How much does a website cost?

We The People In Order To Form A More Perfect Union

2009-07-06T08:01:00.000-07:00

10 of the best reasons you just had a 3 day weekend. These 10 amendments were added to the Constitution on December 15, 1791. A new world is at hand...

1) Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion and Petition
2) Right to keep and bear arms
3) Conditions for quarters of soldiers
4) Right of search and seizure regulated
5) Provisons concerning prosecution
6) Right to a speedy trial, witnesses, etc.
7) Right to a trial by jury
8) Excessive bail, cruel punishment
9) Rule of construction of Constitution
10) Rights of the States under Constitution

I guess the Preamble to the Constitution was not specific enough, and the Preamble goes like this...

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Just Sayin...

What Happened on July 5th ?

2009-07-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

What happened on July 5th? Everyone knows what happened on the 4th of July, sometimes it is easy to forget what historical events took place on the 5th.

5th July 1921 : Players from The Chicago White Sox Baseball team are accused of throwing the World Series.

5th July 1946 : The Bikini swimsuit ( a daring 2 piece swimming costume for ladies ) was introduced by French designer Louis Reard at a popular swimming pool in Paris.

5th July 1950 : The first American reported killed in the Korean War (Private Kenneth Shadrick ) a member of a bazooka squad, was cut down by enemy machine-gun fire.

5th July 1971 : The Voting Age in the United States is lowered to 18 yrs old.

5th July 2006 : North Korea test Medium Range Missiles capable of hitting the Japanese and US mainland.

I love learning about historical events, I think that it is a good practice to take some time to learn about things that happened on a particular date. I hope you find some of these facts as interesting as I have.

Happy 4th of July Lady Liberty

2009-07-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Today is July 4th, our federal holiday celebrating 233 years of Independence. While I wish all of you a Happy Fourth of July, I would like to highlight Lady Liberty. Happy 4th of July Lady Liberty!

This July 4th is special for Lady Liberty. For the first time since shortly after September 11, 2001, a limited number of visitors will be allowed to climb the spiral staircase to the crown. Have you ever been to the Statue of Liberty? I will tell you that of all of the majestic places I have visited in our United States, Liberty Island is by far the most awe inspiring, more so than Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite, the Golden Gate Bridge, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, St. Louis Arch, Hoover Dam, Denali, Everglades, Washington, D.C., Arlington National Cemetery. But enough about my travel guide.

I invite any of you who have the opportunity to visit New York City, even those of you who live in New York City, to make time to visit Liberty Island and Ellis Island. If you are unfamiliar with Ellis Island, it served as a federal immigration station for steamship passengers from 1892 until 1954. But I digress...as you approach Lady Liberty on the ferry you might recall great movie scenes from Titanic, Funny Girl, to name a few...it is amazing.

Beginning this July 4th, 30 people per hour will be allowed to climb up and down the 346-354 (but whose counting) steps to the crown, that is about 250 guests per day. I have never been to the Crown, but my sons have. I believe it was the spring of 1990...here is my Picasa web album of one of my trips to see the Lady with Aaron and Dan.

Take a minute to watch this NBC Nightly News video of a trip to Liberty Island and the Crown.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Today I cannot begin to impart all that you can see and learn when you visit both Liberty and Ellis Islands. But you can stay in touch with The Lady, as she does Twitter...and Flickr. She is a social lady!

P.S. If you really want to have some fun, then visit the Ellis Island Foundation and search for your relatives who may have immigrated to the United States through this station.

Manny Ramirez is back to the Dodgers Tonight After a 50 Game Suspension

2009-07-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Manny Ramirez, the Los Angeles Dodgers' slugger and left fielder will be back in the lineup tonight against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. This is news because Manny has been forced to miss the last 50 games due to a violation of the MLB's drug policy. Ramirez was caught taking a banned substance, specifically a women's drug known to be taken by athletes ending a period of steroid use. He has not yet been caught using steroids though, to be clear.

