DaniWeb Forum Index

TechTreasures by Ron Miller

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All About Techwriter10 (Ron Miller)

I've been writing about technology since 1988. I divide my time between technical writing and technology journalism.

I am Contributing Editor at EContent Magazine and Contributing Writer at InsideCRM. I am also the editor for the Fierce Content Management newsletter. I have written for a variety of other publications including Streaming Media Magazine, CIO.com, eWeek, CMP, BusinessWeek Small Biz, PC Magazine Online and many others.

I won an Apex Award for Publications Excellence in Feature Writing in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

You can subscribe to my blog with Feedburner by following this link: My feedburner subscription link

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Search Engine Optimization

Is Google Feeling Heat From Microsoft?

3 Days Ago - If the new Google interface design is any indication, it appears that Google might actually be feeling a little heat, or at least some influence, from Bing. Danny Sullivan, who has been covering search for years, had a post in his Search Engine Land blog last week about the new interface overhaul... (Read More)

The Incredible Arrogance of Being Eric Schmidt

Oct 7th, 2009 - In wide ranging interview with Peter Kafka of the Digital Memo Blog, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founder Sergey Brinn did their best to give people the impression that Google was run by a couple of arrogant SoBs. Whether it was purchasing Android or suggesting that Google could never be evil... (Read More)

The Day Gmail Stood Still: A Tale of Horror

Sep 8th, 2009 - A week ago today, the unthinkable happened. That's right, Gmail went down...for *two* hours. You would have thought, judging from the amount of chatter on Twitter that we were experiencing an epic attack, a horrible natural disaster, perhaps the end of life as we know it; but it was none of that.... (Read More)

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Cellphones, PDAs and Handheld Devices

Droid Could Bring Motorola Back From Dead

7 Days Ago - Until Motorola came out with the Droid, they were the forgotten cell phone company, but it wasn't that long ago that everyone wanted one of their phones: the Razr. This was in 2004, in the days before the iPhone when smart phones were found only in the pockets of executives and sales people. The... (Read More)

Verizon and AT&T Play Legal Mumbly Peg

9 Days Ago - Verizon made an ad making fun of AT&T's 3G coverage (and it's manliness). AT&T wasn't happy because it suggested their 3G coverage was spotty. So they sued saying the ads were misleading consumers, and anyway they had way more customers and their customers loved them, and Verizon just couldn't... (Read More)

German Book Publishers Cool to eBook Market

Oct 18th, 2009 - In a story this week by German news magazine Der Spiegel, I was surprised to learn that German book publishers are actively avoiding the eBook market, fearing it will eat into their print publishing business, instead of seeing it as an obvious new market for consumers to read their books. eBook... (Read More)

Dell Cell Phone Would Face A Steep Climb

Oct 8th, 2009 - The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Dell plans to build its own cell phone running Google's Android operating system, and release it some time next year. It's worth noting that Dell has tried to get into the gadget business before. They made a couple of failed stabs at the MP3 player... (Read More)

Who's Going to Develop an Ideal Academic eBook Reader?

Oct 1st, 2009 - On the face of it, you would think eBook Readers would be perfect for an academic setting, but according to a post on Engadget this week, Princeton students participating in a pilot program were unhappy with the Kindle DX's feature set, particularly ones essential to students such as annotation and... (Read More)

Microsoft Ads Mess with Fuzzy Zune HD Feelings

Sep 16th, 2009 - Yesterday Microsoft launched the long-awaited Zune HD. By all reports, this is a pretty nice device with a large 3.3 inch OLED screen with HD video and HD radio playback. As a media player, it offers access to a limited App Store and a very nice $15 all-you-can-eat monthly music subscription... (Read More)

Are eBook Readers Moving Beyond Books?

Sep 14th, 2009 - When interface guru Jakob Nieslen reported on the Kindle 2 usability last March, he pointed out it was great for books, but not much other content. Why is this significant? Two recent reports suggest that the eBook Reader could move beyond a simple device for reading books, and could become so much... (Read More)

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Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Mark Cuban's Plan to Kill Google

10 Days Ago - Mark Cuban, the eccentric owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, has a post in his blog this week suggesting a way to kill Google by paying the top one thousand most popular sites $1M each to leave the Google Index. He wonders if Rupert Murdoch's plan to leave the Google Index could mark the... (Read More)

The Internet Still Confuses Rupert Murdoch

16 Days Ago - You can always count on Rupert Murdoch, the cantankerous News Corp. chairman, for a good laugh and he didn't disappoint this week during an interview on Sky News Australia in which he boldly stated his sites would pull out of Google Search. In fact, he once again accused search engines of outright... (Read More)

Google is a Distant Second in China

Sep 22nd, 2009 - When you are dealing with a populations as large as China's, even when you take into consideration that three quarters of the population doesn't have internet access, you are still talking about a very large number of those who do. So it's no surprise that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! want a piece... (Read More)

Google Europe Chief Suggests Publishers Take Responsibility

Aug 25th, 2009 - In a wide-ranging interview with the German Magazine Der Spiegel recently, the Head of Google Europe, Philipp Schindler, defended his company against the latest round of attacks from publishers who claim that Google is siphoning profits without creating content. Truth be told, this argument is... (Read More)

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Apple Hardware

How Does Apple Avoid The Commodity Trap?

