According to a source, and stating the obvious, Google is … different.

You may already be seeing the new bar on the left hand side of Google, which offers up the usual “Images” and “Videos” option of searching. Google search has been trying this design out for a while.

To me, this left handed side feels a little ‘crowded’ now that I’ve gotten used to the old system. Is it easier or better to use? I think that since you can customize it to increase or decrease the tabs for advanced searching make it easier than doing additional clicks for advanced searches. Without going to a ‘different page’ for images and video and news and other search narrowing features, it makes it a bit easier.

I think Google’s new search browser look mimics Microsoft’s Bing left side bar.

It’s not exact, but why did they change from their old design to the new one? To try to recapture some people who switched to Bing? The heavy data driven search engine has been debated over a lot of news features. Here’s the real facts.

1. Google has a new look.
2. It’s shiny.
3. Google is still the same old search engine, it just has the added bar.
4. It feels crowded to me but others may like it.

Maybe I’ll get used to it, or rather, I will have to if I continue to use Google. I would have preferred it being on the right, but then, that’s where the ads are.

What’s your opinion of the new left side bar at Google? Love? Hate?

As some know, the Cajun and I are moving this week. What a week though! You never really know how much stuff you collect until you move.

I have become a pro at letting go of things (except books!) and most of my stuff was moved in a single day.

The Cajun, on the other hand… But his stuff is awesome! Like great books and furniture (I had three or four pieces) and really, he’s completing all of the things I’ve been lacking (in more ways than one!).

Lafayette, LA is a great city to live in. Festivals, great food, great people. Southern charm has a different meaning here. It’s more practical. Food is a big topic. Crawfish boils, fried alligator, boudin. No matter who I talk to, they have their favorite and they’ll happily tell you who has the best.

Along with all the great things it has, the people love their city. There’s places I’ve visited all over the country and there are people within those cities who will tell you about all the problems and explain how they can’t wait to move. Lafayette, LA is not one of those cities.

There’s a great geek group here, too. Well, geeks are everywhere, but most people are very receptive toward technology and use a great deal of it. Perfect, huh?

So here’s a few pics of the new house. Before we put a lot of stuff in it.

I’ll take more photos once we are finished. We’re still unpacking. Got the bookshelves up first thing though.

We’re getting fiber installed on Monday! I can’t wait. I’ve had cable for years. I want moar speed plz? Kay thx bai!

So get this, Avatar on Blu-Ray is the number one selling DVD right now. (Who’d have thunk?)

But it’s also the most pirated, according to Fox News. People are downloading Avatar online for free.

It seems part of the problem is world wide release date delays. It was released here in the US, but not in Australia. Imagine 50,000 daily downloads of the movie. Most are claiming because they simply can’t get it in their country yet.

If Hollywood knows that people are anxiously waiting for such a movie, why do they make it very hard to get their DVDs out to Australia and other countries?

Another thought is, while companies would do well to make Avatar and other movies available for download through purchase online, and make the DVD available in the stores, why are fans too in a hurry to download these movies? A three month wait is a long time, but jail time or a high fee may make waiting for your movie even longer.

I don’t like the idea of pirating. I think if you produce a product and sell it, people should be able to buy or loan a movie (through rentals or the library). I understand not everyone has the money to spend on DVDs. I understand the notion that on one hand, the person downloading will probably not buy the DVD anyway.

What I usually hate are when people say they download movies because the company makes too much money anyway and that they act like they have the right to download a movie when they want to.

I’m serious, people actually think now that they should be allowed to download movies at whim, and they should be able to because the movie makers make too much money. Uh… where do you work? Wal-mart? You realize Wal-mart, your boss, makes money when people sell the movies too, right? Or are you a trucker? Truckers ship products. They make some of the money. What about the electricity company? Or the marketing team? Or the actors you supposedly love? Or the plastic makers for the DVD case?

There’s a few reasons why I think downloads should be available and we should be able to pay for the download. When it isn’t available in your country, when a movie is no longer being produced, when a TV show you loved was canceled, you should be able to have access to it for purchase.

