Links for the month of February.

Here are a few links of interest to the folks who read my books and articles or watch my training videos.

• The ‘Twitter Effect’: Possibilities and limits – Interesting article about the effect of retweeting links on a grand scale. On CNET. Thanks to @mjvalente for sharing this link.
• iMovie ’09 – Jeff Carlson, author of numerous iMovie-related books, reviews iMovie '09. Spoiler: Good news. On Macworld.com.
• Commercial Twitter spamming tool hits the market – This is not a good thing, but by making this public, it will hopefully spur the folks at Twitter to improve the registration process and put tools in place to stop automated tweets and accounts. Thanks to @mjvalente on Twitter for the link. On ZDNet.com.
• Top 10 Twitter Related Sites – One user's list of top ten sites for Twitter users. On SpookyIsMy.name.
• Google Next Victim Of Creative Destruction? – Interesting article that includes insight on how Twitter might be better for search results on current events than Google. Thanks to @jodene on Twitter for sharing the link. On AlleyInsider.com.
• Creative Ways to Use Twitter for Marketing and Branding – This article is a bit old and outdated, but it has some good ideas. On ShoestringBranding.com.
• Writing My Twitter Etiquette Article: 14 Ways to Use Twitter Politely – A handful of tips for using Twitter more politely. By Margaret Mason on The Morning News.
• A Twitter Decision – Deciding who to follow on Twitter. This makes sense. On Rands In Repose.
• Twitter: How to Get Started Guide for Business People – Not sure if this is a good one…a primer for business users who are interested in getting started on Twitter. Like we need more people [ab]using the system for profit. On CIO.com.
• Twitter’s Potential for Business Users – One take on how business users can benefit from Twitter. On CIO.com.
• MacVoices #950: Maria Langer and Scott McNulty Share Their Knowledge of WordPress – Thinking of starting a blog with WordPress? Maria Langer, the author of Self-Hosting a WordPress Site and WordPress.Com 2.7 Essential Training on Lynda.com and Scott McNulty, the author of Building a WordPress Blog People Want to Read, share some tips from their respective projects to help you make the right choices. Maria and Scott talk about deciding on using WordPress.com or selecting your own host, one-click vs. user installs, why permalink structure is one of the first things you should think about, and finding and customizing a theme for your blog and more. Backup options, favorite plug-ins and why their video and book compliment each other are discussed.
• Favicon Generator – Yet another online tool for generating favicons. This one lets you base your icon on an image you upload or draw one online.
• [ws] Color Scheme Designer – Great site for folks who struggle with color schemes.
• 8 Useful Tips To Become Successful With Twitter. What are YOUR tips? – Great article for becoming a Twitter success (whatever that is). On the Blog of Mr. Tweet.
• Rise of the Twitter Scrapers – There's a new kind of spammer in Twitter town. Learn more on PlagiarismToday.
• 10 Ways Microsoft’s Retail Stores Will Differ From Apple Stores – PC World has a sense of humor. Unfortunately, their readers don't. Thanks to @danfrakes on Twitter for sharing this link.
• 15 Useful WordPress Tricks to Make Your Theme Even Better – A good article with easy tips for modifying WordPress themes. Some of these are pretty basic, while others are more interesting and advanced. On ForTheLose.org.
• Create Groups for Twitter – Interesting article on Mashable explains how to create groups on Twitter, using 3rd Party sites and clients.
• Consumed – A Successful Failure – Fail Whale – NYTimes.com – New York Times article about Twitter's "Fail Whale," including its history and some information about it's original artist.
• Life is tweet: How the Twitter family infiltrated our cultural world – Excellent article on the Guardian about Twitter in the U.K. and beyond. Thanks to @twitter on Twitter for the link.
• Apple – Support – Apple Expert – Get support from an Apple expert — when you need it. Would love to know how this works out. If you've tried this, drop a comment for the links post on my blog.
• 9 Common Usability Mistakes In Web Design – There's nothing that bugs me more than a Web site that I think might have the content I want but is so poorly designed, I run out of patience before I can find it. This article talks about common Web design mistakes that affect usability. On Smashing Magazine.
• 5 Ways to Instantly Write Better CSS – NETTUTS – Simple tips for writing better CSS. On tutsplus.com.
• Field Trip to the Apple Store – Teachers, PAY ATTENTION. This is a great idea to introduce your kids to technology. Thanks to @BWJones on Twitter for the link.
• UnTweeps – Cleanup Twitter users who don’t tweet often enough. – This quick utility will identify the Twitter users you follow who haven't posted an update in 30, 60, or 90 days (your choice). You can then unfollow them as desired or take other action. Requires your Twitter password, but doesn't store it. Great way to weed out the people you follow who don't actively participate in Twitter — or to nag the ones you want to continue to follow. Thanks to @AndyPiper on Twitter for the link.
• The Netbook Effect: How Cheap Little Laptops Hit the Big Time – Excellent article about the history of the Netbook and why it has become so popular. Apple? I'm still waiting for my Mac OS X netbook. Thanks to @jmoriarty on Twitter for the link. Read it on Wired.com.

