Infopackets.com partners with Shell Extension City

If you haven't visited this site, you're really missing out!  Shell Extension City (Shell X) is a web site which features short-but-sweet reviews of very cool and totally free software on the Net today.

What is a shell extension, anyway?

The phrase "Shell Extension" is actually a computer term used to describe the integration of an installed program and the operating system.

One example of a shell extension might be the program Winzip*.  Winzip is a popular compression agent for Windows that is used widely on the Internet.

Once Winzip has been installed on your machine, it appears in menu dialogues as part of an extension of the operating system.

* Side note: I have a free downloadable video on Winzip if you want to learn how to use it.

If you have Winzip installed on your machine, then you could verify its shell extension by placing your mouse over top of any file in an Explorer Window to bring up a menu and right-click.  The "Properties Menu", as I like to refer to it, has an additional listing for Winzip incase you want to use it "on the go" without first having to load Winzip (specifically) to compress a file.  Shell extensions, like the one used in the case of Winzip, make using the computer a lot more friendly!

Shell Extension City: great titles fresh cut each day!

A while back I emailed Bob Helmer at Shell X and told him I'd like to set aside a spot in the Infopackets Gazette newsletter for a quick mention on one of his picks.  I told Bob that having one of his reviews present in the Gazette would greatly compliment an already great publication, and at the same time, help to create awareness of Shell City's superb web site.

Infopackets and Shell X: the marriage

I've been putting off the marriage of Infopackets.com and Shell City because I've been totally swamped with other projects on the go.  It seems that each time I start a new project, I get side tracked.

C'est la vie!

Adding Shell City to the Gazette: it's a project

As my high school teacher once told me, "If you find a way to make someone lazy, you'll be rich."

In this case, Gazette readers are the ones who are getting enriched, and I'm the one who's lazy!

The Shell X Project that I'm referring to is actually a program.  The Shell X program is now part of the newsletter-generating program that I wrote, which delivers the Infopackets Gazette to all of its readers at a rate of 10,000 emails per hour.

Very cool, indeed.

When the newsletter-generating program runs, it loads the newsletter shell and content, and then adds in the Today in History section, and now: a snippet from the Shell Extension City web site main page.

You didn't think I typed in all that information for each newsletter, did you?

Heck no!  Typing a main article and newsletter feedback takes long enough.  I'm too lazy to do all that work, and that's why I don't even want to take the time to cut and paste the Shell City Pick of the Day into the newsletter.  And, that's why I wanted to write a program to do it automatically for me.

As with other projects, the Shell City Project kept getting put on the back burner because I've been busy getting sidetracked and starting new projects -- at least, until now.

Earlier this week I contacted Bob and told him the situation.  I didn't know it, but Bob also dabbles in programming.  He offered to write part of the Shell City script for me which would access the Shell City web site as the newsletter is being generated, extract the appropriate headline information, and place it into the newsletter.

And, voila!  Shell City now has a new home in the Gazette.

One other Shell City mentionable: the Daily Rotation

Bob wanted me to let you all know that his web site also hosts a page which has a collection of news headlines from other web sites, called the Daily Rotation.

The Daily Rotation is offered as free web content for other web site owners.  The Daily Rotation is actually a java script program that runs on a web page; headline links are automatically injected into a web page 'on the fly'.  If this sounds like a good idea to you, it gets even better!  You can even pick which headlines you want displayed on your page and generate the java script code with 1 click!

If you're interested, visit the Daily Rotation today and grab the code.  You can also visit Bob's Shell Extension city by visiting this URL:

http://www.shellcity.net

The Gazette on the Daily Rotation

Bob said he'd be putting the Infopackets Gazette in the Daily Rotation list shortly -- so keep your eyes peeled and you can have the Gazette content present on your site, too!