I’ve learned this morning that as of March 31st, 2008 (Next Monday), that EBay is ending ALL sales of digital products…that is to say, any EBay auction that provides the buyer with the ability to DOWNLOAD the item after payment.

This is a sad day. This affects MILLIONS of EBayers, many of whom were making a living selling their digital goods from home. As a creator of many digital products (ebooks, scripts, templates, etc), I am truly offended with EBay and how they handled this announcement.

As of today, you can NOT list an item as a digital good. The alternative they provide for now is ONLY that digital product sellers must use CLASSIFIED AD format, at $10 PER AD. Supposedly, these ads will show up when people search for digital goods.

If it’s not obvious, I’m not a happy camper about this. I created an EBay store last year, and have been paying $16 a month for the privilege of selling items at a slightly lower listing fee. Needless to say, it has been a losing proposition, and ever so much more now.

Here are some links to learn more about this horrible decision by EBay management…

From EBay’s forums…

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=1000671814&start=0

Other Links…

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200803.shtml#2008-03-24125416

http://planetsmsblog.com/digital-items-banned-on-ebay/

Well, looks like it’s time for an update from yours truly on the CE blog. Lots of news, updates, software projects, business opportunities, and more…a virtual plethora of digital goodness.

Yet another school year has passed here at Central Wyoming College, and we’ve added yet another college graduate to our family, as my son Kenny earned his music degree. As an extra treat, he arranged and sang a duet right before commencement began on the stage of the Robert A. Peck Arts Center here in Riverton. What was really cool was that the entire commencement exercise was broadcast via Wyoming Public Television for the entire town to see on the college’s education access channel.

I’ve got a DVD of the events, and will create a Youtube video of Kenny’s performance for his blog at www.automaticboymusic.com. Kenny’s graduation brings the total number of degrees earned by our family in the last three years here at CWC to SEVEN college degrees. I am very humbled by my entire family working so hard for full and complete educations, and pursuing further college goals in the coming months.

I’ll be starting classes via the University of Wyoming this fall, and will continue working towards my bachelor’s degree over the next couple of years, while working on my home business project. I’ll keep you updated on any news associated with UWyo from this end.

In other family news, we’re going to taking care of our grandchildren for the summer (and possibly longer) so our time for summer fun and travel plans have been put on the back burner for a while.

The SurvivalRing website is undergoing a MASSIVE redesign over the next three months, with EVERY webpage, every documentn, and every download being upgraded to state of the art web design and content management systems. Once all editing is done, changes are tested by a host of SurvivalRing supporters, and hundreds of downloads are added and cataloged into a database tracking system, we’ll flip the switch and let you run with it. Wanna peek at the new design? Check it out at www.survivalring.org/sr to get just a taste of what is coming.

While we’re doing the long awaited update, I’ll also be finishing off some entire new sites that will be part of the *new* SurvivalRing. These new tools include a Product Reviews website for prep and survival gear, a complete EVERYTHING FALLOUT SHELTER site with all the documents I have put all in ONE place for ease of use (and using the www.myfalloutshelter.com domain), and some over yet to be released projects still in the planning stages.

Once nearly all projects are up to speed, the new homepage for SurvivalRing will be a portal into all areas of the entire SurvivalRing network, that loads fast, gives a short bio of each site section, and let’s you just jump right into the area you are most interested in, without having to jump through any hoops.

As SurvivalRing moves forward, and the major updates are done, we’ll be creating a series of podcasts, videos, and new ebooks (and possibly even hardcopy versions) on all areas of preparedness.

Our Podcasts, to be called SurvivalRing Radio, will start broadcasting in July, and will include news, alerts, threat analysis, prepping tips, interviews, reviews, and a whole lot more. I’ll be producing weekly 30 minute shows at first, but the long term goal, after things are all said and done (all major projects for the site are finished), is to have a daily one hour show, which if things work out, may go on broadcast radio through any of a number of web/on air broadcast organizations.

Our Video Projects, to be called SurvivalRingTV, will start appearing after the first of the year, and will feature hands on tips, outdoors adventure, survival how-to’s, preparedness tools and uses, and eventually a complete series on fallout shelter building, designs, systems, and use.

