Blogger Releases the new version of the Label Widget

Blogger has released a new label gadget. Use it either in cloud or list form. source

Commenter Widget

Here is a great widget I found from WidgetForFree. It is easily installed in Blogger and list the top commenters out of the last 100 comments. Who has commented the most? This is how you find out.

Further info and Installation

Blogumus - Animated Tag Cloud

Image via Wikipedia

Use this article to make a tag cloud. Blogumus

See the example in the side bar. It's easy to use but before you do you should make sure that you simplify your labels and make sure they don't have special characters

How to Change the Favicon in Blogger

I came across this great article on how to change the FavIcon in the addressbars of browser. This is a nice little tactic.

How to Change the Favicon in Blogger

The Ironman Widget

Issuu Now With Better API

We have a good news. We can do more with Issuu. Here is an article talking about the new features..


Issuu Now With Better API’s

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Creating Free Flash Websites

I have heard about a service that allows you to build flash websites and widgets for free. You just go to Wix.com and it allows you to pull almost any popular flash trick you have seen using drag and drop technique. It makes it really simple! Here is an example:



Free website - Wix.com

Adding Polls to Web Site/Blog

I have found 2 ways to put polls in your blogger post. Most tools allow you to put polls into the side bar of your site, but if you want to put it in your post you have to go through a little work.

1. Method One -
I like this method just fine. You just use the widget for installing a poll into the blog and then copy and past the HTML for generating into the post that you want.

2. Use a service like PollDaddy. You get a free account, design the poll, and then get the code to make the poll as a flash object. Then you can paste it where you want it. This my preferred method!

Tweetstream

Here is a cool tool that allows users to add near real-time twitter stream to any website or blog. You can get it at TweetSteam.

Tweet-A-File

I've just come across another Twitter tool designed to allow users to share files with one another. This one is pretty cool. Just login using your twitter account, browse for the file on your computer you want to send, and then send it. The homepage is at Tweetafile.

Addendum to Summarizing Blog Posts

As I mentioned in the previous post there is a way to automatically summarize your blog posts with thumbnails. However I found the problem that when you go to the full post, you can't return back to the listing without hitting the "back" button on your browser. So I added a code to add a link to allow the user to return to the main pages. Add the following to the next line after the the steps proscribed.

<p><a href="[URL]">Return to main page</a></p>

Summarizing Posts on a Landing Page

I have looked at some ways of trying to change my blog to make it more user-friendly. One suggestion made by friend Mariano suggested that I add the function of summarizing my blog posts on the main page and giving the reader the option of reading further. The idea is to make the blogs load faster and make it more easier to use.

Mariano suggested a method where each post is summarized in the HTML using small changes in the blog's template and in the post itself. This method is great because it give you so much control over what the post looks like when the blog loads. The problem is that in order to take advantage all older posts will have to be augmented but every new post will have the structure in place and I am too lazy to add the HTML to the older posts because I have blogs containing more than 500 posts. Here is the code on how to make it happen from Mariano himself and you can visit Mariano's blog, Atheism is Dead, to see it in action.



I have found another alternate method to do something similar. I like this method a little better because it automatically summarizes the posts and puts a thumbnail of the first image in the post in the summary. In order to pull it off, you just need to follow the steps in the following website: Automatic Post Summaries for Blogger with Thumbnails. You have control over how many words are in the summary as well as quite a few other things.

Scientific Calculators

Image by D-Kav via Flickr

I'm an engineer and sometimes mathematical calculation show up on my blog. In order to make it easier to do the math and for my blog readers to check the calculations themselves I looked for calculator gadget solutions. I have found two options that I like.

Maths-Whizz Scientific Calculator
This one is great for a blog or website and completely free. It has all the functions and features I crave. Had I had it college, I would have needed no other calculator. As for some of the pre-built features that other calculators have like converting units of measure, I don't need those. I'd rather convert them myself.

eCalc
This one I liked too, but it seems to be best for a desktop uses. The other things is that it's not free - $15. Good freeware, however.

True Twit for Twitter

Get tired of spam tweets? How do you know if the person you are considering to follow isn't a script "bot" but a real person? I just found out about a service called True Twit that is a third party verifier. It a twitter user can respond to the service the person is added to your followed list otherwise the tweeter is ignored.