Honestly, if people just paid a dollar for every downloaded item from a Torrent website, the companies would at least have $1 more.

Anyway, what do you think about pirates, people downloading Avatar online for free, and how to handle the balance between being a thief and being a supporting fan who simply doesn’t have access to the things he loves?

Avatar image belongs to 20th Century Fox.

About time, right? At least some are making a decision. Whatever your political views are, what does this health care bill mean when it comes to women who are independent and work freelance or in their own business?

Here’s the details:

WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF ENACTMENT

• Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
• Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
• Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college.
• Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.
• A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014.
• Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the “doughnut hole” coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent.
• A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.
• A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2011

• Medicare provides 10 percent bonus payments to primary care physicians and general surgeons.
• Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service. New health plans will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost to patients.
• A new program under the Medicaid plan for the poor goes into effect in October that allows states to offer home and community based care for the disabled that might otherwise require institutional care.
• Payments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage services are frozen at 2010 levels. These payments are to be gradually reduced to bring them more in line with traditional Medicare.
• Employers are required to disclose the value of health benefits on employees’ W-2 tax forms.
• An annual fee is imposed on pharmaceutical companies according to market share. The fee does not apply to companies with sales of $5 million or less.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2012

• Physician payment reforms are implemented in Medicare to enhance primary care services and encourage doctors to form “accountable care organizations” to improve quality and efficiency of care.
• An incentive program is established in Medicare for acute care hospitals to improve quality outcomes.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the government programs, begin tracking hospital readmission rates and puts in place financial incentives to reduce preventable readmissions.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2013

• A national pilot program is established for Medicare on payment bundling to encourage doctors, hospitals and other care providers to better coordinate patient care.
• The threshold for claiming medical expenses on itemized tax returns is raised to 10 percent from 7.5 percent of income. The threshold remains at 7.5 percent for the elderly through 2016.
• The Medicare payroll tax is raised to 2.35 percent from 1.45 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000. The tax is imposed on some investment income for that income group.
• A 2.9 percent excise tax in imposed on the sale of medical devices. Anything generally purchased at the retail level by the public is excluded from the tax.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2014

• State health insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals open.
• Most people will be required to obtain health insurance coverage or pay a fine if they don’t. Healthcare tax credits become available to help people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty purchase coverage on the exchange.
• Health plans no longer can exclude people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
• Employers with 50 or more workers who do not offer coverage face a fine of $2,000 for each employee if any worker receives subsidized insurance on the exchange. The first 30 employees aren’t counted for the fine.
• Health insurance companies begin paying a fee based on their market share.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2015

• Medicare creates a physician payment program aimed at rewarding quality of care rather than volume of services.

WHAT HAPPENS IN 2018

• An excise tax on high cost employer-provided plans is imposed. The first $27,500 of a family plan and $10,200 for individual coverage is exempt from the tax. Higher levels are set for plans covering retirees and people in high risk professions.

(Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by David Alexander and Eric Beech)

That’s a lot of content in there, but it looks like if you aren’t on health care insurance, you’ll either have to pay a fine (not yet disclosed) or get on it.

For women who work freelance, like me, it means I’ll be looking at health care plans and trying to figure out what’s right for me. I haven’t had a chance, yet, to purchase health care. I’m fairly healthy, of course, everyone says that, so I lived without health care.

I wonder how much health care they are going to require that you have, and what people may qualify for credits. Thankfully not everything happens all at once, so there’s time to get the better details and to figure out what will really happen.

Where is the money coming from for this bill? Taxes are going to be implemented for tanning salons, plus those earning over $200,000 a year or so are going to be paying a slightly higher Medicare tax, about 2.5% over the 1.5% from before. So just a 1% increase from those folks. (Those crying about how much this is going to cost them probably don’t earn $200,000 a year. )

Bottom line for geek girls:

If you can’t afford health insurance, the governement will make it possible for it to become affordable. You’ll even get a tax credit for paying for health care, which we actually already had benefits in taxes in place if you paid for health care, but I think there will be more now.

