Tech Companies in Danger of Default? Solar Picture Murky

CNBC has a list of big name U.S. companies that could slide into default – meaning they won’t be able to meet their financial obligations, including paying their employees.

There are a few technology companies on CNBC’s liability list, and it makes for an interesting slideshow – but only if you’re lucky enough not to be employed by any of these companies.

Check out the entire list at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/29640663

Elsewhere, I’ve never been a big fan of solar energy, at least as a widespread, consumer-demand-type energy program that promises to solve even some of our oil dependency needs.

Now it seems that the emperor really doesn’t have any panels. Case in point, the number of applications in the state of California – a hotbed of solar energy sandbaggery – have declined by huge numbers. According to the California Solar Initiative commission, applications for commercial and private solar energy usage ran at about a pace of 1,000 for most of 2008. But 2009 has cast a cloud over the solar movement – just at a time when Washington is considering a carbon tax that will guarantee a big uptick in American’s household utility bills. Applications fell to 608 in January and 646 in February. Halfway through March, only 188 applications were filed for solar energy platforms in California.

Turns out that consumer appetite for pricey rooftop solar panels is waning - another victim of the economic downturn. But, if you want to invest in solar energy, there’s an index that allows you to do so. It’s called the Ardour Solar Energy Index (SOLRX). It’s trading off its 2008 highs – but it does offer a composite of solar energy stocks that provide a good representation of how the industry is doing.

Like I said, I’m not convinced solar is viable. But with the federal government pouring billions into alternative energy, a rebound in solar stocks might happen – but only if the economy cooperates.

Even so, I'm still not a believer.

One last tidbit for today. Apple had been fairly resilient through the first year or so of the current recession, but the bloom has definitely fallen off the rose. According to the technology analytics firm NPL reports that Apple Macintosh sales are down 16% from the same period a year ago. All told, Apple revenues are off by 22% when measured against the same time period. NPR also sees Apple’s market share in decline – down from 12% in 2008 to 11” of the retail personal computer market in the U.S.

Apple is soon shipping new versions of the iMac and the new Mac mini, which should provide some buoyancy going forward. But Apple’s Achilles heel has always been its high prices – a fact that consumers have already noticed, as the NPL data indicates.

Basic HTML Code / Tags For Simple Web Pages

This page is a very simple basic webpage tutorial to show 'how a web page works' i.e. 'how to create a 'first' basic simple HTML page'.

For an alternate start, some prefer A Basic HTML Generator (HTML editor) - or more advanced users may prefer the newer CSS Template Generator or the complete PHP (includes) Template Tutorial - followed by a complete php / css / html combination Template Code Maker.

This page shows how to practice / make changes on your local computer. After the index.html file has been created, it can be uploaded to the host server with FTP software (Such as: WS-FTP LE Tutorial.)

To create a simple web page, the first step is to learn a few HTML tags. And copy n paste, the HTML tags into a file using a text editor (such as WordPad or notepad). Then save the file as an ASCII (DOS text) file with the name index.html. BTW: index.html is the default name for the homepage on most web host.

Here are some basic HTML tags that show how a web page is created. For a fast start, just copy n paste this code into a text editor - save as index.html. Then read the 'practice' tips on this page.

My first page

This is my first web page and I can say anything I want in here - I do that by putting text or images in the body section - where I'm typing right now :)




Notes:

1. Most HTML tags require an 'opening' and 'closing'
2. A web page requires an opening and closing HTML tag i.e. .. web page here..
3. The top section of the web page requires a 'head' section i.e. ...
4. Inside the 'head' you can place a title (which will be the name you see when you add the site to your favorites / bookmarks) i.e.
5. After closing the , the next section is the In other words the body is inside the and but it's below the ... section.

Summary:



.... all the web page is here ...

That's really all you need for a web page e.g :

1. Just put in a title (favorite bookmark)
2. Add some text or images in the body section
3. Save the file as ASCII (text) file with the name index.html
4. Then upload the index.html file to the public_html (www) directory

---

Practice:
Now Practice Practice Practice before you upload / publish your web page. In other words, it is better to practice and finalize your web page on your local computer. To do this with MSIE browser:

1. Locate your index.html file on the hard drive (i.e. know the path)
2. Open MSIE browser (either work offline or online)
3. From MSIE, use 'file' 'open' and 'browse' to the location of the index.html - then 'open' - 'ok'
4. Now that the web page is open on your screen, just minimize it so you can edit / make changes.
5. Open up a text editor (such as WordPad / notepad) and load the index.html file. Make changes to the file such as adding more text or use the tag with a closing =
6. Save the new index.html i.e. just use save to overwrite the old index.html.
7. Now restore (bring back up) the MSIE browser window and click on refresh. The new reworked web page will now appear.

