Stories

Kin Lane

Living the Life in the Country

I have moved out to the woods to live for a while. After living last summer in Bend, OR I have decided to live a little more remote.
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Kin Lane

Importing All Those Business Cards Into Your Database

I was reading a blog about a new service that will scan your business cards and import into a database for you. Here is their pitch: CloudContacts takes your business cards and puts them to work for you. Instead of storing your business cards in a pile on your desk or in one physical location, CloudContacts allows you to access your contacts at any time. You can import your business cards into many email applications and connect on most business social networks. Connect your contacts today w...
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Kin Lane

Credit Cards

I have to admit things are getting tight. I have taken all my credit cards out of my wallet so I don't spend on them. I pretend they don't exist. I just had one credit card I noticed raised my interest from 7.99 to 29.7 because my payment posted on 11/12 instead of 11/11. I understand they have to make money....that they are making interest off of me, but that is ridiculous. I called them and told them how stupid this was, and I decided to do to other cards. ...
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Kin Lane

Updated Wordpress for My Site

Updated my Wordpress version for www.kinlane.com and it killed my theme....so there was some custom work I had done that was lost.
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Kin Lane

Updating My Status

Was just playing around more with helltxt which is a multi-social network status update tool. I had come across it a long time ago but never really got the time to play with it. Now I update my status enough across Myspace, Facebook, and Linkedin enough that that the tool sounds intriguing. I tend to star and label new applications I find in my
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Kin Lane

Leaving a Trail

I was working in my Google Docs, creating a couple new writings. Then I remember a couple other items I had written before and decided to look for them. Instead of seaching I just started scrolling down. And down... I saw things I haven't seen in a while. It made me think about a topic I seem to think...
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Kin Lane

Bundling Amazon Web Services EC2 Instances Kills Certificates

Yeah you heard me! Bundling Amazon Web Services EC2 Instances can kill poor innocent SSL certificates. I had it happen the other night...thought I'd bundle all my instances....had done a bunch of configuration changes and thought it would be good idea. When came back up. 6 instances with SSL certs all down. I didn't get into too much detail, but has something to do with the permissions the are entered in the certificate store with. So reinstalling your SSL certificate works.
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Kin Lane

Going green when finding directions...

So I just did it....I was googling an address of a table I"m buying off craigslist. I typed the address into Google Maps and it already had my home address. Clicked submit..... Saw the directions to my location...very nice. Noticed the Also Available: Public Transit option above my directions. Very cool...if I had more time. (nice excuse buddy) Next time though. Right. Wen...
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Kin Lane

Role Based Server Architecture

I am really finding one consistent them across my cloud server architecture lately. It is was I am calling roles. These are server roles that meet specific business goals, such as: PHP Web Server Read more →
Kin Lane

The Battle for Email

Email has become my number one enemy lately. It is sure tough to ensure the quality receipt of emails when your are doing large email blasts. You have to start at the DNS and Server Configuration and make sure your domain email records are setup correctly to reflect your email send / receipt infrastructure. You have to make sure your server is configured correctly and IP Address, naming ,etc is all in sync with your DNS records. Then we start talking content, what cont...
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Kin Lane

Keep on Blogging and Twittering

I am finding renewed energy for blogging and twittering lately...mostly because I have more time on my hands living way out in the woods. I used to really worry about the traffic to my blog and building a following, etc. That really gets in the way. If I just focus on what I am working on and what is important to me it seems to work better. Then like minded people tend to find my postings on search engines, twitter and other places. Last night I was working to recover fr...
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Kin Lane

Amazon Web Servers

I really love the Amazon Web Services platform. It brings some really valuable tools to the table for deploying a companies infrastructure. However there are some areas that really can throw you for a loop. I create bundles and then ultimately AMIs from my core instances. It makes it so I can restore to last nights complete server if I want...with settings and all. I do individual bunlidng then AMI creation of instances all the time. Tonight I thought....oh I will go a...
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Kin Lane

Twitter as a Measuring Tool

I am seeing Twitter used as a tool for measuring the buzz around an event or topic. It definitely has become an effective way for measuring the number of people talking about a topic and the tone of that conversation. It also allows you to dive into the detail of what people are saying and get some valuable feedback from your potential customers and fanbase.
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Kin Lane

Office and Google Docs as System Indicator

Working with my current company I really notice you can use Google Docs and Office Docs that are setup and circulated regularly are a good indicator of potential systems that need developed or possible 3rd party systems that need researched. When you see a spreadsheet that is commonly used or passed around it may signal a need for new feature in existing system or a completely new system. A spreadsheet or other office document can really be a basic prototyping process of new s...
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Kin Lane

