Windows 8

I am almost embarrassed to admit this... I have been playing around with Windows 8, and it's not nearly as horrible as I thought it might be. It'll take some getting used to, but having dealt with the interface of the Xbox 360, it's not extremely dissimilar. Microsoft is clearly going for consistency between their various products, which would also feed into their new logo.

However...this does not mean it will be all that easy for newcomers to the UI. I honestly think it'll be a challenge for people who have are used to the Win95->on layout and Start menu. Good luck for those of you who have non-tech savvy parents who might be upgrading to Win8.

If you haven't seen the vid, check out Chris Pirillo and his dad experimenting with Windows 8. (link)

QR Codes

I've been experimenting with QR codes lately, and they are extremely interesting & versatile ways of distributing information. The primary uses of these two-dimensional barcodes has been to link users to websites for more information about products and services, or to link users to apps in the iOS & Android marketplaces.

One of the many uses of QR codes is to differentiate yourself from the competition. With the prevalence of smartphones, more and more people have access to QR code readers, and almost every recruiter will have a smartphone and is familiar with these boxy images. One way to make your resume or business card stand out would be to incorporate a QR code that links to an online portfolio. Not only will your card/resume stand out, but while a recruiter at a job fair is standing there, they could scan your QR code and gain additional information about you that they wouldn't have had the opportunity to otherwise.

The QR code that I have incorporated into my resume and the business cards I'm developing links to my personal website where recruiters can not only access an online copy of my resume, but also my web portfolio and my Linked-In profile.

For more info on QR codes, you can check out the Wikipedia page, or you can check out QR Codes Anywhere and the Social QR Code blog.

OS X 10.8 - Mountain Lion

So far am liking Mountain Lion - it's definitely not revolutionary, but it's a nice evolutionary development from Lion. So far only one program I use (Snapz Pro X) isn't working at this time...but the developers are working on it.

Once again, not that my laptop was feeling sluggish - but still, I've got that new-OS feel where it's gotten 'teh snappy' feeling. I'd say that it's worth the $19.99 to drop on the upgrade to Apple's latest operating system.

Ebay Horrors

So a situation that was already a nightmare gets to be stretched out even more...I won an auction on ebay and paid for it on May 1st. The seller tells me he'll mail it May 2nd, but doesn't actually send it until May 12th...and sends it to someone else. I ship the item sent back to me and request a refund. He relents and finally issues the refund on May 20th. Now I find out that I won't have access to the funds, because of a hold, until at least Thursay the 24th. This is nearly a month that my $315 has been just thrown into limbo, and I have gained absolutely no benefit from it. I'm starting to regret doing any business through ebay/paypal.

New redesign

Started working on yet another new redesign for the Partnership Erie website, and am finally happy with how it's turning out. I've probably gone through about three or four different ideas so far and this is probably the cleanest and best looking one so far. I've started adding content to flesh it out a bit and it's coming along nicely.

First new site live

So, after working on a site redesign and getting in contact with the appropriate parties I now have the website for White Turkey Drive-In live. Check it out at whiteturkey.com and be sure to visit them between Mother's Day and Labor Day!

Learning the ropes

I've been volunteering with Partnership Erie, and have had some wonderful experiences so far. I've been involved in the development of a new website for a local doctor's office, and am currently in the process of redesigning a website for a small business. Shortly I should be getting some training on how to Drupal-ize websites, and I certainly look forward to learning this valuable knowledge.

Honestly, this has been a bit of a challenge. I have utilized various software applications that have created the code for me, and while I am familiar with HTML and CSS and have done some tweaking of code myself over the years, this is the first time that I've actively been developing an interactive website coded by hand. It's actually quite exciting, and I'm very pleased with how things are coming along.