Things You Should Know
There’s an infinite amount of information floating around the Internet. I have chosen a few sites to showcase, along with other information which you may find valuable too. I would like to share with you what you should know, but possibly don’t. Bare with me and continue on, to find out what you don’t know, but probably should.
Just in case you think your reading a programming language or I made a typo - let me explain. In the land of “Twitter,” a user can only communicate to another user through a Twitter client. In order to communicate with another user, the “@” symbol must be in front of the user’s name (for example @chrishebert). If this is still all Greek to you, take a peek at my previous post Do You Twitter?
Today’s WebDazzling Stars
@GirlinYourShirt on Twitter, hosts an Internet TV show with a genius idea (wish I would have thought of it). Girl.inyour Shirt.tv ”introduces a daily tech start up while wearing the company swag shirt.” Wonderful diversity of ideas and trends on this site, that make you wanting to watch more. Featured on TechCrunch, among other blogs; see for yourself what your missing!
While surfing Girl.inyourShirt.tv, I found this gem of a site TechieDiva.com. Wonderful site filled with great technology “Gizmo’s” and a female twist to boot (you know I love that part of it - being a female geek myself!).
@calebkimbrough is from the Lost and Taken site; posting a flood of textures for free. 2008: The Year of the Texture was a dream come true for anyone sick of hunting down textures on the internet. “Lost and Taken” is a depository of copyright-free stock photographic textures that you can use however you please…whether it be for a graphic design project or as a texture in a video game you’re designing.” Say “HI” on Twitter, or stop by and collect a few textures for yourself (I did).
@bittbox bittbox strives to offer exceptionally useful “FREE” fonts. The site is not just full of free fonts; there are tutorials, software, news, rants, and software. Something I was not aware of as a WordPress plugin, but is free for download on bittbox ”Customize Your WordPress Login Page.”
@thinkdesign One of my all time favorites, I even have a designated “Tab” in my browser for it - ThinkDesign has a very unique feature you can download. I would recommend ANYONE to download the WordPress Test Pack. If you are unsure what your new theme will look like, prior to making it 100% your own - this download is for you. On the other hand, if you are a designer and would like to test your site, this test pack makes life so much easier - this is also for you. “Included categories, sub-categories, pages, sub-pages, 30 test posts, tags, thumbnails via custom fields, and a “Testing the Elements” post so that you can test html elements, such as <h2>, <blockquote>, etc.” Don’t forget to look-up the free WordPress themes too.
@princesstimetoy Have you ever wanted to feel like a princess? Do you already have a princess in your home but lack the wardrobe? PrincessTimeToys has a cute array of dress up “full line of quality and educational wood toys and children’s furniture.”
Free Custom Twitter Background - Yep you heard me all right, “FREE“ @princesstimetoy is having a special if you mention this post & give some link love to her site. Small price to pay for her very professional looking back grounds. Take a look at her portfolio. The site also has a quick tutorial on How to install your backgrounds on Twitter.
http://www.sneakysunday.com/ Very fun to play with. Try this interactive City Guide for “Restaurants, Bars & Clubs, Entertainment, and Lodging.” I found this site by accident, and fell in love with graphics. Now you go play with it…
File Sharing
MediaFire: Free Hosting of files, photo’s, etc. for your blog. I have noticed a growing number of blogs which permit downloads, .zip (compressed) files - are coming from this free hosting site. Thought I would pass on the love and let you decide. I did sign-up for free, however I have not utilized the service yet to give you a 100% good/bad opinion. Please comment and let me know (if you could be so kind).
Web Hosting
By no means am I getting any compensation for my posting. I am passing on information from other sources. It has come to my attention this week, MediaTemple.net has a “Grid-Service” which provides reliable, and most importantly secure service. In addition, they specialize in WordPress 1-click installs, for as little as $20.00 per mo. http://mediatemple.net/webhosting/gs/ Give me a shout and let me know what you think of their service, once you sign up.
Do You Remember Your First Love?
Cute little feature - find out who was your “First Tweet” on Twitter (I couldn’t remember that long ago, can you?) http://dcortesi.com/tools/my-first-follow/
My Secret Sites I am Addicted To:
http://designm.ag/ Designm.ag - Great design online magazine (articles & resources for designers)
http://lifehacker.com/ LifeHacker - Don’t let the name fool you “Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done”
http://www.netmag.co.uk/ .NET Magazine from the UK. “Develop/Discover/Design” Great ideas & articles.
Pet Peeve - For Today
I just had to sneak this one in there. Aside from individuals who talk at a movie and eat with their mouth open; I dislike designer’s who do not design their site to open a new browser window, when a user clicks on a link. Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of keeping traffic on your site if a user leaves your site once they select a link? Just saying….
Just an FYI, thank you for listening… (Pssstttt - You won’t hurt my feelings if you want to “Stumble” this <wink>)
I would love to hear your comments on any information you may have found interesting and/or useful. Your voice is important, please feel free to share.
I prefer 
Besides the whole “Twitter vs. FaceBook” debate last evening, I made friends with over a dozen new followers last evening. I don’t believe in an auto responder to follow individuals, I love the experience of visiting their profile and looking at their website and what they stand for (and how pretty their site is too). You should get into the habit of this as well. How else is anyone going to get to know you, unless you interact with one another.
On Thursday, December 11, 2008, Microsoft reported a “Limited Exploitation” of Internet Explorer. All versions of IE were vulnerable to attacks and exploits. The current threat infects the users computer, then attempts to 
The attacks were started from legitimate web sites to include exploits. In Taiwan, a popular search engine was unfortunately hosting the exploit. Later in Hong Kong, Microsoft discovered a website which contained the exploit. The site contained various content, including adult entertainment. Visitors of these sites were exploited with trojans detected as “
