MGHurston Creative Services

Sorry to the many who used to keep up with my blog here, but lately my consulting and contract roles have been requiring numerous hours, travel and much needed downtime. As Turkey Day and December quickly approaches I'll have more time to spend online and hope to get some info up on some of the new tech I've been working with lately.

/rant on Somewhere out in marketing land someone has been trying to sell people on the idea that installing a CMS, such as Wordpress or Drupal, will somehow make all your Webmaster or Web Designer needs go away. If you’ve believed this, I’m sorry to tell you, but unless your site is just text, you’re probably wrong. While you can hire a Web Developer or Agency to build out a custom theme ...

Hello, Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising ...

I recently became curious about web certifications. What kinds are available and how much did they cost? I found three candidates online and the following compares w3cSchools.com, WebProfessionals.org and CIWCertifies.com certification information and process. Before we get started it’s worth noting that my initial search started with taking a look at Comptia’s Server+ and Network+  exam overviews. While both seem to cover a great deal of information, they both are geared ...

I had my first experience with Google’s new Chromebook this weekend. At first glance the boxy gray plastic unit looked like it would feel heavy, though it was surprisingly light. The keyboard and screen felt a bit clunky to me; the same way the old heavy ThinkPad’s felt to me in early 2000. Pressing the Chromebook’s power button instantly turned the machine on and I was almost immediately within the Chrome ...

The internet is full of crap, but not everything on the internet is crap is what has been coming across my monitor these past few hours. I recently was updating a Wikipedia page with a link to a well written review from Examiner.com when I found out that Examiner.com is on Wikipedia’s blacklist. This lead me to check out what other sites may be blocked and eventually I stumbled upon ...

There was a time, a little more than a decade ago, when I believed that job loyalty meant job security. This was something my parents had instilled in me, as they worked for IBM for 30 years and retired happily. However, in today’s world of companies things have changed. Loyalty is rewarded with over barring job responsibilities, pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs. If you’re lucky, or very competent, you’ll hopefully ...

For those who are unaware I recently left my Overlord position at Team San Jose and have began contracting for Stanford.edu as one of their webmasters. The reasons were…my own…and while I find myself beginning to settle into the new position I am excited to have an opportunity to be more hands on with Drupal, HTML5, CSS2 and PHP. While I can continue to stay current with social media outlets ...

Time management is something I find I do well often enough, but it’s always something I feel is worth improving. I say this because I find myself at times being overwhelmed with activities, though after taking a step back and breathing, I’m able to facilitate things back into a manageable work flow. However, I find lately that it might be worthwhile to look into acquiring a personal assistant, which oddly enough, ...