Following on from my previous post where I took a look at social networking and how interaction has changed on the Internet over the years, I came across a few programs which tie in chat programs, email and social networking in one neat package. I used Trillian years back, and cannot remember why exactly, but no longer have it on my system. Probably just got left behind as upgrades, new drives and new machines evolved. There are quite a few of these all-in-one programs available now though - Trillian, Pidgin, Miranda and Meebo - as examples, but the one that really caught my eye was Digsby. From the authors' themselves: Digsby is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber with one simple to manage buddy list. digsby is an email notification tool that alerts you of new email and lets you perform actions such as 'Delete' or 'Report Spam' with just one click. digsby is a social networking tool that alerts you of events like new messages and gives you a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to. First impressions are quite good, with the only problem as ...

When I first started out with computing, I used to connect to the Internet using dial-up technology and with a 1200 baud modem. I vividly remember the exact tone it made and the screams of joy I cried when the connection actually made it through and I was on the Internet! Moved on through 9600 and 38700 baud and so on and each connection became more stable and faster. But the Internet that met my eye was nothing like the Internet I see today. I progressed to the point where I owned my own Bulletin Board and felt like I was a king in my own castle, especially when I started getting bulletin board members who actually visited me from other locations. I could chat with people, send emails and even managed to build up a 100,00o+ strong file system ready for downloads and sharing. It was magic and it was all done via DOS [better known now as the Dead Operating System]. So the Internet back then was 90% black and white or possibly 8-bit colour depending on your monitor at the time. And the biggest joy of owning a bulletin board was the interaction from other members. People you ...

So, like millions of others, I am a diabetic. Type 2, or as so many like to call it - the lifestyle disease. People say we become diabetics because we eat the wrong foods, don't do enough exercise and are generally big, fat slobs. Idiots! I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 35 years of age and hardly a drop of fat on me. I was fit, active and certainly not a chubby! But then my body started acting weirdly. Too many visits to the toilet on a nightly basis, eyes going out of focus constantly and then the blood tests and the glucose check. Wham - another statistic joins the list. And for those of you who have no clue about diabetes [because, hey, it doesn't affect you right?], well let me tell you, it does change your life. It's not just about not eating too many cakes or whether or not to have that extra biscuit with your cuppa, it's also all about how you feel overall. A healthy diet can keep it in control but not always. Sometimes, there is absolutely no explanation as to why your sugars go up one day and down the next. Worries ...

Colour [or 'color' for those of USA persuasion]: a quality which objects have, and which can be seen, only when light falls on them. No matter where you look, you see colour! Wars have been waged over them and others play with them. They bring fear, happiness, sorrow and all the myriad of other emotions we all exprience. Red rag to a bull, green with envy, as calm as the blue sea, black with hatred - are just some of the feelings and 'vibes' associated with colour. And in this new world known as the Wide Web World, Web Wide World, World Wide Web [or Internet], colours are used in thousands of different ways. However, as any web designer will tell you, there are colours and then there are colours. It's all black and white you see - but not really. White and black are not generally known as black after all [yes, yes, I know black and white are not colours but that's not the issue]. The point is, white becomes #ffffff and black becomes #000000 and everything colour-wise works from these junctures. And as you delve deeper into colours and you work with them daily in code, you start to ...

To boldly go where everyone has gone before... Right now, with my wife's length of time left on this planet very uncertain [but ultimately very brief], we have both discussed the whole package that dying brings - the pain beforehand, our quality of life, and the moment of death itself. As mentioned before, we are realists and we understand why her death is not so far away, but as much as we are both terrified of the prospect and spend our days on a bizarre rollercoaster of emotions, the practicalities and logics still keep us focussed. Yes, we do realise that what we are experiencing is not a new phenomenon, it happens to millions every year, and yet for us it is all new and all very much 'in our face' at all times. To be truthful, I could write this post a hundred times a day and still come up with different perspectives and feelings nearly every time. Only moments ago, as I read through the last interviews of those who have already passed away, it jolted my senses and threw the floodgates of tears wide open, but now, I am in control again and can smile as I look at ...