The Dodger's slugger bats third in the potent lineup which leads all of baseball with the best record in the bigs. Manny comes into tonights game with 533 career homeruns, 17th on the all-time list.

There are many positions on the steroid issue, and I for one am ashamed the game has been tainted by it. Having said that, since the era is tainted with performance enhancing drugs I don't think you can hold players out of the hall of fame because it must be the case that currently there are players in the hall that have not and will not be caught using, even though they did. So in my view, holding out players you did catch shouldn't make a difference. I don't think 'well you got caught' should be the tag line to hall eligibility.

I will be watching Manny tonight, but then again I watch most all Dodger games. I hate to say that it has become so widespread a problem, steroids that is, that I don't really care anymore. I'd just like to see the sport cleaned up and the issue to go away.

Download pictures from Picasa using DownloadThemAll

2009-07-02T11:04:00.000-07:00

Downloading the original pictures uploaded to Picasa all at once is easy if you're using Firefox. DownloadThemAll is a plug-in for Firefox which can be used for many things but I have found it most useful for me when needing access to original pictures from Picasa.

1) Download the plug-in DownloadThemAll and install it to your Firefox browser.
2) Go to the Picasa album where you want to download the pictures from
3) Picasa provides the RSS feed for the pictures so all you have to do is click on RSS on the right hand side of that page to bring up the feed.
4) Still with me? Now just right click on the screen and click on DownloadThemAll.
4-a) Save the files in a directory you specify and select Images under the filters.
5) PRESS START

One thing I am still trying to figure out with Picasa is how to display a random image from the album using the RSS feed... Any suggestions?

Clean Installs Don't Have to Hurt

2009-06-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a clean install was performed on my computer. The process refered to as a "clean install" means all your data is going to be wiped off your computer and your computer is going to be as clean as it was the day you purchased it, maybe cleaner.

In my case my clean install was prompted by the need to reinstall an operating system as my Windows 7 beta was going to expire and needed to be updated to Windows 7 Release Candidate 1. Other reasons to do a clean install might be to clean out the cobwebs and improve performance. Viruses and harddrive crashes as well as other hardware failures may also force a clean install.

The warnings to back up and then back up some more generally fall on deaf ears. When the question is posed to a group of people about their data backup strategy the room quickly divides.

In the first group you have your smug fellows who do backup their files, second you have your optimistic group who are sure such a catastophe will never befall them or they have this pragmatic confidence that while this could happen to them they will certainly have gotten their back up act together by then and will be prepared, the third group have lost data, they know the damage it can do and yet they know they do not have a backup and their heads hang in shame and maybe a little bit of fear.

But there is another group. A group that "Lives on the Cloud", meaning the information in stored on the internet and not on your harddrive. Life on the cloud is "hardware independent" because your harddrive will die and you don't want it to take out your data with it. Let me give you a taste of how this can work.

How My Gmail Account has Changed the Reinstall Forever
By using gmail for your domain my email and all the related attachments can be accessed on any computer with a username and password. So after a clean install has been performed I log in to my gmail account and there are all of my emails just as I left them.

Log into my gmail account and access all my email.
Reinstall my programs by searching gmail for program name to find activation code and download most recent version of the internet.
My documents are all saved as Google Doc and are available upon sign in
My iGoogle Page has my bookmarks to frequented sites and important information which I reference often.

And I am back working at my clean computer and I know that I have my data. Do you?

What is Social Media Anyway?

2009-06-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

Social Media in the news. Creating and Commuincating with the people that matter.

Week two and again the tv is flooded with stories found using Social Media. CNN is replying to tweets from the viewers, and social media sites have become the hub of what is hot, right now.

What is social media anyway? In a nutshell it is user generated, shareable, embeddable, with commenting and voting added.

Does social media matter? Only if you think email matters, as internet users are spending as much time surfing social media sites as they are reading their own email boxes!

Welcome to the club gone digital, in a world where only a few love pickel ice cream those few can now find each other.