Zemanta - Blog publishing Tool

Image via CrunchBase

I just found out about a free browser add-one that works a little like Apture but offers different things. It's called Zemanta. One of the features I like most is that it can add a "re-blog" button to your post. Readers can select a portion of the post they like and easily re-post it on their own blog. It also helps in choosing tags, collecting images and videos, and collecting relevant links. You can download it and find out more information at the following link.

Zemanta TypePad from zemanta on Vimeo.

It's different from Apture in that the tool is part of the browser and not part of your blog.

Twit This

I just saw a tool I liked for twittering blog posts called Twit This. It is used to easily tweet a post with the press of the a button. What's different is that you can select a word or phrase that answers the Twitter question "What are you doing?" with your link in your post to the Twitter stream. It's pretty cool. If you want to use it follow the following link: http://twitthis.com/tools and Cranial Soup.

Recent Posts Widget for Blogger with Thumbnails and much more..

I just found ot about a great little gadget that lists the latest posts of your blog. apparently, you can put it anywhere that accepts HTNL. It's pretty Cool. Get it here and see it in action in the left side bar.

Automating Excel from VB.Net - Link to Excel Lost

I've been maintaining some software of years that i wrote that compares inventory data with GIS data. It uses some of Excel's spreadsheet function to pull this off. I use Excel's object library to get the effect. It's worked great until recently and ironically the problem shows up most consistently on the fastest computer I've ever used at work up until now. In the middle of processing, I've been getting an error message that says that the "link to the spreadsheet has been lost" and then the program crashes. For days I could not find the problem. But then when I stepped through through the VB.Net code stey-by-step the program worked then I realized it was because I allowing the steps in Excel to finish before the rest tof the program continued. It turns out that because my program and Excel are being processed in different threads, the Excel thread could be lagging behind my code. I have had to put code into a function in VB that tells the processor to pause for a certain number of milliseconds. 1000 milliseconds is 1 second. Therefore

System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(10000)

makes the program pause for 10 seconds which would give the excel thread 10 more seconds to complete what it is doing. It's my theory.

Tweeting Music via Blip.fm

I was watching Attack of the Show and they spotlighted a tool that allows you send tweets with embedded music links. The service is called Blip.fm and you can also take advantage of several other great social networking tools and services.

Homepage

Get Paid For Clicking Ads

If you want to get paid by viewing ads and not having to pay anything I think I have found the perfect opportunity. I got a link from Twitter and it does not require doing anymore than referring it to other people and looking at advertisement while you are surfing the internet. I've looked into it and its easy. Download a toolbar and use it to search the internet. Click on the "Ads" button and a list of ads based on the page you are on pops up in a side bar. Click on any that interest you, and you can see the amount of money you earn increase. The downside is that you are going to have to see many, many ads before you make anything substantial. At least it is free. As Kevin from Attack of the Show signs off his minute-long segments on free games: "What do you want for nothin?'"

If you are interested, follow the following link, register, and get clicking.
Get the Bar

Publishing Links

If you have used Twitter or Facebook then you know that sometimes you want to post a link to website but many urls are long and hard to use and in twitter it can really eat up your 140 characters. I mean you could use TweetDeck or some other third party tool to shorten your URL to something more manageable. I found this online tool called bit.ly and it will shorten any URL you put into it and also allows you to tweet the link in twitter, and even tracks the number of times someone clicks on the link.

bit.ly

Twitter Tools: File Social.com

As one spends more and more time on Twitter, there will come a time to send files to one another. We have several options. One of those is FileSocial. You can upload files and then Tweet a link to others for download. IT's an option but by far not the only one.

FileSocial.com

Tecmo Koei Boss Implores Sony For "Welcomed" PS3 Price Cut

I just read the following from G4TV and I agree I want a PS3 price-cut because I sure would buy one!

from G4 TV - TheFeed

Undoubtedly, there are quite a few gamers out there who would love to see Sony drop the price of the PlayStation 3, if only to prove that analysts can still make solid predictions every now and then. Well, it seems gamers aren't the only ones hoping Sony's heart (as well as its install base) grows three sizes sometime soon.

In a recent interview with CVG, publisher Tecmo Koei's CEO Kenji Matsubara reveals that he's been consistently pressing Sony for a "welcomed" PS3 price drop for some time now.

