Hi there, I have moved The Computing Expert to my own domain and you can now find it at http://www.thecomputingexpert.com, as of now there wont be any more posts on http://thecomputingexpert.wordpress.com, so go on over to the new site and enjoy!

My first milestone I reached was getting my first visitor to my website, that was a great feeling, the next was getting my site on Google, the third was reaching 10,000 visits to one of my sites, then it was getting one of my blogs to the top of Digg, and now the famous spam folder in GMail, I noticed that it had reached 1000 messages so I thought I better take a screenshot, it only took a couple of weeks to get to that figure which makes me thankful that I use GMail which has the best anti spam filter in the world. Anyway, here is the screenshot for proof, can anyone beat it?

What about Linux? is my first question. What a great idea, iTunes to get rid of Windows Media Player, Safari instead of Internet Explorer, Mac are taking over Windows.

Safari 3 beta is now available for Mac and Windows and is saying that it is the fastest browser available for Windows, well we’ll see about that. I have always liked the look of Safari but I don’t really thing that it is anywhere near the quality of Firefox.

You can download it from here: http://www.apple.com/safari/

I’ll tell you what, something that Apple has is a good eye for design and their new look website is no different. I am not an Apple person although sometimes I wish I was because they are the company that everyone seems to like and there seems to be good reason for this.

Anyway, onto the website, it has a navigation bar at the very top of the page with the Apple icon resembling the logo which links back to the homepage. There are then links to each of the main areas of Apple (Mac, iTunes, iPhone etc.)
Below that there is a gallery like area where you can quickly go to a section of the website such as Quicktime by clicking the icon. This is a good idea but isn’t really the best feature of the new site. Inevitably the ads that rip apart MS are in prime place in the top left of the page and the page is filled with menus and images to showcase their products.

Overall, the website is very web 2.0, much better that the new MS website and OK, its a bit better than Simnor Computing. You can view the new Apple site here: http://www.apple.com, you could have probably worked that out though. And if you were wondering you can find Simnor Computing at www.simnorcomputing.com, I wont tell you where MS can be found, it will just spoil the idea of great design.

Simon North

Dell have announced that over the next year nearly 9000 people will lose their jobs in order to cut costs in their company as the last quarter’s was 3 million dollars less that the same quarter a year ago. You can view the full story here: http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9724562-7.html

The time has arrived, Dell are now shipping selected computers with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04, oh what a happy day it is for Linux users like me, although I think that in reality very few people will actually opt for the option, but still it is nice that big companies like Dell do actually listen to its customers. What next? Maybe they should give the option on all computers.

If you do not know what Ubuntu Linux is then I shall give you a very quick introduction to it:
Ubuntu is the leader in the Linux world and is based off of Debian which means that installing new programs is easier than it is in Windows, simply select the program you want to install and it does it for you and most software available for Ubuntu and Linux is totally, 100% free because it is open source (which means no company owns it, it is created and updated by a team of just about anyone from just about anywhere all round the world).
Ubuntu uses a window manager called Gnome (there are other options available) but Gnome is really easy to use once you get familiar with. And finally, the community behind Linux is amazing, you can say goodbye to the world of customer support phone lines whenever you have a problem. With Linux the community knows the answers to near enough every problem that you have, and they are always happy to help, especially with Ubuntu. When I converted from Windows to Ubuntu I knew that there would be problems and whenever I did have a problem within minutes of asking someone in the community for help I had plenty of people assisting me on the Ubuntu Forums.

There you go a simple introduction to Ubuntu Linux and how happy I am about Ubuntu been pre-installed on Dell systems.

Simon North

WOW 40 million sales for a piece of software that has been a total disaster, I must write a piece of software which consists of a button which does nothing and see if I get 40 million people buying it, it would be better than Vista.
OK, people who have followed me will know that I’m not too keen on Windows especially Windows Vista, I will admit that it is not all bad, but what makes it bad is the amount of time they had to produce it and the amount of problems with it and MS hated the fact that an employee released information about the service pack because it would put people off buying Vista until then.
So 40 million sales, do they deserve it, well you can download my button program I call it Simnor Vista from: only joking.

Simon North

The iHump allows you to root your computer by inputting the device into the firewire port of your computer and then inserting your “winky” in the holder. The video below shows the iHump in all its glory with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs starring. It is the next generation interaction with your computer:

Simon North

Yep, me Simon North, got to the top of Digg, at the time of writing this I had 4715 diggs, not bad for a blog that I started less than one day previously. The blog is a blog all about Firefox (http://firefoxinthewood.blogspot.com), and I have had about 21,500 unique visitors since it began, and it is still continuously rising. I have added a screenshot to show my position on the top posts in the last 24 hours in ALL TOPICS, at the top:

I have had a smile on my face all day, roll on Digg and its diggers.
Oh, and you would think that I would have made a fortune in Google Adsense, nope your wrong, so far I’ve earned just over $7.00 for 20,000 visitors. Ah, well, never mind I’ve had a brilliant day.

Simon North

As a programmer myself, I understand that when I produce file formats, I have to ensure that I don’t overwrite somebody else’s format, this website will ensure that I don’t ever do this, this may help you out as well:

http://www.ace.net.nz/tech/TechFileFormat.html

Simon North