Introduction

Macs and Linux

Written by Pierce Presley Wednesday, February 03 2010 06:20

Listen, I'm only mortal, and I can't cover every single facet of new media journalism, much as I might like to.

One gaping hole I plan to intentionally leave is coverage of Macs and Linux. Many of the topics covered will not be any worse for this (a mic is a mic is a mic, and many, many programs are now not only available for all three, but share keyboard shortcuts with a little translation; plus Web apps will work anywhere there's a modern browser), but some will.

I'll do what I can, but it's been years since I worked on a Mac very much, and I never have gotten Linux to a state where I can use it (though I keep trying).

If you are knowledgeable about either, contact me about doing a guest post or 10. That would rock

 — Pierce

Google Accounts, Google Apps and Domain Names

Written by Pierce Presley Wednesday, February 03 2010 12:06

There are a few things you'll need going forward.

First, if you don't have one, get a Google account here. This serves a lot of purposes, including signing in to the tremendous number of Google apps the big G offers for free. GMail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, these are a few of my favorite things. Plus you can access all your e-mail accounts in one location, with the search that made Google famous.

Next, get a domain name and a hosting account. I use A2 Hosting (transparency notice: this is an affiliate link, so if you sign up with A2, I get some money), because they have a good feature set, unmetered space and bandwidth, and reasonable service, but truth be told, there are a zillion hosting services out there (some of which are merely resellers who have an account with, say, A2 but sell Web hosting under their own name), at least some of which will meet your needs. And it might be easier to pick a hosting service based on what you expect to do, but this might be a little early for you to make a resource list. If your needs change, you can either work with your current host to upgrade your account or pack everything up and move to another, but having unlimited space and bandwidth to play around in offsets the possibility that meager server resources will slow or halt your site.

Google has a free suite of apps called, wait for it, Google Apps. This can be attached to a domain name you already own or you can buy one during setup. The free version is likely all you'll need before you take over the media world. It brings Google apps like Mail, Calendar, Docs and others to your domain name; in other words, you could have people send e-mail to your piercepresley.com account without clogging your server (and with Google's search engine combing your e-mail, so you can find that dirty picture the councilman forwarded). Plus it looks more professional than This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or even This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Google Apps even has a basic site builder, though for a lot of reasons I recommend a full-fledged CMS (and eventually hand-coding significant parts of your website). More on that later.

(A screencast of the Google Apps setup will be forthcoming.)

— Pierce

Who is Pierce Presley anyway?

Last Updated on Sunday, April 18 2010 18:42 Written by Pierce Presley Sunday, April 18 2010 18:17

Your humble curator and guide

What's to say? I am one of those idealistic fools who thinks journalism, at its base the amassing, analyzing and presentation of information, is not only a noble cause and profession, but that it is my vocation, my calling.

Read more: Who is Pierce Presley anyway?