Summary: By saving the index.html file - then opening it in MSIE browser - then switching back to the text editor - making changes to the info between the body tags - saving the changes - restore the MSIE view - use refresh. Using this 'back n forth' procedure you can design - finalize the web page - all on the local computer. Then when it's finished just upload it to your web host.

Second Example (more tags :)

After playing with the tags in the first example, here a few more to 'practice' with:

second page - smaller heading e.g. h2

This is my second web page with a few more HTML tags.
Let's start with a tag for a horizontal line =

---

---

Now let's put in an image (that is in the same folder as this file so we don't have to put the full path / URL

This example only added two new tags but it shows how to improve you page as you learn new HTML tags. Also keep in mind that a lot of HTML tags have more attributes. For example, the

---

tag in this example could be changed to

---

Now that you know the basic 'structure' of a web page all you need to do is start learning HTML tags (and their attributes) to use in the ......... sections.

what do you want to learn?

I am teaching anything free ! yup all you have to do is tell me what help you need with and what you want to learn ! I can get you the best ebooks for free and teach you coacking on my blog free just leave a comment on what you need help with ! or what you want to learn ! It would be best if you could leave your email but thats (optional ) you cant don't leave your email if you dont want to .

My fun blog

Well eveyone gets tired of coding online whether its phyton or what not even html or xml it's all tiring . CSS , java script tried it all keep doing it you get tired that's why I started http://whoismarkfrancis.blogspot.com/ so if you wanna chill and relax check my blog click here my name is mark francis

Complete Debian Linux Server Setup Tutorials

This is atep by step tutorials how to setup Debian server this includes

Debian Installation
FTP Server Setup in debian
Webserver Setup in Debian
Samba Server Setup in Debian
Database Server Setup in Debian
Time clock sync for debian server
Mail Server Configuration in Debian
VNC Server setup in Debian
Proxy Server Setup in Debian
SSH Server Setup in Debian
tftp Server Setup in Debian
DHCP Server Setup in Debian
IPtables Configuration in Debian
DNS Server Setup in debian

Complete Debian linux Server Setup Tutorial

Adobe Photoshop: create a transparent navigation bar

This tutorial will teach you how to create a transparent navigation bar for your website, similar to the navigation at the Microsoft Vista website.

1) Start by creating a new image in Photoshop with a height and width of 700*70px.

2) Filling the first layer with a dark background makes working on semitransparent layers much easier. After you have done this, create a new layer and grab the rounded rectangle tool. Set the radius to 60px and draw a rounded rectangle like this one:

tnip001.png

3) Go into this layer’s blending options (layer>layer style>blending options) and use the following settings:

tnip002.png

tnip003.png

tnip004.png

tnip005.png

4) Click on OK and move to the layer pallet where you should set the fill of this layer to 0% and end up with something looking like this:

tnip006.png

5) Now you have the main bar but you still need to give it a bit more of a transparent look. Create a new layer and grab the Elliptical Marquee tool.

This is where you should put your cursor to start dragging out the marquee:

tnip007.png

This is where you should have placed your cursor when you have finished the marquee:

tnip008.png

6) You need to cut across this selection with another one so that when you fill it, the black background isn’t filled as well. To take a cut away from one selection using another you need to hold down the alt key. Start a rectangular marquee across the top of the image.

This is what it looks like just before you take your finger off the mouse button:

tnip009.png

7) You now need to fill the selection in white using the Paint Bucket tool and drag the layer opacity down to about 11% before deselecting the selection using selection>deselect.

8) You will now have to follow steps 5 – 7 twice more on two new layers, until you have something resembling this:

tnip010.png

9) Now you will have to split this up so that you can put different buttons on it, and to make this easier you should create guides along the width at: 150px, 283px, 416px, 550px using view>new guide.