As all these creative outlets are being worked on, I’ll be building up the business side of SurvivalRing as well, to support upgrades to dedicated hosting of the entire SurvivalRing network, HD video cameras and tools, audio mixing systems and needs for live radio broadcasts from my home studio, and a variety of other tools to create unlimited potential for online education for all website visitors. The business at SurvivalRing consists of CD ROM publications, online digital media content, membership sections, our new forums system, advertising opportunties, home business creation packages for anyone needing extra income.

Finally, to round everything out, our long overdue SurvivalRing Newsletter will begin production again in June. Expect weekly updates, free download links, news, tools, and commentary on the world of survival and preparedness, from someone who’s spent a lifetime living it. Yep…me.

More to come later. Stay tuned. This is The Summer of SurvivalRing.

Rich

I’ve done quite a few new website projects for the SurvivalRing web project over the past couple of months. As a college student with two applied science degrees, and goals of helping others in every way possible, I’m using my web, media, programming, production, and business skills to create resources to help everyone become more self sufficient and self reliant. This includes giving you the tools to generate you own income, regardless of your limits.

With that in mind, I’m creating a series of profit producing websites that will cover all the operations costs of the SurvivalRing website (now in it’s TENTH year!), provide an income that allows me to take care of my family’s needs, and let me continue to expand the boundaries of SurvivalRing’s reach and capabilities.

First and favorite at this point is my new SurvivalGear store, where you can pick up a multitude of survival tools, survival kits, survival food, and much more. Need to stock up on some potassium iodide? We have it… How about some Israeli Gas masks AND extra filters for everyone in your family? We’ve got that too. Maybe you might want a prepackaged Bug Out Bag…for the next tornado or hurricane that heads you way? We have them here, here and here…

There are literally thousands of survival and preparedness items in the
SurvivalGear store, including entertainment items such as classic survival related movies (The Stand, Red Dawn, The Road Warrior, Braveheart, and more), tools including multitools, rescue tool kits, emergency safety hammers, generators, and other neccessary items.

How about communications equipment? You’ll need a shortwave radio, handheld family walkie talkies, a CB radio for the car AND truck, emergency alert weather radio for the home, office, and vehicle, and for the really bad days…you’ll want hand crank powered radios to get news when there is no electricity or batteries in your home. You might even grab a police scanner to get a heads up on local events as they happen.

For around the home, you’ll want to consider MAJOR power needs such as a whole house generator, escape ladders, security systems, and food storage .

There is SO much more in the SurvivalRing SurvivalGear store. Drop on by and see how vast our selection is, and the quality of the products. Brand names you can trust, and fulfillment by none other the Amazon.com. All proceeds from our store sales go DIRECTLY back to this website to continue the work we’ve been doing for almost ten years.

If you find there is an area lacking in the store, or you need a specific item…tell me. I’ll add it to the store system so that others may find it much easier. You’ll find food for long term storage, tools for every emergency situation, electronic gear for every kind of communications, books on every aspect of survival and preparedness, entertainment resources that will make you think, give you ideas, build your skills, and more (think videos, movies, software, games, and the like), and a lot more. Drop on by and check out the tens of thousands of items you can find there in a moments notice.

Next, is my SurvivalRing Download Store, with dozens of digital ebooks, software, manuals, and my most popular civil defense survival documents. Visit and see the large collection of tools I have there, including quite a few packages that will give YOU the ability to create your own home based, income producing business. I have thousands more books, packages, templates, turnkey websites, and more to be added over the coming months. ALL of them will have resell rights, meaning YOU can buy them and turn around and sell them yourself on your OWN website. The Download Store is automated (think about that…making money in your sleep), and once you make a purchase, you create a simple and quick user account, go to Paypal to make the payment, and after payment return back to the store for INSTANT DOWNLOAD 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Interesting in learning how to do this? I can show you how…

My CD Rom publications also have their own website now, at SurvivalRing Media Store. Currently the store only has these CDs as the only products, but the store uses the same programming as the Download store. The only difference is that the Media Store sells TANGIBLE products, and will include many items besides CDs, including my upcoming video productions, my rare book collection extras, and new and used items you might find handy and interesting. If you don’t have Paypal or a credit card, you can send money orders or checks as your payment, as the website can produce an invoice to include with your payment.

