jrtrana

Lacking Knowledge

I fell like my biggest downfall in our current discussions in class is my lack of knowledge of HTML.  I have absolutely no experience.  I feel that if I had a basic knowledge of the language it would help me along in a few of the exercises.  I know that XML is different, however, it seems like an HTML base of knowledge would be helpful.  Does anyone know if a easy, concise source where I could learn the very basics of HTML without a lot of time committment?

Caveat with Sage

If you have read some of my previous posts, you know that I hate clutter on my computer. This even translates to my bookmarks in my web browser. I made the mistake of deleting the folder created by Sage which stored all my RSS feeds. I thought it was a folder of advertisements that you can often get if you download free programs. My Sage no longer functioned without this folder. So, I reccommend not doing anything with this folder in the first place. However, if you made the same mistake I did there is a simple way to fix it. You can simply create a new bookmarks folder within your web broswer. Then open Sage and click on Options. Within Settings there is a drop down menu at the top that allows you to chose where Sage gets its information.

SSH

It was slightly difficult for me to follow along with Bud on Tuesday when we were going through everything in class. I am not having any problems working with Oracle or actually producing XML, but in the process of getting to that point. I am still confused with SSH and how exactly it works. Bud kept using the command "cd" followed by something else. I don't know what "cd" means and where all the information we were getting comes from. Were the "Webapps" folder and such set up prior to starting the class?

The BITwise Blog: Customize Your Sage!

The BITwise Blog: Customize Your Sage!

I love "The BITwise Blog"'s post about chaning around the look of Sage. I found most of the options to still be pretty simplistic, but much better than the default. Thanks for the update! When I use cool technology it better look good!!

Blogging

I have to admit that when the class started and I had my first experience with blogging, my reaction was far from what i would call "psyched." I really thought is was just something techies would use to talk about computer things of no real value to anyone else. I though, why not just send an e-mail if I want to talk to someone in particular or just set up a website if I want the whole world to know what I think. Blogging seemed to me like a mix that really didn't have a lot of use. I was intimidated by the huge number of blogs from the class and really didn't want to read all of them. Now, with Sage I find everything to be much easier and more valuable. With the ability to use trackbacks to respond directly while still letting everyone else view my response, I have seen the light. My finance class uses the old version of Coursetools and the discussion board drives me crazy. It is very clunky and tedious compared to blogging. I have officially converted to a "Blogging Believer."

More on Sage

I have been playing around a little bit with Sage to see if I could get The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times to come up. I am not sure if I am doing things the most efficient way (it seems a little strange to me) but it works. The first step is to go to www.wsj.com and sign in (you need a subscription to The Wall Street Journal). Towards the middle, right of the main page is a small box advertising RSS feeds. Follow the link. At the bottom of the page, there are the feeds for each individual section of the paper. Click on whichever one you would like to keep in Sage. It will bring up the WSJ XML file. Copy the URL from the top of your browser. Then go into Sage and click on "Options." In Options, select "Manage Feed List." From there, "Add a New Bookmark." Give it a title (although Sage automatically changes the title) and paste the URL from before in the Location box. This seems a little round about, but works for me. Let me know if you find a more efficient way, or any problems with my method.

Google!!!

After out guest speakers came in a spoke about the oppotunites available on the internet, and especially with Google, quite an interesting thing happened in the stock markets .... Google exploded! In this article Gaga for Google, Google's first report as a public company has created a lot of excitement on The Street. I think this is just further evidence of the power of Google. I am, however, wary of the sustainability of the company. Just coming out of a BIT 301 exam, competitive advantage jumps into my brain. I don't know what it is that gives Google its comptitive advantage, but my guess is that it is mostly related to switching cots. Google is hot, if you go anywhere else you lose. As I have learned (thanks to "BIT 320 Bud"), this can't last. I don't know enough about the company to know exactly where they are gaining their advantage, I only suggest investors to be careful, things change fast!

XML

In preparation for Tuesday I did a google search for XML to have a better understanding of what exactly it is and what it is good for. Not surprisingly I came across XML.com, a site dedicated to XML. If you scroll down, on the left hand side there is an "Essentials" section. In this section there are all sorts of explinations of all the words Bud has been throwing around all semester. I have had an idea what he has been talking about the whole time, now I know much better. The site offers all sorts of information about XML and how it relates to Web Services and Databases. I suggest even a quick look if you are in the same boat as me (more hopes than abilities when it comes to knowledge of technology).

GMail

A special thanks goes to Bud for the invitation to creat a GMail account. I have been wanting to establish an account for some time now. I have only had the account for a few hours now, but I have explored the features thoroughly. Initially I am very pleased with the service.
The first thing that I noticed is that it has a great user interface. I come from using Outlook and a Yahoo! mail account (used only for junk mail and order confirmations). Yahoo! mail drives me crazy because it seems there are 5 banner ads for every e-mail. Not so with GMail.
Secondly, GMail allows 1GB of storage. Fantastic. I have a friend starting a small business right now and GMail works great for him in the amount of storage and in the way e-mails are displayed. E-mails are shown in a converstation style which helps to recall previous messages or statements.
My only complaint is that it took me almost 5 minutes to figure out how to delete a message. It is very simple once you find it, but it took me a while to figure some of the features out.
While my umich account will always serve as my primary e-mail account, GMail will be great to archive important messages, contacts, and various messages.

Blogging as a business

In today's (Tuesday, October 12th) edition of The Wall Street Journal there is an article in the Marketplace section entitled "Folksy No More, Blogger Firm Taps Big Clients." (If you have a subscription to WSJ you can visit www.wsj.com to read the article).

The article is focused around a firm, Six Apart Ltd, which was started by 2 high school sweethearts Ben and Mena Trott. The two started the blogging site geared mainly toward teens and anyone who cared to visit. Subscriptions were free and the majority of their blog postings were gossip and break-up stories. However, with the growing demand for blogs, coporations have recently acquired their services to use in a buisness environment. Six Apart charges business between $200 and $1,300 depending on use and services required. Many of the early adopters of blogging see this as "selling out" and feel as if Six Apart has neglected the crowd that got them started. Regardless of their opinion on how to offer blogging services, Ben and Mena have found a way to tap into this growing resouce and the potential seems huge.

Six Apart