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LangaList 2001-04-23 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free!
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1) Final Byte Column Live TodayAs mentioned, part of the shake-up that resulted in WinMag.Com going dark also got Byte.Com new management; they've decided to narrow Byte's focus. And as expected, the "Monitor" column I wrote for them falls outside the new boundaries. <g> In fairness to the Byte managers, they offered me the chance to redefine the column to fit within the new framework, but I declined: The wide scope was what made Byte interesting for me; and I enjoyed adding to a broad canvas. But I've never been much of a pointillist, so Byte and I are parting ways. If you also enjoyed that broad scope, please note that my final Monitor column--- covering some *extremely* exotic uses for PCs--- is scheduled to go live today, Monday April 23rd; it should be available via Byte's home page at http://www.byte.com/ or by clicking directly to the Monitor index at http://www.byte.com/index/monitor . Check it out! Click to
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Your Inner Geek --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 2) New, Faster "Langa.Com" In The WorksIn the wake of the almost glitch-free move of the BrowserTune site to new, faster servers, I'm now similarly about to move the main Langa.Com site. This will reduce the recent slooooow page load times caused by the extreme number of readers beating on the server at the same time. <g> Langa.Com normally pumps out about 12-15GB of pages a month, and that doesn't sound too bad in terms of daily server load. But almost all that demand happens just on the days when new LangaList issues appear. With eight issues per month, that means the server pumps out the 15GB in just eight days--- and that's the peak-load equivalent of a site spewing around 60GB a month. That's a *lot* of traffic (especially for a one-man, personal site like mine! <g>), and it takes a big data pipe to keep the bits flowing smoothly. The new site has that "big pipe" and we should see better page-loading times very soon. Or rather, you'll see them unless you're using the kind of "web accelerator" software that hard-wires a site/domain name to a specific address. Normally, web addresses are meant to be "dynamic," meaning that sites can move around, the web's infrastructure automatically and invisibly rerouting you to the new location. But software that defeats dynamic addressing (using "static" addresses instead) will still stupidly try to bring you to the OLD address, even if it's no longer valid. Duh. (More info: http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2000/2000-04-03.htm#5 ) So: Heads up! "Langa.Com" soon will have a completely new IP address. If you don't use a DNS cache or web accelerator or "hosts file" tool, the move should be seamless, and that's just the way it's supposed to be. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend 3) The "AnswerWorks"The folks at Wextech.com have been in the business of helping people build better Help files for a long time--- and they offer some great tools for doing just that. But now they've come up with something new.
Naturally, Wextech hopes the demo site will prompt you to buy their "linguistic processing" tools so you can create similar sites on your own. But the demo is fully functional, self-contained, and offers considerable utility on its own, giving you access to a wealth of information drawn from those various Knowledgebases. Check it out! Click to
email this item to a friend 4) Sizzling HotSpotsThe free "Web Hotspots" page lives on the same server as BrowserTune; when BrowserTune got upgraded, so did HotSpots, and the site is now cleaner and faster than ever. ( http://www.browsertune.com/flanga/hotspots.htm ) There's a new HotSpot selected and shown every day. I personally select and post each HotSpot from sites I find as I cruise the web, and from sites others send in as HotSpot candidates. What is a "HotSpot?" It's any page that's one of "the best, most interesting, most useful, and strangest sites the Web has to offer." And a lot of people agree with the choices--- some eight million visitors come to the HotSpots page every year! Here are some recent HotSpot offerings: Nice online tech help service: http://www.computerhope.com/ This is a real customs form! Look what they were bringing in! http://www.research.att.com/~smb/imex.gif How popular is your website? http://www.ineedhits.com/free/popularity Who took my kidney? http://www.snopes2.com/info/maillist.htm A very cool tool. Cheap, too! http://www.swishzone.com/ Bummer, man. http://dearauntnettie.com/museum/ Unusual concept. http://www.2ce.com/ Nose clips not included: http://www.gamewornjerseys.com/ Bizarre. http://www.zthing.com/zthings/player.php3?zthing=badcasting Thousands of people have the HotSpots site set as their home page so they start each surfing session with something interesting, useful--- or just plain strange. 8-) Check out HotSpots: http://www.browsertune.com/flanga/hotspots.htm Click to
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the above is an advertisement )-------------- 5) Son Of "Clippy"Reader Angel Lampreave responded to the item in the last issue on the demise of "Clippy," the animated paperclip, and similar characters, that are part of the current Office help system. (See "R.I.P. Clippy" http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-04-19.htm#7 )
Wow, thanks, Angel. I'd missed that completely, and it looks interesting indeed. In fact, the Economist's headline states "Mobile Manager has an almost telepathic ability to distinguish junk mail from genuinely important messages" It works with Outlook (O97 or later), and a beta is available for free download now. If you use a mobile device, it definitely looks like its worth checking out. Click to
email this item to a friend 6) Quick IE TipReader Brendan O'Carrol suggests a tip that illustrates how many ways there are to accomplish the same task:
