We run our server ourselves and ran into a significant difficulty after a recent upgrade of the server. As a result you may have noticed that we have been up and down. Cost is always a factor as this is a hobby site for both Franki and me. Donations do help us fund the site, so feel free to drop five or ten dollars with us using the link at the bottom of each page.

I rely on this site daily … using our own on-line tools, like email masking. It was inconvenient when it was down for me and I guess it was inconvenient for you as well. If so, that means that we mean something on the web front. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Well this is something new and fresh in Internet news. Newsvine.com is the brainchild of several former ESPN/Disney web people including Mike of MikeIndustries.com, one of my favorite technology reads.

A couple of things make this somewhat unique:
1. it works off of a bookmarklet on your browser
2. readers rate stories to act as a super editors board
3. you will be able to comment on and chat about news stories as they go
4. you can author pages if you want and then keep any advertising revenue generated from those pages
5. it will generate pages about subjects on the fly …

It sounds intriguing. Will it work? Probably. But what will it become? Garbage in equal garbage out is the oldest saying in the book. Will they over time give higher preference to raters and authors of established credibility? If so, the quality will rise. If not, I predict the noise to content ratio will go off the charts. Time will tell.

There have been television screens in conversion vans for many years now. Most of them had ineffective antennas and were primarily used for viewing tapes and later DVD’s. In recent years, many SUV’s and mini-vans have added drop down or flip up screens for back seat viewing. Most states have laws preventing the screen from being viewed by the driver.

According to this article in USA Today, satellite tv is now affordably available in vehicles. For the cost of an extra receiver you can apparently have satellite tv in the car. Of course you need to have the vehicle wired, but many upscale vehicles will be pre-wired.

This is great for people who travel with kids, spend time in their vehicles waiting for this or that, and for people who tailgate.

Some things never change, however. Technology has to be simple to be used by the masses. Last night I had to go help a friend who has satellite tv. Since he had it installed a year ago, he has been unable to tape/record shows from satellite. I went over assuming that he didn’t have the satellite signal wired through his recording device. Come to fine out it was, he just needed to set the units to the right channel. Simple, but it eluded him. How many VCR’s have we seen flash 12:00 for years? They eventually designed self setting clocks to solve that problem.

Having mobile video monitors also introduces all sorts of new issues. For example, what goes on the screen? Michigan for example has considered a law to make made it illegal to show sexually explicit content on a screen in a motor vehicle.

I have known ultra-marathoner Jim Dreyer for many years (main entry using flash). He has made direct crossings of most of the great lakes, except Superior. Unfortunately, that lake has bested him about six times. Well he is at it again using modern tracking technology which forestalls the need for a support crew. Wish him well, and make a donation to your local Big Brothers Big Sisters program in his honor!

Summer is a time to enjoy life, and maybe get motivated to do something you dare to do and spend time on what you enjoy. I have truly enjoyed watching Lance Armstrong ride to his seventh le Tour de France victory (well okay he has one day to go now, but he will do it). This story about a “Fat Man Walking” is interesting as well. I like to spend time at Lake Michigan as well. However, my love is barefoot waterskiing. I have been skiing on average once per day. So I am enjoying the summer and maybe ignoring our site a little. Thanks for your patience. Go enjoy life yourself a bit … and you might not miss me quite as much.

We started HTML Fix It dot Com with the intent of trying to help the Internet community at large. We always appreciate receiving feedback and reviews, both positive and constructively critical. Clif Notes gave us a favorable review this week. Some of the more critical people of course need to remember that we are donation based (in an effort to cover our costs — see link at the bottom of each page of our site) and do this with “volunteer” hours of our time. Having said that, we always strive to improve. Thanks Clif for the review.

PC Pro News has published an article suggesting that “Over 90 per cent of Internet users have changed their online behaviour due to concerns about spyware”. The article quotes a study on US Internet users, finding that a large percentage are now aware and cautious when it comes to opening suspicious e-mail attachments, steering clear of Internet Explorer due to security threats, and “visiting particular websites due to the fear they might deposit unwanted programs”. There has also been a reduction in the volume of multimedia downloaded via p2p programs due to risks of unwittingly installing spyware.

What makes the article a good read, is that it provides some validation that Internet users are heeding the plethora of warnings about spyware, viruses, and other security threats. Certainly in my experience I have found you can warn people about these things until you’re blue in the face, but seeing changed behaviours can be another thing altogether. The massive uptake of Firefox over Internet Explorer has shown us that people are concerned about their online security, but it is nice to see that people are thinking beyond that to other equally-serious threats too.