Need help finding your niche and fitting in? We can help.

iPhone 3GS Web Speed Test

2009-06-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

The iPhone web browser speed test knocks the competition out of the water. The statistics of the tests were rather astonishing. Medialets ran the SunSpider test suite with Safari 4.0.1 on a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo White MacBook (the baseline for comparisons), Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3G with iPhone OS v2.2.1, Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3G with iPhone OS v3.0, Mobile Safari on the iPhone 3GS with iPhone OS v3.0, the "Browser" app on the T-Mobile G1 with Android OS v1.5 (Cupcake) and the "Web" app on the Palm Pre with Web OS v1.0.2.

iPhone OS 3.0 on the same iPhone 3G yields nearly 3X the JavaScript performance in Mobile Safari vs. using iPhone OS 2.2.1. Which should make everyone who has not bought a 3GS very happy. The iPhone 3GS steps up another factor of 3, bringing JavaScript performance on the iPhone 3GS to 12X that of a desktop machine that has well over four times the raw processing power.

The T-Mobile G1 running the "Cupcake" version of the Android OS finished the test suite in about 91 seconds. It is about a third faster than the iPhone 3G running Apple's OS (2.2.1). The Palm Pre had speeds that closely rival the iPhone 3G running Apple's OS 3.0.

This Week We Are The World

2009-06-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

This week we are the world. The world was all a twitter with tweets about the death of three American icons. These were three people from three generations.

On Tuesday our blogger honored Ed McMahon, who passed at age 86. McMahon was a gentleman that we welcomed into our homes for more than 30 years as Johnny Carson's sidekick among other roles.

Yesterday, our blogger honored Michael Jackson, who passed at age 50. This iconic legend who most of us have watched for the past 40 years, from a little boy to a grown man, always surprised us with his talent and creativity, among other things.

I will not let the week go by without honoring Farrah Fawcett, who passed at age 62. For those of us who are Farrah's peers by age, we remember her smile and her gorgeous hair. All the women wanted hair like Farrah and all the men wanted the women in their lives to have hair like Farrah. She was a fine actress and you would know this if you saw some of her more serious movies. Now she will be remembered as a brave woman who was willing to share with all of us her struggle with cancer to the end.

In this world filled with technology...twitter, plurk, tagged, YouTube, my space, facebook, emails, blogs...today is Saturday and it is just a day to remember that in January 1985 Michael Jackson collaborated with Lionel Richie and produced with Quincy Jones a song that touched us all. We are the World! (United Support of Artists for Africa) We listened intently, we bought the album and together we tried to help save a continent, most particularly Ethiopia.

As this day closes, I will remember that Dennis and I played this album with our children when they were quite young. The album is still in our home carefully preserved for whatever reason. Maybe because it made us think, hope and assure ourselves that we are all part of this world and this week We Are The World making a choice.

Enjoy this remarkable YouTube video of the studio recording of We Are The World. I'd would love to hear from you!

....change can only come...when we stand together as one!

Michael Jackson- The King of Pop, dead at 50

2009-06-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson was the 'King of Pop', even if you are not a pop music fan. There are few artists that change the way music is played, viewed or in this case danced to.

When I think to myself about the classic hits of Jackson's career, I think of never being able to go to a wedding without hearing at least 3 to 5 of his hits, which then immediately fills the dance floor.

Personally I am more of a rock n' roll guy, but I will admit I don't enjoy dancing to anyone else's songs much more. The way this guy moved on stage set the tone for all single pop acts after him. You look at one of today's biggest acts, Justin Timberlake who's career aims at the exact audience of Michael Jackson's. Timberlake has basically said that he is just trying to be like Jackson. Originality is rare and can be revolutionary.

Michael Jackson continues the line of troubled mega-stars like Elvis, or in a sense the Beatles. With all of his recent problems and physical difficulties, may he rest in peace.

My final note is from my rock n roll perspective- check out how Jackson incorporated a rock solo played by Eddie Van Halen into a classic pop hit- 'Beat It'.

