A little bit of history first, the Internet. You’re on it, I am on it, everybody you know is on it. And it started somewhere, and many of us who have been there from the start remember the bbs telnet connections. The more dynamic guest books, and more advanced CGI powered discussion boards. Many of you might only know Blogs, and understand that there are sites with a forum on it.

Conversing with your friends, social interaction and networking with groups and all that has become a daily, hourly activity. Being part of an on-line community has been a strong core element of the Internet, and bulletin board system software helps many site owners interact with their target audience.

Being in this market has always been a smart and strong move, and it still is.

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Usually I do not travel without my Powerbook or MacBook Pro, but when I do I use a big backpack with a notepad, some tools, the laptop, and extra stuff I might need. However, it’s heavy, bit big, and doesn’t really look too professional. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great way to travel to the UK for example and not having to check in a big suit case with stuff. I travel light when I fly. Anyway, I was looking for a solution for national traveling. And a sleeve might be the solution.

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Every so often I blog about my software, hardware or network upgrades. Having gone from a dailup to isdn was huge for me (and LAN on 10 mbit). An even bigger step was moving to broadband. The last few years I’ve upgraded to docsis2 with high-speed Internet (and 100 mbit for the LAN and 802.11g). And in the meantime my hardware and local area network were updated with replacements.

In 2011 it’s time to put the high back in high-speed network. And the first step has been taken with upgrading the LAN to 1 gbit with 802.11n, and the Internet modem to a docsis3 with 120 mbit down and 10 mbit up. All thanks to UPC.nl. And yes, it really does feel like overkill.
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Dear Skype, [updated with response from Skype]

It is great that we can use your service for free to stay in close contact with those who we love and cherish. And it’s wonderful that companies and freelancers can have a business model that involves reach to international customers via Skype. SkypeIn/Out and on the go, etc are all resources helping generate an income.

In both situations, be it free or not, it’s a huge outage not just to Skype Inc who loses face in the wake of an IPO, but we lose precious contact with our close family, or paying customers. Costs have been made surely by all to find alternative means during the busy holiday season and Christmas times.
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[edit] wetalknation.net is usable by members with a login; open community changed to private community.

It’s quite simple, I have spend my last ten years on building a fun community, and despite great moments and getting to know some good people. It’s a daily struggle to pay the bills, and be there for the team, find good moderators, and build good content. My fucking bad eyes prevent me from putting down serious time. And this means that regardless what software coat I put around the community, it’s still only at 25% of what I want out of it.

I gave it a fair try, it’s soon ten years old. And I had the emotional decision many times this year, but today it was clear that I am just fooling myself that it’s worth the money, my time and resources, my passion and dedication, and wasting the time of my staff members, etc.

So fuck it, moving on. Time to put action to my words that I would shut it down.

Here’s a quick tutorial for sysadmins who want to customize their welcome banner in Ubuntu.

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After creating the coffee cup web site, I have written a few articles. With this blog entry I want to invite my readers to go check out the coffee site as well as read the articles

It’s been a simple and cool summer so far, but things are changing. We had a week of 25 celcius and up. Yesterday peaking at 35c. Amazing. Despite my bad eyes and my headaches, it’s a summer to enjoy now. July has just started, and I have to say: keep it up.

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I think the title of my blog, and the below video, says enough about how I feel about the whole Gawker network’s way of what they claim to be journalism.