Walter Soldierer’s Blog

Writing compatible markup for web browsers is a tedious process of trying and testing. Doing the same for graphical emails is next to impossible. Some of the most popular email clients and web mail services either support only a rudimentary set of CSS and HTML or render designs very different from others. Coding for web mail makes things even more complicated because certain tags like forms and styles may be removed or overwritten. If only these programs and services would all support web standards. I have recently been involved in the rebranding of email templates.

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Internet retailer reports that Amazon has launched video reviews. Amazon customers can publish product reviews and demonstrations in various video formats. With video and product reviews both being central elements of social networking, it was only a matter of time before the big online stores would offer this feature.

The term “Social Researcher” was first introduced in the “Social Shopping Study 2007“, conducted by the e-tailing group for Power Reviews. Facebook’s latest move to “Social Ads” is another example how to exploit this trend. Recommendations and personal reviews are becoming an important part of the online shopping experience. I’m sure that retailers who are still afraid of getting negative reviews will have to support them sooner than later, too.

Some time ago I won an iPod Shuffle which I use as a backup device for playing podcasts. Because fast-forwarding is too slow, the Shuffle is not a good device for playing podcasts. But what really annoys me is the fact that you have no control over the files unless you use Apple’s massive iTunes music player. People who never had one won’t believe this, but you can’t just use a file manager like Explorer to copy or delete files on an iPod. Actually you can, but the Shuffle won’t recognize or play them. I found a tool to fix this problem! (more…)

My spam prevention strategy includes a great free service called Spam Gourmet which provides me with ‘disposable’ on-the-fly email addresses. If I do not trust the site that asks me to enter my email address, I just fill in an address like xyz.5.soldierer@spamgourmet.com. Spam Gourmet will then forward up to 5 emails to my secret private email address. On another site I would enter abc.2.soldierer@xoxy.net, and Spam Gourmet, who also owns the xoxy.net domain, would forward max. 2 emails. Using disposable email addresses, I can safely drop some bait for the harvesting robots here: (more…)

Die sogenannte Dampfsperre soll verhindern, dass die feuchte Raumluft in eine Isolierlage eindringt. Wenn nämlich dort der enthaltene Wasserdampf kondensiert, kann es zu Schimmelbildung im Isoliermaterial kommen. Eine weitere wichtige Funktion der Dampfsperr-Folie ist das Herstellen der Luftdichtheit. Dazu muss sie allerdings auch luftdicht an das Mauerwerk angeschlossen werden. In der Regel wird die Folie nach Anbringen an der Decke des Obergeschoss einfach rundherum abgeschnitten. Ein großer Fehler! (more…)

Wie oft habe ich das bei der Planung unseres Hauses von Handwerkern und anderen Bauprofis gehört. Mit Verlaub… das ist völliger Quatsch! Erstickt ein Haus, wenn es nicht atmet? Wahrscheinlich ist das Problem der Schimmelbildung gemeint. Logisch, wer die feuchte Raumluft nicht ausreichend abführt, der braucht tatsächlich ein „atmendes Haus“. Und weil der warme Atem 24 Stunden am Tag durch die undichte Hülle des Hauses verloren geht, muss entsprechen beheizt werden. (more…)