If you make more than the rest of us on average, then you probably don’t need to worry about insurance (unless you don’t have any) and your taxes may go up (slightly).

Had enough food blogs from me?

Rumor has it that Felicia Day is going to be staring in a new SyFy movie, Red. (source) It’ll be based off of the Red Riding Hood story… except all grown up and with werewolves and creepiness. Don’t we just love that?

Best of all, for a werewolf hunter, her new beau starts out by being changed into a werewolf! Guess she’ll have to kill him? Or not? Who knows! Kind of reminds you of that Underworld movie, right? Well, who cares. Felicia Day rocks.

Just one of these days, I hope someone does a movie about Bitten, or any of the books from the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. How many male werewolves do we have to see before we see female ones? Hollywood needs to get their fantasy boots on.

Back to Felicia, I certainly hope to see more of The Guild and other shows and movies with her. Such a cutie and a whole lot of fun. About time geek girls got some recognition.

I can’t believe I haven’t been following this girl’s on Twitter before now. Why didn’t she email me personally and say she had a Twitter feed? Darn it.

By the way, did you all read the news about the article on Felicia Day and the other great Twitter girls? Who hires a writer who doesn’t know about Twitter and isn’t a fan of at least one of these girls to write an article? Sheesh.

Big website updates planned for this weekend. Which means the front page will be fixed up, this blog will be straitened, and new content and more added.

Yay!

Yeah, I’m tired of looking at weird stuff and the ‘construction happening’ nonsense on the front page, too.

Anyway.

Trim it down to size with a high priority device

I’m bouncing around excited. And I’m tired so watch out today.

First, I think I’m going to give up trying to code the front pages and trying to make CSS code. I get caught up in coding and things like that, I never progress forward. So the front page is going to be links to this blog, another blog  just for a ‘toon I’m making… basically a link page.

The Cajun showed me this: Awesome TEDTalks in a spreadsheet.

I want to do a few reviews sometime. One for a type of paint that makes a wall into a dry erase board. I’m getting a sample soon so that should be cool.

PLUS: Want to talk about the new TV series that I watch online. Merlin, Castle, the new episodes of The Office and House. Yay.

So lots to do. Going to get going so I can get work done and hopefully get the new templates in so I can get back to the fun part. Actually producing content.

It has been a really rough year as far as developing content, building websites, and uprooting myself from hourly and working hard jobs, to transition to something more fun, more tech, more profitable.

So right I have been taking it easy. Right now though, I have weekends and a few hours throughout the day that are free. I’m going to be writing down plans and creating  just four websites.

One is this one, which is probably just going to be a general blog, a place to store art and news and links back to the other sites.
Another one is going to be a fun game/puzzle website for girls, which I already have partially up, I just need to get it really going.

I’ve got a health website I have in mind that I want to do.

I also have a tech website in mind.

Four websites, plus articles for passive income and building forums on a couple of those websites I think. Maybe just one. I’m not sure yet. I’m looking to see how it goes.

It will be slow, but I’m hoping to get building on it this weekend.

Thought this was fantastic so I wanted to link it.

FTC Cracks Down on Scammers

Chris Durst of Rat Race Rebellion mentioned that they were helping the FTC with a case on a rebate processing scam, ran by Michael Brooks.

Very few rebate processing work at home jobs are legit, and those are localized, you’d have to pick the work up at an office and enter data. The fake ones are similar to data entry scams. You’d sign up for ‘data entry’ and you’ll be asked to enter ads all over the internet, asking people to sign up for the same program.

Because people pay a fee to join these scams, you’re asking other people to pay you for basically… doing what you do. Pyramid scheme basically.

It’s nice that others are looking out for the well being of many and helping to rid the Internet of these scams.

Hi and it’s back online! Or will be once I move everything. Everything from before is gone. Sorry. I might have some of the articles leftover. Otherwise, doing this from scratch again. Oi.