked with other hosts in the past and they all have problems at one time or another.

A high price doesn't necessarily mean the web host is immune to outages. One company I worked at had its site hosted with a company that owns part of the Internet backbone (a lot of hosting companies use their backbone to connect to the Internet). I think the company was paying $100 a month for a shared hosting plan (too much in my opinion). Guess what? Once, our site was down for almost two days! My current host charges less $6 a month and my sites have never been down for more than a couple of hours. However, when they do go down, it is very annoying.

I have realized something though. I may have too many eggs in one basket. I really shouldn't have six sites hosted with one company. I really should spread them around to other web hosting companies. That way if one host has a problem, they don't bring down all of my sites. However, it is a major hassle to move so I'm not quite ready to move any of them yet. But I thought I should update a list of web hosts I compiled last year. It's located below. Keep in mind for the hosts that have "no" under WordPress, that doesn't mean they don't have WordPress installed. It just means I couldn't find any info about it on their site. Even if they don't have WordPress, that doesn't mean you can't download it yourself and install it.

Note: The monthly rate is for annual plans. Also, most hosts don't charge a setup fee for annual plan, except for One World ($15).

Read Too Many Sites in One Basket (384 words)

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/10/10/too-many-eggs-in-one-basket/feed/ 3 Do You Have a Back-up Plan? http://izachy.com/2006/07/31/do-you-have-a-back-up-plan/ http://izachy.com/2006/07/31/do-you-have-a-back-up-plan/#comments Mon, 31 Jul 2006 17:27:33 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/07/31/do-you-have-a-back-up-plan/ Continue reading →]]> Last week was not a good week for me. My wife got sick on Wednesday so I had to take care of the three monsters that my wife calls our kids. Then my mother-in-law was hospitalized on Thursday so my wife had to leave town for a couple of days (both my wife and her mother are fine now). Finally on Sunday, the in-laws from out of state came to visit without any warning. Yes, it was nice to see them again, but like the other days, I was not able to work (I start drafting Monday posts on Sunday). Even worst for me was that I did not have a back-up plan.

I have a back-up plan when I know I can't work on a certain day, but no plans for unexpected work outages. This is a big problem for me because my main site (not this one) is a newsy site and it is the site that allows me to work at home instead of a soul-sucking corporation. Not having any news on a business day is like a newspaper not having any news. Its looks very unprofessional.

I need to put together an emergency back-up plan. What about you? Do you have an emergency back-up plan?

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/07/31/do-you-have-a-back-up-plan/feed/ 0 Blogging to Infinity and Beyond http://izachy.com/2006/07/25/blogging-to-infinity-and-beyond/ http://izachy.com/2006/07/25/blogging-to-infinity-and-beyond/#comments Tue, 25 Jul 2006 07:08:30 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/07/25/blogging-to-infinity-and-beyond/ Continue reading →]]> Darren over on ProBlogger is asking bloggers what they would do differently if they had to start over again. The title of my post says it all for me, "Blogging to Infinity and Beyond." No, I don't mean I would start a blog about Buzz Lightyear or about space or about numbers. To me, the phrase "blogging to infinity and beyond" is about having fun. That's what blogging should be about — having fun.

When I started blogging, I focused too much on making money instead of having fun. As a result, posting was work for me. It wasn't something I looked forward to doing. I use to post several times a week on this blog. Now its just once a week. However, now that I have gone through this little exercise, I know what I'm doing wrong and this is something that I can easily correct. I just need to let the kid in me out and see where that takes me.

One of the nice things about a personal blog is that it's relatively easy to start over (compare to a business blog or site). After all, I am the boss. Why limit the content of my blog to just one area when there's a whole world of things I can blog about? Why should blogging be work when it can be fun?

That's it. That's what I would do if I had to start my blog over. I would blog to infinity and beyond.

