Unravelings

Foxy Findings: Social Networking Tips from Artfire

For more great tips from Artfire, sign up for a free account and access more tips to benefit your business like, How to use Google Analytics to benefit your business, the Artfire Facebook Kiosk that makes it even easier for customers to purchase, and find out how to get handmade holiday blog badges so your visitors know you are all about handmade.  Plus, make it easy for readers that follow your blog to purchase right from your blog with tips and the rapid cart from Artfire.  Finally, Artfire has added coupon codes and gift certificates that have made it easy for any business owner to have more opportunities for their customers this holiday season.  A basic member gets access to these tips and selling unlimited items for FREE!  And, for $12 a month, the member can access all of the added perks like Rapid Cart, and more!

via www.foxyfindings.com

Steampunk laptop mod

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The Right Space for the Job : Productivity501

From Productivity 101:

My work area has a comfortable chair, a nice desk, a computer, a large monitor, a phone, etc.  It is easy for me to get stuck at my desk and not want to go to other parts of the house because everything I need is right there. However, when I just stay in my office, I miss out on some of advantages of the other parts of the house.

via www.productivity501.com

workspace photo from Anthro

Twitter followers mosaic

Get your twitter mosaic here.

Caring for your Dremel

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Apple retro pen drive

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I see your name everywhere...

When people search for a product or service you sell by typing it into the search engines, you want your website to appear on the first page of Google.

But these days, that isn't good enough.

Prospects often visit several sites, and then decide what they want to buy--and from whom. That's why it's important for people to find your website numerous times on that first page.

If you have only one website, or one blog, how can you capture several of those top slots?

Paul Colligan, a faculty member for Stompernet, the membership site for Internet marketers, said it's much easier than you think. In the latest issue of The Net Effect, Stompernet's subscription magazine, he has identified 10 websites that let you create an account or page. All 10 tend to do very well in the search engines for a specific term or phrase.

"Find enough of them and you'll end up with a great batch of Top 10 listings where you can control the messaging," he writes.

He calls it the "I've seen you out there" effect. I call it the "I see your name everywhere" effect. Those phrases should be music to every Publicity Hound's ears.

Not surprisingly, those sites include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They also include one you might not have thought of-- Digg.com, the most popular social bookmarking site.

"Update your profile for your message and 'Digg' a few articles that help make your point," Paul says. "This shows you're a serious player in this space--geek and non-geek alike. Those who think Digg is important will be thrilled to find you there. Those who don't care will find you on yet another page."

I've gotten so many requests for information on social bookmarking that I'm hosting a teleseminar at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Aug. 13, on "How to do Social Bookmarking to Promote Your Expertise, Attract Followers & Pull Massive Amounts of Traffic."

Colin Martin, my guest expert, has created four videos that show how to create your accounts at these sites, how to bookmark content, how to make friends and join groups, and everyday uses and results of this powerful marketing tool. Everyone who registers will receive a link to the videos. We suggest you watch them before the call.

If the time is inconvenient, sign up anyway and receive the MP3 download.

Hint: If you want major publicity in top-tier media, remember that journalists and big bloggers frequently visit social bookmarking sites to find out what people are talking about.

Read more about the teleseminar and register here. 

Reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe and receive by email the handy cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a Press Release."

Millefiori USB flash drive

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Are you a geek?

From Wired Magazine comes 100 Essential Skills for Geeks By Anton Olsen

As Geeks we are expected to have a certain set of skills that the majority of the population does not possess. This list is by no means complete, but I think it is a good sample of the skills required to be a true geek. I won’t pretend to have all the skills listed here. I even had to Google a few of them.

Like all good Geeks you should be able to utilize resources to accomplish any of these things. Knowing where to look for the knowledge is as good as having it so give yourself points if you are certain that you could Google the knowledge necessary for a skill.

(I've marked the ones I can do in yellow---Char)

