Oh, how time flies – especially on the internet. It’s my belief that time literally moves 3x faster on the internet than it does in real life. Why? Because you can’t remember what you did on the internet last week, never mind last month (but you can in real life). Moving on..

One year ago:

Ubuntu 8.04 was released. Lots of people downloaded it, including yours truly. Version 8 was the best yet, and version 9 isn’t that far away.

I griped about dopey kids who use netspeak in written school assignments.

It was revealed that Psystar, the company all Mac users hate, turned out to be real.

Internet Explorer 8 was still in beta.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 was not in Microsoft’s Windows updater system at the time (but of course it is now).

What were you doing on the internet a year ago?

Do you even remember? Probably not, so you’ll have to cheat and look in your email to see the kind of stuff you were talking about back then.

Periodically during the PCMech Live broadcast I will refer people to the PCMech Forums when a) I don’t know the answer to a particular tech question and/or b) the tech question asked requires a threaded conversation (which can’t be done with real-time chat). Continued

For those that join us live every week on Wednesdays from 8pm to 10pm EST, you may find it easier to use chat if you alternatively connect using an IRC client like Chatzilla instead of the in-browser way. This video shows you how to do that.

For those not aware, Dave (the guy who runs this site) is currently in Seattle Washington attending Gnomedex 8.0. He was given the opportunity to step in front of the live feed for a few minutes and converse with the audience @ live.pirillo.com. Continued

I have no doubt at all that we have a lot of business owners and marketing folks come by and visit PCMECH. Folks who could benefit from the large audience we have here.

If you are interested in:

• Growing your business
• Building more awareness for your brand

then I have an announcement for you.

PCMECH is now offering direct sponsorship opportunities.

This is an opportunity to turn the tides a little from being a reader of PCMECH to taking advantage of PCMECH to grow YOUR business and put your message in front of the thousands of people who come here every day.

In addition to the benefits I list on our advertising page, I will also highlight new sponsors on PCMECH with a blog post describing what your business does, your offer and a link to your site. I’ll introduce your business to PCMECH readers.

As an additional bonus, I will also include your business logo in our PCMECH Live streaming webcam feed so that our audience will be aware of your business and check you out for themselves.

So, not to get all “salesy” here, but I want to be clear what new sponsors can get here:

• Placement of your box banner or text link (depending on your package) on all pages of PCMECH.COM
• Your URL included in our weekly newsletter, sent every Monday.
• An introduction article here on PCMECH.COM to highlight your business to our audience
• Your logo rotated in our PCMech LIVE feed whenever we are on the air

This is new for PCMECH. Yes, we have had sponsors before, but never in a structured program like this. Slots are limited. I don’t know how long it will take to fill the available slots, but if this is something you’d like to do, I’ll just say the obvious…

Sooner the better.

For details, go to our PCMECH Advertising page.

The other day, I met with Kyle Graham of Ambidupdate.com. We were meeting to talk a little business, but he had asked me ahead of time if he could do a quick interview. Of course I said yes. He used his new Flip Video to record this interview of me outside of a Chili’s in Tampa, FL.

Now, Kyle’s service allows people with little to no experience editing their own website to make edits to their website. His audience is made up of people who own and run their own sites, so in this interview I am giving some inside knowledge on how I have managed to build up PCMech to the point that it is today.

Continued

People see PCMech.com and sometimes wonder what is the “engine” behind the magic, so to speak. Well, it’s no secret that PCMech uses WordPress. If you were thinking about trying WordPress for yourself there are completely free ways to do it (as in without the requirement of a domain and web host). See video below for details. Also remember that there is a course on WordPress at PCMech University!

Per the last survey we sent out, one of the courses people wanted in the PCMech University system was a digital photography course. One is coming very soon. See video below for details.

This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper.

Note: A new PCMU course will be offered soon so you can learn how to take photos like this even with the most inexpensive digital camera!

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This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper.

Note: A new PCMU course will be offered soon so you can learn how to take photos like this even with the most inexpensive digital camera!

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This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper.

Note: A new PCMU course will be offered soon so you can learn how to take photos like this even with the most inexpensive digital camera!

Standard

Widescreen

This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper.

Note: A new PCMU course will be offered soon so you can learn how to take photos like this even with the most inexpensive digital camera!

Standard

Widescreen

This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper.

Note: A new PCMU course will be offered soon so you can learn how to take photos like this even with the most inexpensive digital camera!

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Widescreen

Have you heard of Twitter? Are you on Twitter?

The opinions on Twitter vary a lot. And the reactions I get range from “What is it?” to “It is frickin’ awesome!”

I do use Twitter and today I just wanted to take a moment to ask you to follow me on Twitter. My reason is below.

For those in the dark on it, here are some links to articles I’ve done on PCMech about Twitter:

• What is Twitter?
• 25 Twitter Clients To Choose From

If you do not have an account, you can get one for free. Then, I recommend you get a Twitter client because it does help you get the most out of Twitter with minimal hassle. All of it is free, but it will help you get plugged into the world of social media.

OK, so here I am on Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/davidrisley

Now, why follow me?

Twitter is a direct way to be in contact with me. Not everything I say on Twitter is business-related. Sometimes you’ll see me having conversations with others on Twitter. Also, I will be making announcements regarding PCMech.com on Twitter. So, you will have to follow me to get those updates (unless you want to wait to get them through other means).

I’m also going to try to have some fun with you guys – just over Twitter. I may even select a weekly featured Twitter follower and highlight you guys to my other followers.

Trust me, for some of the future things I will do around PCMech, there will be reasons to be in touch with me on Twitter.

But, let’s make this more interesting. I want to be able to more easily communicate with my readers, so I have an interest in asking you to follow me on Twitter. So, what I’m going to do is give away a FREE YEAR of access to PCMech University (http://www.pcmechuniversity.com). The way this is going to work is that you have to follow me on Twitter. I will then pick one random follower on Twitter and I will direct message that person over Twitter. If they respond, we’ll get in touch via email and I will set you up with a free membership.

BTW, I will follow you back that way I can also see what you guys are saying. This is all a big conversation and I’d love to have you onboard.

All you have to do is get a free Twitter account (if you don’t have one yet), then go to www.twitter.com/davidrisley and hit the “Follow” button. That is all. Then, you’ll want to get involved with Twitter and start using it.

See ya on Twitter. Have a good evening.

This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper.

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