A Short Jot About My Jot Spot

Well folks, if you haven't heard the news yet, Blogger FTP is going to be no more. That means, I have had to move to a new custom subdomain name for this blog. This blog use to sit at www.jimwarholic.com/jotspot with FTP publishing on my server. I used the Blogger FTP migration tool to transfer it over. Now, it resides on Google's Blogger servers as jotspot.jimwarholic.com.

My main writings and blog can be found at: www.jimwarholic.com.
Read about how I converted another Blogger FTP published blog to a Wordpress self-hosted blog.
According to Jim

Back to my Jot Spot at Blogger

The good points for my Jot Spot are that it should publish much faster with Google hosting it, as compared to FTP publishing with me hosting it; and in the future, I plan to use a new custom XML template design that allows for widgets and drag and drop section design and other cool customizations. For now, I'll leave this template as is.

I have a number of other blogs to move and update besides this one. Some of them I intend to turn into Wordpress blogs and am working out a few of the intricate file naming conventions between Blogger and Wordpress platforms. This requires a bit of changing things around so there is a somewhat seamless transition between the two. Files need to match between individual posts, archives, and labels. There are a few steps, each of which are different for each of those areas, that need to take place in order for all the files to still maintain their original file names and be either redirected to or rewritten in the correct form so the original links are not broken.

I have been working on the process details for the past two weeks, and learning the details through a ton of reading, experimenting, exporting, importing, backing up, and just plain trial and error.

I am just about ready to do a major import to a Wordpress blog. I'll let you know how it goes.

Jim

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Honda Pilot Cabin Filter Replacement Procedure How To Instructions Guide

Well, I personally tackled my 2005 Honda Pilot cabin filter and performed the replacement procedure today. With close to 60 thousand miles, I felt it was about time to get some pollen free fresh air.

I found the following procedure for How to Replace the Cabin Air Filter in a Honda Pilot, and printed that replacement guide out. However, I needed to piece the article together with the comments, in order to get to the dirty filter.

1. Yes you need to completely clear out the glove box.
2. On the 2005 Pilot, it is absolutely necessary to remove the glove box completely. To do this, you must first remove the right fuse panel plastic cover assembly (do not try to just remove the small fuse cover or you will break plastic hinges). You will need to first lift up on the front of the kick panel plate for the passenger door. Then remove the plastic push nut at the very front top of the plastic fuse panel assembly, underneath the dash. Then you can pull out the fuse panel cover completely. Be careful not to break anything.
3. Remove the small plastic bumper clips from the inside of the glove box. These clips have a small raised plastic surface on the inside of the glove box for slightly prying on with a set of sturdy fingers or thumbs, and are removed from the outside to the inside of the glove box with a certain degree of force. Be careful not to break the plastic clips on the outside of the glove box. The glove box has to be open partially in order to remove these plastic rubber stops. The glove box will now swing down completely, but still will be connected to the bottom of the dashboard area with attached hinges. Visually note the location of two screws holding the hinges where the glove box is connected to the metal frame. Close the glove box.
4. With a nut driver (not sure what size the metric fitting is), remove the lower left and lower right glove box hinge mounting bolts. Open glove box, lift out, and remove.
5. On the lower section is a plastic section of the dashboard in what appears to be what Honda uses for quick assembly and proper alignment of the lower passenger side dashboard parts. This plastic section is typically covered by the glove box and is not visible from the inside of the passenger compartment. The link to the above procedure says to cut this plastic section out. What I did was actually just cut the left hand side of the plastic cross piece at what appears to be small break away tabs. I used a sharp knife. Be extra careful doing this cutting.
6. Remove two sets of screws on the lower left and lower right side of a metal cross brace. Once these screws are removed, the metal cross brace can be removed completely from the area. Note that there are small metal indents to hold this cross brace in place. This has to be slightly pulled out to allow these small metal protrusions to clear the other metal sections of the dashboard that it is attached to.
7. Now you have full access to the cabin filter chamber area, although the plastic cross bracket will still be slightly in the way. This can be slightly pulled away to clear for the next part of the procedure. Remove the small upright cabin filter cover that is in the form of a rectangular plastic piece that has a large clip for the top and the bottom. Lift these clips slightly on both the top and the bottom to allow this plastic cabin filter cover to come off toward the inside of the passenger compartment.
8. Remove the now visible upright cabin filter using the finger pull tab, noting which direction the arrow indicator is pointing. This indicates the direction of the air flow.
9. Clean out cabin filter box. Outside debris build up in this area. I used an air hose to blow it out. Quite a mess, but better to get the dirt out than keep it on the inside of the cabin filter box.
   
10. Install the new cabin filter in the same orientation as that of the old one.
11. Reinstall everything in the reverse order.

Get your Honda Pilot cabin filters here.

Notes:

While the author of the other Honda Pilot cabin filter procedure said to cut the plastic strip out completely, I have an aversion to removing things permanently. I repositioned this plastic piece and placed an anti-vibration piece of padding behind it and in front of the metal cross beam bar. I was a bit concerned when I first read to cut the plastic out. There was however what looked like paint over-spray on that section of plastic. So, it must have been used by Honda in the assembly process only.

I suspect, based on my allergies and the reduction in the air flow, not to mention the musty smell, I should have changed the cabin filter sooner. It was clogged and very dirty.

