Woohoo! I am now writing for The Apple Blog. My first article came out today, and of course I made a stupid mistake in it. But regardless, it’s out there. MacBook Pro vs. MacBook/iMac vs. MacBook/Mac mini Now I have to continue writing one article a week.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. This allows you to read my newer articles without having to visit the site again. Thanks for visiting! Mike

I googled a question about Photoshop, and one of the first page results was found in a book available in O’Reilly’s Safari service. The safari service gives you access to O’Reilly books online. I needed to signup for a free ten day/50 page account to see the info I was looking for. To actually get the demo account, you have to go through a four page signup process, including giving them a credit card number so they can bill me when I forget to cancel my “free” demo. Plus, on page two I have to choose between a $39.99 Safari Library account or a $19.99 Safari Bookshelf account. I wonder if that fee is annually, monthly, one-time? There is no information or details about that at all. I think the O’Reilly webmaster needs to read through Getting Real, starting with Easy On, Easy Off. I knew I was going to bail at Step 2, but I continued on just to confirm that they were going to ask me for my credit card info.

It would have been much better to get me into my demo after the very first screen. Then when my limit was reached, for them to email me (once only! don’t spam me) suggesting I sign up for their services. The email could show which pages or books I looked at. Then give me the price of buying those books vs the cost of a Safari membership. I believe an easier demo signup would convert more browsers into buyers. At this point, I’ve given up on Safari, and it will be a hard sell to get me to try it again when it comes up in a search results page.

novemberb755.com aka PlayBingoLive.com is still active and scaming people’s email address and passwords. A family member of mine fell for this somehow, and my wife received an invite to play Bingo. My wife asked me if the web site was for real? I checked it and the first thing it does is ask for your email address and password! Be aware that going to www.novemberb755.com doesn’t work, no DNS is set up. Remove the www and you are fine.

A Google search turned up: Don’t give your password to PlayBingoLive.com and I need help with situation at PlayBingoLive.com

Whois Info for novemberb755.com:

Registrant:   Radiance Enterprises   Kosta Ourani, 6   Pera Chorio Nisou, PC 2572   Cyprus   Registered through: MyDomainBook.com   Domain Name: NOVEMBERB755.COM      Created on: 13-Nov-06      Expires on: 13-Nov-07      Last Updated on:    Administrative Contact:      Enterprises, Radiance  support@expertservers.net      Kosta Ourani, 6      Pera Chorio Nisou, PC 2572      Cyprus      (800) 949-1828   Technical Contact:      Enterprises, Radiance  support@expertservers.net      Kosta Ourani, 6      Pera Chorio Nisou, PC 2572      Cyprus      (800) 949-1828   Domain servers in listed order:      NS1.PBL-SUPPORT.NET      NS2.PBL-SUPPORT.NET

Looking through the novemberb755.com Privacy Policy gave me the link to PlayBingoLive.com. The EULA says the governing law of the web site will be Costa Rica. They also have a prominent link to ReportMySpam.com. That site has no privacy policy, or terms. They just want your email address.

ReportMySpam Whois info:

Domain name: REPORTMYSPAM.COM Registrant Contact:    Tech Support    Technical Support (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    PO Box 7334 - 101844    San Francisco, CA 94120-7334    US Administrative Contact:    Tech Support    Technical Support (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    PO Box 7334 - 101844    San Francisco, CA 94120-7334    US Technical Contact:    Tech Support    Technical Support (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    PO Box 7334 - 101844    San Francisco, CA 94120-7334    US Status: Locked Name Servers:    ns3.expertservers.net    ns3.expertservers.net    ns4.expertservers.net    ns4.expertservers.net Creation date: 11 Aug 2006 16:10:07 Expiration date: 11 Aug 2007 00:00:00

I submitted a virgin address to ReportMySpam.com, we’ll see when it gets spam. Looking at the source code of the page that comes up after entering an opt-out request shows some web bugs with the email address and my IP address being recorded at billionsmachine.com. Again, no www web presence, but leave out the www you get a login prompt. The web bugs were at http://services.billionsmachine.com/ws_reportspam.asp and http://services.billionsmachine.com/ws_getresponse_unsub.asp. Billionsmachine.com Whois info:

