So I usually like to keep this to web stuff but I happened to log into my MySpace and saw a bulletin from my cousin I thought I’d share.  I’ve heard him play and he’s actually pretty good.  And it’s at a bar.  So I’m willing to bet he sounds even better if you’re buzzed.

Details:

My band, OPEN MIC NIGHT, plays at Rusty G’s in Lowell every Monday. Please come out and support us we love a crowd. And the bartender, Brad is an amazing bartender.

P.S. It is an actual open mic night so others will play in between us…and if you have musical talent you are more then welcome to display that!

Open Mic Night’s Myspace URL
My Cousin’s MySpace

So scientists, at least I’m assuming he’s a scientist - which could be dangerous, are not reporting that someday we may be able to use nanotechnology to gain immortality. Basically we could use tiny nanobots to do what our body naturally does, except better. It would enable us to avoid “transcription errors” in our DNA - which brings to mind the glitches you get on your computer when you leave mozilla running too long - thereby keeping us young forever as well as fighting most common diseases. It’s a pretty neat idea and I’m in as long as Microsoft and Sony aren’t. Last thing I need is some legacy code or DRM messing with my motor skills and I start spastically slapping myself.

As for Opera, I found a recent article that talks about how designers can edit their pages in real time and see the results using Opera 9.0. I haven’t had a lot of time to use Opera, but from what I have I’m fairly impressed. It has all the good features of Mozilla - including some additional ones built in that are extensions in Mozilla - as well as neat features like zooming and the ability to render the page you’re viewing as a text browser would - great for improving the accessibility of the site you’re designing and/or improving the SEO. The best part is of the 3 major browsers, it’s the fastest I’ve seen. Unfortunately there’s 2 problems. One is probably user error - some of the pages I’ve designed come out a little funky. I believe this to be because Opera renders the box model correctly but also reads some of the IE hacks I use - or vice versa. I did upgrade to 9 and most of this went away, so that’s a good sign. Two is the bigger problem. Only about 2% of the web users out there use it. That’s on average, and if your site or blog is about the web, especially cutting edge web technology, it’s likely much higher. But it’s still disappointing. With IE7 not looking like it’s going to fix many of the major bugs - and no real explanation why not - I almost wish they would just use all that money they’re raking in, buy Opera and plug it into Vista. But that will never happen.

Another interesting stat on that is that 5% of users still use IE5. Which leads me to believe they either can’t afford to upgrade their computer or they live in a cave. I’m hoping for a day that all users will have a CSS2 (or 3) compliant browser and designing will be a lot easier. But, not too easy, sometimes I feel I’m one good copy of Dreamweaver from being obsolete.

Random Tidbit: An interesting story about the PS3 being make or break for Sony. I had a blog recently about my thoughts on this matter. The more I hear about PS3 the more I think I’m not going to buy one. I think I’ve become an Xbox man. Which is very, very depressing when you think about it. I think I’ll just lie and say I own only the Wii…

Found an interesting article about viral marketing and link baiting, which is a term I had not heard before.  Viral marketing is something that I have been thinking a lot about lately as I try to not only provide content, but also to get people to actually see the content I have provided.  Nothing worse then a good idea that no one knows about.

Basically, the two ideas are ways in which to use the new web - mainly web 2.0, community content driven sites - in order to introduce your site to the masses for free.  Essentially, word of mouth advertising meets the web.  The benefit is that it, hopefully, has a snowball effect.  As people find out about your content and find value in it, they link to it from their sites, blogs, myspace’s, etc.  This grows your linked-to rating, which helps in SEO, especially for Google.

The article also has a beginner’s guide to SEO.  If you don’t know what SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is - it’s basically a way to get your side indexed, preferably indexed high, under the searches that your content matches.  So when someone is looking for widget toolboxes and you have the site 1001widgettoolboxes.com then they can find your site easily.  This is especially important for smaller businesses since they do not have the funds to use conventional advertising - tv, radio, newspapers - or to become a sponsored link for those searches - paying per click.  It again goes back to word of mouth advertising on the web - and ask any salesmen, word of mouth advertising is the strongest kind.

So besides using CSS and good XHTML to design your site, you should also keep in mind what you need to add - keywords, metatags, etc - in order to give yourself the best chance of getting your content in front of your audience.  And using sites like technorati, digg, slashdot, etc to create buzz is even better.

Random Tidbit: I can’t believe Boston is 7 games back of the Yankees.  The Yankees have no pitching and usually when I can’t watch them, which I haven’t been able to lately, the Red Sox do well.  At least the Pats are 2-1.  Although having a good preseason is rarely a good thing.  I don’t have any solid stats, but I remember hearing something along the lines of more 0-4 preseason teams have gone on to the Super Bowl then 4-0.  Not sure what finishing 3-1 or 2-2 does for you.  Time will tell.

Hooked on the Web 2.0 movement?  Got your digg and del.icio.us hooked into your Google homepage (I’m not even sure if that’s possible, but if so, I might have to sign up)?  Want to find more?  Well there’s a neat little site out there that will help you out.  It’s called the Web 2.0 Innovation Map.  Not only will it give you links to all these wonderful sites but it will also provide links to their homepages.

On Zimbio there is even a page with all of the Web 2.0 logos.  Very cool.  What is Zimbio?  It seems be a cross between Wikipedia and a blog, but I’m no expert.  Some neat community blogs on there though.  I have to look more into it to see if there’s any good CSS / Web Design ones.

Random Tidbits: Turns out I was a bit premature with Pluto the other day as we’re now down to 8 planets instead of up to 11.  I had the link and lost it.  To make up for it I found two neat Flash diversions.  One is a Japanest IQ test given to prospective employers.  I think I solved it in under 5 minutes.  Another good logic game has you diverting lasers with mirrors.  I got stuck on level 6 I think.  The problem?  Neither has good English directions.  Enjoy.

So it was good going down and visiting my Uncle.  I managed to see much of the capital and take some great pictures.  Unfortunately, I’ve been ill all week so have not really been in the mood to blog.  Which is unfortunate considering my last one gathered the most traffic (over 70 hits one day - not exactly creeping up the Alexa rankings, but nice none the less) and actually got Dugg - by 6 people (or maybe just one 6 times).  Kind of interesting how he worded it, my list was not meant to be a web developer’s list - just more of a personal list.  I may yet put out a web design one though.

On a personal note, gave my ferret a bath today.  This is simply one of the funniest things you will ever witness.  It starts with her sitting there as I wash her, looking like a drenched rat.  Then the minute I wrap her in the towel she knows it’s over and proceeds to try and jump out of my hands.  Once on the ground it’s scootching across the floor like a worm and rolling around trying to get the “stink” (soap smell) off and the wonderful ferret musk back.  Simply priceless.

More to come this weekend including, I think, a top 10 (20) or something for beginning to intermediate web designers (like me).  Maybe I’ll get into double digits in Digg.

Random Tidbit: One of my pet peeves is the way 90% of the people put their e-mail address in their e-mail signature.  I used to be guilty of this as well.  It is part of your contact information and makes sense.  Except when you stop to think about the fact that by sending them a message you are giving them your return e-mail.  If the recipient cannot then figure out how to reply back, it seems to follow that we should feed them to the lions at the zoo in order to stop diluting the gene pool.  But that’s just one guy’s opinion.