Why would someone want to risk unlocking/jeailbreaking their phone?

2009-06-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

Why would anyone want to risk breaking an iPhone worth few hundred dollars to use on another carrier? They say unlocking any phone allows you to use it on other carriers. Jailbreaking an iPhone allows you to install applications that have not been approved by the App Store (which also have the possibility of causing harm to your phone).

Now, why would someone want to risk buying an expensive phone for that? A better approach to using an iPhone is just signing up with AT&T. The best part of having an iPhone with AT&T is support. Since they are the only carriers for that phone, they are the only ones who can provide network support.

What are your thoughts on the risk involved with unlocking/jailbreaking your iPhone?

Ed McMahon Dies at Age 86

2009-06-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

This morning came with the news of Ed McMahon's death. Fighting bone cancer and pneumonia Ed passed away shortly after midnight at the Ronald Reagan/UCLA Medical Center.

Ed McMahon is probably most widely known as the side kick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show." Ed McMahon also hosted "Star Search" and was the face of "America's Publishers Clearinghouse" sweepstakes.

A talented pitch man, Ed McMahon was born Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. on March 6, 1923 in Detroit, but it was in Lowell, Massachusetts this pitchman honed his chops. At the tender age of 15 Ed took his first job behind the microphone for a circus visiting his home town. And that is how he began.

An engaging laugh, jokes, skits and trademark phrases like, "H-e-e-e-e-e-r-e's Johnny" and "Hi yo" (we call them memes in social media) Ed was a forerunner of the early days of television and grew into a household icon. He will be missed

How To Use Twitter As Search

2009-06-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week you know that Twitter has moved from being a noun to a verb with the help of CNN & the Iran Election. With all western news services, internet & phone service cut off the people of Iran are the only news team in town, complete with spies and counter spies.

Twitter users everywhere have shown solidarity with the protesters by turning their Twitter icons green and changing their location to Tehran to thwart searches for protesters by Iranian security forces.

On 9/11 we were all Americans, as the protests unfold on Twitter, we have all become Iranian.

The World & CNN are watching from Twitter. Here is how you can too.

If you have not done so already go sign up for Twitter.

After you have your account go to http://search.twitter.com/ there you can see the top 10 trending topics.

Trending topics: Iran, #iranelection, #musicmonday, Wimbledon, Tehran, Perez Hilton, Tim Burton's Alice, Neda, iPhone, US Open

You can click these topics to see what is being said in real time on Twitter about each subject, or you can search for your own from the query field.

Once you get the results page notice in the top right "Feed For This Query" copy that link to your http://reader.google.com/ account click "Add A Subscription" and paste the link into the field and have your search come to you!

Tune in next week when I show you how to use hashtags on Twitter...

Happy Father's Day from Waterville

2009-06-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day from Waterville, Maine. As luck would have it, the internet is down today here in Waterville. Who knows why, maybe the non-stop rain. Anyway I asked Judy to send this greeting. Here is a photo of my dad holding me when I was a few hours old. That is my brother Aaron looking on.

This next photo is of me with my dad, Dennis, on the day of my Bar Mitzvah.

Over the years I have listened to Cat Steven's song "Father and Son." The words are remarkable and sooner or later I think all fathers and sons can relate. Enjoy this youtube video and Happy Father's Day.

Dan Helfand

Being Tagged Is Annoying!

2009-06-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

On June 5, 2009, I received an email that looked as if it was being sent to me from one of our clients. It was from "Tagged" and the subject line said "XXXXX X sent you a message...". Keep in mind I recognized XXXXX X as the first name and first initial of the last name of this client. So I opened the email. There was a photo of the client and a message that said "You have a new message from XXXXX X, check out these private photos. OK, OK, are you wondering why I continued? Well, this client has frequently over the past few years found innovative ways to send me large photos to use on her website. So, naturally I thought I better oblige and enjoy being TAGGED! What I now know is this: Being TAGGED is Annoying!

