The shift from “Chatbots” to “Autonomous Co-workers” is real. At a recent showcase in Sydney, Microsoft unveiled a glimpse into the next evolution of productivity: Agentic AI. This isn’t just about a chatbot answering questions; it’s about Microsoft Cowork, an intelligence layer that actually performs complex, multi-stage workflows across your favorite apps. Key Insight: AI…
My own relationship with Microsoft Copilot started with high hopes, followed by the “trough of disillusionment.” Like many, I grudgingly launched it yesterday only because I needed to handle confidential data within our enterprise security layer. I went through my standard procedure to manually override the default—and then I saw it: Claude Opus in the…
For the past year, Microsoft Copilot has felt like the uninvited guest that wouldn’t leave. Forced onto taskbars and integrated into nearly every corner of Windows 11, the AI assistant was met with mixed reviews—and significant pushback from enterprise IT departments concerned about data privacy and “AI bloat.” Following the April 2026 Patch Tuesday update,…
I just posted yesterday Local AI Sovereignty: Deploying Ollama, Gemma 4, OpenWebUI, and n8n and I used Gemma 4 locally on Ollama. Someone asked me a good question: What size computer (Windows PC) do I need tor it? What size computer do you need for Gemma 4? Google’s April 2026 release of Gemma 4 changed…
With 64GB of RAM and the latest Ryzen AI silicon, you are no longer a mere consumer of AI—you are a host. This setup leverages AMD’s XDNA architecture to run Gemma 4 and / or and Qwen 3.5 locally, ensuring your data never leaves your machine while providing a professional-grade automation suite via Docker. This…
The Milestone: I Published My Book. Now What? – There is no feeling quite like seeing your book live on Amazon. But as soon as my eBook and print versions were available, the same suggestion kept popping up: “Where is the audiobook?” In today’s fast-paced world, readers are often actually “listeners.” They consume stories during…
Launching High-Margin “Short Reads” In the current KDP market, AI-assisted “Short Reads” (25–50 pages) are a high-efficiency play. However, because these books are shorter, your advertising strategy must be mathematically perfect to ensure the cost of the click doesn’t swallow your profit. This guide outlines a 19-day “Launch & Learn” phase designed to find your…
When I first started experimenting with Agent Zero, I wanted to keep things totally “temporary” and isolated from my own data. My mindset was simple: I didn’t want the Docker container saving any clutter to my computer. I wanted it to start fresh every time. For a few days, this worked well. Agent Zero was…
f you’ve been following my journey for a while, you might remember my original post about managing multiple WordPress sites. Back then, having three or four sites felt like a lot. Fast forward to today, and if you’re a developer, agency owner, or even a serial hobbyist, that number has likely tripled. The problem remains…
Let your AI assistant send emails on your behalf — in minutes. Agent Zero is a powerful AI framework that can automate tasks, run code, browse the web, and much more. But one capability many users overlook is email sending — and it’s surprisingly easy to set up. This guide walks you through enabling Gmail-based…
When I first started experimenting with Agent Zero, my goal was to keep everything temporary and isolated. I did not want the container leaving clutter on my computer, and I wanted a setup that could start fresh every time. For the first few days, that worked perfectly. Agent Zero was still new to me, and…
This is part of my continuous learning on my DevLog topic. When managing a private community directory—containing sensitive member details like names, home addresses, and personal emails—the biggest hurdle is access friction. You want your group members (whether they are on Facebook, WhatsApp, or Slack) to click a link and get in instantly. However, standard…
Amazon reviews are one of the most important parts of book marketing for indie authors. They provide social proof, help readers decide whether to buy, and can improve your book’s visibility on Amazon. But in 2026, Amazon’s anti-manipulation systems are stricter than ever. That means the old shortcuts no longer work, and the wrong move…
If you’re a developer working with containers, chances are Docker Hub has been your go-to for years. It’s the default, the familiar, and for many, the “it just works” solution for storing and distributing Docker images. But if you’re like me, and vibe coding, Coding Assistants has moved to doing and deploying so many of…
Originally posted on 35sites.com -Guide to Cave Creek,AZ Business Licensing Starting a small business can be exciting, but local and state licensing rules can be confusing, especially if you work from home or sell online. If your business is based in Cave Creek, Arizona, this guide explains exactly what licenses you may need, why they are…
You can manage many devices using docker remotely with Portainer. However Portainer does not have the ability to check if there are updates and actually update containers within Docker. Up until a few months ago, there was a script which I have used for years to do this called: watchtower. Unfortunately, watchtower is not being…
When you hear about the latest large language models (LLMs)—like GPT-4, Claude, or Gemini—it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by their sheer scale. These models contain billions, sometimes trillions, of parameters. This incredible size is what gives them their broad capabilities—from writing code and summarizing texts to answering complex questions and creating poetry. But that scale…
In today’s digital economy, content creators are always searching for efficient ways to monetize their work. Gumroad and Patreon are two popular platforms that enable creators to turn their passions into income streams. Both support one-time payments and recurring revenue, but they emphasize different models and experiences, so it’s important to understand how they compare….
