Are Your Web Sites Down as of March 1st?

By admin | Mar 6, 2010
Well you can thank VeriSign:

If your site has stopped working, you might be affected by a recent change to .com, .net, and .edu domain names. This change from VeriSign® requires that the NS records for a domain name have associated A records.

Thanks for the heads up on this one.  I've just blown 4 hours working this out. 

Here's what you have to do via Godaddy:

How do I fix it?

You need to log in to your control panel and modify the affected domain name's zone file, using the table below as an example.

To Modify or Add DNS Records in Plesk

  1. Log in to Plesk as an Admin.
  2. From the list of domains at the bottom of the page, click the domain name you want to work with.
  3. Under the Services group, click the DNS button.
  4. To add a DNS entry, select the type of record you want to create and click Add.

To Modify or Add DNS Records in Simple Control Panel

  1. Log in to Simple Control Panel.
  2. Click the DNS button on the main screen.
  3. Click the Edit icon (the pencil) to the right of the domain name you want to modify.
  4. Change the desired A and NS records and save the changes.

To Modify or Add DNS Records in cPanel

  1. Log in to cPanel at http://yourdomainnamehere.com/cpanel.
  2. In WHM, click DNS Functions, and then select Edit DNS Zone.
  3. Click the domain you want to modify then click Edit.
  4. Enter the new DNS information then click Save.

Zone File Example

Assuming your domain name is coolexample.com and your IP address is 74.15.27.119, your zone file needs to have the following NS and A records to resolve properly:

coolexample.com NS ns1.yournameserver.com
coolexample.com NS ns1.yournameserver.com
ns1.yournameserver.com A 74.15.27.119
ns2.yournameserver.com A 74.15.27.119

Where ns1 and ns2.yournameserver.com are the nameservers your domain name is pointing to.

If you have an NS record without a corresponding A record, add the A record and make sure it points to the site's IP address.

Most importantly, and not very clear from the above:

ADD THE NS2.yournameserver.com A record in the DNS Settings of your Name Server NOT the domain (coolexample.com)

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Focus Focus Focus

By admin | Feb 25, 2010
Tim Cook at Apple: “This is the most focused company I know of, am aware of, or have any knowledge of… We say no to good ideas every day.” Cook then pointed out to analysts that every single product the company makes would fit on the single conference table in front of him. “And we had revenue last year of $40 billion."

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Socialization Doesn’t Scale.

By admin | Feb 11, 2010
Check out Clive Thompson's piece: "In Praise of Obscurity" from Wired.

"When it comes to your social network, bigger is better. Or so we’re told. The more followers and friends you have, the more awesome and important you are. That’s why you see so much oohing and aahing over people with a million Twitter followers. But lately I’ve been thinking about the downside of having a huge online audience. When you go from having a few hundred Twitter followers to ten thousand, something unexpected happens: Social networking starts to break down." 

read more…

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Relevance and Intelligence

By admin | Feb 9, 2010
Steve Rubel posted this morning that your address book is the next great social network.  I couldn't agree more. 

I believe over the next three years social networks will be turned inside out.  You will be at the center.  You will be able to use all kinds of social objects to interact with your friends the way you do now on facebook/twitter etc.  You won't "join" networks.  They will form around you based on what you happen to be interested in at any given moment.  Think of it this way: Right now a lot of people tag stuff.  They comment, they post, and they tweet.  What if, based on all your communications and actions, the net was smart enough to build you your own "implicit tag cloud" (with your permission and overall control, of course).  This implicit understanding about you would be fluid and would reflect you at any given moment.  It would provide you with information that was timely, relevant and valuable.  I'm not just talking about coupons delivered to your mobile based on your location, or knowing that 10 other people are near you or getting fed a fire hose of status updates that are 99.8% crap.  I'm talking about having conversations with real people and getting information that can make your day better, easier, more productive and yes, enjoyable. 

People want relevancy. Relevancy can only happen with intelligence.  And intelligence only comes when real people are communicating with other real people. 

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The Power of Less: How doing less can produce better business results.

By admin | Feb 8, 2010
"Minimalist design has been in vogue for decades. But when did we become enamored of the stripped-down business practice? When did business really start to leverage the power of less?"

"Google has led the way here. Remember the first time you landed on that spare, slightly dorky page, with just a multicolor logo and an empty box? We take it for granted now, but at the time it was revolutionary; every other search portal was competing to cram as many links, categories, ads and blinking gifs into 800×1200 pixels as it could. How, we asked, could a site with nothing on it make any money? How long will it be around?"

“While Twitter has created practically an entire category out of the tiniest of business plans, think how many other industries could benefit from embracing the power of less. Health care is an industry crushed by the weight of its complexity, but even in that sector there are upstarts like Hello Health that are getting back to basics and providing more convenience, access and effectiveness by doing dramatically less.”

"…As budgets come back, will we rush to return to the bloated, over-featured products and services we enjoyed before we were forced to make do with something simple? Now that I've flown Southwest and discovered that I can change my flight with three clicks of the mouse and no change fees, will I really go back to United? For businesses and consumers alike, the mantra of less may have gotten a leg up from necessity, but it will continue to climb on the footholds of choice. The genie is out of the bottle. Embrace the power of less."

via Forbes

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GM and Haiti: Compare and Contrast.

By admin | Feb 2, 2010
Let's take a moment to review:

Money invested to date in GM:

Money required to rebuild Haiti:

I just think this contrast and comparison between GM and Haiti is interesting and intriguing.  However it seems to raise more questions than answers. 

  • Are these investments?
  • What's the ROI?
  • Is it humanitarian aid? 
  • Is it money down a rat hole? 
  • How can these be rationalized? 
  • Should they be? 

  Thoughts???

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Another Reason Why We Need to Revolutionize Health Care

By admin | Jan 28, 2010

I just got this in the mail today.  30 pages of text with strike throughs, ALL CAPS and underlined text that is absolutely not going to be read from cover to cover.  There is no way any of us would ever understand it anyway.  Seriously,  what does this mean? 

"Note: Severe Mental Illness, Serious Emotional Disturbances of a Child and any condition meeting the definition of "Mental or Nervous Disorders and Substance Abuse" is a Mental or Nervous Disorder no matter what the cause (please see the Part entitled Definitions)."

 This is proof why insurance costs so much and there is so much waste and inefficiency.  God help the author(s). 

You want to see the future?  Go see HelloHealth

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