Links for the month of January.

Here are a few links of interest to the folks who read my books and articles or watch my training videos.

• TUAW Macworld 2009 Keynote Predictions – What the folks at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) think might happen at next week's Macworld Expo keynote.
• Apple market share tops 10%, Windows share lowest since tracking began – Interesting stats about computer platform distribution among users. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• 10 Resources for When You Need Help with CSS – A list of resources, with screenshots and links, for CSS information. Great for beginners. On Vandelay Website Design.
• 10 Killer WordPress Hacks – Excellent list with instructions and reference links to WordPress hacks for self-hosted WordPress users. On Smashing Magazine.
• FOLLOW FAIL: The Top 10 Reasons I Will Not Follow You in Return on Twitter – If you follow me in Twitter but I don’t follow you back, it could be for one of these reasons. On Mashable.com.
• How not to build a website – finding a website developer – Extremely good advice here. Thanks to @Jen4Web on Twitter for sharing the link. On WomenEntrepreneur.com.
• Macworld 2009 keynote liveblog – Mike T. Rose treats us to a live blog of the Keynote. Here’s the final list of updates. Thanks tons, @MikeTRose! On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• The Twitter Applications Database – ANOTHER compilation of Twitter applications.
• Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard – Even some Mac users have to admit that this is pretty funny. On The Onion.
• Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs – The rumors of his impending death are greatly exaggerated. Again. On Apple.com.
• Twitter Yourself a Job – Tips from the Wall Street Journal for using Twitter as part of a job hunt strategy.
• Twitter be Nimble, Twitter be Quick, if you don’t know Jack, try these Twitter Tricks – A great introduction to Twitter for new users and power user wannbes. On TwiTip.com.
• WordPress Discussion Management: Enable or Disable Comments and Pingbacks via SQL – Great post that explains how to use MySQL commands to enable or disable comments and pingbacks. Also explains how you can periodically turn off comments and pingbacks on all posts based on date.
• Separating Pings from Comments in WordPress 2.7 – Great tutorial for WordPress 2.7 users, explaining how to separate pingbacks/trackbacks and comments in the comments area of a blog post. On Sivel.net.
• Introducing Tweetbacks Plugin for WordPress – Excellent! A Tweetback plugin for WordPress users. This post includes a link to the plugin with complete instructions for WordPress 2.7 and earlier versions. On Smashing Magazine.
• CSS tips that every beginning developer should know – Great beginning CSS tutorial. On Arbenting.
• Tweetbacks, Copyright and Scraping – Another way of looking at Tweetbacks — one I never thought of. By Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today, in the Blog Herald.
• Apple IQ Test – My score was dismal. I knew everything about Macs before 1995, but failed miserable on most questions dealing with facts after that. Could that indicate that I actually DO have a life? If you think you know Macs, try this test. On Infoworld.com. Thanks to @shepherdfx on Twitter for sharing the link.
• U.S. Airways Crash Rescue Picture: Citizen Journalism, Twitter At Work – Incredible photos of today's crash taken moments afterward. So glad this one had a happy ending. On AlleyInsider.com.
• Hate the Player It’s Not a Game – Jeremy Tanner tells it like it is Re: Twitter spammers who call themselves gurus, mavens, etc.
• Twitter Support – Twitter help is now centralized in one place. Thanks to @mdy on Twitter for pointing this out.
• 7 Ways to Be Worth Following on Twitter – I really wish everyone who used Twitter would read this article and follow its advice. There would be a lot less noise online. On Twitip.com.
• Mac Automation: Creating Watch Me Do workflows – Good how-to piece for Automator users. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• How Not to be a Key Online Influencer – An example of how a self-labeled “key online influencer” can easily get cut down by the same social networking services he’s trying to promote — by the company he’s trying to promote them to. A lesson for anyone who blogs or tweets: when you say something publicly, ANYONE can read it. By David Henderson. Thanks to @SonoranDragon on Twitter for retweeting this link.
• Macintosh 25th Anniversary Reunion: Where Did Time Go? – Guy Kawasaki's tribute to the Mac's 25th birthday. Includes the complete introduction of the Mac, as well as the famous 1984 commercial. (Did you know that only appeared on TV as a commercial twice?) Thanks to @LeVitus for tweeting this one.
• I am popular on Twitter. Here’s why this means nothing. – And I thought I was the only one laughing at people bragging about their Twitter popularity stats. On ZDNet.com.
• The 100 Most Popular Twitter applications – The title says it all. On blending the mix.
• The Unforeseen Consequences of the Social Web – Sound advice for people who use Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking services: what you put online might stay there for a very, very long time. On ReadWriteWeb. Thanks to @jodene on Twitter (where else?) for tweeting this link. Good reading.

