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Now, we may be looking at exponential growth (If two people tell two people, 4 people know about the site.  If 1000 people tell two people, there are 2000.  If 2000 tell two people…, you get the idea).  That’s great, and it also creates a concern for bandwidth.  I just finished moving ENEWSPF to a new server so we could use 30 GB of bandwidth per month.  As this continues to grow, well….

On this blog, I would like to write about bandwidth issues and spammers.

More on that later.

Be sure to visit eNews Park Forest.

iWent shopping for a new cell phone yesterday.  My Treo 650 finally sprung a leak.  Up to now, that phone was simply the best phone I ever owned.  In spite of the numerous times I dropped it though the years, it held up solid.  The tone was always clear, and I love the Palm OS.

So, iWent to the AT&T Wireless store in Homewood, IL.  Very nice people, although iSensed the clerk who waited on me was losing patience after a while.  In general, the clerks at that store don’t have a great reputation for good customer relations.  Nevertheless, the clerk who worked with me was great.

iArrived with a printout from ConsumerReports.org of the best Smart phones.  The Samsung Blackjack II was rated the CR Best Buy. However, the iPhone 3G was in the corner by the window, all booted up and ready for play.  iAsked the clerk if iCould see one.

While waiting for her to bring out the Blackjack, iDecided to take a look at the iPhone 3G.  At $299, it was just within my budget, but not really what iWanted to spend.

iWent online with it.  Very slick interface, and an extremely quick load.  Opening the web browser, iDecided to load my most complex site, which happens to be this one, eNews Park Forest.  iOpened up the QWERTY keypad and began to enter the URL: www.enewspf.com.

That’s when the problems began.

iStabbed keys with my finger, only to see the wrong letter load in the browser’s address bar.  It took a good 3 or 4 minutes just to type in that simple URL.  Once iDid so, iWas pleased to see my page loaded — the whole page — much more quickly than iExpected.  It looked slick but tiny in that little screen.  iEventually figured out how to see larger areas of the page so iCould actually navigate.

The clerk interrupted me.  iAsked about the iPhone, and was told there would be a wait of 10 to 21 days for it to come in.  That decided the matter for me, but iStill felt drawn to that strange little tablet.  Perhaps iCould wait?

iAsked if there was a chance iCould transfer my data from my Palm Treo 650 to the iPhone.  Not a chance, the clerk said.  iWould have to enter all of my data into iTunes, and then upload it to the iPhone.

iThink not.  After more than a decade of Palm Pilots and Palm smart phones, iHave more contacts than iCan count.  iCould not see myself taking a few days out of my life adding contacts and calendar dates to a completely different system.

Battery life?  Apple may be optimistic, but friends who either took the iPlunge and bought this train wreck don’t get much out of the battery.  Having that much Internet in the palm of your hand takes a toll on the battery.

Could the iPhone be the phone of the future?  Time Magazine loved it.  iDidn’t at all.

So, enough with all this iNonense.

I ended up with a Palm Centro.  I did look at the Samsung Blackjack II, but that thing was even larger and heavier than my Treo 650, and it looked, well, ugly.  Additionally, the Blackjack does not use the Palm OS, but a Windows system, and that would involve hours of my life transferring data.

When the deal was done, I ended up with a phone smaller and lighter than the 650 I was hauling around all these years, and I like it.  I don’t want the entire Internet in the palm of my hand.  I’ve said for years that I just don’t want to be that connected.  I need some “me” time, away from these fascinating machines.  And the deal was right.  After the mail-in rebate, my total out-of-pocket is just over $80, much less than the $400 I spent on the Treo a few years back.

It took 10 minutes tops to upgrade my Palm desktop software, synch the phone, and transfer my data to the new phone.

So, it’s back to Palm.  You can have the iPhone.

Or, you might want to try the iRack:

It’s easy.  To start, go to Google Maps.  You’ll need to sign up for an account with Google if you don’t have one already.  That’s free as well.  Don’t get me wrong.  If you want to advertise with Google, you’ll have to pay.  However, Google has many free services the better.

Once you have signed in to Google Maps and are on the main page, look on the left at the bottom and add your site down here:

Add or Edit your business: Learn more »

Then follow the simple steps Google sets out for you.   You can even add coupons to your listing, and you should do that too.  Give people an excuse to come to your business.

The Chicago Tribune

However, as with all things Microsoft, this one could get hostile:

The decision could provoke a showdown between two of the world’s most prominent technology companies with Internet search leader Google Inc. looming in the background. Leery of Microsoft expanding its turf on the Internet, Google already has offered to help Yahoo avert a takeover and urged antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal.

If the world’s largest software maker wants Yahoo badly enough, Microsoft could try to override Yahoo’s board by taking its offer — originally valued at $31 per share — directly to the shareholders. Pursuing that risky route probably will require Microsoft to attempt to oust Yahoo’s current 10-member board.

I’m reminded of the Simpson’s episode when Homer started an Internet company (“Where’s the ‘Any Key’?”). Near the end of the episode, Bill Gates showed up and bought Homer’s company, Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net.

Marge: Bill Gates is here.
Homer: Bill Gates? Billionaire computer nerd, Bill Gates? Oh, my god… oh, my god… Get out of sight, Marge. I don’t want this to look like a two-bit operation.
Marge: (grumbles)
Bill Gates: Mr. Simpson?
Homer: You don’t look so rich.
Bill Gates: Don’t let the haircut fool you. I’m exceedingly wealthy.
Homer: [quietly] Get a load of the bowl-job, Marge!
Bill Gates: Your Internet ad was brought to my attention, but I can’t figure out what, if anything, Compuglobalhypermeganet does, so rather than risk competing with you, I’ve decided simply to buy you out.
Homer: I reluctantly accept your proposal!
Bill Gates: Well everyone always does. Buy ‘em out, boys!
Bill Gates’ lackeys trash the room
Homer: Hey, what the hell’s going on!
Bill Gates: Oh, I didn’t get rich by writing a lot of checks! [insane laughter]

Pure poetry.

I’m with Yahoo on this one.

The challenge is to combine all of these ideas into one Web site.  The desire is to take advantage of the Internet to increase sales of the promotional items, and increase regular clients for the consulting business.

I don’t know how all of this well gel into a single Web site yet, but the idea has a ton of potential.

More later.