1. Properly secure a wireless router.
2. Crack the WEP key on a wireless router.
3. Leech Wifi from your neighbor.
4. Screw with Wifi leeches.
5. Setup and use a VPN.
6. Work from home or a coffee shop as effectively as you do at the office.
7. Wire your own home with Ethernet cable.
8. Turn a web camera into security camera.
9. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point.
10. Understand what “There’s no Place Like 127.0.0.1” means.
11. Identify key-loggers.
12. Properly connect a TV, Tivo, XBox, Wii, and Apple TV so they all work together with the one remote.
13. Program a universal remote.
14. Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone.
15. Benchmark Your Computer
16. Identify all computer components on sight.
17. Know which parts to order from NewEgg.com, and how to assemble them into a working PC.
18. Troubleshoot any computer/gadget problem, over the phone.
19. Use any piece of technology intuitively, without instruction or prior knowledge.
20. How to irrecoverably protect data.
21. Recover data from a dead hard drive.
22. Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network.
23. Install a Linux distribution. (Hint: Ubuntu 9.04 is easier than installing Windows)
24. Remove a virus from a computer.
25. Dual (or more) boot a computer.
26. Boot a computer off a thumb drive.
27. Boot a computer off a network drive.
28. Replace or repair a laptop keyboard.
29. Run more than two monitors on a single computer.
30. Successfully disassemble and reassemble a laptop.
31. Know at least 10 software easter eggs off the top of your head.
32. Bypass a computer password on all major operating systems. Windows, Mac, Linux
33. Carrying a computer cleaning arsenal on your USB drive.
34. Bypass content filters on public computers.
35. Protect your privacy when using a public computer.
36. Surf the web anonymously from home.
37. Buy a domain, configure bind, apache, MySQL, php, and Wordpress without Googling a how-to.
38. Basic *nix command shell knowledge with the ability to edit and save a file with vi.
39. Create a web site using vi.
40. Transcode a DVD to play on a portable device.
41. Hide a file in an image using steganography.
42. Knowing the answer to life, the universe and everything.
43. Share a single keyboard and mouse between multiple computers without a KVM switch.
44. Google obscure facts in under 3 searches. Bonus point if you can use I Feel Lucky.
45. Build amazing structures with LEGO and invent a compelling back story for the creation.
46. Understand that it is LEGO, not Lego, Legos, or Lego’s.
47. Build a two story house out of LEGO, in monochrome, with a balcony.
48. Construct a costume for you or your kid out of scraps, duct tape, paper mâché, and imagination.
49. Be able to pick a lock.
50. Determine the combination of a Master combination padlock in under 10 minutes.
51. Assemble IKEA furniture without looking at the instructions. Bonus point if you don’t have to backtrack.
52. Use a digital SLR in full manual mode.
53. Do cool things to Altoids tins.
54. Be able to construct paper craft versions of space ships.
55. Origami! Bonus point for duct tape origami. (Ductigami)
56. Fix anything with duct tape, chewing gum and wire.
57. Knowing how to avoid being eaten by a grue.
58. Know what a grue is.
59. Understand where XYZZY came from, and have used it.
60. Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator.
61. Burn the rope.
62. Know the Konami code, and where to use it.
63. Whistle, hum, or play on an iPhone, the Cantina song.
64. Learning to play the theme songs to the kids favorite TV shows.
65. Solve a Rubik’s Cube.
66. Calculate THAC0.
67. Know the difference between skills and traits.
68. Explain special relativity in terms an eight-year-old can grasp.
69. Recite pi to 10 places or more.
70. Be able to calculate tip and split the check, all in your head.
71. Explain that the colours in a rainbow are roygbiv.
72. Understand the electromagnetic spectrum - xray, uv, visible, infrared, microwave, radio.
73. Know the difference between radiation and radioactive contamination.
74. Understand basic electronics components like resistors, capacitors, inductors and transistors.
75. Solder a circuit while bottle feeding an infant. (lead free solder please.)
76. The meaning of technical acronyms.
77. The coffee dash, blindfolded (or blurry eyed). Coffee <brew> [cream] [sugar]. In under a minute. (Can do it with Diet Coke as I don't drink coffee)
78. Build a fighting robot.
79. Program a fighting robot.
80. Build a failsafe into a fighting robot so it doesn’t kill you.
81. Be able to trace the Fellowship’s journey on a map of Middle Earth.
82. Know all the names of the Dwarves in The Hobbit.
83. Understand the difference between a comic book and a graphic novel.
84. Know where your towel is and why it is important.
85. Re-enact the parrot sketch.
86. Know the words to The Lumberjack Song.
87. Reciting key scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
88. Be able to recite at least one Geek Movie word for word.
89. Know what the 8th Chevron does on a Stargate and how much power is required to get a lock.
90. Be able to explain why it’s important that Han shot first.
91. Know why it is just wrong for Luke and Leia to kiss.
92. Stop talking Star Wars long enough to get laid.
93. The ability to name actors, characters and plotlines from the majority of sci-fi movies produced since 1968.
94. Cite Mythbusters when debunking a myth or urban legend.
95. Sleep with a Cricket bat next to your bed.
96. Have a documented plan on what to do during a zombie or robot uprising.
97. Identify evil alternate universe versions of friends, family, co-workers or self.
98. Be able to convince TSA that the electronic parts you are carrying are really not a threat to passengers.
99. Talk about things that aren’t tech related.
100. Get something on the front page of Digg.

Contest...win a copy of QuickBooks Pro

I'm holding a contest. A simple and easy contest. No running from web site to Etsy store and back to a blog and then jump through hoops.

All you have to do in order to win copy of QuickBooks Pro for Windows is comment on this post why you deserve to win. That's it.

Contest will close at Midnight MST in June 30, and I'll pick a winner on July 1

How's that for simple?