by Kate Olson on May 26, 2008
Reading this New York Times article (An Upstart Challenges the Big Web Browsers) this morning made me gasp - it says 75% of all internet users use Internet Explorer!
Seriously? As an IE user myself not so long ago and a devoted, die-hard Firefox user now, I just can’t fathom this! I’ve seen the light! I haven’t tested out Firefox 3 yet, but once it’s released next month, I’ll surely be using it. Here’s what the NY Times article says about FF3:
“That notion has helped to rekindle the browser wars and has resulted in the latest wave of innovation. Firefox 3.0, for example, runs more than twice as fast as the previous version while using less memory, Mozilla says.
The browser is also smarter and maintains three months of a user’s browsing history to try to predict what site he or she may want to visit. Typing the word “football” into the browser, for example, quickly generates a list of all the sites visited with “football” in the name or description.
Firefox has named this new tool the “awesome bar” and says it could replace the need for people to maintain long and messy lists of bookmarks. It will also personalize the browser for an individual user.
“Sitting at somebody else’s computer and using their browser is going to become a very awkward experience,” said Mitchell Baker, chairwoman of the Mozilla Foundation.“
Questions about WHY you should switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox? Check out BrowseHappy - they’ll tell you ALL about it……………
And for the record:
1) Apple - no, I do NOT want Safari loaded on my computer whenever you install updates for iTunes. Stop asking. Seriously.
2) I tried Flock, but I’m too in love with twhirl to be able to use this browser consistently - when they’re both running (with Twitter in the Flock sidebar), it maxes out the API requests for Twitter and causes twhirl to say my request for updates has been exceeded. That’s a deal-breaker for me. The blog writer was neat, but not neat enough.
If you’d love to convince me to change my views on any of the above, I’ll surely listen………….
Related Reading:
Are You Getting the Most Out of Your Web Browser? - The Edublogger
Slimy Tactics Won’t Earn Apple Any More Safari Users - Mike Bogle
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by Kate Olson on May 24, 2008
I’m going to be spending my long weekend reading OFFline, something I need to get back into the habit of. After posting about being excited to start these books, I’ve started reading both Sarah Lacy’s “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0
” and “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff and need to actually dig in and finish them!
Oh, and before I go on about how much I like Sarah Lacy’s book, I have to share the fact that she actually took the time to comment on my last post about the book, follow me on twitter, and actually @ me on twitter - for the fangirl in me, that’s huge! Really, though, that’s just good networking. There are WAY too many authors, business owners, bloggers, and networkers who fail to see the importance of connecting with their audience. A few other examples of stellar networkers - Aaron Strout of Mzinga (@astrout), Melanie Notkin (@savvyauntie) of Savvy Auntie, and Christine Perkett (@missusp) of Perkett PR. Yes, I’ve gotten to know all of them better through our networking and have already written about them (and with them, in the case of Christine), but that’s because they take the time to interact with their readers and clients. Most importantly, they interact with ALL of them, not just the ones who they feel will benefit them most. I’ve learned very quickly that this is what makes the difference, and while it seems obvious, it’s overlooked by many. Melanie wrote an exceptional post the other day about tips for entrepreneurs, and she includes tips on networking - I’d consider this required reading for any business course if I were teaching at the post-secondary level. As for examples of ineffective networkers? Well, no need to list them, you know who you/they are…………….
As for Sarah’s book, I’m only a few chapters in, but it’s written in a way that you forget you’re reading a nonfiction business book. She does a wonderful job of writing about this high-tech world in a conversational, page-turner style. (Another example of good networking form is the posts she’s writing for discussion of the book). The bottom line: If I choose a tech/business book over chick lit for my before-bed reading, you KNOW it must be good!
by Kate Olson on May 23, 2008
Short and sweet as the long Memorial Day weekend approaches……………
During a meeting with a parent today, we explored the game site Addicting Games (to assess the content upon her request) and I have to say that I was pretty amazed at the fact that I hadn’t at least explored this before now. This is the site that 90% of my 6th grade male students said is their favorite place to visit online. When we went on it today (and I did again tonight), some of the top games on the site are blatantly pornographic and completely inappropriate for any child. I just can NOT believe how naive I am and that I hadn’t visited this as soon as my students told me about it!
