Technology
Covers everything from programming to design, to general internet and technology issues.
Never Neglect Good Design
Are you ignoring one of the principal components of any successful product, service, or application? I'm talking about good design. The following is a brief introduction on recognizing bad design is and what to do to test for it...
DEXTER Fan? Don't Miss the Dexter Podcast Perspective Review of Season 4!
Mike Wilkerson and Scott Roberts in the studio
As much as I love talking and writing about fiery foods, it's occasionally refreshing to take a short break from that world for a short while.
This time I want to shamelessly promote a new project on which I'm working. I'm now the co-host of the 2GuysTalking Dexter Podcast. If you're a rabid fan of the hit Showtime series Dexter, you'll love mine and Mike Wilkerson's perspective reviews of what many consider to be the best-ever season of the program, Season 4!
Each podcast show will dive into an individual episode from that season, and Mike and I will bluntly lay it out what we loved and hated about each the writing, storytelling themes, acting, the edge-of-your-seat interplay between Dexter and Arthur Mitchell, the killer humor and more! You're invited to tune in and see if you agree or disagree with us.
You can Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, subscribe to the RSS feed, or directly download Season 4 episode 1 here or listen online via the player below:
If you're a diehard Dexter fanatic, be sure to "like" the 2GuysTalking Dexter Podcast page on Facebook or visit the podcast show page at http://2guystalking.com/dexterpodcast.html.
May 2010 Poll: Would You Watch a Daily Internet Video Show Centering on Hot Sauce, Spicy Foods and BBQ?
With so much good content originating from a variety of sources, it's possible that a daily online video show will pop up on the internet one of these days. This show could hypothetically feature news, reviews, interviews and other features that rhyme with "ewwws" (sorry, bad joke). If any type of video program or podcast like this existed, would you be interested in watching it?
Make Your Life Easier Today!
Unless you've been living in an underground nuclear bunker for the past five years, I'm sure you know all about the glory and usefulness of "web 2.0" services tools such as social networking and RSS feeds. No longer do you have manually visit each and every website that interests you to see if there's anything new on them.
Now the websites will "come to you" instead. This can be accomplished through a subscribable feed listing of the latest posts that you can view on any RSS feed reader ranging from aggregator sites like My Yahoo!, iGoogle and NetVibes to stand-alone reader programs for your computer or smart phones. Yeah, to some that may sound like a load of techno-babble, but you basically take the feed link, plug it in and you'll see a list of my latest posts...
New Hot Sauce Weekly Podcast Episode
There's a brand spankin' new episode of Hot Sauce Weekly, the first podcast dedicated to hot sauce, fiery foods, and BBQ. This episode features a great interview with Joe and Robin Leicht of Flaming Joe's. Also, I provide my weekly sauce review, this time featuring the fabulous Ott's Wing Sauce.
So if you're craving great hot sauce industry coverage, be sure to download and listen to the audio podcast every week by subscribing today! You may ask, "how can I do so?" Well, you click on the RSS Feed link to download it to your feed reader or podcast catcher, or subscribe via the iTunes Feed.
Love what you hear? Please tell all your chilehead friends and family about Hot Sauce Weekly! And please vote for Hot Sauce Weekly both on Podcast Alley and iTunes - it's super simple and it will only take you 30 seconds.
Chileheads to Follow on Twitter
Unless you're a Twitter veteran, you may or may not know that for the longest time the chilehead community has been slow to adopt the social networking service. There has been a large contingent of both the BBQ world and foodies in general populating Twitter, but they're not specifically hot sauce and chile pepper fanatics. Thankfully, that's beginning to change.
Below are what I consider to be the most interesting fiery foods people to follow on Twitter. They're manufacturers, bloggers, spicy foods fans, and chile experts. Some may post or tweet a lot (perhaps a bit too much in a few cases!) and some hardly post at all, but I think they're all worth a look.
Please keep in mind that these are only hot sauce/chile related folks listed. If you're interested in BBQ Twitterers, a good "starter" list can be found here...
Thinking of Starting Up a Blog? Here's How to Pick Your Subject Matter
For me, it started around 2007. I had been a website developer for ten years, and had already dipped my toes in the proverbial waters with a technology/programming blog called Developers Workshop in 2001-02. (Remember it? I didn't think so) But I'd been kicking around the idea for some type of personal blog for years afterward.
At the time I was also maintaining a website advertising my website-building services and occasionally made the sporadic update on this and that, so I thought, "Why not? I'll add my random thoughts to the front page." Long story short, after coding some pages in PHP and setting up a MySQL database backend, my makeshift blog was ready for debut at ScottRobertsWeb.com.
From the offset I wanted the blog's focus to be evenly split into three categories. The first would be technology, which would encompass everything from programming tips to interesting happenings in the world of computing. The second category would...
World's Biggest Alarm Clock
Personally, I think this "alarm clock" would get annoying real fast. I would actually have a different use for this.;-)
How to Have an Unsuccessful Blog
Enough with vying for success. I know what you really want deep down - a blog that fails! Who cares about gaining and retaining an audience? That is SO 2008. Being utterly and completely disastrous with your blog endeavors is the new hotness. Follow all of these wonderfully ineffective tips, and no one will care about your site or ever visit it...
Fighting Writers Block
Everyone gets it, and it's totally unavoidable: the painful and dreaded Writer's Block. It doesn't matter if you blog about your kids, write about local business and politics, or talk about your favorite heavy metal bands; at one time or another you'll run smack into a creativity brick wall with ostensibly no way around it. Not to worry, though, here are some tricks that will help you blast through that barrier and allow yourself to finish your article...
Spreading the Link Love Around
Okay, this isn't the most earth-shattering news, but I have added a website field to the comments section of each page. What's even better is that the website linked from your comment name will NOT have the dreaded "nofollow" tag. Yep, I'm giving any link to your site a little bit of link love (just please return the favor every now and then;-)).
Look Out Twitter, Here Comes Flutter!
The next big thing in social media:
Awesomely Creative Logos That Will Inspire You
Smashing Magazine has gathered 50 different absolutely brilliant logos from corporations and organizations that will make you think second-guess what your previous definitions of the word "creative" is. All are vivid, colorful, and clever; and most have imagery that reflect the company's name.
Take a look at the logo above for Fold It; not only does it display "folds" in the letter "f", but the folds themselves turn into a letter "i", making the initials of the name. Presented in an ultramodern font, cool colors and gradients, and you have the epitome of one slick logo.
Link: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/01/drawing-inspiration-from-creative-logos/
Need Help Managing Twitter? Here's More Than 100 Twitter Tools
Overwhelmed by Twitter? Do you wish there were some sites and tools that will help you better manage your account, your friends and followers, and be more productive?
Here's a list of more than 100 Twitter tools. While it's certainly not comprehensive (there were a few sites I noticed that were missing even upon a quick study), this list contains most of the useful resources you need to get you on your way to better tweeting.
Follow Me on Twitter
If you have a Twitter account, feel free to follow me. I usually tweet about updates to my blog, the latest hot sauces and foods I've tried, and whatever is on my mind at the time. I promise I don't spam...too much.;-) My username is scottroberts.
Also as a reminder, you can subscribe to my RSS feed if you wish to stay up-to-date on my website postings.
