Labels, Links and Comments

I've been writing on this blog for about three and a half years now. I started slowly and lately I have been trying my best to provide something new on every day. We have a pretty large readerbase now and I thought it might be a good time to explain some of the things see you at the bottom of each post as I think they are underutilized.



Above you will see a sample of the information block you find below each post. I'll go over each section so that you understand everything that you can do.

The first section are the labels. With each post, I assign keywords/labels that apply to that post. The blog automatically builds a page with all posts with a specific label. In this case, one of the labels is "sunday-stock" and it would link to all posts in the sunday-stock series. So if the post you are reading is on a topic of interest to you, you might find similar posts just by clicking on one of the labels.

The next block has a number of links. First up is "Subscribe to this feed" which allows you to subscribe to the blog using your favorite newsreader. This can include most current browsers and e-mail clients. Rather than having to go to your newsreader to check for new posts, you can also subscribe to the blog via e-mail. Each day you will receive an e-mail digest of all new posts since the previous days e-mail. Subscribing is as easy as clicking the big button at right and filling in your e-mail address. You will receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your subscription. Click the link in that e-mail and you'll start get the digest on the next day.

After the subscription link are a number of links that allow you to help tell others about a post if you find it of interest. There are a number of different services that collect this information and we've provided links to the most popular services. Each of these do require you have an account (they are free). I certainly appreciate it if you can help spread the word about posts that are useful to you. This helps make the blog more popular and that is good for all of us because I have even more motivation to keep providing you with information.

The last line tells you who created the post and it will almost always be me. At this point I am the only one allowed to post so it will always be me. You'll also see the time the post was posted. After this is the most important part. You'll see our sample post has 0 comments. If you click on this, you can comment. In order to comment, you'll need a (free) Google Account. If you've done anything at Google, you probably already have an account. Why do we require you to have an account when we could allow anonymous posts? Simply put, it is a way to prevent spammers from posting nonsensical comments promoting "special" drugs, cheap watches and whatever other junk they are promoting these days. Yes, I do moderate the comments. I don't mind at all if the comment is critical and you can certainly post rave reviews. Just keep it clean, don't attack anyone and don't spam and I'll let the comment be posted. Comments can allow you to add to the information that I've posted, ask questions, correct mistakes and much more. Several of you have e-mailed me comments about previous posts. I don't mind the e-mails, but I'd rather you post them on the blog so that everyone can benefit from them.

Clicking the envelope icon to the right of the comments allows you to e-mail the post to someone else. If you find something really useful, please share it. Again, the more readers we get, the more motivation I have to post! The last icon, the pencil, will probably not be available to you. This allows you to edit the post. Since I am the author, it shows up when I view the blog. Unless you are authorized (sorry, I'm the one one), you can't post or edit posts. Then again, that is why we allow comments so that you can contribute to the information posted.

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Hump Day Hardware: The Original iPhone

If I were to tell you that I've been using an iPhone for almost a year and a half, some of you might not believe me. Well, it's true. But this iPhone is not made by Apple, costs much less than Apple's products and carries a monthly fee only a fraction of what you'd pay to use Apple's phone.

You see, my iPhone is made by Linksys and it is used to place VOIP calls using Skype. When Apple first announced their iPhone, they were sued by Cisco (parent company of Linksys) since Cisco was already using the iPhone name.

The Linksys CIT200 Cordless Internet Telephony Kit for Skype is a fancy name for the iPhone. As of this writing, it is selling for $39.99 at Amazon. What you get is a small device that plugs in to a free USB port of a computer where you are running Skype. This device then talks to a cordless phone that you use for placing and receiving calls. The cordless phone is very similar to cordless phones that work with normal phone lines. Actually it is much smaller than the typical cordless phone.

I've traveled to Mexico and Europe with my iPhone and used it to make inexpensive calls back to the US. If the person I'm calling has a Skype account, the call is absolutely free. The good news is that the whole package is small enough to carry on vacation. Anywhere you can connect to the Internet, you can use the iPhone to make calls anywhere in the world.

For those who will be using their iPhone strictly in one place, you might want to look into the Linksys CIT400 Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit with Integrated Skype. It costs a lot more, but links directly into your router so that you do not have to be running Skype on a computer to use it. It also ties in to traditional phone lines so that the cordless phone can be used to place and receive calls through either Skype or your landline. This would be perfect for a home office. Being able to make inexpensive—or free—calls to people on the other side of the world makes these devices worth every penny.

There are certainly other options for VOIP. I haven't tried them so I can't give you my opinion on them. But I loved my first iPhone so much that I got another one a few months later. Now I have one for traveling and one for the office.

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