Al's Blog-o-Sphere

One of the most irritating things to me is cell phone commercials. They really treat us like morons. So condescending.

Maybe it’s just me. I just refuse to be a slave to them. I remember back in the 80’s telling my wife “If I were cheating on you, do you know how you could tell? I’d have a cell phone!” It was a joke we laughed about at the time. But it was really true. I had no need to get an expensive electronic device to do what I could just as easily do from my home phone. Continue Reading…

Just sitting here thinking. That can be dangerous…

I’m not a big user of instant messaging, IM. I’ve had accounts on most of the IM networks, from ICQ years ago, to MySpace IM, a pointless exercise, and all those in between – AIM, Y! MSN etc.

I stopped installing all those – or any of those – networks clients when I found Trillian, a program that connects to all of them at once. It was kind of cool seeing all those little colored dots light up to tell you they were connected. Continue Reading…

Now here’s a scam. I wish I thought of it. It’s gotta be a big moneymaker. A client of mine almost fell for it, but asked me first saving them $$$.

You probably realize that if you own a domain name for your web site, like gritzmacher.net, or microsoft.com, etc. you have to register it somewhere for it to work. I’m avoiding technical details here, because they don’t really matter for this discussion. And these domain registrations work for a period of time, then have to be renewed. Everyone has heard of stories where some big company somehow overlooked renewing their domain name, only to find it registered by someone else who eventually sells it back to them for big bucks.

Wouldn’t it be nice if someone reminded you that your domain was about to expire and offer to handle it for you? Continue Reading…

I’ve been a skeptic about E Bay as long as it’s been around. I have both bought and sold items on it, but for the most part whatever I try to buy, I either get outbid or get a bad feeling and never bid at all.

The concept of an online auction site is something that has appeal to most people. It’s so convenient to look for something at a bargain price or to sell something that you’d never find the right person willing to pay what it is worth any other way. But after you play with it a while, you begin to realize it’s not an online version of your family garage sale. Continue Reading…