Sometimes technical, sometimes not, never a kitty

In the beginning, Community Credit was fun.  Make some blog posts, answer some forum questions, and get a geeky prize (don't judge me, swag whores).  After a while, some folks figured out how to game the system a little, and some seriously major participants also signed up.  Not sure how some of these people got all those points.  It wasn't fun, because you couldn't even come close.

Recently, David has made some changes.  Some of the top contributors were promoted to the Hall of Fame, point values have been changed, and a negative curve is applied to winners for two months.  Suddenly, stupid prizes are readily available again.  I'm awaiting my 10th place from July.  Woot!

Friends Cindy Closkey and Mike Woychek are back in the saddle with another awesome opportunity to learn about blogging, podcasting and marketing in the "new media".  Sadly, I'll be on my way to Hilton Head Island this weekend.  But don't let that be an excuse not to attend--it will still be a great event.

In case you haven't heard, PodCamp Pittsburgh is coming back for a SECOND great year!

WHAT: PodCamp Pittsburgh 2 (or PCPGH2)
WHEN: August 18-19, 2007@ 9 AM - 5 PM
WHERE: The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (420 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh PA 15219)
COST: FREE!

UPDATED! The session schedule is open! Please visit the website to view the schedule or add your own if you want to conduct a session and share your knowledge!

Meet social media creators -- and fellow viewers / listeners / readers!

Exchange tips, build contacts and launch new ideas!

Learn how to integrate (or improve) podcasting, blogging and social networking into YOUR
business!

Questions? Sponsorships? Registration?

For more information, please visit our website:

http://podcamppittsburgh.com

You can also add us at Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcpgh

Looking forward to seeing everyone in August!

I’m excited to announce the re-launch of the Honda North Blog.  We changed the software from dasBlog to BlogEngine.NET, and I converted a skin from OSWD.

So, if you’re looking for a Honda in western Pennsylvania, check out Honda North, and their blog at http://www.hondanorthblog.com/.

SubSonic:
ProMesh.Net MVC Source Code
SubSonic: SonicCast 6 - LINQ, LinqToSql, and SubSonic

Membership:
Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Membership API Extended

E-commerce:
Amazon to take on PayPal and Google Checkout

Jasper:
Codename "Jasper": Rails or Django for .NET?
Build Dynamic Database Applications in .NET with Project Codename "Jasper"

Kevin Gearing of DotNetFreak has released an updated CAPTCHA control for .NET.  Not only compiled against the latest version, there are a lot of new features, too:

Version 2 of FormShield builds on the previous .NET 1.1 version, adding a wealth of new features, options and accessibility improvements. The most notable feature addition is the capability for FormShield to now automatically generate a spoken version of the value shown on the image to aid with accessibility legal compliance. This however is just one of a handful of major new features, not to mention the number of improvements and changes made since the previous version.

If you’re looking for an ASP.NET CAPTCHA control, this one is worth checking out.

Full story at http://dotnetfreak.co.uk/blog/archive/2007/07/13/formshield-for-net-2-0-released.aspx

If you’re interested in getting started blogging, but don’t really understand what blogs are, or what the fuss is all about, maybe the best idea is to wade into the blogosphere, rather than dive in.  A recent article at Marketing Profs includes this advice, from ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse:

Listen first, and then join the conversation.

What he means here is start by reading blogs.  Then, leave some comments when you feel you have something to say.  Once you’re comfortable with expressing your opinion, start your own blog.  And that’s where the rest of Marketing Prof’s tips come into play.

Full story at Blogging Baby Steps: How to Join the Conversation Without Starting Your Own

Subsonic (slow down Rob, I can't watch these fast enough!):
SonicCast #4: All About Rails
SonicCast #5: REST, LINQ (Beta 2), And Other Acronyms

Blogging:
Blog pirates on the horizon!
GTD Wiki for Bloggers by Gina Trapani and Barb Dybwad

Misc:
Friday Humour: Spinal Tap's set from Live Earth
Coding4Fun Developer Kit - Home

On Friday at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Wikia, the Web 2.0 community builder behind Wikipedia, gave the world an update on its progress toward building a new search platform based on open-source software and human collaboration.
...
Wikia executives said that by combining Grub with the power of a wiki to form social consensus, the Wikia search project has taken the next major step toward a future in which search is open and transparent.  

Full article at http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=13200C4Q51SO&nl=2; additional story at http://www.linuxinsider.com/edpick/58567.html

At first blush, this sounds like a great idea!  But, where human input is allowed--especially when from anonymous sources--one must watch for agenda-driven results, rather than relevance-driven results.  We see this already with Google-bombing, Digg-ing, and even on Wikipedia itself.   Part of the death knell of DMOZ was ego-driven editors keeping rivals from the listings.  The directory was wildly incomplete, and its utility was limited and eventually surpassed by Google's* search abilities and completeness.

For politicians, their entries in Wikipedia are a constant tug-of-war between their supporters (or their staff) and those who oppose the politician.  Usually, the truth is somewhere in the middle, but depending on the moment you read Wikipedia, are you getting the full story?

User reviews have also become targets of "black-hat" techniques.  Recently here in Pittsburgh, someone rated six flower shops with almost identical comments (now removed) and 1-2 stars.  There was obvious malicious intent, possibly from a competitor.  The reviewer could not show she had ever been a customer from any of the shops she reviewed, which is why the reviews were promptly removed when pointed out to the review service.