Following the Dalai Lhama on Twitter

I started following the Dalia Lhama on Twitter today. He already has 11K followers and they seem overwhelmed by the response somewhat. You can follow the Dalai Lhama at http://twitter.com/ohhdl I had a funny thought as I was following. Not saying the Dalai Lhama has any relation or similiarities to God, but in my limited religious experience when I was a kid I envisioned praying very much like Twitter. With god following all of us and we follow h...
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Kin Lane

Netflix on Demand

I finally signed up for Netflix again to get movies in the mail. What spurred me on was hearing they had done PLay on Deman. I was taking a break in a lodge in Southern Oregon the other day and needed to watch movies so I kicked it on. I have been on it ever since. I tend to really like a separate distraction as I work. For some reason it helps me focus? Not sure why. Usually I listen to NPR while working...but there are only so many programs. So I move onto This Ameri...
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Kin Lane

Twitter Growth

I have been getting a lot of twitter followers lately...been getting about 5 per day consistently. Growing my fan-base rapidly. I see a lot of users with 1K to 5K followers...but today but I saw the biggest of I have ever seen. AlohaArleen has 24,086 followers...woooaha... Way to go Arleen.
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Kin Lane

Amazon Console

I've been using the new Amazon Web Service (AWS) console. It is a pretty sweet little interface. AWS Console allows me to easily manage my Amazon EC2 instances and related elements. I normally (and still) use the ElasticFox Mozilla Add-On to manage my Amazon EC2 Instances. I recommend checking it out at: https://console.aws.amazon.com
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Kin Lane

Multiple Domains using Multiple IIS Web Sites using One Certificate and One IP Address

I haven't researched this one in a while, I am glad I had the chance to research for a new project. I need to be able to setup many sites using a single domain. So each site will be a subdomain within this chose domain. I have always used one web site on Windows Server because I would need multiple IP Addreses and SSL certificates. I had research the wildcard certificates a couple of times, but the multiple IP address need always trumped. IP Addresses aren't as cheap as they u...
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Kin Lane

Leadership Task Encapsulation

Wow...what a big title. I thought up that one all by myself. But I think i describes this random thought. I am always getting myself in trouble when it comes to getting things done. I sign on as leadership of specific projects and end up not delegating some aspects of the project out. What then happens is some people on the team end up waiting for me, thus making myself a "bottle-neck" in certain areas. They depend on me to get it done. I came up with the idea and need to see ...
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Kin Lane

Kin Lane 2009

I am starting a new personal tradition. I have never really been into new years resoutions, but I do get excited about the new possibility of each coming here. I also tend to look for ways to measure up the ending year and see what I accomplished. I am writing a list of what is real importatnt to me personally and professionally at the moment, and things I would like to do for the following year. I am rewriting my personal bio as well. This is the overview I post to most of my...
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Kin Lane

Work Management vs. Social Networking

When I start working I tend to open a handful of work-based applications that I need open all the time while I work. A few of the must have applications are: Google Home Page GMail Google Calendar Eclipse SQL Server Manager Remote Desktop A few applications that I open up that are not critical, but allow me to communicate and manage my network are: Skype Win...
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Kin Lane

LinkedIn Integration with Gmail

While building my network on LinkedIn and searching for friends of course I came across the screen offering to use my Gmail, AOl or other address book to find people to connect with. Of course I did this and started selecting the people that I wanted to send an invite too. Pretty soon I got tired of filtering the hundreds of people....and just hit send. Hoping some of the people would connect. Because of the nature of Gmail which adds anyone I talk to to my address book, there...
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Kin Lane

In a Dark, Barely Lit Room

In a dark, barely lit room Monday night maestro Twice nightly in Birmingham Sold in cardboard boxes Minimum drink purchase required Gold flakes by the fire Hand crafted using renewable energy And we say Na Na Na Na Na Hard and twisted wrought iron Cannot get through the mesh Yet we can feel the heat. Not much to be said. So much to be written I am writing so fast I am not even stopping To read my writing
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Kin Lane

Federated Login for Google Account Users

I have been working on a prototype for using the Federated Google Account login that uses the OpenID 2.0 standard. Really a nice concept to offer for users who are heavy users of Google, Yahoo or other 3rd party service providers that have adopted OpenID. I am proposing offering a Login Using Google button on all our public application logins which then send a request to Google and allows the user to authenticate our domain(s) under their Google Account. Then they can utilize...
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