In the mobile phone world these days the biggest competition isn’t one manufacturer or another, but Android (or “Droid”) vs. Blackberry vs. Apple iPhone (a manufacturer and OS all in one *snicker*). All have their features, advantages and disadvantages, but as someone who works from home full time, and uses Google for their email, Android is the clear winner. I am currently on my third Android phone, the slick and lovely T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide, and I can’t imagine using anything but Android. Its features, its apps, its sync options… it provides every single thing that I need!

For the past several weeks I have been wanting to put up a new layout for jenn.nu. Unfortunately, I don’t have nearly the amount of free time that I used to. Once upon a time I would wake up in the mornings and wonder how I would pass the time all day. If I had something exciting come up, the time would absolutely crawl until the eve of the event arrived. These days I’m doing good to get everything I need to get done each day done, let alone cram in things that I simply want to get done. So that means articles on baby shower games come over my need for a new design, as much as I want to get that new design done!

Nevertheless, I’ve managed to find the time this past week, and four days worth of 15-20 minute chunks here and there has allowed me to churn out a layout that is about 75% complete. Thanks to a spiffy summery palette at Colour Lovers and a few substitutions of my own, I have a kick-ass color scheme. I’m going slightly retro, too, bringing back things that haven’t really been seen on the personal website design scene since the early 00’s.

Right now I would love to finish up the layout, but I’m at the pool with my husband and kids, and it’s kind of hard to devote more than 5-10 minutes worth of concentration at a time. Both kids are swimming on their own and going off of the diving board, but understandably it’s important that I help my husband keep tabs on the kidlets!

Way back when there used to be tons of options available for tagboards. One in particular that I remember came from webfroot.com, or something like that. I know that “froot” was involved in the name. I’ll have to look around and see if I can find a tagboard that is still made by that particular person/company, because all of the other options I have found today just suck. Tagboards and shoutboxes just aren’t what they used to be. The ones that are available are hosted on third-party websites, so of course the customization options are limited, plus you’re required to include links back to the site as credit. Pfft. I would much rather have my own PHP- or WordPress- based tagboard that functions and runs from my site, so I can customize it to my liking, and credit the provider of the tagboard in the credits section of my site, rather than somewhere on the tagboard itself.

So, this is my official update to I want that phone: I got that phone! The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide is my favorite Android phone so far. It’s the functionality (read: physical QWERTY keyboard) of the T-Mobile G1 & the glossy sexiness of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G combined and sped up to include loads of sexy new features. Besides the keyboard, my new favorite feature is most definitely the camera flash! Yes, a flash! It’s about time, T-Mobile.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some wrinkle cream reviews to look up. Not that I need wrinkle cream… yet. But there’s a product review from a big company coming up, and I’m going to put my mom up on the guinea pig block for it. So I’m looking at what’s most effective, what’s new, what’s working, what is friendly for sensitive skin, etc.

P.S. Of course I added this blog entry from my phone, using Android’s very own WordPress app.

Last year I got wind of the release of Google Voice. Google Voice provides you with a phone number that you can use for phone calls (forwarded to another number of your choice), voicemail, SMS to email, and more. As soon as I heard about Google Voice and learned that it was free, the first thing I did was sign up. Why? Well, all domain registrars require that you have a valid telephone number listed in your domain’s whois information. I didn’t want to use my home, so at the time I used an old cellular number (that was disconnected, heh). You can see where this is going… I registered a Google Voice number so I’d have an anonymous, no-worries-about-spammy-phone-calls phone number. Now I can rest easy knowing that I have a valid phone number listed as a point of contact for all of my domain names, without worrying about getting calls about diet supplements that work and god knows what else.

And you know what? It works perfectly. I would definitely recommend using Google Voice!

What is up with all of the damn spam lately? It really seems like it has gone from a handful of comments a day to dozens and even hundreds. What I want to know is, WHY? What changed with search engines or the blogosphere to encourage these spammers to come out in ridiculous droves? In any case, my killer set of plugins (see WordPress plugin: Comment Timeout) keeps all but a few at bay, so I can deal. I suppose.

And is it just me, or is all spam about sex, weight, pronexin and other diet pill reviews, and money? We’re not happy unless we’re getting laid, looking good, and rolling in the dough. I agree that all of those things are quite nice, but being happy, being loved, having hobbies and interests and family and friends also contributes to our overall emotional state, don’t you think?

Over the past two and a half years I have really learned a lot about SEO. I can tell you that if you really want to successfully market a product, then you should hit up the internet. Online, you can set up a successful company website that will promote and push your product(s). More and more consumers are shopping online, or at least researching their shopping choices online, so it makes sense to get your name and product out there on the internet.