Starting October 14, 2025, Microsoft will end support for OneNote for Windows 10, making it read-only. The ONLY officially supported version moving forward is simply called OneNote—no year or edition attached. Previously known as “OneNote 2016,” this desktop app is included with Microsoft 365, Office 2019, Office 2021, and Office 2024, and is also available…
How to keep your laptop lean while syncing to the NAS and GitHub A while back I wrote Managing my Dev Codebase and Workflow, where I shared how I use my NAS as a central hub for my dev work. But as any hobbyist knows, once you start using Git seriously, you hit a snag:…
So after I finished my previous blog post: How to Back Up All Chrome Profiles from Your Computer (at about 8:30p) I wondered if I could build a quick script to clean up the profiles on my device. I was already using perplexity to help me as an editor of that blog post so I…
Written with the invaluable assistance of my research and editorial assistants, Gemini and Perplexity. A few weeks ago, I experienced a hard disk failure and had to replace it—a frustrating setback. This happened on my development computer (thankfully not my primary machine), and I hadn’t enabled Google Account Sync on that system, since it didn’t…
This is an update to my post: Workflow Automation Tools Explained based on a great YouTube video he published by Stephen G Pope which NAILED the concept…. Kudos to Stephen! AI agents promise to revolutionize automation. However, implementing them without proper understanding can lead to overcomplicated systems that cost more than they save. As someone…
Ollama, Open WebUI and n8n on Windows Hosting your own AI models is no longer just for Linux gurus. With Docker Desktop on Windows, you can run a professional-grade automation and chat suite—n8n, Ollama, and Open WebUI—all on your own hardware. In this guide, we will set up a “Generic” configuration that makes it easy…
If you’re managing a website or application, you’ve probably heard terms like “web server,” “load balancer,” or “reverse proxy.” These tools are essential for ensuring your site runs smoothly, stays secure, and can handle traffic efficiently. One such tool that’s widely used in the tech world is Nginx (pronounced “engine-x”). But what exactly is Nginx,…
Taming the Chaos with NAS, Git, and a Backup Plan As a hobbyist developer, my code situation used to be… well, let’s call it “organically grown chaos.” I have a sprawling collection of projects: some are deeply committed to Git (sometimes synced to GitHub, sometimes just local), others are simple scripts or experiments that never…
Workflow automation tools are software applications designed to help you streamline your everyday tasks by automating repetitive processes. Think of them as digital assistants that take care of scheduling, tracking projects, managing emails, and other routine activities, allowing you to focus on more strategic work. These tools are essential in today’s fast-paced environment, where efficiency…
NPM stands for Node Package Manager. It’s the default package manager for Node.js, and it’s used to install, share, and manage JavaScript libraries and tools. Developers use npm to pull in reusable code (packages), manage project dependencies, and run scripts for building, testing, or running apps. What Is NPM? A Deep Dive Into How It…
Please note that this original blog post was updated on 4/15/2025 to reflect some changes on application consolidation. Microsoft’s OneNote application has become an essential tool for organizing information, whether you’re managing work projects, personal notes, or collaborative ideas. Its seamless integration with cloud services like OneDrive and SharePoint makes it easy to access notebooks…
I am writing this because it was hard for me to get my head around what should I buy for my needs… Tired of juggling a handful of keys or leaving a spare under the doormat? The convenience of a smart lock with keypad access is undeniable, especially for homes with multiple entry points or…
One of the biggest advantages of cloud storage is accessibility. Whether you’re at home, at work, or traveling somewhere, your files are always just a few clicks away on any device with internet access. That’s a huge upgrade over hard drives, which you have to physically connect to your computer. Imagine needing a file but…
The concept of company size is a fundamental way to classify businesses, typically based on criteria such as the number of employees and annual revenue. However, these thresholds vary significantly from country to country, reflecting differences in economic scale, industry structures, regulatory frameworks, and labor markets. For example, what qualifies as a small business in one country could be classified as medium or even large in another, depending on local standards. This variation highlights the importance of accounting for regional…
Updated March 2025 At its core, WordPress is the simplest, most popular way to create your own website or blog. In fact, as of 2025, WordPress powers over 43.6% of all the websites on the Internet or 62% of all custom-coded content management system (CMS) sites. Yes! more than one in four websites that you visit are likely…
Recently one of my customers had his Etsy store suspended (it’s been going around) and he asked me to create a store in his existing WordPress site. I used SureCart free version, which I have been testing on my own site, and had 10 of his items fully enabled within 30 minutes, after receiving their…
DayScheduler is closed as of today… Posted in General We opened the site back in June 2018. Many users and many customers over the years. It served us all well. When the pandemic hit the world back in March 2020, everyone was grounded, travel came to a close and day appointments were no longer “a thing”….
