By now, it’s fairly common practice for blog owners to integrate their comment system with gravatar. This way, when people leave a comment on the site, their avatar shows up. However, this usually only happens after the comment is submitted.

The Moo Gravatar Box plugin for WordPress takes the Gravatar integration one step further. Rather than waiting until a comment has already been submitted, it will automatically fetch the avatar image immediately after an email address is entered in the comment form.

The other major advantage is that the person leaving the comment can see whether or not their gravatar image is being pulled correctly or not. If this person does not have a Gravatar account, the plugin will automatically ask them to get one. That’s pretty useful.

Find some more information, including a FAQ on customizing the style, through the official WordPress.org plugin directory. The plugin is a free download and requires WordPress 2.8 or higher.

What happens when you have a business that has spun off a related entity of its own, only to see that separate entity become its own viable business? Do you keep this new project with a direct connection to the original company or do you keep it separate?

I’m a big fan of the DigitalRevTVYouTube channel hosted by Kai. He looks at all kinds of interesting cameras, lenses, camera accessories, and photography related questions. It wasn’t until recently, however, that I discovered that DigitalRev is actually a camera store.

You see, while the YouTube channel has steadily increased in popularity, the uploaded videos never make an explicit mention of its connection to a camera store. There’s significant DigitalRev branding, to be sure, but that branding is never linked back to the core business of selling cameras and camera-related equipment.

Is this the best configuration? On the one hand, the YouTube channel can generate its own source of income by way of advertisements. On the other hand, the YouTube channel can also serve as a gateway to retail sales, though that runs the risk of alienating some of the audience. If you were running DigitalRev, what would you do?

You want to keep your notebook PC cool when you are on the go, but you don’t want to haul around anything too big and bulky in order to do it. If that’s the case, the Arctic NC could be a great option.

Instead of being a large platform on which to place your laptop, the Arctic NC is a smaller unit that goes toward the rear. Your notebook simply rests on the front lip portion of the cooler. The twin fans at the top draw in air from the surrounding environment, sending cool air through the channels in the front for the underside of your laptop.

In the Arctic NC review posted on MegaTechNews.com, the tests demonstrated that this cooler can reduce the operating temperature of a laptop by ten degrees Celsius or more. The included four-port USB hub and fan speed control dial are useful too.

The Arctic NC Notebook Cooler accommodates laptops with screen sizes between 12-inches and 19-inches. It comes in your choice of grey or black and should be available through a number of retailers and e-tailers. You can also order directly from Arctic for $21.14 through their website.

As we move toward the digital age, many of the traditional processes have moved on to their paperless counterparts. Even so, there is still very much of a demand for certain services and payments are one of them.

If you pay your vendors with cheques, you might consider Epic Business Systems, the BlueFur customer of the week. This company offers the Cheque Express MICR personal cheque printing system. In effect, this allows for a turnkey cheque printing solution, which is great for both long and short run productions.

The Cheque Express system can work on a variety of different systems. You can purchase it as a software-only solution or you can opt for a complete turnkey package. Have a look at the screenshots for a better idea of what to expect.

Do you use BlueFur to host your websites? Let us know and we can feature you in a future blog post. Send an email message to blogfeature@bluefur.com with your name, website URL, and a brief description of what you’d like to see highlighted.

Keep it simple, elegant, and dignified. If you’re looking for a WordPress theme that gives that kind of feel, you may be interested in the new GreenLeaf Theme. The lighter tones are great for environmentally-geared blogs and websites.

The default configuration and layout for this theme is in three columns. It’s similar in scope to a magazine style layout, using the same kind of general design style as the Paper.li e-magazines that people send out through Twitter. Of course, the difference is that it only features your own blog posts.

Above the three columns of content is a header area, navigation area, search bar, and an area for a main message or image. The theme also comes with an easy to use Theme Options page, custom Twitter feed widget, custom pagination, and a hierarchical structure for categories.

Check out the live demo and then continue to Free Theme for WP to access the download link for GreenLeaf Theme.

The revolution has begun. While Wave and Buzz didn’t quite catch on, Google+ (also known as Google Plus or G+) is really creating quite the stir in social media circles. Let’s see what the bloggers have to say about it.

Darren Barefoot starts off by asking how Google can finally win with Google+. While part of it may have to do with improved security, it’s the integrated pervasiveness with other Google products that could give Google+ the leg-up it needs. Will it catch on and stick around?

Michael Martine is next up with a very simple question: Should you use Google+? We’re already inundated with maintaining our accounts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and so on, so should we really be adding yet another social network into the mix? Or perhaps you should delete your Facebook account and migrate completely?

Deborah Ng gets you off to a great start on the new platform by offering 10 Google+ tips. You’ll want to take advantage of your circles, check out the apps, and “mute” the posts you don’t want to see. Updating your privacy settings are a very good idea too.

Chris Brogan continues with improving your Google+ experience by reminding you that conversations matter. This isn’t only for the human connections that can gain and foster, but also because Google+ gives more “weight” to the updates with more activity. You want to be seen, right?

Ray Ebersole ends this weeks blogotour by expanding the scope just a little. He has some pointers for using Google’s new minimalist look. This includes Google+, but it also involves the new looks for Gmail and Google Calendar as well. What do you think about having all that extra white space?