Even though I went through the process of filling out the TAGGED application, I never did see my client's "photos."
I started receiving emails from TAGGED telling me that I was welcomed to their world, that I was receiving extra bonus points.
And then suddenly on June 18, someone I have never heard of, one Robert Buy, set me FREE! Really?

I thought back to the days of my childhood. I am sure no matter how old you are you have some memory of playing a game of TAG. Don't you? Did you like it? I think basically we played tag to kill time and as someone said on Wikipedia: "The game continues until the players are tired or lose interest." Go ahead read up on the game of TAG on Wikipedia...it is very interesting.

On Friday morning I was all set to write this post about QWERTY, but my husband asked me to look at his new TAGGED friends. Oh, please...a regular smorgasbord of beauties. Then I began to think about this a little more: Am I the only person who feels being TAGGED is annoying? Apparently not. I googled and found the most interesting article from TIME.com dated June 11, 2009, "TAGGED: The World's Most Annoying Website."

Now hear this. I am going to cancel my TAGGED account because I am tired and have no interest in being annoyed with extra emails, bonus points and I was not set free by Robert! How about you, do you find being TAGGED annoying?

Pay Per Click Ads- Including Your Price to Deter Untargeted Clicks

2009-06-19T08:13:00.000-07:00

The continued quest in the Pay Per Click world of writing a good and targeted ad within the allotted 70 characters is not an easy one. It is widely practiced concept of writing an ad not only to attract searchers to your business/web site, but also to deter those that are not targeted to your desired audience- keeping in mind clicks are far from free. I have written in the past, not all traffic is good traffic in the PPC world.

Recently a client of mine was getting a substantial amount of clicks and responses to the call to action of his site- phone call traffic- but those phone calls were mostly of poor quality. A tactic was chosen to modify the ad to let the searcher know up front the minimum cost of the service at hand, as to confront that searcher (potentially) before the per click charge was realized. This made a significant difference in the quality of caller, because we were able to educate the searcher to what he/she was getting into with the facility at hand.

That is, the ad itself, not the landing page, stated what the minimum cost was as to get in the door. This promotion of up front facts supports the no nonsense approach that works more times than not. We are looking to promote clicks for those not scared by the 'sticker shock' of the price- a way to potentially modify behavior in our favor and lower costs at the same time. In this instance the time of taking that un-targeted phone call traffic was also costing money.

It may make sense and work for you in your marketplace. Use this idea particularly with any competitive advantages you may hold and highlight those things. You can reach the searcher before they take money out of your wallet and put it into Google or Yahoo's.

Let Webconsuls reduce your spend with tools and methods like this. We'll put it into practice for your businesses unique needs.

Free baggage check in with Southwest Airlines

2009-06-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Airlines charge to check in each bag. In fact, the rate goes up depending on how many you check in. My wife, Zaheen, flew out to Austin, TX yesterday on Southwest Airlines and it turns out that they don't charge for the first two bags. That's how it use to be with all the airlines but seems like they are the only ones around that do not charge for the first two bags still.

Here are the airlines that I know of that charge
American Airline, America West/US Airways, Delta:
$15 for the first checked piece. ($30 on a round trip flight)
$25 for the second checked piece. ($25 + $15 = $40 x 2 = $80 on a round trip flight)

Next time you're purchasing your ticket, depending on how many bags you're checking in, it might be cheaper to fly Southwest than its competitors.

Oh and did I mention Southwest still serves snacks =)

Three Easy to Grow Herbs to Improve Your Cooking

2009-06-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Pineapple Sage, Sweet Bay and Winter Savory have entered my culinary arsenal and they are here to stay. What has really changed is I now have these plants growing on my patio. Fresh herbs ready to go whenever I need them.

For a couple years now Darin and I have had our own garden. It started very haphazardly with a plant here and a plant there. We are starting to learn what grows as well as what we regularly use. Last year I started to use a lot of our fresh basil. Fresh basil grows easily and having access to fresh basil encouraged me to integrate it into more dishes.

