New Logo Images

In coordination with the effort to modernize the logos of our member assets, as well as the FreddyWare Solutions Enterprise Network, we are adopting a few newer logos.

Firstly, Geekie.org Apps, with the older logo of:

has now gotten the new design:

which reflects the capabilities of Geekie.org Apps, including 5+ GB webmail, calendar, documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, as well as text/audio chat using Google Talk.

A note about the new logo (above): we have no non-transparent version of the logo, so it will not display properly in Internet Explorer due to the alpha transparency issue in PNG. Additionally, it IS transparent, so what you are seeing on a browser like Firefox is the black-background view of the logo (and it doesn’t look that much worse); simply click on the image to see it on a white background.

(If you haven’t signed up for Geekie.org Apps yet, now is a good time to contact us and get an account.)

We will also use a new favicon for Geekie.org, based on a set of graphic designs called Crystal.

Clearly, our new designs will be more modern and suitable for our organization as we proceed forward in time.

One more thing: if you haven’t done so yet, you can check out our new FreddyWare Toolbar, which has built-in search of our network sites, integrated search capability with Geekie.org’s search, menus with links to our sites, integrated feed reader, and one-click access to Geekie.org Apps. (Available for Firefox and Internet Explorer.)

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Travel to Europe

With the recent and treacherous amount of snow here in Canada, many people may consider going somewhere else for the holidays. Europe is a destination that should be considered, especially as the climate is milder than that of Canada.

http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/ will help you find the hotel accommodations you need if you’re flying to places like England, France, Italy, or Spain. Bullfighting and architecture are things to be observed in Spain, making it one of the desirable destinations — even more so if you’re able to speak the language! You can find out more about hotels in Barcelona and Madrid.

Germany would be my choice to go to. With the beautiful Rhine river, mountain / forest sceneries, and so many more things that North Americans don’t encounter often, destinations like Heidelberg are worth visiting. Not to mention the rich cultural background, like the musical history in cities like Leipzig. In any case, visiting Germany as one of your destinations over the holidays is a recommended possibility, even though spring or autumn would yield more favourable weather.

Overall, Europe is where I would go if I had the time and money. Check out information on cheap hotels.

Brought to you by our sponsors at www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk.

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Domain Registration Scam

On April 9, 2007, I registered more than three domains, as a previous post publicized. Given several months until their expiry, a domain registrar by the name of “Domain Registry of Canada” has sent me THREE solicitations to renew my domain with them.

There is no government agency called the “Domain Registry of Canada”, despite the appearance of their letters and their envelopes (containing a maple leaf styled logo). Their letters are written to lure unsuspecting users away from their current registrars to their ridiculously-expensive services; one year domain registration is $40.00 CAD!

Absolutely ridiculous.

If my scanner were working, I would publish a PDF of one of the notices; they make it seem as though your domain is expiring (and we all know that’s a bad thing) and they are the one place in Canada where you HAVE to renew it.

If you receive a letter from the “Domain Registry of Canada” or “Domain Registry of America” — which, by the way, are resellers of eNom — don’t renew your domain with them. They will have the ability to charge you huge amounts, take your domain away from you, and so on. Furthermore, your credit card information would be theirs to keep!

This is a long-time problem called “domain slamming” that this company has been known for since 2000. Register.com has sued them over this, but I’m unsure what the result is. Just search Google for more information.

Four months before your domain expires, if you are in the U.S. or Canada, you will likely receive such a letter. Blog about it! Let everyone know how ridiculous and stupid it is.

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Rated G

This blog is rated G for ALL AGES!

I’ve discovered a site at http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/ that has a variety of different quizzes that one can take to generate a badge to be displayed on their blogs. This one isn’t a quiz, but rather some sort of script that runs to analyze the content of your blog and give it a rating akin to theatre ratings in the US.

I’m proud that Geekie.org is rated G, since it proves what I’ve maintained since its conception:

1. No profanity
2. No promotion of violence
3. No nudity
4. No sexuality
5. No mature subject matter

Get your own blog rated!

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Some noteworthy podcasts

I apologize for the long gap in posts, but I was recently extremely busy.

During November of this year (2007), I realized that the iTunes Store did have some of the content I wanted. Podcasts, and iTunes U, have since then provided a great deal of useful audio, anywhere from (explicit) discussions between Star Trek fans in England, to lectures on search engine technology at some university.

One of the best podcasts to listen to is the weekly “Security Now” involving Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte. It does tend to be a bit tedious, but they do discuss important security issues and other things that may affect one’s privacy. They’ve talked about the PayPal security key — which, by the way, isn’t yet available in Canada. They’ve also discussed the OpenID system and various implementations. Interestingly, they are quite fascinated by VeriSign, with talks about VeriSign’s Personal Identity Provider (another OpenID provider), VeriSign’s credit-card form-factor security code generator, and VeriSign’s system that allows PayPal to maintain its new security key system.

If you’re interested in security and privacy issues, or if you’re just a geek looking for something to listen to, this is an excellent choice.

Another podcast of note, but which I must talk very negatively of, is John C. Dvorak’s Tech5. Now, this daily update of about 5 minutes is a good look at everyday technological news matters, but I do find that Dvorak’s frequent rants and angry attitude are very damaging. There is little unbiased news in here; virtually everything discussed is something of which he is “suspicious” or critical. He’s attacked some people on MacWorld, shot down the reality of Microsoft’s new offices in Siberia, and totally opposed the ever more popular Amazon Kindle (an e-book reader device).

If you’re one of those people like me that are able to sort fact from fiction, truth from opinion, take a listen to Tech5.

I have other favourites as well, but I doubt they are “tech” enough to be mentioned here. Maybe in the Star Trek section, but “Make It So” isn’t exactly suitable for reasons of profanity.

Tech5 and Security Now! are the noteworthy podcasts of December 8, 2007.

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