I’ve been slacking off for the past two months due to travel but I’m finally getting back into gear. I recently added some material to my notes on creating web pages for the iTouch and iPhone. I have an iTouch which I like to carry with me when I am traveling, although I don’t always have a WiFi connection. Anyway, it would be useful if I could publish some information on my web site that I could easily look up using my iTouch while walking around town. For example, I could access my directions and notes that way. The stupid iPhone operating system does not even provide a means of storing offline text files on the device. Apple computers and devices frequently suffer from such Steve Jobs design limitations. There is always something missing because Apple doesn’t want to include it in the design or operating system. But I think there is a way to store web pages offline so I can use that to store text information. While every other developer is busy creating iPhone applications to get rich quick, I may develop a few web applications for the iPhone to meet my needs.
Today I explored web slices in Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft has a gallery of web slices at http://ieaddons.com/en/webslices/ but there is not much there. This looks like another one of their bright ideas that never take off. I thought it might be useful for keeping track of information that is published on the web and sometimes updated without your being aware of the change. For example, the Lycoming College Theater Season is something I’d like to be notified about when it’s web page changes. I don’t want to visit the page every day because it rarely changes. Unfortunately, web slices require some special CSS classes in the HTML content so I can’ create a web slice for a web page that I can’t edit.
My next travel adventure will be Berlin, Germany. I’ve begun to research the country, language, culture, and tourist attractions. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to afford to travel for a long time. I need to concentrate more on reducing my debt. Things have been slow in my web development business. I may need to actively search for new clients. However, there is only so much money you can make doing work that requires billable hours. I’ve been reading about passive income and I think some sort of creative work would bring in more money for less effort. I’m still studying French. Knowing a foreign language could prove to be rewarding financially, especially in the United States where few people study foreign languages. If there is one thing I’ve learned, it is that your job skills and expertise is the only thing you can really rely upon.
