• Google’s Chrome Ups the Ante, by Business Week
• Google Working on Browser: What About Mozilla?, by SitePoint
• Ambitions enough for another 10 years — But Google’s plans may butt up against backlash from its growth, by Houston Chronicle²

Some other stories to watch & things to do:

• Target Settles Accessibility Lawsuit for $6 Million, by SitePoint
• Need to declutter your life? Reboot Your Workflow This Fall with tips from lifehacker
• From LibrarianInBlack, “I recently published a lengthy article in the UK open access journal Ariadne“Being Wired or Being Tired: 10 Ways to Cope with Information Overload.” Enjoy! The journal also has an excellent article promoting the option of allowing employees to telecommute (e.g. “work from home” for those unfamiliar with the term).“
• Also, did you know that U.S. Hispanics are active online social networkers? That’s what Forrester Research says, in this HispanicTrending article.
• Legacy Multimedia has a wonderful post on the importance of creating a storyboard for multimedia projects.

Some links to add to your bookmarks:

• soundunwound, from the great people who brought us imdb, it’s the ultimate online database for music knowledge
• SitePoint Blogs gives us 15 Places to Sell Your Photos

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

In case you missed the news, Comcast announced that it will begin to cap monthly usage for customers. ReadWriteWeb does a good job of summarizing:

Today, Comcast announced that it will amend its Acceptable Use Policy and add a clause to it that will establish a “monthly data use threshold” of 250 GB per month. This effectively puts a cap on the amount a Comcast user can download per month and codifies an informal policy Comcast was already enforcing. While 250GB is a large amount of data right now, it won’t be once a large number users start watching HD streams which can easily take up numerous GB per hours.

[snip]

Comcast’s announcement tries to put this limit into context. According to Comcast, 250GB amount to:

• 50 million emails (at 0.05 KB/email)
• 62,500 songs (at 4 MB/song)
• 125 standard-definition movies (at 2 GB/movie)
• uploading 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10 MB/photo)

The real question is what this means to the future of the Web, and of Web users. As what we do on a daily basis takes more content, higher volume, we need more usage space & higher limits.

More about this at the Houston Chronicle. What’s your take?

Amazon’s Universal Wish List

Looks like Amazon has taken their wish list a step further and enabled the ability to add non-Amazon items. Smart. This makes their universal wish list the one place you can add every little thing your heart (or head) desires, making it more likely you’ll use it.

I do have an Amazon Wish List, but haven’t actively used it. This may entice me to give it a stronger presence in my little tech-lusting life. (Found via LifeClever.)

Bookmarks

Some links and resources you might want to try:

• Need an assistant? Try Sandy, a virtual assistant that’s getting rave reviews.
• Home Office Warrior’s “10 Must Have Twitter Tools for the Home Office Warrior“

IF YOU GET UNWANTED TEXT ADS ON YOUR CELL PHONE TEXT THE WORD STOP TO THE NUMBER AND IT SHOULD END. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK, CALL YOUR WIRELESS PROVIDER AND ASK THEM TO STOP THIRD PARTY TEXTING ON YOUR DEVICE. IF THAT DOES NOT WORK CONTACT THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.

http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/canspam.html

THIS LINK WILL HELP YOU FILE A COMPLAINT AND GET THE MESSAGES OFF YOUR MOBILE DEVICE.

1. In your page title
2. In your page description
3. In your page URL
4. In your headings and subheadings
5. In your first sentence and your first paragraph
6. In your last paragraph
7. Elsewhere in your body copy
8. In your link text
9. In your ALT tags on images

The Marines get into social networking
BNET reports that “the Marines have launched their own social networking site at Our.Marines.com.” For more, go to DMNews.com.

Free Stock Photos
If you’re anything like me, you’re always on the lookout for sources or free stock photos to use on Web sites, etc. Digital Image Magazine has compiled a list of 25 Free Stock Photo Sites that worth bookmarking and exploring. There were some I recognized and some I didn’t. Regardless, it’s a good list to review.

What are they?

1. Commenting on or critiquing of copyrighted material
2. Using copyrighted material for illustration or example
3. Capturing copyrighted material incidentally or accidentally reproducing, reposting, or quoting in order to memorialize,
4. Preserve, or rescue an experience, an event, or a cultural phenomenon
5. Copying, reposting, and recirculating a work or part of a work for purposes of launching a discussion
6. Quoting
   in order to recombine elements to make a new work that depends for its
   meaning on (often unlikely) relationships between the elements

Domain names get away temporarily
– Houston Chronicle²

This doesn’t sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet’s addresses recently lost track of its own.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened when an Internet registration company it oversees got fooled into transferring the domain names to someone else.

ICANN’s domain names were restored within 20 minutes. Because many directories retain information for a day or two, visitors could have been redirected to an unauthorized site for longer.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

On the one hand, I’m glad that there’s an industry where there are jobs available. On the other, I’m sorry to see the advice being “put down that guitar or book of poetry” in an era where being well-rounded is more important than ever.

Just my opinion.

Source:

• Technology: It’s Where the Jobs Are

I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s going on my list.