One of Microsoft software's greatest strengths AND weaknesses is that there are usually about nine different ways to accomplish any given task. <g> I personally *like* having many ways to do things, because I can usually find at least one that more or less suits my workstyle (rather than having to adopt my workstyle to fit the software). The downside is that unless you're at least generally familiar with all the different methods, instructions given in one particular style may seem alien and weird to you. For example, I tend to be a mouser, for no particular reason other than that I'm not a great typist. As such, I usually opt for mouse-oriented navigation. To open a link in a new window, I right-click on the link and simply select "open in new window" from the context menu. Other people--- especially touch-typists--- are inveterate keyboarders who know every odd key combination and chord that lets them do most things without ever removing their hands from the keys. For example, they can use the Tab key to navigate to a particular link on a page, and then press Shift-Enter to open that link in a new Window--- all without ever touching the mouse. Brendan's tip is a hybrid: a key-AND-click method to force IE to open a link in a new window. You may find it a time-saver, especially if your style is to keep your left hand on the keys while you mouse with your right (or vice versa). All the ways work, and no one is the "correct" or "best way." Just use whatever feels right for you--- and be aware that there are many other ways to do things! Thanks, Brendan! Click to
email this item to a friend 7) Recommend It!If you think the LangaList is a worthwhile read, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win $10,000 for your trouble (full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#1 Or, win a no-strings $30 Gift Certificate for any item at Amazon.Com--- books, software, hardware, kitchenware, toys... and more. To have a shot at winning, just use the following link to recommend the LangaList to a friend. Your friend just may find a new source of useful information; I just may gain a new subscriber; and you just may win a $30 Gift Certificate! (Full details also available via this link): http://www.langa.com/recommend.htm#2 Either way, thank you again, and good luck! Click to
email this item to a friend 8) Time-Saving "MetaBrowsing"I've written about "QuickBrowse" before: It's a tool that does for normal web sites what "metasearch" pages do for search engines: QuickBrowse lets you assemble ANY pages from ANY site into a scrollable metapage that lets you see all the content at once, with just one click (instead of dozens). It can virtually eliminate "back and forthing" between a main site and ancillary pages. It's sort of like being able to create your own custom web newspaper, where the articles are the portions of web sites you pre-select. Quickbrowse works with any kind of content, and indeed it can be used for normal web-based news sites and search engines. But you'll be missing its power if you think of it only as a news or search tool. "Metabrowsing" is one of those concepts that's easier to experience than to explain: Click over to http://www.quickbrowse.com/ and chances are you'll add it to your Favorites list within a couple minutes. 8-) Click to
email this item to a friend 9) Those Pesky "FFF..." FilesReader Richard A. Verde fell afoul of those *&@$&% little zero-byte files that start with the letters "fff" and seem to multiply like digital vermin.
The one good thing about "fff": files is that three-letter combination is fairly rare, and that means it's easier to search for the answer. For instance, searching Langa.Com.
shows we've covered these pesky little buggers several times before. We gave a
general answer, along with an easy fix, at The short answer is that they're caused by a annoying but nonvirulent bug in Microsoft Office. If you're running Windows9x, you can delete the files either by using CleanAll.Bat or by adding the line del c:\windows\fff*.tmp to your Autoexec.bat file. Click to
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Noticed The Repeat Advertisers In The LangaList? See http://www.langa.com/ratecard.htm <a href="http://www.langa.com/ratecard.htm">AOL Users: Click here!</a> --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 10) Just For GrinsThe folks at "Stinky Cheese Productions" are at it again. (Despite their odd name, they're a web design house with some gorgeous demos http://www.stinkycheese.com ) This time, they sent along this proof that "HEAVEN IS HOTTER THAN HELL"
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Answers about --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition HighlightsToday's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 30% more content including: Free downloads of the standard (non Help File) format archives, in both full and update versions; and a free disk-space manager that integrates right into Windows Explorer. Plus! Edition info: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm Click to
email this item to a friend See you next issue! Best, Please recommend the LangaList to a friend! (And maybe win $10,000!I) An easier-to read formatted HTML version is available in the "Current Issue" section of http://www.langa.com. (The HTML version of each issue normally is available by 9AM EST [UT-5] of the issue date.) All past LangaList issues are also available at the Langa.Com site. Why are you getting this newsletter? This is a 100% OPT-IN newsletter: There are only three ways to get on the list--- signup via direct email request from you, or signup via the WinMag newsletter page or signup via BrowserTune's email-notification service. If you're getting this newsletter; your name came to me through one of those signup channels. At signup, you also received a confirmation email from my list software---no one is signed up secretly or against their will. SUBSCRIBE (it's free!): Create and send a new email address it to subscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net For even more content, downloads and special services, check out the LangaList Plus! Edition: http://www.langa.com/plus.htm UNSUBSCRIBE: From the same address you used to sign up with (it's shown on the first line in the body of each email issue you receive), create and send a new email address to unsubscribe-langalist@lyris.dundee.net . CHANGE ADDRESS? LIST TROUBLE? HAVE QUESTIONS? NEED HELP? See http://www.langa.com/help.htm About the advertisers: Langa Consulting LLC will never knowingly accept advertising for a fraudulent product, company or service. However, Langa Consulting LLC makes no implied or explicit warranty, recommendation or endorsement of or for the products, companies or services mentioned in the ads. Disclaimer: (Please see full disclaimer here: http://www.langa.com/legal.htm.) Abbreviated version: The tips and other information given in the newsletter are researched and are believed to be accurate, but we cannot and do not guarantee that all the information here will work on all systems, for all users, all the time. All information herein is offered as-is and without warranty of any kind. Neither Langa Consulting LLC, nor its employees nor contributors are responsible for any loss, injury, or damage, direct or consequential, resulting from application of any information presented here. This newsletter is a service of Langa Consulting LLC and is Copyright © 1997-2005Langa Consulting LLC. All rights reserved. LangaList: ISSN 1533-1156 |
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