Technology

Since I post a bit often I have cut back down the number of entries to four days worth on the main page again. The page itself seems to be loading a bit faster now that I have changed everything over. Still not using FastCGI though. After that last attempt I am very wary of changing anything like that. Maybe I will mess with it a bit next week.

I am also running the beta 4 version of Movabletype 4 now, oh by the way. I really like what they are doing with Movabletype although a lot of the newer features are stuff that I just will never use, or at least it seems so right now.

Technorati : Movabletype

I will have to be careful and watch anything else I put in with Bloggerwave or any other one that inserts code. Part of the disclosure is a <div> tag that just completely screwed up my site. It’s gone now but took me a minute to find.

One thing I may do that will help out the lagginess on my PC is to upgrade the RDRAM. Part of the problem is that I always have a bunch of windows open when I am working on something, such as the webcast yesterday, and I like to multi-task. I have about a gig of memory but I am considering tripling it. My sponsors at CheapestRDRAM.com have some pretty good deals on memory at their site.

I can get another GB of RDRAM from them for about $250. It’s two sticks of PC800-45. If you’ve never changed or added memory to a motherboard it’s actually pretty easy. Not quite plug and play but just about. The biggest pain for most people, depending on the computer they have is to be able to find where it goes. It’s fairly easy for me as I like to keep the inside of my case clutter free and tie off all of the cables and wiring so that air can flow through the case.

They also have a list of compatible computers and motherboards on the site so that you know if it’s the right memory for you. They also have directions (with pictures!) on how to install RDRAM.

John Chow, the dude that knows how to make money online, is hosting another contest in conjunction with BlueFur.com who is trying to get the word out that they are hosting Canada by giving away a 24″ LG LCD Monitor. Sweet. All you have to do is head on over to johnchow.com, read the rules, and enter the damn contest. How much more simple could it be?

This is sponsored by PhotoFiddle, the company that lets you turn your photos into some seriously kick-butt canvas artwork. Just pick out your photos, upload them and review, crop the stuff that you don’t want, check out your artwork and order the stuff. How much more simple can it get?

Here’s the latest press release from PhotoFiddle:

Photographers, from pros to point & shoot alike, can now artistically enhance their digital pics and traditional photos into stylized photo art masterpieces on professionally stretched canvas using dozens of easy-to-create artistic designs, finishes and collage templates, online at www.PhotoFiddle.com.

From table size to wall size, PhotoFiddle.com can transform a simple digital photo in seconds into a dazzling array of art styles, from watercolor and pop art to a black and white line drawing or oil painting. PhotoFiddle.com is a fun way to become an instant artiste and add a creative flair to individual photos or collages. And, it’s a compelling alternative to custom designers and professional framers who are far more costly and take weeks to deliver.

PhotoFiddle.com is easy to use, takes only a few minutes for a design, and doesn’t require any creative expertise, software purchase or program knowledge. Unlike some of the well known photo and art programs, ‘PhotoFiddlers’ simply register and follow four easy steps 1, Uploading a picture to the site from a digital camera or scanned image, 2. Cropping and reviewing the art, 3. Choosing a design for PhotoFiddle to apply the photo, which can be previewed before 4. Ordering. Final artwork is available on professionally stretched canvas, framed or rolled canvas or museum quality, archival photo paper.

Among the most popular of the more than 50 PhotoFiddle designs and templates are:
– Pop Art
– Stained Glass
– Pencil Sketches
– Tinted
– Painting
– Collage designs
– Comic Book
– Filmstrip

PhotoFiddle allows users to experiment with different template designs without paying any setup fees in the convenience in their own home. Users can even email copies of the custom artwork for preview by family, friends, and associates before ordering.

Gallery art canvas and archival photo paper sizes are available from a simple 8″ x 10″ to as large as 6 ft. x 24 ft. The company offers live customer support during normal business hours, and an online tutorial for standard questions or creative input on projects.

Whether it’s a memento from a recent vacation, an old picture that’s been stuck in a draw for decades, or a bunch of 4×6 album photos that can be brought to life in a striking photo collage, PhotoFiddle canvas artwork is an ideal gift for anniversaries, weddings, or as an elegant accoutrement to home décor. Gift certificates are also available.

About PhotoFiddle
PhotoFiddle, headquartered in Melville, New York, offers 3-4 day turnaround on customized photo art that users design online, at far less cost than custom framers or home design professionals. For more information visit: www.PhotoFiddle.com.

Examples of Photofiddle.com work:
http://www.emediawire.com/prfiles/2005/05/18/242325/paintingstyles2.pdf

…and here are a couple of examples…

That’s pretty cool. But how do people or animals look?

I was pretty impressed checking out the website. You can order something as simple as an 8″ by 10″ or a behemoth as large as 6ft by 24ft. Holy cow! The also have live tech support during normal business hours, so go check it out and give them a chance.

It appears as if my damn site is down again. It’s 6:54PM right now, let’s see how long it will take before I am back online. Damnitall. I hate when things don’t go just the way they are supposed to in my world. It’s my frigging Internet and needs to behave properly.

That was weird. I can get to it now, so it was only down for a few minutes. Maybe they had to reboot the server. Weird time to be doing that crap though. It’s extremely laggy though.

If you got an error posting a comment, it looks like I couldn’t get to the SQL server either for a couple of minutes there.

This is sponsored by AimPromote On-Demand Lead Management, a leading provider of marketing integration tools.

Anyone familiar with CRM and customer relationship management knows that it can be tricky to get the right package for their business. CRM software is generally top heavy, complex and confusing to the very people that have to use it. The great majority of customer relationship management software packages that are available today for enterprise solutions don’t have as much benefit for the people using it as they don’t understand it or even use most of the features.

AIMpromote gets rid of the hard parts for sales teams and allows them to learn the features quickly and easily so that they can actually USE the software. AIMpromote also offers a 14-Day full featured trial which should be more than enough time to fully appreciate the power in this software package.

One of the things that is really nice for supervisors is that they can set it up so that only the team leaders have access to all features and members of the sales team will only be able to access the parts that are pertinent to what they are doing. This leads to much less confusion as they will only see the parts that are actually going to be used in day-to-day operations.

Check out AIMpromote and sign up for their 14-Day free trial to see why AIMpromote is a technology leader in sales lead management.

It’s been about an hour and a half since I first called Charter so I figured that I would call back. Their computers answer in fucking Spanish now apparently. I don’t even get the press one for Spanish press two for english any more. Just some fucking Spanish and then about three minutes of cheesy porn music, then the loop starts again. I swear I am about ready to put my head through the wall before I have to listen to any more of it.

What’s with this bullshit anyway. Did Charter get bought out by the Mexicans when I wasn’t looking and they just forgot to tell me about it? I’m half tempted to get a land line again just so that I can go back to DSL. The only reason I got rid of it in the first place was because I didn’t need the phone any more but they won’t let you have DSL without it. If it means I get to speak to someone that actually grew up speaking English and actually lives here I may just do it.

I finally just hung up and called information back to get a different city listing. Yeah, this time I get the English computer. Thank goodness.

I ended up taking the laptop down and after a few resets was able to connect. About fucking time…