need to send a newsletter to a subscriber list of about 1500 subscribers to one of my sites. Since I do not have my own servers, and are in a shared hosted plan it has become a small issue and now need to look for something to allow me to send this inexpensively.
As a business looking to sell your products or creations, forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in Arizona can be a smart business move. Here are five compelling reasons why: Below you will find the general steps to manually create an LLC in Arizona (free of charge), but before that, let me say that there…
The WordPress plugin directory is the most authoritative source of information about WordPress plugins. It is maintained by the WordPress team, and it is the place where users can go to find and install plugins for their WordPress sites. This directory contains over 60,000 plugins, and each plugin’s page includes the number of active installations….
This article is part of the Digital Art Series What should I look for when preparing a file? When preparing a file for digital printing, there are several things to consider to ensure that your print comes out looking great: By following these guidelines and ensuring that your file is of the correct resolution, color space,…
Whether you are auditing a new workstation, cleaning up your own PC, or preparing for a fresh Windows install, you often need a complete list of what is actually installed. While the “Add or Remove Programs” menu is fine for casual use, PowerShell offers more power, more detail, and the ability to export your results….
If you’ve ever tried to move a web project to a thumb drive or upload it to cloud storage, you’ve likely watched in horror as the “Time Remaining” jumped from 2 minutes to 2 hours. The culprit? The infamous node_modules folder. As developers, our machines are constantly evolving. In this post, we’ll look at why…
What Is a Content Management System (CMS)? A Content Management System, or CMS, is a tool that helps you create, manage, and update content on a website without needing technical or coding skills. Instead of writing complex code, you use a simple interface—similar to a word processor—to add text, images, videos, and pages. In simple…
One of the benefits of small businesses ( sole proprietor or LLC) is that certain expenses can be deducted before taxes. The IRS has defined business expenses as “the cost of carrying on a trade or business,” going on to say that these expenses are usually deductible if the business operates to make a profit….
I have the need to attach 4 monitors to my Dell Latitude 7400 2-in-1 laptop and I came across a bit of a challenge which I did not know about… Recording this to help others in case they come across this issue. Not all laptops are alike, but like many laptops out there, like the…
It is time to re-evaluate the backup workflow and tools I use for my websites and some that I support. I do this every couple of years hoping something has changed to make it better. With the release of WordPress 6.0 this week, I needed to backup each site before updating them, so this forced…
Every couple of years I revisit some of the available shared hosting plans in the marketplace. I have sites on every one of the short list – and it depends on the type of site/customer requirements that I make my decision as to where to place it. The short list: Hosting Company What I like…
The New PBS series: The Future of Work is very good and very current. We have been talking about these trends for a while in my articles series Work Beyond tomorrow , but the pandemic has fast / hyper forward so much…. Many fundamental changes happening “live” right now. Good post-pandemic / current series from…
Last week I did a quick lunch and learn to my team at work about how to do better virtual presentations that capture the attention of the audience. In a world of endless Zoom and Teams meetings, we owe it to ourselves and our customers to have better more engaging presentations. Lets face it, during…
I have been doing whiteboard sessions with customers for many years. With all of us working from home (remote work) for a year, one of the things I’ve missed the most is doing whiteboards at customer sites.. It is a hard experience to replicate virtually. A couple of years back I saw how impressive the…
need to send a newsletter to a subscriber list of about 1500 subscribers to one of my sites. Since I do not have my own servers, and are in a shared hosted plan it has become a small issue and now need to look for something to allow me to send this inexpensively.
A couple of data points before I begin: Broadband or high-speed internet — defined by the Federal Communications Commission as defined as 25 megabits per second download speed and 3 megabits to upload. Nationwide, 18 million Americans lack broadband access, according to February data from FCC. The other day I read about Comcast data cap…
I am always on the lookout for good tools I can use on my daily tasks. It is a bonus when they are free. I am thankful for those that work on these and offer them to the world via open source, donation based or truly free.