This year I invested more time and energy into the herb category. I claimed all the patio space for herbs. The larger garden is about 3 flights of stairs from the kitchen so I knew if I was going to incorporate fresh herbs into my cooking it better be convenient or it just wasn't going to happen.

Pineapple Sage

My intension was to buy Sage. How happy am I that this was the only Sage option at the nursery. This herb was a great find. Pineapple Sage has a wonderful pineapple scent as well as beautiful flowers which attract hummingbirds.

I am looking forward to trying the herb in lemonade and more recipes.

Pineapple Sage Recipes

Sweet Bay

Bay is not new to my herb collection but my Bay was always bought from the grocery store and who knows how long it sat on the shelf in the grocery store, not to mention my cupboard.

Fresh Bay leaves are actually stronger than their dried counterparts. A live Bay plant can replace the dried Bay in your cupboard. It is a beautiful easy to care for plant and can be trimmed into a topiary or bonsai if you are so inclined.

When you need to flavor a broth or soup carefully remove an older leaf. Older leaves contain more flavor. Bay leaves are very tough and sharp and should be removed before serving. I add a Bay leaf to mashed potatoes and it has made all the difference.

Winter Savory

By far the sleeper hit of our whole herb garden is Winter Savory. A delicious addition to most any meat and potato dish. I add Winter Savory to chicken by stuffing the interior cavity with the fresh herbs. I also will gently melt butter with the herb and then baste the chicken with the savory infused butter as it cooks. The smell is like none other.

I have not found this herb in stores. That was a huge surprise once I found what an easy and delicious contribution this herb makes. Maybe your local stores will differ, but I see no other option to enjoying Savory than to grow it myself.

Another very fun thing about herbs is that they all tend to come with a story. Even through I would not have discovered Savory in my local grocery store it isn't to say that Savory hasn't been around for a long time. The Saxon's were great fans of Savory and it is said that "Virgil encouraged the planting of savory near one's beehives because of the wonderful flavor it adds to the honey." Winter Savory Recipes

I would encourage anyone with gardening and cooking aspirations to start with a simple herb garden. Start small and pick a few herbs that you can grow easily and that correspond with dishes you want to make.

CarrotMob Using Mob Mentality To Make Positive Change

2009-06-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

How Organized Consumer Purchasing Can Push Change.

Who else besides government is big enough to change the world?

We are.

CarrotMob, using mob mentality to push positive change.

The problem with corporations is that they will do anything for a buck.

The solution is that corporations will do anything for a buck!

Think you are too small to have an impact?

Try sleeping with a mosquito in the room...

iPhone 3Gs New Features

2009-06-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

The iPhone 3Gs' new features are forces to be reckoned with! I have had an iPhone now for just under a year, in that time I have come to love and cherish it. The iPhone, in my opinion, had the most potential to revolutionize mobile technology as we knew it! Overnight, it quickly became the most useful piece of technology that I have ever owned.

After the initial infatuation period ended, I began to realize that there were things that disappointed me about the iPhone. I learned very quickly that with all modern marvels there will be glitches and hiccups along the way. Beta, Beta, Beta! The iPhone is a painting that has yet to be finished, always changing and always evolving; adapting to the needs of the people. Everything that disappointed me with with the iPhone 3G the 3Gs has made up for!

We now have the ability to: copy and paste, take video, send picture and video text-messages, and the list goes on and on. The 3Gs is faster and smarter, we have the capability to make our own applications and now that there is a digital compass we will never get lost! The possibilities are absolutely endless, and I'm pretty sure that the sky is no longer the limit. Here are the details on just a few of the new features:

"Now you can shoot video, edit it, and share it — all on your iPhone 3GS. Shoot high-quality VGA video in portrait or landscape. Trim your footage by adjusting start and end points. Then share your video in an email, post it to your MobileMe gallery, publish it on YouTube, or sync it back to your Mac or PC using iTunes."