13 Days Ago - At a time when prices are being driven down across the spectrum of electronics, one company clearly has avoided this trap: Apple. While others struggle to squeeze profits from a market that is becoming increasingly commoditized (sub-$200 netbooks anyone?), Apple maintains its edge and its hefty... (Read More)

My 5 Favorite Free iPhone Apps

14 Days Ago - One of the great things about the iPhone is of course the App Store, which is a growing eco system of interesting applications. I tend to stick to the free ones, and not long ago I went and downloaded a bunch of new freebies. These are my favorites from that bunch: Louvre This is one cool app... (Read More)

The Myth of the Apple Fan Boy

Oct 11th, 2009 - I have to say that I really hate the term "fan boy." It's usually used as a dismissive term to put down someone who speaks favorably of a product. It suggests that if you like a particular brand, it must mean that you blindly support everything that company does, and will come to its defense even... (Read More)

Maybe Apple's Onto Something with the FM Radio

Sep 15th, 2009 - With the September 9th Keynote in our rear view mirror, we can begin to look back at it with a more unbiased eye, and explore some of the new features more clearly. It's obvious by now that this wasn't in any way a major announcement. This was exacerbated by the tantalizing rumors that floated all... (Read More)

Apple Rumor Mill Comes Up Empty Again

Sep 10th, 2009 - Yesterday was Apple's Keynote, and you would think we would have learned by now that Apple rumors are meaningless. As the buzz grows louder before each of these events, there are rumors so convincing we think they must be a fait accompli. I mean how many of you thought you would wake up this... (Read More)

Apple Brings the Digital Album to iTunes

Sep 9th, 2009 - Apple introduced a new feature today that lets you buy an album from iTunes complete with extra material like bonus recordings, video footage, lyrics and more. This is the kind of package I was suggesting the record companies need to bring to CDs a couple of weeks ago in my post Record Companies... (Read More)

Apple Could Be Looking for New iPhone Partners in 2010

Aug 31st, 2009 - Apple Insider reports this morning that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is predicting that Apple will end its exclusive agreement with AT&T by next summer. This rumor has been out there for some time (as I wrote back in June in Is Apple Getting Ready to Dump AT&T?). The exclusivity agreement... (Read More)

Good Apple, Rotten Apple

Aug 28th, 2009 - It certainly has been a roller coast ride of a month for Apple, and it continued this week with news they had allowed an iTunes competitor, Spotify, to place an app in the App Store surprising many industry pundits who believed they would reject it. Meanwhile, earlier this week Apple showed its... (Read More)

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OS X

If Windows, Linux and OSX Opened Cafes...

19 Days Ago - 12481The New York Times reported today that Apple has opened its first Apple Store in Paris, underneath the Louvre no less, and just two weeks after Microsoft opened up a Windows 7 cafe in Paris in another location. The idea of these two companies competing in a retail environment, and especially a... (Read More)

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Network Security

Google Tries Transparency with New Dashboard

20 Days Ago - "If we went into an “evil room” and had an “evil light” shined on us, and we then behaved in an “evil” way we would be destroyed… there is a fundamental trust between Google and its users.” ~Eric Schmidt, Google CEO Google released an exciting new product today called the Dashboard. I don't... (Read More)

Leslie Stahl Needs To Get a Clue About P2P

23 Days Ago - 12439 Leslie Stahl had a piece Sunday night on 60 minutes on the supposed impact of piracy on the movie industry. (You can watch it here.) Her piece was so slanted toward the Motion Picture Association of America, it was almost laughable (if it weren't so maddening). At one point, Stahl... (Read More)

A Black Eye for Cloud Computing

Oct 13th, 2009 - To put it mildly, it's been a bad week for cloud computing. First of all word got out that Microsoft, the keepers of the data for users of Sidekick phones completely hosed the data. I mean kaput, gone, vanished. See you later, bye. If you don't have a back up, you are pretty much screwed because... (Read More)

