Author: Stan Shinn

Are Mac users smarter? Some interesting stats seem to indicate this:

Nielsen/NetRatings said that 70.2 percent of Mac users online have a college degree, compared with 54.2 percent of all Web surfers. That, combined with their longer surfing histories and their greater willingness to buy products via the Web, makes Mac consumers a prime catch for marketers...

Also interesting is the number of home users using a Mac:

Although Apple sales typically represent less than 5 percent of the
overall U.S. personal computer market, 8.2 percent of Americans who
surf the Web at home do so using a Mac, according to the study.

This makes me think that while Windows dominates in the workplace, consumers, given a choice, will pick a Mac more often than you would think.

Read more at: CNET News.com

Podcasting is all the rage. Now comes a way to monetize it:

The founder of Fruitcast, James Archer of Forty Media, saw a problem when it comes to making money with podcasting. You cannot simply connect Google AdSense to a podcast and make money from it, it just doesn't happen. He came to realize that there just weren't any services offering "advertising made simple" for podcasters, so he had set out to create his own.

Read more at: Solution Watch

Everyone needs an occasional photo for use in blogs, PowerPoint presentation, etc. This site lists 10 places you can find high quality, free photos.

If you’re not a camera buff or you simply wish to use other people’s images in your blog, then you might want to look in to free stock photography sites and services.

Read more: Top 10 Places to Find Free Images For Your Blogs

Using Google Maps? Google Maps Mania is a blog that tracks the latest in resources for those interested in using or developing Google Maps 'mashups.'

Google Maps Mania is a blog which tracks these new and interesting Google Maps that are being created by people across the web. There is an extensive categorized list of these maps along the right-hand column. Explore what amazing things are happening in this new online trend by checking back with us often!

Read more: Google Maps Mania

dafont.com has free fonts you can download fonts to use in your documents, create titles or logos. Best of all, they have a font preview feature so you can type in a word or phrase and see the text previewed before you bother to download the font. Very nice.

iNFOSYSSEC hosts the most complete collection of web-based network information tools I've seen in one place. It's free, and indespensible to any technophile needing to do some network diagnostics, or anyone wanting to quickly research domain names.

• Smart Whois
• NSLookup and Reverse Lookup
• Anti-Spam Multi-tool
• Server Response Time
• HTTP Headers
• Company Factsheet
• NetCraft Domain Reporter
• Network-Tools.com "multi-tool"
• Name Server Lookup
• Usenet News Author Profile
• AnalogX DNSDig
• Dig It! (was: Multi DNS Tool)
• SMTP Relay Check
• Realtime Blocking List Check
• ARIN Whois
• (IP Registry)
• IP-Range DNS Query
• Demon.Net Tool Array
• RWhois Query
• MX Lookup
• Ping
• IP Lookup
• Test Email
• Tracemap and Visual Trace Route
• Bandwidth Test

Check it out at  http://www.infosyssec.com/infosyssec/ipsectools.htm

Tired of going to dictionary.com to look up a word's definition? You can do it in Google. You can even define phrases.

Simply type define: plus the phrase:

define:apoplectic

or

define:"coat of arms"

MySQL 5 is pegged to ship in November. This landmark release will include triggers, views, and stored procedures.

Oracle will be facing some competition from MySQL within Enterprises who need simply a 'just good enough' solution. I imagine Microsoft shops will still prefer SQL Server though. 

Read more on this in an article at InfoWorld

Google's new RSS Reader (still in beta) looks slick and uses Google's trademark slick but minimalist AJAX technology to offer a distinct way to read RSS/Atom syndicated content. 

One missing feature -- most other RSS readers show you how many unread articles there are while Gmail's Reader does not. I'm sure this an other things will improve as the beta progresses.

Here's what LifeHacker had to say about it:

I've only spent a little time playing with it, but it seems to be pretty cool. One thing that's nice is that it has a really nice search feature that pulls the RSS or ATOM feed in a transparent manner. The interface is plain, but functional, and it puts the focus on the content. It doesn't seem to pull images very well though.

It'll be interesting to see how this shapes up. It is only a beta, but it could be just the thing to make RSS and feeds something that everyone can understand.

Sign up for the beta Reader.