Please direct your questions, comments, subscription requests, and site submissions to [email protected]In This Month's Report:
*** Expecting Questions
*** Ask The Makeup Diva
*** Linking To People
*** Affiliate!
*** Ask Jeeves - Sneak Peek & For Kids
*** What's Your Speed
*** I Just Can't Resist - A Different Kind of Report
*** Book: Size of The World - Jeff Greenwald
*** CD: The Contender - Royal Crown Review
*** A Quick Note...
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Sites in this issue:
StorkSite
Ask The Makeup Diva
People Link
Associate Programs
Download Calculator
Modem Speed Test
Ask Jeeves For Kids
Ask Jeeves Peek
Starr Report
Size of The World - Jeff Greenwald
Jeff Greenwald
The Contender - Royal Crown Review
Royal Crown Review
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*** Expecting Questions***
When my wife and I found out that she is pregnant (this will be our first baby), about a million questions entered my mind: How long will she have morning sickness? At what point is it advised to stop flying? Which type of baby carrier is best? Will I ever sleep again? With so many questions, it was such a relief to find strong support for expecting couples on the Net. One site that has been especially helpful to us is Stork Site. With message boards sorted by due date (ours is December 18), we found it easy to connect to other expectant couples, exchange experiences, war stories, and find answers to some of our many questions.*** Ask The Makeup Diva***
It's always great to be able to announce the launch of a brand new site. This month we're proud to announce Makeupdiva.com. Created by my wife, Heather, this new site is the home to her weekly beauty advice column. Be sure to stop by and check it out!*** Linking To People***
In the past I've mentioned a number of buddy list programs (most notably ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger), which allow you to track when your friends and family log-on, and send them instant messages. The major problem that I've encountered with most of these programs is that at the office, sitting behind the corporate firewall, none of them have worked. This week I was tipped off by a co-worker that People Link's Buddy List software was much more firewall friendly, so I decided to give it a go. What a pleasant surprise! With its simple and straight forward interface, People Link has found a home on my laptop. What I like the most about it is how easy it is to pull a group of people together into a text chat conference (and the fact that I can get it to function behind the firewall at work!).*** Affiliate! ***
So you've got a web site, you've got visitors, and you want to figure some way of covering your costs, or maybe even make some money. So what do you do? Trying to get advertisers for a site can turn into a full time job, and banner ad exchange services like Link Exchange don't help keep your ISP bill paid. The answer is: Affiliate! Welcome to the next step in do-it-yourself advertising. Rather than scouting out advertisers for your site, you can sign up for one of the many affiliate programs on the Net. Rather than get paid for advertising, you get a percentage from the sales resulting from your links. Once you start to scratch the surface, you'll find there's a plethora of choices. AssociatePrograms.com is a great site to help you sift through some of the confusion by giving bottom line, no nonsense reviews of the various programs.*** Ask Jeeves - Sneak Peek & For Kids ***
Ask Jeeves is one of my perennial favorites. In a time where search engines are more interested in their "Portal" strategies than searching, it's always refreshing to have a good search at Ask Jeeves. Recently I stopped by the old AJ and discovered they've got two great new features. For surfing and searching with your children, there's the kid friendly Ask Jeeves For Kids. For the more adventurous/curious, Ask Jeeves Peek will let you take a sneak peek into what questions people are asking. As with many search voyeurs, the results are quite entertaining, but there's an added level of interest here since the results are real questions, not just keywords.Ask Jeeves For Kids
Ask Jeeves Peek*** What's Your Speed ***
So you've connected to the Internet at 28.8 or 56K - or so you think. But how can you be sure? I found two great resources for you to try to figure it out. The first is the Intel Download Calculator, which will let you check your connection speed and calculate how long things will take to download. The second, Modem Test Speed, will put your modem to the test to help you figure out how fast your connection really is. Note that your connection will vary, so it's a good idea to run more than one test to get an approximation. (My connection results were: 39.7K Download Calculator and 48.2K at Modem Test Speed.)Download Calculator
Modem Speed Test*** I Just Can't Resist - A Different Kind of Report ***
I'm sure every one of you is completely sick of hearing about the Starr Report, so I'll try to be brief. Last week when the House of Representatives voted to put the report up on the Internet, it blew me away. If you had asked me in '88 when I first got on the Net if it would ever be the center of anything this big, I would have laughed. And yet I think it's important to realize the colossal-ness of the event. Here we have a group of often moralistic, partially technophobic politicians endorsing the net as the best vehicle to "let the people decide". The thing that struck me, after reading the report, was not only how amazing the whole thing was, but the fact that the report would probably have violated the once proposed Communications Decency Act. Ironic.*** On My Nightstand: Size of the World - Jeff Greenwald ***
Close your eyes and try, for just one moment, to imagine the size of the world, where you are connected to all points on the earth with a single unbroken line. To get in touch with the size of the world, Jeff Greenwald decided to make a go around the world without leaving the ground. This seemingly impossible task results in an amazingly insightful book that ends up being more about journeying through life than traveling the globe. The book came highly recommended to me, and now I pass it along to you. It's a fantastically inspiring book.Size of The World - Jeff Greenwald
Jeff Greenwald*** Spinning in my CD player: The Contender - Royal Crown Review ***
Swing music is back, and the number one contender, Royal Crown Review, is now taking a worthy spin in my CD Player. For those of you who may not have caught the resurgence of swing, Royal Crown Review is tops! With their "get up and dance" style of music, you'll be compelled to do a lot of finger snapping and toe tapping as you listen to the champs of swing.
The Contender - Royal Crown Review
Royal Crown Review*** A Quick Note... ***
After doing the research for my wife's site and this report on affiliate programs, I decided to sign up for a couple. This week's report has links for you to purchase what I'm reading and listening to. I get so many people saying that they buy things after I review them that I thought I'd try and see if I couldn't use the affiliate to help pay some of the costs of running the report. Let me know what you think: [email protected].Best Regards,
Geoff