Domain name: BILLIONSMACHINE.COM Registrant Contact:    Tech Support    Technical Support (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    PO Box 7334 - 101844    San Francisco, CA 94120-7334    US Administrative Contact:    Tech Support    Technical Support (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    PO Box 7334 - 101844    San Francisco, CA 94120-7334    US Technical Contact:    Tech Support    Technical Support (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    PO Box 7334 - 101844    San Francisco, CA 94120-7334    US Status: Locked Name Servers:    ns3.expertservers.net    ns3.expertservers.net    ns4.expertservers.net    ns4.expertservers.net Creation date: 23 Mar 2006 22:47:50 Expiration date: 23 Mar 2007 00:00:00

ExpertServers.net (mentioned in both Whois listings above) does not have a web presence. Their Whois:

Domain name: EXPERTSERVERS.NET Registrant Contact:    Radiance Enterprises    NULL NULL (NA)    NULL    Fax:    Kosta Ourani, 6    Pera Chorio Nisou, PC 2572    CY Administrative Contact:    Radiance Enterprises Ltd    Radiance Enterprises (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    Kosta Ourani, 6    Pera Chorio Nisou, P.C. 2572    CY Technical Contact:    Radiance Enterprises Ltd    Radiance Enterprises (support@expertservers.net)    +1.8009491828    Fax:    Kosta Ourani, 6    Pera Chorio Nisou, P.C. 2572    CY Status: Locked Name Servers:    ns1.load.com    ns1.load.com    ns2.load.com    ns2.load.com Creation date: 06 Dec 2005 16:08:32 Expiration date: 06 Dec 2007 00:00:00

Read The Top 10 Arguments Against DRM at Learn Out Loud.

Wil Wheaton is agonizing over using his domain name for his blog vs the TypePad blog he’s been running ever since Moveable Type crashed a couple years ago. So for two years he’s been building the brand of Typepad. I think Wil (I should say Mr. Wheaton since i’be never met him, but I feel like I know him through his writings) should go back to his WilWheaton.net site, and continue his blogging there. What happens if TypePad changes their Terms of Use? What if they go bankrupt? What if they change their pricing structure based on how popular your blog is?

It simply doesn’t make sense to put all your eggs in a basket that you don’t have any control over. The flexibility of using your own domain name is worth a lot in peace of mind. And when you’re a celebrity, a published author, a poker player, etc… you really should take control where you can; since there are so many places that could take advantage of you.

I liked the suggestion that Kuroshii made: “set wilwheaton.net up as your ‘professional/resume’ front page for both acting and writing.” But I’d put the blog up at blog.wilwheaton.net.

Doh! The next million pixels web site? A purple cow? Oddly misshapen burnt toast? Whatever it is, it’s a neat idea. Pay a few bucks, they write your name on a piece of toast, then link to a web site. YourNameOnToast.com Do they eat the toast? Is sharpie ink edible?

In July 2005, I finally added tailorednews.com to my site’s blacklist, because Tripwire.com would not honor my opt-out requests. I guess those bounces go nowhere, because I just got the Tripwire newsletter from en25.com, run by eloqua.com. Blocks have been updated.

I’ve been looking around for a new dedicated web host for my web sites. Can anyone tell me why adding more hardware (e.g. upgrading the RAM from 1Gb to 2GB) would cost more per month? I don’t mind paying a set up fee, but paying an extra $30/month for a stick of RAM seems weird. What am I missing here?

One of my friends (hey Brad!) asked me a while ago if I had seen the Battlestar Galactica. We don’t have cable TV, so no I haven’t. But I just watched the first two seasons in 43 minutes. I downloaded Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far into iTunes. It’s a 465MB file, but it looks really good. And it mostly makes sense. So the download worked, I just added Battlestar Galactica to my Netflix Queue.

Another example of why using your own domain name is better than relying on free services out there. Change iTunes feed for Odeo podcast This user was using Odeo to create her podcast. Now she’s stuck using them, since Apple’s iTunes podcast directory has that URL. And Odeo doesn’t provide a way to get out of their system. If you create content under your own domain name, you have a lot more flexibility.

I’m still not comfortable using other established services like Feedburner. You end up building a brand of feedburner, not your own. Yes, Feedburner’s services are useful and nice. But you can get stuck using them for a long time.