What are your thoughts on Addicting Games - is it an okay place for middle school students to frequent online at home? If so, how do you deal with the inappropriate content? If not, how do you block access?
This was just another of my many, “Wake up, Kate - it’s a whole new world!” moments in this first (and only for a while) year of teaching…………
by Kate Olson on May 22, 2008
(Cross-posted at This Mommy Gig)
Yes, I KNOW this is a controversial subject and I’m writing it anyway! I also have NO qualms about talking about my personal finances, which I know isn’t all that normal………..
Here are the facts:
- I’m 27 years old
- I have $25,000 in student loan debt
- I have a B.S. in Business
- I’m halfway to a Master’s in Education
- I started my MBA
- My monthly student loan payment is $144.37
- I deferred my loan for 2 years while I stayed at home with my kids
After asking around this morning on twitter, I realized that $25,000 really isn’t over-the-top, but it’s still a LOT of money. How’d I get here? Well, my mom made it clear from my sophomore year in high school that my brother and sister and I would be responsible for paying for our own college educations. Before you start condemning my mother and her evil tactics, let me just say that I THANK HER for that. Why? Well, I chose a state school that was more affordable (but a GREAT in-state business program), I entered college with 7 credits (from AP courses I took in HS), I gained an incredible experience in Army ROTC which would have paid for my education (unfortunately I had to quit after my sophomore year due to physical issues), I worked my tail off all during college at various jobs (that have helped me immensely in my professional life) and arranged my course schedule to enable me to graduate with my B.S. in 3.5 years. I guarantee I wouldn’t have done some of those things (any of them?) if I had someone else paying for my college education.
After my undergrad, I actually went BACK to school - first to start my MBA and then to do a post-baccalaureate program to get my teaching license - these add up to about $10,000 of my total student loans. Were these expenditures worth it? A resounding YES. I’m aching to finish my MBA right now, but I do know when enough is enough for the moment - I can’t see the return being high enough at this time to be worth the additional loans needed…….and our family’s income is too high to qualify for low-interest loans.
As for managing the debt now, I approach it differently than our other debt (cars, house, credit cards). I had no issues deferring the loans to stay at home with my kids because I knew that the education was valuable whether I was “applying it” or not. I see student loans as just a given in my life and the most worthwhile investment I could ever make. The interest rate is lower than on any of the other debt we have and also lower than the interest rate on our ING Savings account - I see no point in paying more than the minimum on this debt and consider the interest accrued during the time I stayed at home to be a more-than-worthwhile investment in our family. As for starting college savings accounts for my kids (whom I love more than anything else on earth and of course want only the best for), I prescribe to my idol Suze Orman’s theory - don’t put money aside for your children’s education before having high interest debt paid off and have money put aside for your own retirement.
So, thanks to my mother for being strong enough to tell me I was on my own and I hope my children appreciate me doing the same for them……………..
by Kate Olson on May 21, 2008
As I’m in the final weeks (12 days) of my teaching job for which I commute 40 minutes each way and drive between 3 schools each day, I’m looking ahead to my future working at home and am SO excited about the gas money we’ll save with me not driving and my husband being able to drive my Honda Civic rather than the Silverado (yes, we DO need a truck, did you SEE my pictures of what winter is like here?) to work.
Less thrilling is my other savings - my daily venti nonfat latte from Starbucks. I’m seriously already mourning this and actually considered (ok, not really) staying at my job because of the 2 VERY convenient Starbucks drive-throughs right on the way to school………..my new place of employment (home) is 30 minutes from the closest ‘bucks. After seeing my gas savings mentioned above, it’s surely not logical to ever drive “into town” just for my latte! So, my wonderful friend, I’ll miss you sorely…………(and will save $20 each week because of your absence).
