It may be your email address and your identity, but if you have your email through a third-party service, using their domain name, you don’t have complete control of it. These examples have caused grief for thousands, and hopefully it drove some of them to their own domain name.

Many people have their email addresses through their Internet provider. This is a very common practice, and all tends to work well with sending and receiving email. But what happens when you decide to change Internet providers, or you move and have to choose a new provider? Or if you change from dial-up to broadband and go with a new provider. In all cases your old email account will cease to exist when you stop paying for it. Some providers may offer limited forwarding, but that will soon end.

The extreme case of this was when AT&T (note the capital letters) bought cable and broadband provider MediaOne. They decided to terminate the use of the email domain name, mediaone.net, in favor of their own, attbi.com. Individuals and businesses were then forced to change their email address, and in some cases business cards and letterhead. And to add insult to injury, when Comcast bought AT&T Broadband and they eliminated attbi.com for comcast.net, more changes ensued.

Up until recently, individuals and businesses were paying AOL monthly fees just to keep their AOL email address, even when they have moved on to broadband. AOL’s announcement of offering their email services for free changed this; you must contact them to make this change.

If you own your own domain name, your email address would not have changed in any of these cases, and saved you printing costs and time wasted telling everyone of your new email address.

Domain Names • (4) Comments • Permalink

Congratulations to the Boston University Mens Hockey Team for winning the 2007 Beanpot Tournament! As the BU Terriers once again beat their cross-town rivals, the Boston College Eagles, in an overtime win, they continued their dominance in this local tournament of the original four schools that play their games in Boston, including Northeastern University and Harvard.

Of the 55 years of the tournament, BU has won it 28 times. For those of you who do not follow college hockey or are fans of the Midwest teams, you are probably wondering what the big deal is, especially with a tourney featuring the same teams. If for any other reason, it is bragging rights, and the continuation of a tradition in an age where traditions tend to fade away. After missing the last two years, it was great to see my Terriers take the trophy home.

GO BU!

Diversions • (0) Comments • Permalink

If you travel through New England, you can barely go fifty yards without seeing some historical landmark or marker of where something in the history of the United States took place. As someone who grew up there, you are almost oblivious to the significance of what happened several hundred years ago. When I go back to visit, it is almost like I see these for the first time.

Take a look at this historical marker, which is located in the center of Arlington, Massachusetts:

(click on the photo to see a larger image)

The marker reads, "Near this spot Samuel Whittemore, then 80 years old, killed three British soldiers April 19, 1775. He was shot, bayoneted, beaten and left for dead, but recovered and lived to be 90 years of age."

This event happened as the British were retreating from the famous battles of Lexington and Concord. Whittemore was a retired British soldier who owned a farm, an entrepreneur in his own right. No wonder his resiliency.

And as to the distance between historical markers, across the street from this one is another marking the birthplace of Uncle Sam, an entrepreneur in his own right.

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I believe everyone should own a domain name, and use it - at a minimum - for their personal email. This way you have control of your email address, and don't have to solely rely on – or be hostage to – an ISP or service.

Over the next several posts, I will be writing about domain names and email addresses. My hope is to present my thoughts, hear what my small but mighty readership has to say, and will shape them into larger publications of some form or another.

As I believe strongly in controlling your own Internet presence, I hope this forum can serve as a springboard to sharing this information to an even larger audience.

Domain Names • (2) Comments • Permalink

Why is the "power" button on the LodgeNet TV remote control on the bottom of the remote? Sure, it’s green, but it’s relatively small as compared to the large, round "menu" and "order" buttons at the top of the remote.

Why is the design of the remote control that you find in just about every hotel different that the paradigm of just about every remote control found in your home? So much for that “home away from home” feeling.

Diversions • Technology • (1) Comments • Permalink