| Strange New Worlds Season 4 Stardate 2026.0926: SPOILER ALERT: I'm going to talk about the entire season, including the finale. If you haven't watched all of Season 4 yet, stop reading now. You've been warned. Apparently I have to say that. LOL. I've been thinking about Strange New Worlds as a whole this season, and I still really enjoy the show. I like the cast, I think the acting is excellent, and I love these characters. I'm also... |  |
| New Extended Cut Directory Stardate 2026.0916: For years, you guys have been bugging me for a list of all the Extended Cut videos. And for years, I've had to give new members basically the same explanation. A lot of people first join because they find one of my TechHelp videos on YouTube or here on my website that has an Extended Cut. They sign up, watch it, and then naturally ask, "Okay, where are the rest of them?" Well... there... | |
| Is Anyone Still Using Classic ASP? Stardate 2026.0915: My good friend and colleage, Alex, recently asked me a question that got me thinking: how many people are still actively developing websites with Classic ASP? Yes, I mean good old-fashioned .asp pages. VBScript, ADO, server-side includes, and all that fun stuff. Alex has been experimenting with some development tools for Classic ASP, including a VS Code extension that can help with things like... |  |
| Letting AI Fly the Plane Stardate 2026.0908: I received an email from a student recently who decided to cancel his membership, and he took the time to explain why. He was very respectful about it, and I genuinely appreciate where he's coming from. The short version is that he's been using AI more and more to help him with his Microsoft Access database. Instead of spending time searching for lessons, learning a technique, and then writing... |  |
| Another Minor Website Tweak Stardate 2026.0907: In my tinkering with the website this week, I polished up another feature that's been half-finished for a while and available in some places but not others: Next Unseen. It's a simple link that takes you to the next new comment or reply that you haven't seen yet. If you're one of those people, like me, who likes to work through the forums and read everything thread by thread, this should make... |  |
| Jump To, Highlight New Replies Stardate 2026.0906: Yesterday, Alex messaged me to let me know that the "jump to the end" feature on comment threads wasn't working. I already knew I'd broken it somehow a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't anything urgent and nobody else had complained, so it kept getting pushed down my list. Once Alex mentioned it, though, I figured it was finally time to fix the darn thing. Normally, when you click on one of... |  |
| Public and Private Comment Threads Stardate 2026.0903: I made a small change to the website today that gives me a little more flexibility over which comment discussions are public and which remain private. Normally, if you're on a public page, such as one of my regular forums, TechHelp pages, Video Quizzes, and so on, the comments are public just like they've always been. You won't see anything different on those pages. However, pages that require... |  |
| Handbook Generator Update Stardate 2026.0831: I wanted to give everyone a quick update about the course Handbooks, especially those of you waiting for Handbooks for the latest Access Developer lessons. A few of you have also politely reminding me that some of the newer lessons don't have Handbooks yet. I haven't forgotten about them. The delay is because I'm working on a much better way to produce them. My old automated Handbook generator... |  |
| Add to Preferred Sources on Google Stardate 2026.0830: You may have noticed a new "Add to Preferred Sources" button near the bottom of most pages on my website. This is a new feature from Google that lets you tell Google Search that you trust Computer Learning Zone and would like to see more content from 599cd.com. If you click the button, Google will add Computer Learning Zone to your personal list of preferred sources. When you search for topics... |  |
| John Henry vs. Tom Sawyer Stardate 2026.0828: I received an email today from a former student named Susan that got me thinking about AI and where programming is headed. She had moved away from Microsoft Access some time ago to another development platform, but she told me that she's now largely left that behind too. These days, she's using AI to help build web applications, and while she admits she still prefers coding by hand, the... |  |