Diary of a Network Geek

Like Wikipedia, but on the micro scale.

It may surprise some readers here that I’m a geek in my professional life.  (Okay, so it may not have surprised many readers, but, still…)  And, as such, I tend to use computers in a lot of my daily life, including my creative life.  One tool that I’ve been experimenting with a bit is tiny, low-overhead wikis, sort of like a tiny, personal Wikipedia, only it’s on my desktop and not publicly available via…
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(Incidentally, this is a great way to setup pretty painless documentation for a small IT department.  And, in fact, I’ve started doing just that!)

When I optimize a site, I do it with Google in mind.

Over the past two years, or so, Google has slowly introduced a new site-search protocol called Sitemaps. Basically, it’s a special XML-based index that lets Google more efficiently catalog your website, which theoretically increases your PageRank. Now, there’s a public specification for the Sitemap protocols, but, well, it’s kind of a complicated thing to make by hand. Luckily, they’ve got links to tools to make Sitemap files for you: Google Code – Sitemaps Third Party Programs.
And, of course, if you use WordPress like I do, there’s the Google Sitemaps Plugin. Some people say it’s a resource hog, but I like it!

Okay, I admit that I’ve been blogging as an escape.
Cut me some slack, allright? I’ve got a lot of crap to escape right now. So, anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of blog reading and I saw that a new XML site syndication standard has been developed, and adopted, that’s supposed to be really sweet. Really, the fact that two aggregators have allready adopted it speaks quite highly of the new standard, I think. But, what really got me was the fact that I know the guys who did it! Yeah, I know these two XML developers who have just released the hot new standard for site syndication.
Sean B. Palmer and Christopher Schmidt, the developers, are guys that play on an interactive world-creation game that I’m a part of called the Ghyll Encyclopedia. How cool is that. I feel like I’m somebody now. Er, well, at least, I know somebody. Anyway, it’s cool.

people listen.

And, that, gentle readers, is no joke. Whatever you may think about Micro$oft and Chairman Bill, he drives the industry. So, what he thinks really does matter. So, what does Bill Gates think? Well, according to this article on eWeek.com, this year, he’s thinking about XML and webservices, wireless protocols, shockingly enough, security, XBox, and surprise, market domination. So, this is what’s going to matter for the next year, or so, in IT. You’d better learn about it and know it well enough to be relavent.
Thankfullly, I know a little about webservices of various kinds and I’ve got a couple of XML and PHP books lined up. And, I’m working on my Security+, still. And, I also have a book or two in my queue on security. Hmm, maybe I won’t be too bad off if I get outsourced….

How about you?