Part of the Services Sales 101 Series Selling consulting services requires a strategic approach that combines effective marketing, networking, and a consultative sales mindset. When selling consulting services, it’s essential to take a consultative approach rather than a hard-sell tactic. Position yourself as a trusted advisor who can help clients identify and solve their problems….
personalTracker DB is an application that helps track information and notes on that information personalTracker DB is a compiled Microsoft Access database application designed to keep track of records and record progress notes on those records. Why use a personalTacker DB? Keep track of information easily and effectively Locally stored database (no need for Internet…
In my work, I need to quickly generate timelines. I have been doing it by hand in Excel adding each tasks in a line, formatting the columns and then snipping the graphic into the document I need to paste it into. If changes were need, it was not easy to do, and started the timeline…
It is cool to see data visualizations. I especially enjoy the ones over a span of many years. Couple of good ones: Most Popular Websites 1996 – 2019 based on number of visitors per month Internet Users by Country 1990 – 2019 (Eye opener!) Another cool one, World Population between 1960 to 2019
As I usually do, I was on a plane catching up on my podcasts, listening to a WordPress news when they casually mentioned that “… Automatic, the company that produces WordPress, has purchased Tumblr from Verizon on August 2019. What? Did I hear this correctly? How did I missed this? Wow! It woke me up!…
Managing our large personal digital photos and videos has been a a significant challenge. Storing, cataloging and searching through our photo library is tough and I have not seen anything out there that solves this issue
Recently I sold one of my old domains (see blog post here). A couple of days later, I realized that I also had the corresponding twitter handle as well, so I offered to transfer ( not a sale, just a transfer ). The buyer wanted it and he was stoked about it… Sidenote: Not a…
This week I did my annual corporate security training and I really liked this story to illustrate how important is not to use different and strong passwords Don’t Let This Happen to You An online writer and journalist, suffered an identity theft that reads like a real-life horror story. As he describes it: “In the…
fetchTweets allows you to retrieve tweets in HTML table format fetchTweets is a web-based application I wrote in PHP to create a backup of my tweets on my blog. I later modified it so anyone can use it from the web. https://fetchtweets.jorgep.com A PHP script retrieves (“fetch”) the tweets from an account and returns the results in…
Good book.! – “The Inevitable, Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.” Thank you Wikipedia for summarizing the 12 trends that will forever change the ways in which we work, learn and communicate: Becoming: Moving from fixed products to always upgrading services and subscriptions Cognifying: Making everything much smarter using…
I have extracted a list of the Windows 10 / EMS and related sessions with links to the respective videos online. Once again – THANK YOU Microsoft for publishing these to the folks that could not make t it the Microsoft Ignite 2016 (Atlanta) conference. If you have one that I may have missed, please…
31Posts Support Forum Rules The rules are short and simple 31Posts provides this forum space to support our user community. Only topics related to our application are allowed. Treat other members with the respect they deserve. This should go without saying, but treat others like you would like to be treated ! The…
Today, having an established social media presence is no longer optional; if you want your business to survive and thrive, it’s absolutely necessary to be active on social media. Social media content must be of high quality, interesting, insightful, relevant, and above all else, updated regularly; with so many competing voices cluttering up the digital…
We are finally at a point where the core application is at a point where we can create a few aids for our users… In order to make it easy for you to collect data to share, we have released a Chrome Extension for 31Posts. Once installed you can quickly send the current tab data…
Welcome to 31Post.com and thank for your registration! You have probably seen the overview video of the system, but if not, please check it out at:“31Posts Overview Demo” — A Brief Overview of 31Posts Application We are delighted you have decided to try our system, and would like to make the on-boarding process as simple…
This is really good news… Microsoft Live Writer is a tool I use daily, and for several years no one knew what the future of it was going to be.. So many of us went on to find alternatives, but nothing simple and good is available on the marketplace (remember FrontPage – Anything comparable?) It…
The following is a list of Social Media Scheduling Tools we have been able to catalog. If you know of one that is not on the list, please leave a comment! Last updated: 9/26/2016 Product / Service Status Type Short Description Other comments Buffer Open online Save time on social media with powerful…
Connect to Twitter: Twitter Channel Set-up 1. Register your site as an application on Twitter’s application registration page If you’re not currently logged in to Twitter, log-in to the account you want associated with this site Your application name cannot include the word “Twitter.” Your Application Description can be anything. The WebSite and Callback URL should be…
An editorial calendar is an arrangement and listing of pre-planned themes and associated content used by bloggers, businesses, publishers and other groups of people for the purpose of managing publication in media outlets. These include blogs, newspapers, magazines, email newsletters and almost all social media outlets. The main purpose of editorial calendars is to enable…