Staying out of trouble with e-mail, or because of it
NPR has an series of stories on e-mail, covering several topics. A few to check out:

• E-Mail at Work: Tips to Keep You Out of Trouble
• E-Mail, the Workplace and the Electronic Paper Trail

Basically, if you want to stay out of trouble, don’t put it in an e-mail.

iPhone tip
Do you have an iPhone? BNET tells us how to turn it into a Portable Hard Drive with a program called DiskAid. I don’t have an iPhone yet, but am bookmarking this for when I do.

A good policy to have, comments
Performancing has Tips On How To Create Good Comment Policies. I need to read this, make notes, and actually create a commenting policy. Right now my policy is very straightforward, if I think you’re being offensive I delete the comment.

Footnotes:
1 = Story found on the Houston Chronicle. Article may expire in a few weeks.

Waste Management Inc. has launched a new Web site.

Greenopolis.com is designed as an online meeting place for the environmentally conscious and includes features commonly found on social networking sites, such as the ability for members to create profiles or keep track of peers.

[snip]

Borders Group is jumping back into online retailing with a Web site designed to evoke the feeling of browsing at a neighborhood bookstore, down to the popular shelves of staff picks that are familiar to its customers nationwide.

But after seven years paired with Amazon.com, analysts say it will be a challenge for the new Borders.com to step out of the shadow of the Web retailing giant.

[snip]

Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks.

AT&T Inc. is rolling out a business version of U-verse in Houston that will offer high-speed Internet access to small businesses.

The company’s new AT&T business edition U-verse provides download speeds up to 10 Megabits per second. The service will also allow businesses to serve up to 32 Internet access connections over existing telephone wiring.

Small business subscribers to this service also will have free unlimited access to AT&T’s Wi-Fi network. This will give small business executives the ability to log into to the Internet at more than 17,000 hot spots nationwide, including more than 7,000 Starbucks stores.

[snip]

I am lusting after a new toy.
And I haven’t chosen the toy yet.

I want a cross between a Smartphone and a UMPC. Something that will run more than Windows Mobile, but will fit in my tote comfortably, won’t take forever to boot, can run several things at once, and will allow me to be functional on the go.

I want it to play games, music, have a webcam, Skype, memory, access to the Internet (anywhere, would be nice). I want it to be affordable.

Where do I find a toy like that?

I keep reading the reviews of the Asus eee pc, the new HP, the Fujitsu (which is still out of my price range). I read about the new crop of cell phones expected to come out this year, many of which sound really really nice.

But I am the woman who resisted the urge to buy an iPhone, despite wanting it more than any other toy that entire year. I still haven’t bought one.

I don’t just go out and spend money on expensive toys. I do my homework. I work my budget. I think about it. I think about it. I think about it.

Then, maybe, I buy something.

I want a new toy. Something to replace the Palm Treo+portable Targus keyboard I use to write these blog posts. Something with a battery that will last more than two hours. Something that won’t require that I learn an entirely new language to use.

I want a new toy, but know, absolutely know, that I’m not getting one. I’m just too practical.

Sometimes things happen that I know I need to share, that for mental health I need to share. But I don’t really want to engage in conversation, not real face-to-face discussions with people I know. I don’t want the daily questions and follow-ups and well-intentioned support.

For these issues, weaknesses, awkward confessions, I need the anonymous support network of the two or three readers I have. Just getting the words out and knowing that someone, somewhere, is reading them… Well, that’s enough for me.

My weight loss is one of these topics. I appreciate the words of encouragement I get from friends and coworkers, but I hate answering questions about my diet.

What do you do? What do you eat? How are you maintaining your commitment? Aren’t you tempted?

The same questions over and over abiout how I can resist temptation and the daily challenges of staying on track. The truly intrusive tell me about their own weight loss failures and give me their best wishes that I have better luck (with some adding that my kind of weight loss is always followed by weight gain).

My brother being in a warzone is another topic. What’s the adequate response to someone asking you “aren’t you worried about him?” Am I supposed to show tears each time I talk about him? I try and stay upbeat, positive, but that’s not good enough for the masses.

On my blog, via Twitter or whatever other tool I happen to be using, I can just ignore the responses I don’t want to deal with, and embrace those I do. What a wonderful thing.

The short list:

1. Leave insightful comments on their blog.
2. Write great content and link to them.
3. Befriend them in their social networks.
4. Communicate with them personally.
5. Nominate them for awards (and tell them about it).
6. Offer to work or write for them for free.
7. Follow their advice (especially on relationship building.)

For details and more information, read the post.

1. Don’t blog for three weeks in a row.
   Do absolutely nothing on your blog for three weeks. Moderate no comments, post no new articles.
2. Write nothing innovative, instead write about the same things you’ve written already.
3. Don’t respond to comments. People will ask you questions, but never reply. After all, they don’t pay you for it.
4. Promote affiliate products. If possible, promote only affiliate products. Don’t write on anything else.
5. Write about your personal life. Write about all the things you did morn to night.
6. Don’t offer full feeds to your readers. They should not get free information you see.
7. Write about that guy you don’t like.
8. Never, ever link to anyone else. Your google juice is hard earned. Never pass it to someone else.
9. If you don’t get any ideas to blog about, don’t blog. Wait for any idea to strike you.
10. Often apologize for not writing frequently. Say sorry to readers every time you don’t blog.

Sounds about right to me.

Gregory Price has been named chairman of the Houston Technology Center’s advisory board for 2008.

Price, director of consulting solutions and information technology at Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas PC, will take up his post on Feb. 14.