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Site Layout and Usability

My First Impressions of Google Wave

24 Days Ago - A few weeks ago I received a Google Wave invitation from my friend David Knopf (after publicly begging for one in my post Hoping to Surf the Google Wave). Since then, I've had a chance to use it and I've seen the good, the bad and the ever-present potential of the tool. While it does have... (Read More)

Use a Real Email Address and Other Web Site Tricks

Oct 6th, 2009 - I'm not a web developer by trade, but I visit web sites all the time, and as journalist I'm looking for a couple of key things. First of all, I want to find your press page and a press contact. Short of that I want to find an email address. Note that I don't want to find a form, which could as far... (Read More)

Hoping to Surf the Google Wave

Oct 4th, 2009 - I have watched you on the shore Standing by the ocean's roar Do you love me, do you surfer girl ~Beach Boys, Surfer Girl Google Wave invitations went out last week to 100,000 lucky people and I didn't get one. I'm stuck on the shore line while the fortunate few are riding the first Google... (Read More)

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Windows Vista and Windows 7

Is Google Android Strategy to Trip up Win Mobile?

30 Days Ago - There was a good analysis in the NYT yesterday regarding the Google Android strategy, which according to author Saul Hansell, is intended not to make money for Google, but to block Microsoft from getting traction in the mobile space. Given that Google is giving Android away, it's a theory that... (Read More)

Microsoft and Apple: A Tale of Two Earnings Report

32 Days Ago - There was a a lot of news coming out Microsoft and Apple last week: * On Monday, Apple released its stellar earnings report. * On Monday, Microsoft opened up the SharePoint 2009 Conference in Las Vegas * On Tuesday, Apple released its latest product line * On Wednesday, Microsoft... (Read More)

Poor Win 7 Left in the Publicity Dust

Oct 21st, 2009 - It's supposed to be Windows 7's big week, but other news just seems to keep getting in the way. And it's not just competitors like the news coming out of Apple this week, it's big announcements coming from inside Microsoft too. You would think that Microsoft could at least keep its own house in... (Read More)

Ballmer Gets that Sidekick Issue A Matter of Trust

Oct 20th, 2009 - 12206 I've lived long enough to have learned The closer you get to the fire the more you get burned But that won't happen to us 'Cause it's always been a matter of trust ~Billy Joel, Matter of Trust When word got out last week about the Sidekick data loss debacle, you knew it would be... (Read More)

Ballmer Won't Call Google by Name in Interview

Sep 29th, 2009 - In a strange part of what was otherwise and interesting and insightful interview with TechCrunch this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer went out of his way to avoid naming Google, instead referring to them repeatedly as "the incumbent." This seemed to be a deliberate strategy and left me shaking my... (Read More)

Could Windows 7 Lead Us From Recession?

Sep 25th, 2009 - Windows 7 is coming next month. That's hardly news to any of you, I'm sure, but have you considered that this major OS release could be the catalyst to end the recession? I'm guessing not many of you have come to that conclusion, but consider this: Many, many companies steered clear of Vista, but... (Read More)

Has Microsoft Chosen Subterfuge Over Quality?

Sep 9th, 2009 - It seems that Microsoft is now so threatened by Google that they have allegedly hired a high powered Washington lobbying firm to smear Google to government regulators. What's so interesting isn't that this approach is so petty and childish--although it is that--it's that Microsoft, rather than... (Read More)

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Windows Software

All in All: A Good Week for Microsoft

Sep 17th, 2009 - 11664I confess I'm not always kind to Microsoft. They stumble and bumble and often make bad decisions, and as such make a great target for a blogger like me, but looking back at the announcements they've made over the last couple of weeks, when you add it all up, they at least seem to be trying to... (Read More)

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*nix Software

DotNetNuke Co-founder Defends Role with Microsoft's CodePlex

Sep 12th, 2009 - Microsoft announced a new organization this week called CodePlex, which according to its web site, is "a non-profit foundation formed with the mission of enabling the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities." Now, you don't normally see Microsoft and... (Read More)

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Web Browsers

It's Not the Medium, It's the Distribution Method

Aug 30th, 2009 - Years ago Marshall McLuhan uttered the famous phrase, "The medium is the message." He said this long before the World Wide Web. If he were alive today, he might have said something else: "He who controls the distribution method, controls the money." When you look at the Web's influence on media... (Read More)

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ColdFusion

Sony Tries New Tactics to Gain eBook Marketshare

Aug 27th, 2009 - You have to give Sony credit, they are really trying new strategies to wrestle eBook marketshare from the Amazon Kindle. This month they announced several new editions of the Sony Reader, including the brand new Reader Daily Edition, which should be in stores in time for the holiday shopping... (Read More)

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