Take your time, and do it in the daylight so you can see clearly.

It took me a little over an hour. Plan for an hour or two for the cabin filter replacement and for the clean up process afterwards.

Do you want to get your business discovered online? Find out how with professional Internet marketing services today.

IE Taking it on the Chin

Well, the report just came out on Internet Explorer usage still moving south. Actually in the past year, IE lost 8.6% market share.

Computerworld - Last month, Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer posted its largest market share loss since November 2008, while Firefox reaped nearly all the benefit, Web metrics company Net Applications said today.

I see this more and more when I go to visit various customers and use their computers for going online. Many are installing Firefox on these corporate computers to use as their main browser. Many cite speed and security as the reasons why.

Very Interesting indeed.

Internet Explorer Usage on Steady Decline

TG Daily - IE falls below 69% market share, Firefox climbs above 21%

While it doesn't sound like a lot, IE's decline is not good news for Microsoft.

Net Applications released updated global browser market share numbers today, indicating that IE is losing users at an accelerated pace. The browser's share dropped from 69.77% in November to 68.15% in December. Most rivals were able to pick up a portion of what IE surrendered. Firefox gained more than half a point and ended up at 21.34%, Safari approaches the next big hurdle with 7.93% and Chrome came in at 1.04%, the first time Google was able to cross the 1% mark. Opera remained stable 0.71%, but it is clear that the Norwegian browser cannot attract any users IE loses.

Read the rest of the article.

The article has some interesting statistical data into usage on weekdays vs weekends and holidays. If IT departments were to install Firefox on more corporate computers, it is likely that the numbers would even be worse for IE during the weekdays.

I have to say, many of the small businesses that I visit, tend to have Firefox installed on their corporate computers. Large corporations are slower to change to Firefox. Maybe it is the too big to change factor for large corporations. The IT department doesn't want to make Internet waves.

It's interesting that people leave the corporate world and tend to switch to Firefox on their home computers. The consumer may be driving the corporate world on this one.

My favorite browser is Firefox. I also use Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera, SeaMonkey, and Camino.

What is your favorite browser? Take them for a test drive today.

Jim

PS Get your business found on the Internet today.

Online Marketing

A Billion Here A Trillian There!

With the National Debt ballooning above 10 trillion dollars, what's another $1.8 trillion with the Fed?

Well, it certainly can't be real money, can it? After all, we haven't had a budget that has had a surplus in ages. We have had government deficit spending like money grows on trees. I guess it does, from the standpoint of all the paper that is used to print up the bills.

What do you suppose the passing of the Bailout Bill is going to do to the dollar's strength? Who knows, maybe in some convoluted way if might strengthen the dollar.

My conspiracy theorists say this whole situation that we find ourselves in was caused by the big banks, the Federal Reserve (which is not federal at all, but a privately held corporation run by bankers, and politicians that either don't know any better or on the take for millions of dollars themselves. See this chart of who owns the Federal Reserve Bank.

Take a look at the true cost of the 2008 Bailout Bill.

Contact Jim today, to get your business found on the Internet the right online marketing way.

The End Game

With Microsoft having withdrawn its bid for Yahoo, Carl Ichan was quick to step in and try to place his own controlling board in charge of Yahoo at the next annual shareholders meeting.

Well, I am one to think that no matter what happens, most of the folks have not thought of the end game scenario. Microsoft certainly didn't think of the end game when Yahoo rebuffed Steve Ballmer's attempt to acquire Yahoo. After saying essentially that nothing was going to stop Microsoft from acquiring Yahoo, that is in effect what happened (at least for the time being).

With the dog's on it's tail, Yahoo, with the help of Google, a long time acquaintance and friend are ready to work out a new advertising arrangement.

To understand the history of Google and Yahoo's association we need to go back in time, to the early years of Google.

Google Corporate History

1998 Among those they called on was friend and Yahoo! founder David Filo. Filo agreed that their technology was solid, but encouraged Larry and Sergey to grow the service themselves by starting a search engine company. "When it's fully developed and scalable," he told them, "let's talk again." Others were less interested in Google, as it was now known. One portal CEO told them, "As long as we're 80 percent as good as our competitors, that's good enough. Our users don't really care about search."

2000 On June 26, Google and Yahoo! announced a partnership that solidified the company's reputation — not just as a provider of great technology, but as a substantial business answering 18 million user queries every day.

As a side note, I wonder who the quote is from above, "As long as we're 80 percent as good as our competitors, that's good enough. Our users don't really care about search." I guess we will just have to guess who the identity is for now. Read marketing strategies for your business.

So, as we can see, Google and Yahoo were close partners to begin with. Now, it is quite possible that Yahoo is coming back to the fold.

If you think about it, Steve Ballmer may have done both Google and Yahoo a favor by forcing the talks to happen between the two. From Microsoft's point of view, this could have been a big mistake ever coming to the Yahoo table in the first place and then walking away. If you are going to play out a multi-billion dollar gambit, and placing the majority of your spare billions of dollars into a deal, you better have the end game figured out. Is it possible that as the saying goes, pride comes before the fall? ??

Time will tell.

By-the-way, no sooner did I get this posted, I read online that now Microsoft is trying for a piece of the partial action for Yahoo in the form of an advertising revenue sharing arrangement, agreement, purchase, or who knows what. Wow, what a wild wild web we weave!

By Jim