Here are a few links of interest to the folks who read my books and articles or watch my training videos.

• Final Cut sequences to DVDs: The high-quality way – Excellent tutorial explaining how to export high-quality digital video from Final Cut for use in DVD. Requires Final Cut Studio (not Express). Hat tip to @izzyvideo on Twitter for the link. On GeniusDV.com.
• W(h)ither social networks? On the end of Pownce – Some thoughts on social networking and microblogging. On The lost outpost.
• 2.7 Gets Here in Two Days! – Thank heaven for this post, sent to me via tweet by @andypiper. I was just starting to worry about whether WordPress.com would be updated before I was scheduled to work on my training video.
• The Simpsons mocks (m)Apple – Article with embedded YouTube clips about the recent Simpsons episode that mocks Apple, Inc. On Engadget.
• 60 Really Cool and Creative Error 404 Pages – This will make you laugh. On Hongkiat.com/blog.
• The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos – Rounding out tonight's trilogy of trivia, courtesy of Neatorama, is this excellent piece about the evolution of tech company logos.
• Woof! An iPhone-controlled dog treat dispenser – THIS is what makes technology cool. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW). Don't forget to watch the video to see how it works.
• 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content – Excellent advice I need to start taking. On ChrisBrogan.com
• Serious security flaw found in IE – Why doesn't this surprise me? On BBC News.
• Getting Started With WordPress – Excellent post with links to other content of interest to new (or relatively new) self-hosted WordPress users. On Themetation.com.
• GovTwit Directory – A directory of government agencies and individuals on Twitter. Hat tip to @elloyd74 on Twitter (where else?) for the link.
• iPhone thief thwarted by MobileMe sync – Apple technology makes it easier to recover stolen Apple products. Again. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• RandomMaccess | It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine) – Chuck LaTournous, long-time Apple user, writes about what he thinks of the Apple Macworld announcements. On Random Access.
• MacJury » Blog Archive » MacJury #831: Analysis of Apple’s Announcements and the Future of Macworld Expo – No Steve Jobs keynote and Apple's qutting Macworld Expo after this year. The Mac Jurists discuss in this podcast episode of The Mac Jury.
• HTML-Ipsum – Need to check Web design with sample text? Here's a good source of Ipsum text in HTML format.
• 45 Beautiful Free Fonts for Modern Design Trends – What can be more fun (and completely frivolous) than free fonts? On Six Revisions.
• 50 websites you’ll wonder how you lived without – A list of 50 interesting Web sites, with descriptions. On Curious? Read.
• Apple Announces Last Year of Christmas – I wonder if Apple will allow this to stay online. If you click this link and get a 404, blame Apple.
• Apple Announces Its Last Year at Macworld – The end of an era. On Apple.com.
• My CSS Menu – Menu Generator – An online code-generation tool for creating horizontal or vertical menus with CSS. Might be useful to Web designers interested in creating customized menus for their blogs or sites.
• Make A GIF – An online tool for creating animated GIF files. Just upload images in order and Make A GIF does the rest.
• 30 Excellent WordPress Video Tutorials – List of 30 WordPress video tutorials covering a variety of topics. On SixRevisions.com
• Apple shocks world, reveals it is a huge corporation – Reality check by Scott McNulty. Thanks, Scott! We obviously needed this. On Macworld.com.
• Steve Jobs didn’t make the first Macworld, either – An account by David Burnell of Steve Jobs and the first Macworld Expo. Hat tip to @LeVitus on Twitter for the link. On the San Francisco Chronicle Web site.
• 25 Photoshop Tutorials for Web Designers – The title says it all. On Six Revisions.

