Since I don’t often have time to blog anymore (though you could argue that with all the time I spend on forums and writing content for WinCustomize that I post more now than I did when I was actively blogging) I wanted to find a way to do at least one regular bit every week.  So, instead of one blog on one topic, I’m going to do one post with a bunch of mini-blogs.  A hodge-podge of topics floating in my head. The idea is to do this every Friday to wrap up the week… What I’...

For Christmas this year my parents surprised me with an iPod Touch. Probably the last thing I would expect under the tree! Overall, so far I love the gadget. It's as good as any iPod I've ever had and I love the touch screen features. In fact I'm typing this from the touch right now and after just a short bit of time im typing pretty fast and with only a few errors here and there!This is definitely the best gadget ive owned yet.

Last month we announced that JoeUser 2 was under development.  You got a few very early mockup shots of what the site was going to look like and I talked a little bit about the improvements everyone will be able to expect.  Well, a month in and we've made some excellent progress, and we're even getting ready to start having select users test the site (more on that in a future update). Today, I'm going to take you on a tour of the site, showing off what has been implemented so far, a...

I want to take a moment today to introduce you to the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.  For those who don't have a copy handy, I'll make it easy and give it to you now: Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievance...

1998 - JoeUser.com is a "news aggregation" site that tries to summarize major tech news and events. 2000/2001 - JoeUser becomes exclusively the personal blog for Brad Wardell September 9th 2003 - JoeUser is transformed into a blog community site where anyone can sign-up, post and participate. Four years ago, JoeUser went live as a blogging community for folks tired of the isolation of traditional blog sites.  The level of community interaction here, and the amount of promotion ar...

Did you know that JoeUser, as it stands right now, recently passed the four year mark?  Hard to believe the site has been around that long, giving many of us a digital home in the information wasteland that is what folks now call the "blogosphere".  It was September 9th, 2003, JoeUser changed from just the personal blog page for Brad (Draginol/Frogboy) and became the community site you see before you now.  While visually and perhaps functionally the site hasn't changed a great ...

Dear JU Faithful, At the moment we are looking into what would be involved in an update to this site.  There's no question that it's been a while since it got some tender, loving care from development, and we're thinking we *might* have some time in the coming months to address this problem. As we do these updates, we also might be able to sneak in one or two new features, if time permits.  So, we'd like to hear from you on what you would like to see added to the site in an updat...

Ok, we can do it with Word 2007, will it also work with Windows Live Writer?

Blogging, the art of spewing forth text onto the web for all to read, usually in some sort of personal journal sort of format, has turned 10.  For a full decade now, people have been getting up on their virtual soapbox and sharing with the world their thoughts, fears, hopes and dreams.  In recent years, blogging has taken on a life of its own, getting a piece of the action in the last US presidential election, and regularly being the "source" of news.  Hailed as both the bane and ...

We did a little bit of clean-up work on a few of the databases connected to JoeUser today.  Here at the office, it feels like the site has been snappier in pulling up articles. How does the site speed "feel" to everyone else now?  Were you even noticing any slowness the past few weeks?

The new forums went up the other week, and the reaction has been decidedly mixed, with some very vocal opponents to the new format. The goal with the forum upgrade was to have a consistent forum system across all the Stardock sites that was: 1. Faster (the old system was very slow under load) 2. More Stable (Fewer server application errors are a good thing!) 3. More closely resembled the "standard" sort of forum layout you see elsewhere on the 'net, making it easier for new people to ge...

The forum updates that have been going on across the rest of the Stardock websites have finally made their way to JoeUser.  There are a whole slew of changes that hopefully I'll get to describing and documenting later for everyone, but one of the most immediate differences people have already noticed are the Forum Avatars; the little pictures that appear next to people's names on forum posts. We've had avatars for a while, as anyone who had one before would have it show on any comment they ...

Is the list on the right actually updating?

The day approaches... soon now I will load up all my worldly goods into a truck, and then set out for the mysterious land of... Michigan! But before that day arrives, a great number of things must be done… oh a great number indeed! If you've never had the pleasure of moving across state lines, by yourself, then you are missing out on a unique exercise in misery and frustration that can only be somewhat approximated in written description. However, I shall do my best to communicate to yo...

Welcome back LEGO Fans! After a 6 month haitus, I'm back with my LEGO Star Destroyer Photo Blog. When last you read about my progress in October, I had completed the base frame, stand, and one quarter of the hull plating. Well, after months and months of delay I sat down again with all the bags of plastic pieces strewn about me and set to work. I only intended to get maybe the rest of the hull plating done and then save the rest for another weekend, but well... that didn't exactly work. ...