Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

Digsby has a great little widget to allow you to have live chat on your site. Please look below in the right side and I have added this widget to the blog. This allows you to use your existing IM system (I use Digsby) to be a communication tool to your web visitors. You could use this for support or sales.

Here is the url: http://widget.digsby.com/

I use Digsby for my IM client. It allows me to consolidate the multiple IM systems I use (MSN, Gtalk, AIM, and yahoo)

I have not coded a windows service for a long time. The last time I touched a service I used the “installutil” from the framework to install it. I decided to make an IISreporter Service that would push your IIS stats out to a twitter site.

In the process I figured it would work best as a service. Since I am planning on pushing this to www.iisreporter.com and have it available for download it needed an installer. I got everything the way I wanted it and realized that I needed to set some custom app.config settings. Between the app.config settings and the installer for a service I did a bit of searching.

To touch the app.config settings during install you need to create a dialog form during the install to capture the input. Once you have the input you need to save that to the app.config during the install process. This is done with an installer class on the main project which saves the values. The last step is to call the installer class with a custom action during the install process.

Here is a great post about this process (MSI Install app.config settings)

I have to admit that I like my new iphone. I am able to do the things I require of a phone, make and answer calls. But I am also able to do the things that I require from a smart phone, read email (exchange), view calendar, sync contacts, and surf the web. What the Iphone brings to the table is the extras. The applications that are available make it more of a useful tool than just a phone.

I was able to justify a new phone because my other phone died (cracked screen and decided to shut off every 3 hours). However, the justification for getting an Iphone rather than replacing the one I had was a bit harder. Not just the cost, but also moving from windows Mobile to Apple.

In the end the applications and the interface won me over. After getting the iphone I was able to use the remote desktop application (over New Years) to save me in a client situation.

If the reasons I mentioned above are not enough. I just read this article (Card Counting)http://www.lvrj.com/business/39633187.html that talks about a card counting application for the iphone. You could justify your purchase with just this application and go out to make a little money using the program. I do not condone cheating (sounds like using an application to count cards is a federal offense) but you could test this program.

There are a lot of online chat / helpdesk programs out there that allow companies to offer live help on their site. In most cases they cost a pretty penny. I have used LivePerson in the past, a great program. It is a bit expensive but very useful. If you are looking for something on the cheap and use IM here is a quick solution.

Digsby offers a widget that you can embed into your site (see the bottom right of my site) it allows you to customize a chat box on your site to send you an IM.

(Digsby) – http://widget.digsby.com/

I have a HTPC (windows media center vista) hooked to a projector in my basement. It has been great for us to watch movies and play the wii. Recently I added a new plug-in to Windows Media Center called myNextflix (mynetflix)

This plug-in allows for us to watch Instant access movies from nextflix. It is great, my viewing pleasure has been increased now that I can quickly browse live access movies.

Currently I am watching MI-5 Volume 3. The quality is fantastic. I think the netflix play is using Silverlight. I am not sure, however the quality of the video and the performance has been great so far.

I have been working with the oomph tool kit and see how this can be a valuable tool.  It can work well for corporate sites and areas where people need to share contact and events.   It really does make the process of posting an event easy and allowing for a great way for people to add these events to their calendars (multiple types). 

It also makes adding a contact to your contact list simple.

Take a look at these examples:

Contact Example:   www.tilde32.com/contact.aspx

Event Example: Blog:  http://jimiz.net/blog

The Oomph icon or microformat icon will show in the upper left of a site that contains microformat information.

There is a codeplex project for oomph: http://codeplex.com/oomph

Also some information on Mix Labs: http://visitmix.com/Lab/Oomph

Another feature of the Oomph toolkit is the ability to use events and have them be available as ics files (or calendar entries)

I am adding an event I plan on attending “Tech Trends with Keith Brophy” in the grand rapids area.  If you look in the Microformat (upper left of the site).  and hit the little Icon   you can see the events and contacts on this page.  If this event was on the side bar it too would be showing on the Oomph popover.

I have been testing out the oomph toolkit.  You can read more about this at the Mix09 web site http://visitmix.com/Lab/Oomph. 