Here are a few links of interest to readers of my books for the month of November, 2008.

• WordPress 2.7 Comments Enhancements – Article with information for WordPress users interested in making existing themes compatible with the WordPress 2.7 comment-threading/linking features.
• Tools & Utilities for filmmakers – Here are a bunch of links to templates of interest to filmmakers. On DependentFilms.net.
• WordPress 2.7: Ten useful new features – A concise summary of what one WordPress users thinks is the ten most useful new features of WordPress 2.7. A beta of this new version was released on November 1; the final release is due before month-end. On op111.net.
• Looking for Mr. Goodtweet: How to Pick Up Followers on Twitter – Although he starts off with an example that simply doesn't apply to normal folks like you and me, Guy Kawaskai shares some good advice about building your Twitter follower base. Hat tip to @LeVitus for the link via Twitter.
• The Power of Writing Things Down | Dumb Little Man – A good article with tips on how writing things down can help improve your life. Really. On DumbLittleMan.com. Thanks to @LeVitus for sharing this in a tweet.
• Secrets of the Annotated World – Interesting article about how you can benefit from micro social networking like Twitter and BrightKite. On ChrisBrogan.com.
• Digital Photography School — Digital Photography Tips for You – An excellent blog with how-to tips for digital photography.
• Pew Internet & American Life Project – Latest Internet quiz. How do you fit in?
• Twitterspeak: 66 Twitter Terms You Don’t Need to Know – On Mashable.com; a list of Twitter terms and definitions. Thanks to @mjvalente for tweeting this link.
• Can you spot Phishing? – Since I've been blogging so much about phishing lately, it seems natural to include a link to this page on the PayPal site. It's a test to help you understand phishing.
• The Book of MacBook: Observations and thoughts on Apple's latest consumer portable – Excellent review of MacBook. (I'm still undecided, though.) By Dan Moren on MacUser.com.
• Don't be Fooled by the Lack of a Copyright Notice – Good basic information about copyright and inclusion of a copyright symbol On the Copyright Law and Copyright Information blog. Thanks to @PattyHankins on Twitter for sharing the link.
• iTunes 101: Deauthorize all computers at once – Great tip for folks who have forgotten to deauthorize a computer before getting rid of it. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• 50 Beautiful Examples Of Tilt-Shift Photography – Very good examples that make the photos look like models. Includes video, too. On SmashingMagazine.com.
• Tilt-Shift Photography Photoshop Tutorial | Miniature Faking – After seeing an example of tilt-shift video photography by Keith Loutit (with thanks to @jebro on Twitter for sharing the link), I got interested in tilt-shift photography. I'm not interested in it enough to buy special equipment, but this tutorial explains how to simulate the effect in Photoshop. On TiltShiftPhotography.net.
• Copyright Infringement – A photographer horror story. Stolen images on a trip to Burma. Protect your work! On Luceo Images.
• A Holiday Gift Guide for the frequent traveler – Some pretty good gift ideas for technically savvy travelers. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.7 | Technosailor.com – An informative article about the features and interface changes in the upcoming WordPress 2.7 release. On the Technosailer.com Web site.
• 19 Photoshop tutorials to design your own business card – Links to 19 different Photoshop tutorials for creating business cards. On DeveloperFox.
• 50 Incredible Fonts for Professional Web & Print Design – Free fonts for outrageous designs. On Noupe.
• Why Start a Blog and 25 Tips to Make it Work – Excellent article for wannabe bloggers who want to succeed. On Conversation Agent.
• Lorem 2: An all-around better Lorem experience. – Sample text to help you design your documents.
• 100 Awesome Ivy League Video Lectures – Links to online lectures of interest to anyone who wants to expand their horizons. On Online Universities.com.