Of course, to get your name out there on the internet, you need to plan, and you need to do so efficiently. Consider fashion web design , for example. Web designers for the fashion industry know the importance of planning: figuring out what the demographic wants, figuring out how to deliver it to them, and then delivering it to them, and doing all of this in an efficient, successful and cost-effective manner.

Where can you go to get started with marketing your product(s) online? Well, you will need an ecommerce solution. There are many ecommerce solutions to be had. I have personally heard very good things about ECommerce Partners, though I haven’t used them myself. If you want to find out more about ECommerce Partners, you can do so at ecommercepartners.net.

I definitely understand the concept of sponsored conversation. After all, it’s how I make a decent amount of money each month. So, what is a sponsored conversation? Well, it’s the best combination of meeting the advertiser’s needs while doing so in a manner that is acceptable and inviting to targeted audiences and future clients.

Take this post, for example. I’ll tell you right off the bat that it is a sponsored post (FYI, I disclose on a site-wide basis, and also by putting sponsored posts and the like in the category “Commercial Break”). It has been paid for by an advertiser, who provides me with the basis of the content, but allows me to present it to you in my own voice, with my own words. I could just slap up a banner, but it would be a pretty “rigid” form of advertising that may or may not be relevant to me or to the content I post. Another option is for the advertiser to contact me and request that I give them a free review. Sure, I could, but what is going to really motivate me to do so? The answer: nothing.

A sponsored conversation is the best of both worlds. I am compensated — either in money or with a product or valuable service — to present to you the ideals, products or services of a company or an individual — but in my own words, with my own opinions added.

Here’s a cute little video that explains sponsored conversations in more depth, and also showcases the potential of this form of advertising:

If there is one thing that is quite frustrating, it’s a slow computer. Especially when said slow computer may only be months or even weeks old. My husband and I certainly encountered this with our new laptops. He has had his since April 22nd, and I will have had mine for a week as of tomorrow. One of the biggest culprits of a slow computer is the bloatware that’s pre-installed by computer manufacturers. HP, for example, ships out their notebooks with Windows Vista (pick your poison: Basic, Premium, or Ultimate), but they also include a bunch of extra junk, like games, weatherbug.com, the Yahoo toolbar, and so on and so forth.

In addition to bloatware, which can easily be removed, there are also old files, unused or obsolete registry keys and clutter caused by cookies and downloaded internet files that can contribute to a slow running computer. There are many ways to approach the clean up of these issues, but most of the approaches are manual and time-consuming. And in the case of the registry keys, dangerous. Delete the wrong key, and you’ve essentially turned your notebook into a paperweight that will require a complete reformat in order to work again.

I prefer the less-invasive and quicker approach to cleaning up a computer. I have a few choice programs I run, and another one I’ve heard good things about is MyFasterPC. MyFasterPC works by diagnosing your computer and presenting you with a list of problems, including unused programs that can be uninstalled, old registry keys, clogged up internet history files, and so on and so forth. You can then choose to run the MyFasterPC cleaning tools to remove the excess gunk and junk that is slowing down your computer’s processing speed. Included options include defragmenting your hard drive and optimizing your internet settings to make surfing the web as fast as possible. The result? A faster running computer that will surely allow you to surf the web, check email and in general work and play much more efficiently.

MyFasterPC offers you seven tools to provide your computer with de-cleaning and de-gunking. Disk clean up and scan & repair are just the tip of the iceburg. With those things out of the way, you can proceed to check for software, hardware and firmware updates, find the best settings for your internet browser, clear up your start menu, optimize your desktop settings and more!

Please note that while I have heard very good things about MyFasterPC, and while I know of people that have used it, I myself have not had the opportunity to check it out.

I’m comfortably situated with my choice of domain registrar (GoDaddy) and hosting company (VoNetwork), but for those who are just starting out with getting their own domain and setting up a hosting account, it can be overwhelming to make a choice among the hundreds of companies out there. Every company has something to offer, but the question is, which company is best suited for your needs?

Besides asking around and relying on word of mouth, you might want to consider looking up reviews and side-by-side comparison of hosting companies and domain registrars. You’ll be able to see at a glance what the companies have to offer, and which ones can offer you what you need. One choice for finding out more about website hosting is webhostingreport.com.

webhostingreport.com specializes in providing reviews on the top companies in web hosting and domain registrations. In addition to reviews and plan and company comparisons, webhostingreport.com offers articles that can help beginners and novices alike learn more about domains and hosting, and what to look for when selecting a company. One valuable guide to look over is the what to look for in a web hosting company guide. Between this article and website reviews, you’ll be headed in the right direction with picking your hosting provider.

For more information, check out webhostingreport.com.