Free links & a chance to win $500.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/28/08 at 03:02:16 pm

A new startup called Business+Directory is offering online advertisers free linkbacks for the month of February. While Feb. has almost come to an end there’s still time to get a free review on a promising directory service if you act fast. Business+Directory is working on building a huge database of quality links for everything from E-Commerce to Real Estate that’s geared towards other businesses trying to find quality products and services on the internet.

Here’s an example of how this service could come in handy, say you’re a restaurant and you are short of a specific item on your menu. All you would have to do is log onto a directory website like this one and find a distributor or wholesaler for the item you’re looking for. With the advanced search capabilities and organization this directory has to offer it couldn’t be easier to find a local business that suits your needs.

However Business+Directory is not quite there just yet, adding your business to the directory will help the database grow and right now you can do it for free.

If you’re a fellow blogger like myself, listen up. The founder of Business+Directory is running a contest where you could win a grand prize of $500.00 Cash and a BFG nVidia GeForce 8600 GT OC graphics card. All you have to do is come up with a blurb about the new Business+Directory service and mention the contest, just like what I’m doing now. A chance at 500 bucks and a top-of-the-line gaming card for a simple blog entry. Easy enough right? There are a few other simple requirements but you can check out all of the contest details here.

Windows Server 2008: “HEROES Happen {here}”

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/27/08 at 09:02:55 pm

HEROES! not just IT professionals. Today Microsoft officially launched the new server operating system along with their Visual Studio and SQL Server 2008 products.

After every big launch there’s always a national tour that follows and I normally attend the tours when they hit Minneapolis, but this year may be a different story. It appears they are now starting to limit online pre-registrations and Minneapolis along with many other big cities are already sold out. They haven’t done this in the past with the Vista or Server 2003 launch events but I guess I can understand why it’s needed; the Vista launch I attended last year was packed and apparently they are giving out full copies of the new software to the limited number of attendees (which they have done in the past, but now they’re advertising it).

The big theme this year is brackets, {like this}. Actually the catchy title “Heroes happen here.” caught me off guard, I didn’t know if it was the official launch tour or a private seminar/bootcamp like the TS2 Partner events. The event website has all of the details about the different workshops and things they will have going on, although most of the content requires you to have the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in which they almost force you to download throughout the website.

Anyway, almost every Microsoft event I’ve gone to I have received $100’s worth in software and goodies completely free. That in addition to the information, seminars, and workshops they offer definitely makes it worth every bit of your time. I just might take my chances waiting in line at the door to get in this year but if you want to guarantee yourself a spot there are still many cities with open registration. Check it out.

Mobile Desktops, they’re all the rage!

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/25/08 at 08:02:34 pm

For the folks who aren’t familiar with ImprovEverywhere’s crazy shenanigans this latest clip gives a good idea of what their all about.

Basically ImprovEverywhere is a group of colleagues that put together these public pranks and they normally round up a bunch of participants called ‘agents’ to perform and film their antics. Some of the more popular ones (and my personal favorites) that have done in the past include Frozen Grand Central, Slo-Mo Home Depot and Best Buy.

This time they get a few people bring these massive desktop computers with the clunky CRT monitors into a Starbucks. Who needs a notebook to enjoy wireless internet?!


OpenDNS: A true gem in DNS speed, reliability, and security.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/23/08 at 02:02:44 pm

OpenDNS isn’t a new service, in fact the startup launched back in 2006 and it’s had plenty of coverage from all of the big tech sites including Slashdot, TechCrunch, and Wired News but I guess I hadn’t paid attention to what the service was all about until just recently. OpenDNS is a free service that gives users an alternative to their ISP’s DNS services by offering servers with an unusually large cache and an aggregated list of sites deemed guilty of phishing and adware that it in the end can make our web surfing faster and safer. The service is as simple to set up as changing the DNS settings in your router or PC to the one’s OpenDNS provides.

If you register a (free) account with OpenDNS you get a ton of other options such as customizable content filtering, site blocking, statistics, shortcuts, and typo correction. Now my nightmares of accidentally opening up my collection of online gambling bookmarks in front of my boss can be a thing of the past!

The bulletproof uptime and speed of OpenDNS is what really caught my attention. Up until now I’ve been using DNS IP’s that belong to Level3, a leading telecommunications provider. While Level3’s servers are reliable, they aren’t technically “open” for public use and you don’t get the control and features that an actual DNS service like OpenDNS has to offer. The speed of OpenDNS comes from the extreme lookup caching they have set up. You would think that DNS caching would be a nightmare for an admin/developer type like myself but OpenDNS has thought of this with its ability to easily manually refresh a cache of any particular domain through the online interface.