Here are a few links of interest to readers of my books for the month of October, 2008.

• Logic Puzzle Archives – Holy cow. An archive of logic puzzles, complete with Flash-based solving tools. Who could ask for more? On PuzzlersParadise.
• 18 WordPress Plugins to add Professionalism to your Blog – Pretty good list of WordPress plugins to add features to your blog. I'll probably be trying a few of these shortly. On SpeckyBoy.com.
• In Defense of Piracy – A discussion of how fair use is often confused with copyright violation in the creation of new material based on existing material. On the Wall Street Journal Web site.
• Getting handsy with the new MacBooks – Great article about hands-on experience with the new MacBooks. On MacUser.com.
• Organization: Form an Attack Plan for a Cluttered, Messy Home – Great article on LifeHacker with tips for getting rid of clutter.
• Lizzer: A Copyright/Hotlinking Disaster – PlagiarismToday exposes the new Lizzer service as encouraging copyright infringement and allowing abuse of resources. Interesting reading for webmasters and bloggers interested in protecting content.
• MediaShift . How 'Follower Spam' Infiltrated Twitter — and How to Stop It | PBS – Excellent article about Twitter "follower spam," including what it is and how to stop it.
• 10 Traits Of A Successful Human Being – Excellent article listing the traits you need to succeed. On PickTheBrain.com.

Links for February 2008.

• Mac Automation: Save websites to iPod for later – A great how-to explains how you can use Automator to save the text contents of a Web page for offline reading on your iPod. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).
• Things I Learned At The Apple Store – Great first-person experience on a first visit to an Apple store. On Burbia.com.
• Things I Learned At The Apple Store — Part 2 – The second part of the Apple Store article on Burbia.com.
• TidBITS Safe Computing: Should Mac Users Run Antivirus Software? – Rich Mogull presents his views on whether Mac users should use antivirus software. On TidBITS.com.
• BlackBerry or iPhone: Which Horse Will You Back? – Interesting article about the competition between the BlackBerry and iPhone. On CIO.com.
• Is your Airport Extreme suddenly Time Machine-happy? – Yes, the latest update appears to have enabled Time Machine to recognized hard disks attached to AirPort Extreme via USB. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).

Links for February 2008.

• Time Wasting Blog Comments, Comments Policies, and Comment Etiquette – Good article about creating a comment policy on your blog to prevent marketing and time-wasting comments. On The Blog Herald.
• Increase Page Rank By Revitalizing Your Old Posts – Another great post for bloggers from the Blog Herald. This one explains why and how to update and revitalize older posts. A must-read for anyone with posts over 2 years old in their blog.
• What Is Sucking Your Blogging Confidence Away? – Yet another great post on the Blog Herald about blogging. This one tackles, among other things, handling mean-spirited comments by readers. Apparently, I’m not the only one who deletes them ruthlessly.
• Magnetic websites – A great post by Miraz Jordan with some easy-to-follow advice for bloggers and Webmasters. On Tikouka.
• Introducing Prologue – Automattic has introduced Prologue for WordPress, which enables WordPress.com users to create a Twitter-like microblogging environment on their blogs. On WordPress.com.
• A color toolbox – Article covers a number of tools you can use to work with colors. On The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Time Machine and Airport Disks, redux – Andy Piper provides text and screencast about Mac OS X 10.5.2′s ability to see AirPort disks — but not allow them to work with Time Machine. On The Lost Outpost.

• Two New Anti-Scraping WordPress Plugins – Information about two WordPress Plugins that can help prevent or reduce the negative effects of feed scraping. On PlagiarismToday.
• 5 Steps: How Not to Look Like a Spam Blog – Great article of tips for legitimate bloggers to build blogs that don’t look like they’re splogs. On PlagiarismToday.
• How YOU Can Make the Web More Structured – Tips for using Meta tags to help build an Internet database. On ReadWriteWeb.