More recently, services like YouSendIt have made it much easier to send large files over the Internet. Those services are great, but I just found an even better way, AirDropper.

AirDropper works with Dropbox, which is the best cloud computing file manager I've ever used (and I've tried them all). Unlike YouSendIt, where I have to manually download the link to my computer, AirDropper saves the file(s) in my Dropbox account. That means all of my incoming files will be automatically synced to my computer. Perfect!

Sending Files via AirDropper

Sending files via AirDropper is quite simple. You connect to Dropbox from AirDropper, send the message, wait for files to be uploaded, and you're done!

AirDropper properly connects to Dropbox. When you want to request files, you'll be sent to Dropbox to approve access to your account for AirDropper.

After you approve access for AirDropper, you'll be sent back to the AirDropper website. You can send a message to the person you want the files from, or skip that process and just get the link for uploading files.

The file upload page is incredibly simple, and should be easy enough for most people, including my mom.

The problem with affiliate links is that they aren't what I would call quality outbound links. That's especially true when using an affiliate program that doesn't use the root domain of the company you're linking to. You can always add the rel="nofollow" attribute to an anchor element, but I'm not a big fan of nofollow, and I'm not so sure it even works anymore, regardless of what the so-called gurus and experts are saying out there.

My preferred method of using affiliate links is to use redirects, but with a twist. I'm not completely sure when I first heard about this method, but it was probably from Michael Gray or Rae Hoffman.

Affiliate Link Redirects in WordPress

There are several redirect plugins available for WordPress, but the one I've become accustomed to is GoCodes. Here's the quick an dirty method for setting up affiliate link redirects.

1. Download GoCodes.
2. Install and activate the GoCodes plugin on WordPress.
3. Go to the GoCodes Settings page and optionally change the URL Trigger to something different from go. I usually do something like ext or out. I also leave the Nofollow option unchecked.
4. Open your robots.txt file. If you have no idea how to do this, download and install the Robots Meta plugin. Add the following line to your robots.txt file:
   Disallow: /go/*
   (change "go" to whatever you named your URL Trigger).

The last item (aka the twist) will tell search engine bots to not spider and index your redirection links. Whether or not they respect that request is a whole other issue.

Whenever you want to add an affiliate link to your site, use the GoCodes option in WordPress. Simply add the file, give it a short name, and GoCodes will create a redirect link for you to use, instead of the affiliate link.

I love, love this animated GIF! It's hilarious and it freaks me out. Wait for it to load, and then watch the loop over, and over, and over...

But who cares about what I think!? You don't want subjective commentary, you want action.

Creating a Rich Text Signature

It's a strange process to make a rich text signature in Mail.app, but overall it's quite simple.

Step 1: Create a New Message

The first step involves creating a new email message. Make sure you're in Rich Text mode. If you're not, you can change it from the menu.

Step 2: Drag Image to Message

In the New Message window, drag the image(s) that you want in your signature.

Step 3: Select Image and Add Link

After you add the image, click on it to select it, and then add the link via the menu.

Step 4: Select and Paste

Once you've finished adding your image(s) and making it linkable, select all (Command + A), and then copy (Command + C). Then go to Signatures in Preferences, and create a new signature. Finally, paste (Command + V) the content, and save the Signature.

It's convoluted, but it's by far the easiest way to make a rich text signature in Apple's Mail app.

I thought it would be neat to create a subdomain that aggregates my blog and social media streams – so I did! I created Jon Henshaw's Web Stream on the subdomain stream.henshaw.me. I then used John Lessnau's awesome plugin, RSS Doodle. RSS Doodle aggregates RSS feeds from different sources, and does so in a non-spammy way (which is why I like it).

I aggregated three different streams:

1. Posts from Personal Blogs
2. Posts from Resource Blogs
3. Posts from Social Media

This interlinking may be seen as questionable from an SEO perspective, but it doesn't really concern me all that much. I'm not going for backlink love, which I wouldn't really get anyways, because all of my sites are obviously related to each other (IPs, hosting, footprints, etc...). Instead, I'm going for solidifying site relationships with my name. I'm making it painfully obvious to search engines which sites, including social media profiles, belong to me. The only other way I could scream it louder, would be to use XFN attributes – something I might do in the future.

The Digital Wedding Forum blog – not a site I frequent, mind you – revealed that third party applications were being allowed to print your Facebook photos. That meant that anyone with access to your photos on Facebook could print them at Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Shutterfly, Pixable, and Kodak Easy Share.

An updated entry on the DWF blog highlighted the offending Facebook photo apps. As they noted, the fix is quite simple, but annoyingly, you must take action to opt-out of having your Facebook photos printed.

Opting Out of Facebook Photo Apps

Step 1: Go to Application

First make sure you're logged in to Facebook. Then click on a Facebook application link from the list below.

• Walmart Facebook App
• Walgreens Facebook App
• Target Facebook App
• Shutterfly Facebook App
• Pixable Facebook App
• Kodak Facebook App

Step 2: Block Application

On the app's Facebook page, find the link that says Block Application. Click on that link and confirm your choice. That's it! You'll now be opted out of allowing that Facebook application to print your photos.