"Voice Control recognizes the names in your Contacts and knows the music on your iPod. So if you want to place a call or play a song, all you have to do is ask."

"Surf the web from practically anywhere. Now you can share the 3G connection on your iPhone with your Mac notebook or PC laptop."

Who needs a US Passport?

2009-06-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Exactly one month ago I was on Facebook making a comment to a Webconsuls' team member. Why I was commenting is not important; however, what I determined in the commenting process was that my team member did not have a US Passport. His exact words were: 'Last time I left the country I didn't need a passport, We don't get out much...' Don't get out much? What if you have an emergency? What if you have an unexpected opportunity? The US Passport rules changed effective June 1, 2009. Who needs a US Passport?

The easiest answer to my rhetorical question is every US Citizen should have a US Passport. Effective June 1, 2009, US Citizens now need a Passport (or an enhanced Driver's License issued by some states) to re-enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and 17 nations in the Caribbean region.

Perhaps you are wondering why I am discussing passports on a Saturday morning. Well, I learned a long time ago that having a passport just makes good sense. In 1981, Dennis had to travel on business to France. Before he left he insisted that Aaron and I get our passports, just in case there were an emergency and we had to travel to France. So 28 years ago this month Aaron and I were issued our first US Passports. (See the photos below).

Now let's talk about today. Webconsuls has clients in foreign countries and while we have not yet traveled to visit our client in Cambodia or the Bruzzos in Italy, it could happen! Here in Tucson, the owner of La Fuente Restaurant recently asked us to travel to Mexico for an afternoon.

The up shot of my Facebook discussion with my team member is that this week our Tucson neighbor offered us the use of his condo in Rocky Point, Mexico(overlooking the Sea of Cortez). We called our team member and asked him if he wanted to go with us...but alas, no US Passport!

Who needs a US Passport? You tell me....

Chickenfoot's 1st Single "Oh Yeah"

2009-06-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

Chickenfoot is a new rock n roll group consisting of veteran musicians- Sammy Hagar (vocals) and Mike Anthony (bass) from Van Halen, Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers (drums) and the guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani.

Take a listen above, if you are not a big fan of the current state of rock n roll music (like me) you will be pleasantly surprised that these wily veterans are putting out the classic sound rarely heard today. Granted this first single isn't the deepest subject matter, but there is still a place for a good anthem in my book.

Also look out for the performance of this track live on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

Twitter tweet or retweet button on Blogger template

2009-06-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

You've seen the Digg button on most blogs but how often have you seen a tweet button?

Twitter has been growing since it was developed and is more of a social trend to be on twitter more than anything else. Now you can allow your business or personal blog posts to be tweeted.

Here is how it works, Website http://tweetmeme.com/, allows you to tweet a specific page or a specific blog post and provides the code for it (very friendly). What it does not show you is how to add it on a blogger template.

Here is how you can modify your blogger template to include a tweet button how we have here (look on the top right).

1) Locate the following line: <BlogDateHeader>
2) Place the following code:
<div style="float:right;">
<script type="text/javascript">
tweetmeme_url = 'STEP-3';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"> </script></div>
</script>

3) change STEP-3 to <$BlogItemUrl$>

A bit of HTML or blogger template experience may be required.

Contact Webconsuls to get a FREE quote on a custom personal or business blog.

Play Rock Band with The Beatles!

2009-06-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Play Rock Band with The Beatles!

Gamespot gives a look at the new Beatles Rock band version.

6 people playing at once and 3 part vocal harmonies, HOW FUN!

Here comes the sun! Sun Sun Sun, Here is comes!

View from Hogback Mountain

2009-06-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

This will be a quick post today, coming to you from Dan Helfand, via Judy Helfand in Tucson. Dan is visiting in Maine and wrote up his weekly Sunday post, but did not save it in blogger. This morning he is in Montville, walking up Hogback Mountain to see his friends. No internet connectivety in this little section. So here is an up close and personal view from Hogback Mountain. More later in the week.

Dan used his iPhone to send this photo via gMail.