Tech Talk #004

My father-in-law forwarded me an interesting video clip on some new technology that Microsoft is developing. It's called Microsoft Surface and it's a new way to interact with technology. Basically, with Surface you can "grab" data with your hands and move information between objects (like digital cameras, cell phone, laptops, etc.) with natural gestures and touch. It's actually pretty cool. If you've got a few minutes, give it a look!

Tech Talk # 003

Today's Tech Talk expands on with the theme from TT002 by focuses on some of my favorite web development online tools.

I realize there are tons of links to numerous online web development tools, technologies and trends. Everyone has their favorites; these are just a few of mine that I use often:

• To get a jump start on a brand new page or site, I like to check out Cool Homepages.
• For Cascading Style Sheets I like Glish, Dynamic Drive and the CSS Tutorial.
• Here is a really cool tool for picking colors along with a handy Color Names chart.
• Here's a nice DHTML reference site.
• And last but not least, a nifty Designer's Toolbox.

Hope you find some of these useful for your web design & development adventures!

Tech Talk # 002

Today's Tech Talk focuses on my favorite HTML editors.

I still do web page design and development as time permits. Having worked in this space for the better part of 10 years I've come to rely on a trusty standby and a more recent (relatively) entry in the HTML editor arena.

My first choice continues to be HomeSite 5.5. This cool tool does a lot in a very light environment! It's fast, intuitive and feature rich. Maybe it's because I cut my teeth learning HTML with it, or maybe it's just a great tool, but either way I like it a lot!

The new comer for me was a simple product I found a year or so ago. It's called Note Tab Light. While I don't use it as much as HomeSite (I usually use it for quick changes and have it installed on all my workstations at home & the office) it's a nice, light, flexible tool. And the part I like best is that its free!! With tabbed file management (similar to IE7) it makes working with multiple pages (files) a breeze. And because it's so small, I carry it on my thumb drive as part of my digital toolkit. It's also a great replacement for Windows Notepad

Check them both out and see what you think!

Tech Talk # 001

Welcome to a new feature debuting today on SS!

I have had numerous requests from family & friends to share my insights, opinions, successes and failures regarding technology. To that end, I'll post information, reviews, "how to's", etc. from time to time as I come across things that interest me or that I have somehow become (or been forced to become) familiar with. I'll even look back at some of the existing technologies I have implemented and discuss those too.

To start off the inaugural Tech Talk (TT) posts, I'm going to focus on the Google Reader. This gadget (actually it's a web site) is a pretty handy and downright cool tool. It's designed to help you keep track of your favorite websites, blogs, RSS feeds, etc. I have two accounts, one I use for work related information and the other for my personal stuff.



So, how does it work? Well first you need a Google account. Once you have your account, go to the Google Reader login page and sign in with your account information. Once you're logged in, follow the detailed help prompts to subscribe to your very first feed.

In case anyone out there is wondering what some of my subscriptions are, here's a partial list:


One of my favorite work-related blogs that I visit daily is Google SEO extraordinaire Matt Cutts (this is a great site to add to you're subscription list if you are into SEO & SERMA). Anyway, Matt has a great post on the reader and some of it's cool features.

So talk a few minutes and check out the reader sometime, hopefully you'll enjoy it and find it as useful as I have!