Anonymous human collaboration has opened up an entire new industry known as "reputation management".  The mere existance of such an industry puts the lie to the idea that harnessing human collaboration is superior to cold mathematics.  I'd much rather have the scatter from mathematics than a single train of thought provided by the most active linkers/diggers/editors.

*Yes, I'm aware Google has human editors tweak search results, but I'm not sure to what extent, and from what Matt Cutts has implied, it's mainly to cull spammy and malicious results or confirm algorithms.

INC.com recently published an article with 10 tips for choosing a domain name.  All are pretty good, but this one needs some elaboration:

2. Short and easy to spell -- Shorter is better.  A short URL is easier to remember and less likely to be misspelled than a long one.  For obvious reasons, avoid any domain name that by its nature is hard to spell or confusing.

Not just easy to spell--easy to say on the phone or the radio.  I can't tell you how many times I hear domain names said on the radio, and have no idea how to spell them.  If you're buying radio advertising, include a clear spelling--accents (especially the Pittsburgh-ese in this area) make B and V, M and N difficult to discern.

Full article at http://technology.inc.com/internet/articles/200707/campbell.html.

In my continuous quest for The Perfect RSS Aggregator, I've tried a number of options, including Thunderbird, NewsGator, Google Reader and RSS Bandit.  I've lately been testing FeedGhost, and have been very pleased thus far.

Upon installation, a three-step installer gets you started very easily with the reading style, importing OPML and choosing a theme.  When the app starts, you're trated to a gorgeous interface.  Even on Windows XP, the application carries a Vista look.  Screenshots are available from their website at http://www.feedghost.com/Promo/Screenshots.aspx.  Instead of a menu, FeedGhost uses a ribbon-like interface.  I am partial to the Outlook-style interface, but the application can also be used in the Google Reader "river of news" style.

After installing at work, FeedGhost imported the OPML from RSS Bandit flawlessly, and started checking for posts.  FeedGator is fairly fast--considerably faster than Thunderbird, but not quite as fast as RSS Bandit (still the fastest RSS aggregator I've found).

FeedGhost supports tagging of posts, and the creating of "link blogs" (similar to del.icio.us) which can be shared.  During the trial period, synchronization is available and automatic.  I installed FeedGhost at home, and after the wizard, it instantly synchronized my feeds from their server, as well as the posts I had not deleted, and began checking for updates.  Overall, it was seamless, painless and quick to have everything I left from work appear at home.  And that's a lot of what I'm looking for in an aggregator.

Once the trial period has ended, there's a $20 annual fee for continued use of some of the features (such as synchronization and support for more than 20 feeds).

Three improvements I'd like to see are:

1) Speed.  Reed Ghost is fast, but RSS Bandit is so much faster.

2) Mobile reader (mentioned as an upcoming feature)

3) The ability to take posts off-line, for reading on a plane for instance, and to sync up again when reconnected.  Double bonus if I can sync the off-line feeds to my Treo 700w.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased, almost enough to switch from RSS Bandit and pay the annual subscription for the sync capabilities.

Blogging:
Introducing CommunityHacker.Com : Tips on Building online communities and blogs
Community Server Reporting

OSS:
Help Support .Net Open Source Projects

My company recently purchased a new Kodak EasyShare camera for one of our warehouses.  There's a lifespan of approx. 2 years for anything electronic on a loading dock, and the previous camera was called to its heavenly reward.  Or run over by a forklift--there's some uncertainty there.

EasyShare cameras can be mounted via USB connection, and operate pretty much as a USB drive, or you can install the EasyShare software for some added functionality.  I was disappointed in Kodak when the installation committed three cardinal sins of software installs:

1) Slow.  It took nearly 10 minutes to install, and required a reboot.

2) Unwanted icons on the desktop without asking.  I'm not so picky about the program icon on my desktop without being asked, but I'd prefer being asked.  One of the two icons was QuickTime, which is notorious for this (as well as one in the Quick Launch bar, but these are a beef with Apple, not Kodak).  The third was an icon to download and install FireFox.  WTF?  Unrelated software and shortcut clutter.  Stop that!  Leave my desktop alone--I have it just how I want it.

3) The last one is unpardonable.  An un-cancellable wizard, not for configuration, but for information gathering.  Kodak wants to know where you bought your camera, but "gift" isn't an option ("other" is).  But the worst is a setup for Kodak's EasyShare Gallery, which sounds like a photo-sharing site.  The three options are presented below.  To paraphrase, "I have an account", "I want an account", or "I want an account later".  There's no "Thanks but no thanks" option.  And that is unconsionable.

I finished the wizard, and promptly uninstalled the software.

My advice--avoid EasyShare software until Kodak repents.  The cameras are good, but don't install the software.

SQL Server:
Introducing SQL Internals Viewer (via Jason Haley - sweet tool!)

XML:
Avoid the dangers of XPath injection (also via Jason Haley via Frank Kelly)

SubSonic:
SubSonic: SonicCast #1 Is Up
SubSonic: SonicCast #2 Is Up - All About Paging
(umm, dude, 2 in 24 hours, I can't watch them this fast)

TDD:
Getting with it: Test-Driven Development

PDF:
Featured Windows Download: Edit PDF files for free with PDFill
CC Licensed PDF Documents from any Application

Blogging:
BlogEngine.NET: Creating Themes Webcast (via DotNetKicks)
Making Your Blog Printable (via Jason Haley)

Second Life:
Dante's Virtual Inferno : Second Life breathes new life into classic literature
(I never thought of the playground-as-a-learning-tool angle, but this has more promise than even a virtual economy)