Much more in the works, including an entirely new section for my web based business. I’m going to be creating a VIRTUAL HOME INCOME system that anyone can use to supplement their income, or create a brand new career. Features of this system will include packages business software, downloadable products, affiliate sale, joint ventures, and tons of freebies. Watch this space for the latest info.

That’s it for now. Have a great weekend!

Rich

As a (nearly) degreed web design student, I pay particularly close attention to web and internet threats to the average user. First, I don’t want my site or software to be hacked. Second, I don’t want to be the source of someone else getting hacked.

It appears that Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash has been found to have some security holes. Why is this an issue? Well, it seems that 98% of Web users have the Flash Player installed on their computer. Here is today’s report from the CERT team.

National Cyber Alert System

Cyber Security Alert SA06-075A

Adobe Macromedia Flash Products Contain Vulnerabilities

Original release date: March 16, 2006
Last revised: –
Source: US-CERT

Systems Affected

Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and other operating systems that use
the following products:
* Adobe Macromedia Flash Player
* Adobe Macromedia Flash
* Adobe Macromedia Flex
* Adobe Macromedia Breeze
* Adobe Macromedia Shockwave Player

Overview

There are critical vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash player and
related software that may allow an attacker to take control of your
computer.

Solution

Apply Updates
Adobe has provided the updates for these vulnerabilities. To obtain
the update, visit the Security Bulletin. US-CERT recommends that
you update to the most current version of your Macromedia product.

Description

Some features of Macromedia products contain critical
vulnerabilities. If an attacker can convince you to open a
malicious Flash file, which may be hosted on a web site, he or she
may be able to take control of your computer or cause it to crash.
The Macromedia Security Bulletin provides updates that address
these vulnerabilities. For more technical information, see US-CERT
Technical Cyber Security Alert TA06-075A.

References

* US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alert TA06-075A.html -

* US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#945060 -

* Macromedia - APSB06-03: Flash Player Update to Address Security
Vulnerabilities -

* Microsoft Security Advisory (916208) -

It only took an afternoon, and most of the evening, but I now am the proud owner of a dual boot desktop Pentium 4 computer!

I’ve mentioned my HP 864n a few times on the blog, and this past week I did some major hardware upgrades to it, in the process of bringing it back to life. Windows XP died last August, going into a horrible reboot loop, both in regular and safe mode. I used Knoppix Live linux CD to verify the drive was still good, but had no luck in trying several different methods to fix the boot issue.

Fortunately the next day after the system crashed, I won a nifty little door prize here at Central Wyoming College…a brand new Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop…and I’ve been using it since then.

I picked up a new 200 gig hard drive last week, with intentions of using it as an external USB 2.o storage drive, but then thought how I could use it for something else…while improving on things.

So…installed the 200 gig in the 864n, installed the full recover CD set of 9 cds (full recovery of WinXP MCE, as it came out of the box), and a few other tools. Also installed a new Sony DVD-+RW dual layer burner, and another half a gig of RAM at the same time.

System has been running VERY fast all week. A friend from DC surprised me with the original boxed set of SUSE Linux 10.0 this week, and knowing that it was in the mail, I toyed with the idea of DUAL BOOT!

Going from the included manual, it took only 5 hours (mostly software install time, plus downloads of 160 megs of updates automatically by the install procss). A few reboots, and it’s working…Suse linux 10.0 and WinXP MCE on the boot menu…

All hardware works…including the printer and tv card…network system is all hunky dory…and web access is as fast as I want it to be…1000kb download speeds from my wireless internet access via Wyoming.com.

I’ll keep you updated as I begin to play with Suse…and start looking at some linux multimedia tools to learn about.

I use the following software almost daily, for web design work, graphics, video editing, ebook production and audio production.

MACROMEDIA STUDIO MX 2004 With FLASH PRO - Simply the best all around package in the world today for web development, including Dreamweaver (web design), Fireworks (graphics), Freehand (vector design), and Flash (motion, animation, and programming). I won’t use anything else now…