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Techafina

technology distilled

Entrecard: Is It for You?March 5

When I first learned about Entrecard, I didn’t understand the concept and thought it would be a huge waste of my time. In fact, I knew about it for weeks before I signed up and only finally did so expecting nothing in return.

I was completely wrong, and want to take this time to introduce you to Entrecard “Your Business Card 2.0” and explain why I think it is an absolute amazing service for fellow bloggers.

Entrecard is a business card for your blog. It is an image widget that you place on your site, and other people come by and click the yellow button underneath it that says “Drop.” If you are not signed in, or not yet a member, instead of “Drop,” you will see, “Get one.” Let’s pretend you already have an account, and you’re facing that Drop button. When you click it, it will change to say Thank You, or some other similar message letting you know, you have successfully Dropped your card. What you have done, is handed the owner of that website, your blog’s business card. Then next time they login to Entrecard, they will see in their inbox, an image that you provided of YOUR website. Tada! You’ve just exchanged blog business cards!

My Entrecard Inbox

When you D

Moving to a New Internet HomeDecember 30 2009

UPDATE: I’ve changed my mind about ditching Techafina. I just can’t walk away… so in effort to save the web from another needless broken link – this post will remain, but, so will Techafina!

Techafina is going through a transition, and I owe you an explanation. There have been many times over the last year I wanted to blog about something but didn’t feel it would fit the Techafina mold I had created. So, I didn’t blog. And, as more time has gone on, I realized I was even less likely to update WordPress (I want to write, not deal with database backups) so updates came and went and Techafina sat without being touched. In fact, as I write this, I see a big warning at the top of my screen that I need to update WordPress or bad things will happen.

And so, I’m going with the unpopular decision of moving back to Blogger. I know, I know, many of you hate Blogger. Well, I hate WordPress. It’s not that I’m not technical enough, or geeky enough, I just simply think it’s better suited for my blogging needs.

While preparing for the move I went through all the posts on Techafina and decided that most of them are no longer relevant and not really worth “moving.”

So, what’s next? Well, if you read Techafina because you like reading about Blogging (i.e. how to configure Blogger, how to improve your writing, etc.) you will want to continue reading over at Bl

Taking a Half Leap ForwardJanuary 30 2009

Arriving a little late on the scene, I am finally the proud owner of a new iPod Touch. I just could not get myself to make the full jump from my BlackBerry Curve to the iPhone, so I settled for an in-between move to provide some fun, sleek, fast Wi-Fi enabled browsing – yet keep the productivity tools I have on my Curve. If you aren’t familiar with the iPod Touch, it is basically the iPhone – without the phone (or camera, or GPS).

What’s the verdict? Well I can tell you this, nothing annoys me more than reading reviews of products that have only been used for a day or two. Personally, I’d love to see a website that carries product reviews of items that have been used for at least 31 days. I mean really, what do you know of stability or usability when you’re still in the new-gadget-honeymoon phase? You are all too likely to be blinded by the joys of

Get Your Political Fix – On TwitterJanuary 21 2009

Below is a sampling of what you can find on Twitter… or rather, WHO you can find. The list is in no particular order, nor does it represent my views on – anything at all. Enjoy.

http://twitter.com/BarackObama – yes, Mr. President himself
http://twitter.com/thewhitehouse 
http://twitter.com/USSupremeCourt 
http://twitter.com/HouseFloor
http://twitter.com/NationalDebt – this is depressing, but if you want it – it’s here
http://twitter.com/boblatta – Congressman for Ohio’s 5th District
http://twitter.com/danburton – US Representative, Indiana’s 5th District
http://twitter.com/ThadMcCotter – Congressman for Michigan’s 11th District
http://twitter.com/RobWittman – First Congressional District of Virginia
http://twitter.com/RobertBluey – Director of Online Strategy @Heritage.
http://twitter.com/Heritage – Heritage Foundation

The Glory of a NameJanuary 15 2009

The old proverb “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” is simply, well, not true. The only time a person is driven to a book based on the content first, is when the book comes as a recommendation. If you are browsing books in a bookstore trying to find a particular area of knowledge – you choose books based on three things; title, subtitle, and the cover art. The truth hurts. So does trying to title a book in progress!

If you have been following me on Twitter, you may have picked up on the notion that I am writing a book. The entire purpose of this blog is for me to have an ongoing area where I can practice, and improve upon, my writing. Of course, the last few months my blog hasn’t received any traffic from me, therefore, my overall web traffic has begun to die. Blogs have a natural ebb and flow and unfortunately, lately, Techafina has been in the ebb phase. As I work on my book I hope to continue to write here as well because, I like my blog. Of course, I hope you do too. So if you are dismayed in the lack of posts lately, please don’t give up. I’m not going anywhere.

But, back to the topic at hand. Book titles…

As I have tried to figure out the “rules” in book naming, I have come across some excellent advice, and noticed some really bad patterns. A well named book will grab a reader’s attention – in 5 words or less. This is a tall order to achieve, and apparently, Daniel Defoe was n