It is a micro format viewer for web applications.   I have inserted my hcard (contact information) into this page.  Note the little icon in the upper left.

Jim Becher

Tilde32

jbecher@gmail.com

Grand Rapids, MI 49534 United States

616.828.0327

jimiz.net

I love SSH I’m not sure if there is a better tool out there. It can be used so many ways. I have often been at client locations and been unable to access servers or sites I need to support or do work on. Corporations often block sites that I support and need access to so use my home SSH server to be a proxy to connect. I use this same technique when I am in a coffee shop or unsecured wireless and want to browse securely. To use SSH as a proxy you just need to turn on Tunnels.

You can do this through the command line
$ssh -D 1234 yourusername@yoursshserver.com
or through PUTTY
In putty you just need to open up the tunnels area under ssh and add the PORT you want to use (example: 1234) and then select the Dynamic Destination (AKA the internet)

To use the tunnel (SOCKS) you just need to change your internet connection settings in your browser. Firefox: Tools | Options | Advanced | Network | connection Settings.

This is a great way to keep your browsing secure.

I stumbled upon this site that is pretty interesting. It shows some detail that I was looking for on how sites market keywords and some possible spending trends. It is somewhat accurate. I was able to benchmark the site against a few of the clients that I have done work with.

(Keyword spy) http://www.keywordspy.com/overview/domain.aspx?q=jimiz.net

I put a link to look at my blog. You will notice that I don’t pay for any keywords for this blog (ha ha), that is because I don’t make money off this blog. But it does a good job of showing some competitors, though I would laugh that none of the referenced sites I could do any kind of competition with. But for a public facing site or an ecommerce site this is a pretty valuable tool.

I’m not sure if this plan will work. But I’m excited that someone is pushing the envelope and trying things. I agree , it is the small business and entrepreneurs that will help us further our economy and financial situation. People who are motivated can do a lot of things, in particular they work to make things better.

This is a concept of “open source” and “transparency”.

(Stimulus Plan) – http://blogmaverick.com/2009/02/09/the-mark-cuban-stimulus-plan-open-source-funding/

Here is an interesting discussion / article on copying someones business model or even their design. Is it right to take a working site or design and re-use it or make your business around it.

Reading through this the idea behind it is that the company that is riding the coat tails, or copying another business does not know the concepts or ideas behind the final deliverable. The iterations and development that goes into the final solutions are all learning tools to make the final product.
(LINK) – http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1561-why-you-shouldnt-copy-us-or-anyone-else

In particular they are taking about two great business’s and sites. 37signals and Fog Creek

Original Article: (article) – http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/8354//Why-Your-Startup-Shouldn-t-Copy-37signals-or-Fog-Creek.aspx

Google announced sync. I like this move, the ability to sync info into the cloud. Those of us who have used Exchange for a while have had the great feature to have instant sync from a server to your device.

http://www.google.com/mobile/default/sync.html (sync)

Now people with out an exchange server can now use google to do this for you.

I’m starting a new project to store my DVD’s Wii games and stuff in my basement and wanted to try something new. After a little looking I found an article on lifehacker.com that had a pretty good idea for me.

So I’m looking for some large old school Hi-Fi speakers to take ownership of. Anyone in the GR area have something they are looking to get rid of?
(New project)

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-turn-broken-speakers-into-the-ultimate-medi/

Since I finally got a new phone (iPhone) my old blue tooth head-set a jabra BT250 (Info) did not seem to have that great of quality with the phone. I’m not sure if it was because it is 5 years old or that technology has changed. The BT250, as ugly as it is, treated me very well. I used it in the car and when I was at home.

Yesterday my new Blue Tooth arrived via usps. It is a Jawbone 2 (Jawbone) What a great headset. My kids were in the background during my last conference call and people did not even hear them, and I could hear the conversation (wow). I’m not sure how the noise canceling is done, but it is great.

So I am now back to being safe. Using a headset when driving and being able to hear, what a great thing. I was able to get the Jawbone 2 for ($69) from (mrbdepot.com)