I also have another website under construction. Morella House was in need of a redesign for their website to make it more attractive and functional. It currently has a splash screen also while the site is in development. Their old site was resurrected to keep the content after issues with their webhost, I have moved them to Jumbas webhosting, registered them a .com.au domain as well.

www.morellahouse.com.au 

Last week I set up the hosting and domain registration for a guest house in Carrickalinga. It goes by the name of The Moorings and is situated just back from the beach at Carrickalinga. I’ve put a splash screen up while I work on the site and will be launched soon.

www.themoorings.net.au 

Thinking about the pro’s and con’s between buying products overseas vs locally. There are quite a few reasons we choose to buy products from overseas, and I’m thinking mainly in electronic consumer devices.

I was reading in the Overclockers.com.au forum about someone who was thinking of getting a Nintendo Wii from Japan. The pro I can see is that it may be cheaper for the unit, but the cons seem to far outweigh the pro side. If the Wii was bought from Japan it would be cheaper, not by much but definitely cheaper. But if it was bought from Japan, what happens when something goes wrong under warranty? It would have to be sent back to Japan to be repaired, it could be gone months while it is repaired, not only that but there can also be a communication problem between different languages.

I also see that there would be incompatibility issues with the games, the power plug would be different and require a converter so it can be plugged in. The software on the Wii would be in Japanese too.

If you bought something like a notebook from a local store and you had problems, you can take it back and have it repaired. While the time factor is still there, the face to face communication is a plus. But also that the support is local, you can pick up accessories in the shop and look at them. Feel them and see their quality. Not only that, but you’re supporting local business and keeping the economy alive. It may cost a little more but you do get more service with your dollar.

So next time you’re looking at buying something, have a think to yourself if it’s going to be an issue returning it if you have a problem.

I’m not intending on listing any portable applications to go on your usb drives, ipods, or memory sticks. But I’m going to list the places that have them, or I know will list them in the future.

PortableApps - This is the big daddy of portable application sites in my opinion, while it doesn’t have as many apps. It has the more used and practical ones like Firefox, Thunderbird and Open Office. Along with their own software packages.

Portable Freeware - While the site layout isn’t that great, there are a lot of apps on here that can be useful.

PenDriveApps - I’ve only come across this one in the last few months, not lots on there but the useful ones are.

LifeHacker - Lifehackers list of portable applications with short reviews.

GetUSB - I just found this in Google, looks interesting!

Xtort - Freeware files, including portable apps.

U3 - U3 are USB drive with their own preinstalled package. While the freeware portable apps do the job you may like something a little more standardised. But U3 does offer some free apps in their database so have a look what’s on offer.

Wikipedia - No applications on here, but a big list of the portable applications avilable to install on your USB drive.