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/07/25/blogging-to-infinity-and-beyond/feed/ 15 Someone is Spying on Me http://izachy.com/2006/07/06/someone-is-spying-on-me/ http://izachy.com/2006/07/06/someone-is-spying-on-me/#comments Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:36:24 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/07/06/someone-is-spying-on-me/ Continue reading →]]> I got an email from Amazon today about their huge selection of Crocs. I've received emails from Amazon before, but this email caught my attention. First, the email states, "Based on your previous purchases in Apparel, we thought you might be interested in our huge selection of Crocs at great prices." Very odd because my wife and I have never purchased apparel from Amazon. We have purchased books, dvd's, and cd's from Amazon, but no clothes or shoes.

Read Someone is Spying on Me (434 words)

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/07/06/someone-is-spying-on-me/feed/ 0 Free Guides on How to Post Videos and Movies Online http://izachy.com/2006/05/19/free-guides-on-how-to-post-videos-and-movies-online/ http://izachy.com/2006/05/19/free-guides-on-how-to-post-videos-and-movies-online/#comments Fri, 19 May 2006 15:59:38 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/05/19/free-guides-on-how-to-post-videos-and-movies-online/ Continue reading →]]> I got an email from Internet Video Magazine announcing their free guides on how to post videos and movies to free online video hosting services like YouTube, OneTrueMedia, MySpace, ViralFlix, GoogleVideo and StreamLoad.

According to Mark Shapiro, Video Guru, people don't need to spend hundreds of dollars or use an expensive service to shoot, edit and post their online videos. All you need is a digital video camcorder, a computer with free video editing software, and a high speed Internet connection. Most computers already come with video editing software. Windows XP comes with MovieMaker and Apple computers come with iMovie. Both are very powerful and easy to master programs that make it possible for almost anyone to create personal movies that can be posted online.

Internet Video Magazine provides easy to understand how to guides for all aspects of web video – from how to shoot video, to how to edit and prepare it for the web by using free software, and to how to upload and post it. Internet Video Magazine includes a list of free or inexpensive sites for hosting the videos and movies.

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/05/19/free-guides-on-how-to-post-videos-and-movies-online/feed/ 0 If Control Structure http://izachy.com/2006/05/10/if-control-structure/ http://izachy.com/2006/05/10/if-control-structure/#comments Wed, 10 May 2006 22:02:45 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/05/10/if-control-structure/ Continue reading →]]> Today I'm putting together a chart for the "if" control structure. The chart is intended for developers who program in php, vbscript, and javascript. Its easy to get the syntax wrong when you program with all three scripting languages.

Read If Control Structure (109 words)

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/05/10/if-control-structure/feed/ 0 Logical Operators for PHP, VBScript, Javascript http://izachy.com/2006/05/09/logical-operators/ http://izachy.com/2006/05/09/logical-operators/#comments Wed, 10 May 2006 00:50:52 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/05/09/logical-operators/ Continue reading →]]> In the past, I have worked with javascript, asp/vbscript, coldfusion, and a little bit of perl. Now, I've started working with php. I have to admit, it can get confusing at times (especially if you have to keep going back and forth between them). So, I decided I'm going to start putting together comparison charts for javascript, vbscript, and php (maybe perl and coldfusion down the road, but for now just the three scripting languages). My first chart will be for logical operators.

Read Logical Operators for PHP, VBScript, Javascript (149 words)

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/05/09/logical-operators/feed/ 0 Welcome to iZachy http://izachy.com/2006/05/04/welcome-to-izachy/ http://izachy.com/2006/05/04/welcome-to-izachy/#comments Thu, 04 May 2006 18:50:07 +0000 Ken Cheung http://izachy.com/2006/05/04/welcome-to-izachy/ Continue reading →]]> Hello. Welcome to my new blog, iZachy. No, my name is not Zachy, Zach, or Zachary. My son's name is Zachary, but he likes to call himself Zachy. He's two and will turn three this June.

iZachy will cover all things related to the web. Mainly, it will focus on web development — especially topics like asp scripting, vbscript, javascript, cold fusion, php, blogging, and WordPress.

Well, I hope you enjoy the site and I will get some content up soon.

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]]> http://izachy.com/2006/05/04/welcome-to-izachy/feed/ 0