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I’ve Moved to Vista

I’ve made the jump to Vista and Office 2007 this past weekend. Actually I was pretty scared going to Vista based on what I have read, but all has gone pretty smoothly. I have a bit of a crashing problem, but hopefully that will work itself out over time.

I think the best description for Vista is silky smooth. I like the new interface, and the visuals as well as the new gadgets. I am having trouble remembering that there is no My Computer button and that all files are now in the Nancy user file. I do have to say that I am not irritated b the so called nag boxes. I see them as an extra measure of security and do not mind them.

All of my applications have worked in Vista without a hitch. I did need a few new drivers and my Maxtor backup needed new software. I did even get my four year old PDA to sync with Vista as it had Windows 2003 for pocket PCs. I am upgrading a few pieces of software, but not the huge hit that I thought that I would have.

If you are thinking of moving to Vista, I say “come on in the water’s fine”!

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Blog Content Writing

I have found that the most engaging style for blogging is in the first person. As we perform ghost blogging services for many clients nationwide, I’ve seen all type of client preferences.

Some clients want purely dry informational blogs, some want how to’s, some want personal information and personal interest stories, and some want no links to their website and talk about their services.

From all the blogs I review and conferences with clients, I think that the best approach is good content with a gentle plus back to the owner’s website once a week. The most engaging posts are the ones that offer something real – a point a view, a real tip and are not a redux of information that is posted somewhere else on the Web.

As a blog reader as well as a blog writer yes, you can over do selling yourself on your blog and turn people off, but you can occasionally point out the services that you provide and link back to your own website. That makes perfect sense.

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Police and Sherriffs Are Watching the Web

I know this for a fact as I was told by a Sheriff that Charles County Maryland officers are watching the Web. In fact this officer told me that they were actively monitoring MySpace sites and YouTube for videos of teens breaking the law.

The officer went farther to tell me that if they find a video where your teen is breaking the law, they can actually ticket your teen for up to one year after the video had been posted and even prosecute them for the offense. If someone is injured, there is no time limitation. Even if the video is removed by your teen, YouTube and MySpace still have a record of it and they can request it through the County Attorney’s Office!

If your teen is loading videos to MySpace and YouTube as mine is, it is very important that you as the parent review what they are loading. My teen had loaded videos of himself driving fast, and I mean really fast. Foolish, yes, life threatening yes. This is how I know what the Police and Sheriffs departments are doing, as I asked for help to intervene with my teen and instruct him in safe driving. Little did I know that I was potentially getting him into trouble to the tune of a $540 ticket and 5 points on his license.

The officer said he didn’t care if my son told his friends if it would stop reckless behavior and possible the death of a teen, it would be worth it. So my advice to you is to become aware of what your kids are posting starting in stealth mode. Then help them to understand their foolishness if you catch them and work actively to keep them safe.

It was bad enough for my teen to have consequences for his actions from his Dad and myself, but to have a possible traffic court record from a video is just really bad.

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WordPress, Typepad, or Blogger

As professional ghost bloggers, my team has used all the blogging platforms. Out of all, WordPress, Typepad, and Blogger, my team and I like Blogger best.

Why is that you ask? Blogger is simple, easy to use, not overly complicated, and is fairy trouble and bug-free. I employ a variety of people as ghost bloggers, not all are computer geeks. Some are great writers but what I may call not technologically super-savvy either. WordPress and Typepad have categories, meta tags, and much more, but do not make it easy and fast for our bloggers to use. In fact in one case, the blogger had to install Firefox on their computer just to be able to add tags in the WordPress interface. Tags won’t be saved when input with IE – not sure why there is this bug, but for a nearly technologically challenged excellent writer, this was and continues to be a big issue.

Typepad, we find not as simple nor as powerful as blogger. It is not easy to add a picture or to use the interface as the write and click Blogger interface. Where we have situations where clients sometime blog as well with us, simple and easy is extremely important. Blogger is just that. You have a post screen type your stuff, add a label at the bottom, spell check and you’re done.