I’m typing this entry on my new MacBook Pro, which I purchased recently having decided that a laptop would be a more efficient way of working since it was time (yet again) to upgrade. This is now the sixth Mac I’ve owned, but more interestingly — and coincidentally — is that each time I’ve purchased a new Mac it’s been at a time of (often major) change in my life:

• a IIci (8 MB RAM, 80 MB HD. That’s 80 megabytes, folks) when I was just starting out;
• a PowerMac 9600 when I was freelancing but found full-time work;
• a PowerComputing Pro (raise your hand if you still have one) when I left my job to work on my own;
• a G4 when I bought my house and business was buzzing;
• a G5 at a time when there was a lot of personal and professional uncertainty and tension;
• and now my MacBook Pro, purchased just a few weeks ago.

So where’s the change this time? Read the rest of this entry »

I was thinking about all the blogs out there — all 106 million of them — and how there seems to be an in-crowd of powerful “A-listers” and hordes of second- or third-tier authors who, while they may write great content and have even, perhaps, attracted a respectably-sized audience and number of backlinks, they just can’t get admission to this exclusive club of people who are the titans of the blogosphere.

Sometimes blogging can feel like waiting in line, hoping to get into the coolest new nightspot: a limo pulls up, the bouncer opens the ropes to admit the dapper passengers to the club — and everyone else goes back to trying to catch the bouncer’s eye.

Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I’ve become a contributor to personal finance site wisebread.com

• Although I’ve only written a few posts, I’ve already been on the ‘popular list’ on del.icio.us for my article on blogging tools and add-ons;
• My article on using WordPress for personal blogging or a business website has been cited on blogherald.com under ‘WordPress Techiques and Tips’. The Blog Herald is “… the first blog dedicated exclusively to the news of the blogosphere and remains the longest (and largest) standing resource of its kind.”;
• And, my more contemplative article, “Do you want what you have… and do you have what you want?” was mentioned on thesimpledollar.com, one of the most popular personal finance blogs.

One of the simplest solutions to the problem of receiving spam email is to avoid posting your email address, in full, on your site, either as just text or as a link.

Instead, posting your contact details as you [at] yourwebsite.com.au is self-explanatory: your visitor who wishes to contact you will simply compose their email by substituting “@” for [at] and take out the spaces between the words.

Also, if you have a contact form, your email address is here: <FORM METHOD=”POST” ACTION=”mailto:your email address“> This also leaves you susceptible to receiving spam, even though your email address is not visible on your page.

Some hosts offer a control panel for managing the contact form and where the completed information is sent; alternatively, you could use a remotely-hosted CGI script thru sites such as Response-O-Matic.