Many months ago, but not that many posts ago, I launched a redesign of this site. I found a WordPress theme that I really liked, modified and tweaked its look quite a bit, and the end result was something that I was proud of and thought looked really cool.

Then, sometime in the last several months, my site was hacked. I’m not entirely sure how it was done — I am not an expert coder or a hacker by any means — but the end result was that clicking this site from any search engine results would redirect you to a .ru page and try to install a virus on your computer (though, fortunately, it was a virus that up to date browsers and virus software were able to block).

To make matters worse, this problem affected other websites that I hosted, including my mother’s personal business webpage Orene.net (she’s a wardrobe and image consult located in the San Francisco bay area) and my personal homepage TKearn.com. This really hurt my mother’s business, as her webpage was one of her main forms of advertising, and redirecting to a virus will cause you to plummet in the search engine results even after you fix the problem. Additionally, the hack remained undetected by me for quite a while, both because I was very busy at work and because going directly to the sites, which is what I usually do, still worked and only search engine results that were affected.

Some outside help was able to get rid of the hack and make the sites safe again. What the person who helped me reported was that the hacker exploited a vulnerability in my theme. I needed to delete my old theme, get it off the server, and start fresh with something else.

So I did. The result of that is the site that you see now. It’s still a work in progress, and I have a lot of additional tweaking that I intend to do. If you see something that you like or hate, or anything that isn’t working, please let me know.

Additionally, I would just like to reiterate that the site is safe again. I want to apologize for to anyone who may have experienced issues because of it — I really do feel bad about it, and I wish I had known about it earlier or taken further steps to prevent it (though I do not know what those might have been).

A few notes about this site and the conspicuous lack of new content: In the last several months, I have started a new job, which has taken up a lot of my time and energy. But, with this hacking incident taken care of, and with me settling into the job, the time is right to start getting back to one of the things that I enjoy — writing about tech. I want to get this site on the map again. And I need your help to do it: please comment on stories, let me know your opinions on things, and help me make this site more than just my own personal tech soapbox.

The site has gotten a dramatic redesign. It’s more modern, packed with more features (threaded comments!), and does a

A year ago yesterday, I launched Tyler the Tech Guy. Many posts and articles later, I’m still at it. There are still many areas of the site that need work and attention, but I’m getting through them one by one. Thank you for visiting my site, and reading what I have to say. I hope everybody has happy holidays and a great new year. Lots of new content is coming, so stay tuned.

I know that this blog has gotten slow lately, due to my move down to L.A. and subsequent dodging of wildfires. I promise that more content is coming soon — I’m just saving it up so I can start publishing with regularity. In the meantime, click here to see the gallery of photos I’ve taken of the wildfires near Altadena, CA.

I took these pictures using my Nikon D60 (the cameras section is coming to the “My Gear” page soon). Scroll down beneath any of the images for the photo data, including aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

You can now follow all my tech writing on Twitter. It’s at http://www.twitter.com/TylertheTechGuy.

My Twitter page will not be automated — I’ll be posting everything myself, so anybody who wants to contact me on there will get a reply, and I’ll see it if you mention me in your tweet. Hit me up on there sometime!

I’m kind of unusual. I’m not one of those gadget guys who has 4 phones, 3 data plans, and countless sim cards. I have one phone — one — and I’ve had it now for over two years.

It’s the original Apple iPhone, bought in July of 2007 for $600, and I’ve added an entry about it in the My Gear section.

What do I think about it, having used it for two years? Click through for my thoughts and impressions.

Apple iPhone (2G) >>

Previous “My Gear” entires:

I have finally gotten around to fleshing out the My Gear section of the website, and to start with I’ve written about the laptops that I own and use on a daily basis.  I talk about the laptops themselves and their specs, how I use them and what I use them for, and my thoughts on them in general. They’re not full reviews, but they should give you an impression of how these machines can be used, and what their strengths and limitations are.