The bottom line is OpenDNS offers features you wouldn’t imagine possible from a typical DNS server and for people like myself who have reliability problems with their defaulto ISP provided servers OpenDNS acts as a perfect alterative.

Side Note – Paul Stamatiou recently wrote a short entry about the community and some of the new features behind OpenDNS, check it out.

FlickrBackup: A must have for any Flickr user.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/21/08 at 12:02:43 pm

The way I see it, there are 2 different kinds of uses for web based photo sharing services like Flickr and Picasa Web Albums. The first is casual usage where you just sort of upload whatever photos you happen to take on a given day with no real structure or quality control. The 2nd way is sharing and archiving your photos where the service, in this case Flickr, is your only organized-centralized-source for all of your pictures.

I’ve been slowly merging to the latter and this week I think that process has been completed. I have uploaded everything to Flickr, family photos, vacation photos, photos I take for insurance purposes you name it. Since I have moved everything to Flickr I have been utilizing the permissions features for the first time too. I don’t want the general public to have access to family pictures so I can restrict the photos to my family only. Other photos I might just want friends to see and I can restrict those too, simple.

In fact there is only one problem with archiving everything on a single system and that’s redundancy. I don’t think I could ever trust an online service with something so important… I mean what if Flickr were to suddenly shut down one day? Or there was some major crash and somehow there was permanent data loss?! It could never happen, it never has, but for some people like myself that’s still not a risk we’re willing to take. I needed a way to back up all of my photos on Flickr and at least keep my photoset structures in-tact. Automatic backups would be cool but I think even semi-monthly manual backups would be sufficient.

My search quickly came to an end when I stumbled upon an application that can do all of the above and it’s appropriately called FlickrBackup. FlickrBackup is a Java powered, open source application that allows you to back up your entire Flickr library with just a couple clicks. By default the software will keep your sets together by putting each set into its own folder. It also allows you to keep the photo’s name and EXIF data in-tact for a seamless restoration if needed. Additionally, FlickrBackup has a sister plug-in called FlickrEdit which is very similar to the new Uploadr application. It allows you to easily make quick changes, upload and restore your photos onto Flickr. Best of all because it’s all open source software it’s completely free for personal use.

Now I can rest easy knowing that all of my photos are backed up onto my home file server… and maybe backed up again on a mirrored secondary drive. There’s no such thing as overkill.

I am taping the chair.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/21/08 at 08:02:18 am

Here’s a stupid video I took last weekend, enjoy.

A Duluth Weekend.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/20/08 at 10:02:44 am

Now that I have had some time to sort and upload all of the photos I took this past weekend in Duluth I thought I’d blog a bit about them. I already had a Duluth, MN photoset started but I added a bunch of beautiful photos of the Lift Bridge, Canal Park, and parts of the Duluth skyline. While we were in Canal Park we also visited the Lake Superior Maritime Museum which is owned and operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The museum features artifacts and information about Lake Superior and the massive in-land harbor based in Duluth. They also have exhibits on the other great lakes, the ship wrecks, weather, all of the different technology used, just endless information about the importance of in-land shipping and maritime culture.

I mentioned before that we we’re going to dinner last Friday, the big mystery location was the Top of the Harbor Restaurant which is located on the roof level of the Radisson Hotel in downtown Duluth. Top of the Harbor is a rotating restaurant with an amazing view of the harbor and the hills that surround the city. My mother wrote more about the restaurants we visited this weekend but if you’re interested in the pictures you can find them in this photoset.

For lunch on Saturday we went to this place near Canal Park called Hell’s Kitchen. It’s not quite like the TV show, instead Hell’s Kitchen is a gothic themed restaurant with a limited but amazing selection of food. Only the pictures can describe what this place is like, and again you can find a more detailed review here.

We did have plenty of time to enjoy the sites of Duluth but most of the weekend was spent in the Hotel, Edgewater Resort and Waterpark. Although I didn’t personally spend a lot of time in the waterpark this place offers plenty to do for everyone. They have a good size arcade, daily activities and crafts, blazing fast broadband internet, and the breakfast bar turns into a fully featured lounge in the evening for some good clean alcohol inspired family fun! I took plenty of pictures, take a look for yourself.

There’s so much to see and do in Duluth that there’s no question why it’s one of my favorite Minnesota destinations. I’m glad that I had a chance to spend some time there this weekend and I can’t wait to do it again.

I’m Beat.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 02/18/08 at 09:02:50 am

What a weekend. I went to bed at 9:00 last night I was so tired, now I’m back to work. Depressing.

I had a lot of fun in Duluth, I was able to see all sorts of things, eat at some fancy and interesting restaurants, and take some great photos. I have about 120 pictures that I’m sorting through that I plan to upload onto Flickr, I also have a couple videos I’d like to throw onto YouTube. When I get some free time I’ll blog all about it.

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