However, Matsubara explains that while a price cut would obviously expand the PS3 market, "It's Sony's strategy, and I don't know their cost structure. Sony introduced cutting-edge technology in the PS3, that's why people in the industry accept that the PS3 cost is so high, but we'd welcome a price cut."

Matsubara's is an unsurprising position, but it's also one that reflects the feelings of most gamers who have yet to make the PS3 plunge strictly because of its price point. A price drop is coming sooner rather than later, so now it's really just a waiting game to see when exactly Sony wants its hardware sales to skyrocket.

Source

Home - Twitter Scheduler - Twitter Client - Twitter Calendar - Twitter Business Tools - twAitter.com

Home - Twitter Scheduler - Twitter Client - Twitter Calendar - Twitter Business Tools - twAitter.com

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Online Debate Hosts!

There is a social networking site that hosts written debates. If you was to write out essays discussing opinions on matters, you go into the site, login, and then set the parameters of the debate. You can set the number of rounds and even invite other people to read the exchanges. I have the feeling that I'm going to need this tool at Debate.org

Voice Twittering

Blogger: Favorite Gadgets - Create Post
I just learned from Dr James White's Blog that there is a product, called vlingo. It allows you to send text messages and e-mail by talking to your phone! He plans to use it to twitter his thoughts that he doesn't have time to blog.This is an amazing idea that seems to work well for him so far. Vlingo works for Blackberry, IPhone, Nokia, and Windows Mobile! I'd like to try this method myself sometime soon. The Blackberry Demo is directly below.


IPhone Demo

Distributing Blog As PDF

I came across an interesting widget: PDF24. It allows you to give visitors the option to take a blog post they like, fill out their e-mail address and have the blog post e-mailed to themselves. I tried it on a blog I was reading yesterday and it worked. And it worked well. The only thing is that it took several hours to get the e-mail. I made the request yesterday morning and the e-mail came last night...several hours. The only other thing I did not like about it is that the plugin is optimized for Wordpress not Blogger/Blogspot which is what I use. Hopefully Blogspot will be supported soon.
So instead I found another hack for blogger that's not as elegant and I could not get it to work on my blog.

There are several tools offered by PDF24.

Top 10 Ad Programs for Web Publishers | TutorialFeed

Here is a post for free Ad programs for blogs/websites.

Top 10 Ad Programs for Web Publishers | TutorialFeed

Megan Fox Trashes Transformers Committs Career Suicide!

I don't know if this report is true or not. I hope it's not. Apparently, Megan Fox has poo pooed Michael Bay's films as being special effects driven and not character driven. I mean that's career suicide! I don't know why she would say that. But Michael Bay has made a statement.

Michael Bay let his feelings be known in an interview with the WallStreet Journal;

Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.”

Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in “Transformers.” I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.

Talk about biting the hand that is biting you! I sure hope she isn't kissing her career goodbye.

Microsoft Has A...Blog?

I was doing some research for my job today and I found out several things I didn't know. I was searching for information on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. VS 2008 is an Integrated Developer Environment (IDE) which just means that it's software to help write other software. I have used previous versions of it practically daily since 1999. So Now we are looking to upgrade to a newer version. I've got to admit that I started with version 6 (released in 1998) and the product has only improved over the past 10 years (dang...am I that old?). I cam to find out (shock) that Microsoft is looking to release version 2010 next year and a Beta version is already available for download and (awe!) there is maintaining a blog on Google's blogspot for development notes and news on programming with Microsoft Products!

After comparing 2008 specs with 2010 specs it is my opinion that i should just upgrade to 2010 when it comes out and skip 2008 altogether. We want to be able to access the .Net coding languages, Python, Silverlight, parallel processing on multiple CPUs, and multi-threading. Visual Studio 2010 will give us all of this including easier automation of Microsoft Office products. Here is another site for more info on VS 2010 features.

The other thing is I found out about a coding library that can be run on Visual Studio 2005 or newer for making Facebook applications on top of ASP.Net application. It's called Facebook.Net and I've got to download it and check it out.

Here are the links I found on it.
Facebook.Net
VS.NET starter kit for Nikhil Kothari's Facebook.NET
Nikkil's blog post