Productivity

Use Kickstarter to start your next fundraising project

Posted by scott on Nov 28, 2010 in Fun, Marketing, Networking, Productivity | 0 comments

A few weeks ago, I happened upon Kickstarter.com, when my friend, Ellen Evret Hopman, sent a message that she was wanting to raise money to visit Ireland for inspiration for her next book. Ellen Evret Hopman is an award winning author who has written both fiction and non-fiction books on the topics of Druidry, Celtic Lore and Spirituality, and Herbalism. So naturally I was interested in helping to support her next book project!

Kickstarter is an online site for collecting supporters or pledges to fund any creative project or endeavor. Unlike other fundraising sites, Kickstarter is an “all or nothing” pledging system. For example, if you set a goal of $4000 to fund your project fully, then ask others to support your idea and go to Kickstarter to pledge, only when your total goal of $4000 is reached by pledges will they charge the credit cards of those who pledge. If you don’t reach your goal by 90 days, all pledges are cancelled.

Some of the other great features of Kickstarter are the ability to designate “rewards” for certain levels of pledges, should your project be funded. In Ellen’s case, if you pledge over $3, she will send a postcard to you from Ireland while on her journey. Pledge $50, and if the project is funded, she will send you an autographed copy of the book she’s completing! These are great incentives for inspiring giving, as they keep those who pledge “in the process” and further inspired!

I’m also astounded by the very thorough social media integration they have put in place. You can share a Kickstarter project on Facebook, via Email, via Twitter, and even place a widget on your website to attract more supporters (like what I’ve done in this post for Ellen!).

So, if you have a great idea for your next creative project, but need some funding to get you going, check out Kickstarter and give it a try. In 90 days, you could be well on your way!

When you forget your laptop’s power cord

Posted by scott on Oct 2, 2010 in Fun, Productivity, WordPress | 0 comments

I’m typing this blog post from a public computer in Madison, Wisconsin.  I took a small trip here to visit friends and attend a couple of fun events – had every intention of also working as much as possible, but I opened my laptop bag to find I had left my power cord AT HOME.

This has probably happened to many of us at one time or another.  Strangely enough though, I learned a lot from this experience, and I learned that by using enough web and cloud-based services, and being creative in finding public computer workstations, that I could get by quite nicely without my laptop.

Here’s what I did:

WordPress 3.0 is here!

Posted by scott on Jun 17, 2010 in Fun, Productivity, WordPress | 0 comments

I thought I’d have some fun and use the new prepackaged “2010 Theme” for WordPress 3.0 for my site for a while!  With this built in theme, this is what a new user to wordpress can create as far as look and feel in less than 20 minutes! Nothing too fancy, but a lot more featured than the standard Kubrick theme that was previously bundled as the default.

WordPress 3.0 is what so many of us have been waiting for!  I’ll let you all take a peek at what’s new in WordPress 3.0 with the video below!

IE 8 issues – What you can do

Posted by scott on Apr 20, 2010 in Productivity | 0 comments

A few of my clients have recently had issues with web sites no longer loading for them.  They recently also upgraded to Windows 7 and are using Internet Explorer 8.

Enter in the new issues with the Internet Explorer browser.

The new beta versions of IE 8 were originally heralded as a “more standards compliant” web browser.  However, even as it was released, over 2400 popular sites were incompatible with the new browser – including Google.com and even Microsoft.com!

As a web designer, new versions of IE seem to always spell trouble.  So many of us web designers and webmasters can tell a mountain’s worth of horror stories on IE’s rampant incompatibility with established web standards over the years (and the extra time it costs OUR CLIENTS for us to design workarounds for IE).

So here are my tips for working around the new IE 8 issues:

• CHANGE YOUR WEB BROWSER!  There are now more browsers to choose from that are made for Mac, Windows, and even Unix/Linux.  Some of my suggestions are Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Google Chrome.
• If you are a Windows 7 and IE 8 user, change your settings to force Compatibility:In order to enable and turn on Compatibility View mode for all web pages and websites, click on Tools menu, and select Compatibility View Settings. In the “Compatibility View Settings” dialog, tick the check box for Display all websites in Compatibility View option. Click on Close button when done.
  
• If you insist on IE8 compatibility with your own web site, ask your web master to apply this meta tag in your web site’s header:<meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Compatible” content=”IE=EmulateIE7″ />

I will be adding that meta tag to sites a lot I’m guessing!

Also, if you need to keep IE 8 as your default browser, Call That Girl! Computer Repair has posted a video on how to reconfigure IE8 to address this issue and others.

iLingual – a fun iPhone App

Posted by scott on Mar 29, 2010 in Fun, Productivity | 0 comments

I thought I’d share this fun video about probably one of the coolest iPhone apps in development right now. (Even though I don’t even own an iPhone!)

Going to abroad anytime soon?

Use your iPhone to speak French phrases in a flawless accent.

You can choose from over 400 phrases, ranging from asking
directions in the airport to buying an all-in-one ski suit.

Take a picture of your mouth, then choose one of the phrases stored on the app. When you play the phrase in French, German, or Arabic, your onscreen mouth will move in synch, as if you were saying it yourself.

For more information, visit the Emirates iLingual application page!

HolisticGeek.com’s Maintenance Guarantee

Posted by scott on Jan 23, 2010 in Productivity | 0 comments

From now on for my existing clients, when you purchase a 4-hour block of maintenance or editing for your existing web site, you are guaranteed a turn-around time of 24-48 hours on all edit requests which take one hour or less!*

Plus, all of your maintenance and edits are now tracked on your unique and secure Client Portal Page.  If you’ve purchased maintenance blocks in the past, you may not have heard, but now your maintenance is tracked in a password protected area, where you can easily see the time tracked, what was edited, and how much pre-purchased time you have remaining.

Some advantages to purchasing a 4-hour maintenance block include: