The Black Tech Report

Download Wednesday: FileZilla

June 4th, 2008 2 Comments

FileZilla (website link) is a FREE FTP program which has been released under the GNU Gneral Public License. FTP stands for file transfer protocol and is used to transfer data from one computer to another through a network, such as over the Internet. You can use this program to upload pictures to your website or blog, you can also use it to download files from companies on the internet such has documents, instructions, drivers and much more. Click here for more information on FTP from wikipedia.org

I came across this program one day while I was looking to purchase a FTP program. This program makes it very easy to upload and download files over the internet.

Here are the features:

Easy to use
Supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
Cross-platform. Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, OSX and more
Available in many languages
Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
Powerful Site Manager and transfer queue
Drag & drop support
Configurable Speed limits
Filename filters
Network configuration wizard
Remote file editing
Keep-alive
FTP-Proxy support

The program can be installed on Windows, Linux, and get this Mac OS X. I personally have been using the program for about 2 years, it has the guts to stand up to any of the price heavy programs such as cuteftp, smartftp, and others.

Leave comments about your experience and recommendations are appreciated.

TBTR

NEW: Download Wednesday

June 4th, 2008 Comments Off

Today is download Wedensday here at The Black Tech Report, from this day on we will be bringing you a host of programs that refect our Free Commitment to the readers of this blog.

We will post a small bit of information about a product that we have found or that we use. We chose Wedensday because it’s the middle of the week and its the day you kind of look up and say well what’s new around my blogsphere.

We are making a commitment to the readers that you can depend on something intresting every time we post on “Download Wedensday”. You can be assured the programs will be useful and FREE (nadda, zero), so check back often and see what we have in store for you.

Remember to pass on this link for the story to any of your friends who are interested in technology or are new to the internet.

Thanks,

TBTR

Micro Blogging site Plurk is ready for the big show.

June 2nd, 2008 2 Comments

These days Micro Blogging sites are popping up week by week every since twitter has had their most recent meltdown. Don’t get me wrong twitter still has love in my heart, but that is fading fast with all the issues they keep having read more about that here.

To my surprise this morning around 7:30 or so I got a note from a little birdy named Peety she lives in the Netherlands, ( I follow her on twitter) she hipped me to a new Micro Blogging service called Plurk. Although the names is a bit childish in my opinion I guess twitter was the same when I first heard the name. Plurk explains why that name and gives a pretty good answer about it here.

Plurk as they say on the website is:

“A really snazzy site that allows you to showcase the events that make up your life and follow event of the people that matter to you.”

They have posted a nice FAQ (Frequently Ask Questions) page here. Also if you want to understand Plurk more they have a Plurk rule book. I commend Plurk for these two links because sometimes we don’t get that from websites, to me it shows they want to interact and help the users unlike some sites.

I’m currently giving Plurk a chance, you can add me here or join through this link to automatically friend me. I don’t get paid for this write up so be assured I’m not going to become a millionaire over night this time…

Plurk is not the first.

I want to make sure you guys/gals know there are others in the Micro Blogging world such as Jaiku, Pownce, twitter, and now Plurk. Please understand that each one is a little different but they all share common interest Micro Blogging. I have and account on each site, but I gotta say Plurk has come a long at a wonderful time. Twitter has been on meltdown over the past couple of months people are gathering the pitch forks, Molotov cocktails and ready for a riot over the unstable service that twitter has been so unapologetic about.

Why all the hype now?

It seems the popularity over the weekend for plurk came when Leo Laporte mentioned him I would guess on his radio show, along with others such as Scobleizer and Tech Crunch. This put a lot of demand on Plurk, but they say that they are ready for the challenge lets just hope they can live up to that statement. I see a great place for Plurk in the market place let see how they run this ship.

TBTR

Podcast #10 RSS Feeds

May 30th, 2008 Comments Off

Here is the podcast about RSS Feeds.

Enjoy

Podcast #10 RSS Feeds [ 6:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I know a way you can surf the web faster and retain more information introducing the RSS feed.

May 28th, 2008 Comments Off

Do you check multiple websites such as news sites, health sites, community sites and others on a daily, even hourly basis? The answer for me is indeed yes I could even go further, and sometimes say I check certain sites by the minute although that just shows my OCD boredom. Do you ever ask yourself “there has to be a better way?” Let me tell you a secret there truly is a better way, start looking for RSS feeds on those sites it just makes your life a lot easier.

What is RSS?
Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a Web feed format used to publish frequently updated content such as blogs, news headlines, and podcasts in a standardized format. RSS documents contain a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web sites in an automated manner. RSS essentially is a specially formed XML document that can be displayed in a pretty readable format by RSS reader programs.

So what is XML?
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose specification for creating custom markup languages. It is classified as an extensible language because it allows its users to define their own elements. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet.

How is all this going to help me?
Well the truth of the matter is that RSS feeds will help to eliminate your need to check websites for updates or the latest headlines. In my opinion this helps you out in the long run with being able to access one program to view all your data about the latest headlines and stories. This does not eliminate you viewing the websites that you always view but think about how much time it will save you when you open a program and all the latest stories are right in front of you.

Now that I have told you what RSS and XML are you need to know how to view them. In order to view the RSS feeds you need a computer feed reader or aggregator (program).

For a list of reader programs click here

How will you know the website you visit frequently is using RSS feeds?
You have probably seen the icon for RSS feeds and not even paid it any mind. The icon shown here (small) (Large) this icon is universal. When you see these icons you should be able to click on the icon or the words next to the icon. This will start the RSS feed program you choose to install from the link above. Sometimes you will need to copy and paste the RSS Feed URL which will look something like this http://www.theblacktechreport.com/?feed=rss

In closing RSS feeds help you sift through all the junk to get right to the point of the matter the infomation you need right now. There are so many reader programs out there that I suggest you download and try a veriety of them before you choose. Personally I was using feedreader for a long time but have switched over to google/reader recently with great success. I have looked at my stats to see what programs are downloading my feeds personally and the majority over 50% comes from people who use google reader that speaks volumes to me.

If in the end I have confused you beyond belief view this video that expalines RSS. Enjoy

Take your time and leave comments.