Network Updates Started

The long awaited updates of my networks is started now. Several new servers have been provisioned and all softwares are being updated to most current versions. This will be a slow tedious task that will take several months and will happen in this order:

  1. Forum communities updated and relaunched.
  2. Front page news articles reinstalled.
  3. Integration with social networking software.
  4. Integration of e-commerce.

What does this mean? Just that members can do more stuff and have more fun. All communities will still be free, but the addition of ecommerce options should help keep the increased financial overhead more sustainable.

Memphis the Musical

Memphis the Musical
Memphis the Musical

I was wondering if  anyone has seen “Memphis” the musical and what they thought about it. All I know is that it’s playing February 2009 at the 5th Avenue in Seattle, WA. One of the writers is from Bon Jovi and it’s been receiving “critical acclaim” since it’s off-Broadway debut in 2002.

I’m always fascinated when artists cross from mainstream art into more “legit” forms like theater and film. Comments?

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What’s Up with “this site may harm your computer”?

Is Google messed up? Every website result I see has a link above it that says “This site may harm your computer”. It will not let you go to the page. Another option is to see “detailed informatin about the problems we found” – but when I click on that it says the server is busy and to try again in 30 seconds (which hasn’t worked so far).

EVERY page I see has this warning – including www.Google.com and Wikipedia.

Anyone know what’s going on with Google?

UPDATE: Yes, it was real. Answer follows:

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Home Page Usability Tactics

In preparing for updates to many websites I’ve been reading “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug. It’s a book on “A common sense approach to web usability.” The purpose of the book is to get out of the mode of thinking about what a website owner wants for a website; and to get into thinking about what USERS want from a website. The main elements of this are making key elements insanely easy for new users to access (hence “don’t make me think) and to employ usability testing.

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Dear China

Dear China,

Please stop lighting all those firecrackers. I realize it’s Gung Hey Fat Choy of the Ox, but I really need to sleep. And I mean c’mon, firecrackers? Doesn’t that get old? You’ll shoot yer eye out kid…

Boom – Boom – Boom. Ok, we get it…

Individual Hosting Accounts Limited to 50 Connections

Did you know that most individual  hosting accounts are limited to fifty concurrent connections? I didn’t. All these years of building hundreds of websites and running dozens and dozens of servers; well, that’s why I didn’t know it – I usually use dedicated servers for my websites.

Except my personal blog here – I have this one site on an individual hosting account so just in case everything blows up customers can still get a hold of me. But all this time my blog has been limited to fifty concurrent connections (let’s say 40 normal people a couple search engines and some spam bots).

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Is Full Sail a Scam?

Email question received:
Hi, I’m curious for your opinon about Full Sail in winter park florida. If you look online you will find that there are people that love and hate Full Sail. I want to go there and get a degree in the recording arts, and eventually become a music producer. Keep in mind that I was identified gifted in piano. I have played all my life, and make hip hop beats. Do you think this is a good choice?
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Kung Hei Fat Choy 2009 from ZAIA

macau-new-year-2009

Kung Hei Fat Choy 2009 (Happy Chinese New Year) from the cast of ZAIA. 2009 is the Year of the Ox. Macau will be a crazy one week party starting the week of January 26 2009 for the week long Chinese New Year celebrations.

Around 1996 I was in Tokyo for New Years Eve celebrations with monks ringing gigantic bells with wooden rams. But this is my first CHINESE New Years in China. Techs of Cirque’s ZAIA show were here for the 2008 Fat Choy, but this is the first one for artists of Zaia. We’ve been told “Macau will shut down” during the holiday week.

We’ve all been given red envelopes with the ZAIA embossed logo to fill with money and give to locals for good luck; another traditiion of Chinese New Years. Our work week includes 11 shows for the celebrations, along with many special mini performances around the Venetian in Macau. Anyone know where I can buy some fireworks?

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