10) Then grab the eraser tool (e) and select the layer with the original navigation bar on it from the layers pallet. Set the eraser to 1px wide and rasterize the selected layer by right clicking on it and selecting rasterize layer.

11) Now zoom in (ctrl+) and erase the layer along the guides to create a blue line which is the stroke that you set earlier:

tnip011.png

12) All that remains is to add the text for the buttons. Create 5 new layers and write your text for each button, one per layer. In this tutorial the font used is Tahoma at 24pt in white.

13) Align the text to ensure they are all in line by using the guides, and clear the old guides by clicking view>clear guides.

14) Now your text is aligned, add a shadow to each piece of button text by first opening the blending option for the layer and entering the following shadow settings:

tnip012.png

15) Click OK and then add these settings to each layer by right clicking on this layer and selecting copy layer styles. Right click on each of the other text layers and select paste layer styles.

16) Finally, you can replace your background layer with an image or a pattern of your choosing.

You should end up with something that looks not unlike this:

tnip013.png

Note that if you choose to save this navigation bar without an opaque background like the image above has, then you have to save it as a 24 bit PNG file which gives you alpha channel transparency. What this means is that you can place it above an image on a website and you will still be able to see the image behind it. Here is that same navigation bar but saved as a PNG file without a background:

tnip014.png

Adobe Photoshop: add a white photo frame to your images

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a stylish looking content box for your website. Before you start, however, you will need to have two custom patterns which should each be from a 5*5px image that just has a pencil line drawn diagonally across it. You need to create one of these with the pencil line color #000000 and one with #1b9a1b.

1) In Photoshop create a new document, sized 900*900px, and with a transparent background. You are creating a box that is so big so that you can use it for any piece of content simply by resizing it.

2) Fill the first layer in white for visibility purposes by using the Paint Bucket tool.

3) Now create a new layer and select the rounded rectangle tool. Set the radius to 60px, the color fill is not important for now. Your image should look like this:

iscb001.png

4) You need to add some layer styles to this, so right click on this layer within the layer pallet and select blending options, then add the following styles using the colors as typed on the images below:

iscb002.png

iscb003.png

iscb004.png

iscb005.png

iscb006.png

iscb007.png

5) Now you have the basic look of the box itself and you could just leave it there. However, you are going to add more detail to the content box before you are finished. Your image should now look something like this:

iscb008.png

6) Create a new layer and select the rounded rectangle tool, because you are going to add some detail to each side of the box. You need to drag a rectangle out so that only half of it is inside the content box and then select the move tool, click on the centre of the bounding box, right click in the bounding box and select warp. You will now be able to deform the shape to how you want it to look, remember that anything outside of the content box you will be getting rid of.

iscb009.png

7) Click the tick and use the normal move tool to make it the perfect size before right clicking on this layer in the layer pallet and selecting rasterize layer.

8) Now select the rectangle marquee tool and use this to cut out all of the shape that exists outside of the content box as follows:

iscb010.png

9) It is highly likely that some of your shape will still exist outside of the canvas, in which case select the crop tool and drag it out so it covers the whole of your canvas but does not go outside it. Click the tick and you will have your shape on its own with no other bits.

10) You now need to duplicate this layer so go to the layer pallet and right click on the layer containing your shape and select duplicate layer. In fact, do this twice and name your original shape layer as ‘left shape’ with one of your duplicates ‘right shape’ and the other ‘bottom shape.’

11) You need to place these layers on the sides that their names correspond to by selecting the layer called ‘right shape’ and clicking edit>transform>Flip Horizontal. Then use the move tool and the arrow keys on your keyboard, as this is most accurate, to move it over to the right hand side of your content box.

12) Select the layer called ‘bottom shape’ and click edit>transform>rotate 90° CCW then use the move tool to move it to the centre of the bottom of your content box.

13) Your shapes will probably be black or another pretty boring color, so select the layer called ‘left shape’ and drag the fill arrow down to 0%.

iscb011.png

14) Select the blending options for this layer and use the following settings:

iscb012.png

iscb013.png

iscb014.png

iscb015.png

15) Click OK. The left shape should now look a lot better so you can now copy this to the other two layers by right click on the ‘left shape’ layer and selecting ‘copy layer styles’ then right clicking on each of the other two layers and selecting ‘paste layer styles’.

Your finished content box should look something like this:

iscb016.png