Connecting 31Posts to a Tumblr account 1. Log into Tumblr, 2. Register your site as an application on Tumblr application registration page Click on the Register Application Button Enter application name: 31posts Integration Enter Application Website : 31Posts.com Leave App Store URL and Google Play Store URL: BLANK (empty) Under Application description, enter: 31Posts integration Under Decfault Call back channel,…
In order to allow an application to post entries on your behalf to a Twitter account you will need to get the appropriate credentials. You will need to have access to the desired Twitter account. The following four tokens / credentials are needed: ‘oauth_access_token’ => Access token ‘oauth_access_token_secret’ => Access token secret ‘consumer_key’ => API…
Connect to a WordPress Site: WordPress Channel Set-up What would you need? User-Name and password with authoring rights for the desired target WordPress Site Admin rights to 31Posts Summary One of the most used features of 31Posts is the ability to create and scheduled WordPress content. This article explains how to setup a WordPress…
So the interesting thing about WordPress sites is that, if you are not careful, all of the sudden you end up with a bunch of them and you end-up spending a lot of time maintaining plug-in, theme and system updates.. Yes, you can always turn updates off, but security-wise that may not be best practice.. …
Often I am asked for pointers to “how to get started” with WordPress, and I usually tell them that there are a bunch of videos on YouTube they can check out… The problem is that there is a lot of outdated content which may or may not apply.. I was recently introduced to the 77webstudio channel…
Part of the Going Paperless Series Companies that are making the change to a paperless office want to shred the originals and only keep a digital copy. This is an excellent way to archive documents, but you should follow these recommendations to avoid the loss of a document: Photo Credit: By Jonathan Joseph Bondhus (Own…
WordPress is a pretty amazing platform…. I continue to be amazed at the ecosystem it has… There are over 59 Million WordPress sites in the world, and over 23,000 plugins! By now, I have done several dozen WordPress sites, and thought it would be a good idea to share how I typically configure (plugins) these…
I have been looking for a way to manage digital downloads from within my WordPress site for a while. I have tried several plugins, but have never come across one that had all of the basic needs I was looking for. Then I came across Easy Digital Downloads by Pippin`s Plugins. WOW! — It is…
Backups should be top of mind for everyone, but it is especially critical when you upgrade your OS. Creating a full-image backup is – in my opinion – a must have before begining the upgrade process.. There are a number of free drive backup software (imaging, cloning) that can be created to a second hard…
This is part of a series (online business journey) With your comments plus other findings I come acress, I plan to continue to update list in the future…This is different than the resources page on the site, as it does not contain any affiliate links. This is for pure reference for everyone to see. Side…
This is part of a series (online business journey) As mentioned in the previous post First Research, I began the process by doing a bit of research. After the first couple of weeks of reading and listening to a number of resources (will post them separately, a bit of a theme started to resonate with…
Not to worry! Microsoft has posted all of the PowerPoint and videos at http://www.mms-2012.com/digitalmms regardless if you attended or not, you can register and browse through the sessions… Thank you Microsoft!! For those of you that want to download the content for offline viewing: Videos: Stefan Roth has created a PowerShell script that will…
It has been an interesting challenge. Using my iPad to type an article (offline), save it locally, make revisions over time, add some pictures and then, when its ready, post it to the correct blog. Been searching for an app for a while. I have used many, some paid, some free, and they always fall…
There are many reasons you would like to convert a Desktop/ Laptop image into a virtual image. They may include: Backup / easy recovery Want to access your image while on the road Tired of traveling with multiple devices Today is fairly easy to convert a physical desktop/laptop into a virtual one. Although I focus…
Time tracking software has come a long way from the early days of having to enter time into pieces of paper and spreadsheets, which had to then be manually entered into the billing systems. it was tedious and crazy work… These days, web-based tracking software tools range from the simple, to highly complex systems with…
Like many of us, crazy technologists, I’ve had at least 3 (if not 4+) computers on my desk for years now… Aside from your day-to-day one, you must have the computer with the music library, then there is the laptop, and then the test sandbox one, where everything new goes into… I thought virtualization was…
Microsoft’ Ron Markezich, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Online, made available a basic but interesting video on his views on cloud computing adoption which he expressed at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium in Boston, MA For one thing, chief information officers are uncertain how to fashion a roadmap that brings “cloud services” into their IT architecture….
I have a good friend that introduced me to Anagram – a tool that allows you to highlight a section of an email and it will convert it into an outlook contact. — I tried it for a couple of weeks (during the trial period) and I found it VERY useful. Unfortunatelly, not 34.95 worth…
