February 2005

Well, I thought all was ready to go with the change over to my new domain for the blogs and photo albums I have on TypePad.

Not so - unexpected results.

I’d made all the changes needed re DNS at GoDaddy, my domain host. After some email correspondence with their extremely helpful support team, all looked set to switch over to the new domain, mapped so that my TypePad sub domain would show as www.nevon.net/[blog or photo album name].

So I made the change late this afternoon by activating the setup in TypePad I’d already prepared as per the domain mapping instructions and republished only my main blog (just in case…) to see how it all worked.

A bit of a mess, actually! The blog appeared when you go to the new domain address, showing the new domain, but the layout and appearance were a complete disaster. It looked like the change had somehow knocked out the style sheet, so what you saw was a site reminiscent of what websites looked like in the mid 90s, just as the web got going.

I quickly reverted back to how it all was before, a process that took about 10 minutes. Then, a quick support ticket email to the always-helpful Melissa at TypePad support.

Stay tuned…

Within the next few days, all blogs and photo albums in this TypePad subdomain (nevon.typepad.com) will reflect my new domain address (www.nevon.net).

Using a procedure called domain mapping, I’ve set up the TypePad domain so that it will show all content as my domain. While www.nevon.net already forwards to the current TypePad subdomain, domain mapping means that all content for all blogs, etc, within the TypePad subdomain will display addresses (permalinks, etc) with my own domain rather than TypePad’s.

I’ve also set up DNS management at my domain host (GoDaddy - fantastic service), a procedure that was very straightforward. All I need to wait for now is for the DNS changes to take effect, which will take anything up to 48 hours. Then, switch on the change at TypePad and it then happens. So I expect the target to change will be this Wednesday, maybe earlier.

The change won’t affect anyone’s bookmarks or favorites: typing in the current TypePad address - either for a blog address or for any individual post within a blog or photo album - will simply re-direct it to the new address.

Once I’ve enabled the change, I’ll post information on my main blog.

Although I’ve commented recently on my main blog about some issues with Skype, specifically critical comment regarding SkypeOut, the paid-for service, that doesn’t mean I don’t like or continue to use the service. Indeed, I remain impressed overall with what Skype offers.

Then on Monday, I saw the beta launch of another VoIP service called Teleo. So I’m giving that a try as well under its 30-day free trial offer.

Like Skype, Teleo offers you free PC-to-PC phone calling. Install the software for the trial, find a friend or colleague who’s also using the service, and away you go. Once the trial is over, you’ll then need to choose one of two plans, each of which offers different service levels. And, like Skype, if you want to make calls to normal phones, that’s a pay-for service.

Teleo has some interesting differences to Skype that some are calling a Skype killer.

To me, the prime advantage it has over Skype is that it gives you a real phone number, meaning that people can call you as well (this feature is available only with one of the service plans). Currently, you can choose a number only in the US, although you can select which state and city from a list. So I now have a US phone number, at least for the next 30 days!

It offers call forwarding, depending on which of the two service plans you choose - you can set it up to forward calls to your Teleo number to a normal phone, mobile or landline. And it will also soon offer voicemail.

Teleo also has some disadvantages compared to Skype.

For instance, there is no instant messaging feature. So no text chats with your friends and colleagues. I find that feature of Skype rather useful and, consequently, I now use no other messaging service. It also doesn’t give you much information about callers such as the detailed profiles you have with Skype. But it is still beta, so perhaps such additional polish will be in upcoming versions.

Is Teleo a Skype killer? In just looking at what it offers, I don’t think so. Stuart Henshall has a good initial analysis of Teleo vs Skype, with some thoughtful commentary on this point.

So, I’m trying it and we’ll see how it goes.

AudioShell is a Windows Explorer shell extension plug-in which allow you to view and edit music files tags directly in Explorer.

The extension supports all file and tag standards supported by Tag&Rename. AudioShell adds tag editor and viewer tabs to a music file’s properties. You can edit tags file by file or by groups.

Supported files and tags formats: mp3 (all ID3v2 tag versions), wma, asf and wmv, Apple iTunes aac (m4a and m4p) and mp4 files, ogg, flac (vorbis comment tags), mpc , mp+, monkey’s audio, wav pack, optim frog ( APE and APEv2 tags). The app include full Unicode support.

This looks very useful for MP3s used for podcasts, especially those you download that don’t have any or sufficient tag information in the file properties that work with playlist identification in programs like iTunes - helpful for setting up smart playlists, for instance, which you want to auto-sync to your iPod.

Published by Softpointer. Still a beta, but worth a try. Requires Windows 2000 or later. Freeware. Download AudioShell 1 beta 1.

(Hat tip: Home Computer magazine)