Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

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Jan232010

Satellite Maps of Haiti Quake from Bing and Google

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As mentioned in my earlier post suggesting Haiti Quake as being one of the most searched keyphrase this month according to Google Trends, I figured it would be an idea to provide something a little more useful and worth looking at.

The devastating earthquake in Haiti recently that killed and injured many thousands was astonishing to see the ruins of before and after shots provided by the Satellite Maps.

Here I have come across a recent video tutorial that shows you how to use the Satellite maps and how to zoom right in on the damage caused by the recent Haiti Earthquake that made thousands homeless and countless people suffering recently.

The Bing mapping system options are very impressive. Although Google Maps still have much better quality, Bing has some nice features in their mapping system, worth playing with. You will also notice in the video CNN have a 360 degree viewing option which is also very impressive.

Here is a donation link provided by Google to support the victims of the earthquake

Jan12010

Happy SEO in 2010

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Happy New Year everyone, and even happier for those who have been involved with SEO for some time. Obviously change is one of the hardest things to work with particularly when one is very set in their ways, but change is good and only for the strong minded. Now has come the time, for many years since 2003 Google had set a patent based on link popularity.

This algorithm structure is based on back links and calculates links, the good from the bad, the popular from the less popular, the authority links from the less authority and weighs up the links from high page rank vs low page rank sites and pages.

For 2010 all this is changing

It has been told recently Google have based their new algorithm on a social platform. For me personally change is good, I get bored easily and concentrating on back linking becomes tiresome and monotonous. Although this will not be totally eradicated there will still be some chance to progress and spend time on other areas. The other areas include:

  • Personalized Search Changes
  • Real Time Search
  • Growth of Android and Personalized Mobile Search
  • Social Search
  • Bing Growing into legitimate option 2

The recent patent is an interesting one as recently summarized. It shows that alot of attention will be focused towards Google Phone, or mobile in general and bookmarking and personalization along with user data information.

This actually tells us that social media is going to play a big role and that Twitter and other Social platform will also be contributing in the data that is shared and will carry weight accordingly.

Those SEO people who are already against social platforms have no option but to turn to this game. It is really a do or die situation. I believe SEO is already changing towards an overall internet marketing platform. To do and adapt in all the ways of marketing on the internet enables you to receive the highest search engine results.

To be successful particularly in 2010 you will need to stay ahead of the game. Working off old SEO ways will be half of the work and sooner or later fade out alltogether. So start getting social, mobile, in the media and above all user friendly becuase this is the way of the future folks!

Best of luck and success for 2010!

Dec222009

Internet Technology Goes Back To The Old Skool?

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Such things as movie companies have adjusted to the internet market, even though torrent is still illegal. It is slowly getting harder for movie buffs to download free movies like it used to be. Most movie sites require credit card details and are not really trust worthy enough in my opinion to give out. If tomorrow they are sued or they go down, those card details I have given could end up anywhere.

Sooner or later what goes around comes around. I mean im sure the movie industry will get back on it’s feet much sooner then later. Recently I watched the movie Avatar, and I must say watching it in the Imax with 3d and special effects is the most amazing experience ever. Particularly with Avatar I found it to be one of the best movies ever seen. But my point is nothing really beats the real thing in a theatre. So one day sooner or later people will come back to reality. It is already starting to. Maybe the advanced internet tech world might have a bubble experience some time soon.

internet-and-technology-predictionsPersonally I love classic TV shows like Who’s the Boss, and The fresh prince, Family Matters with Steve Urkel. Because we can get so far ahead of ourselves we need to also slip back into the past to reminisce of old times. The classic tv shows on satellite are a great example for this, even though internet speed for old tv shows are getting alot better, buffering is still an issue according to ones connection.

Look atFacebook for example everyone puts their photos up on there and stores them on their straight from their holidays or whatever. I mean its good way to archive, but when you upload your high resolution pics they are usually condensed alot smaller so the print quality is not good at all. So I tend to not really store my photos on there, instead keep them on another hard disk and printed and kept in an album as well. What if Facebook servers are hacked into or your account is blocked. My point is having a printed version is still very nice for when relaxing and this takes me back again, the need for having something in your hand, a bit of reality to keep sane.

Another example is skype, don’t get my wrong I absolutely love it, and use it all the time, but sometimes I need to just unwind away from the computer and back into the the ever missed every day things so I will pick up the home phone. One phone that has become a bit more advanced then the ordinary is called the business voip an internet phone based system.

What about products online? Do you think eventually they will be a flop? I recently have been looking online to buy a telescope, but when I was that close to buying I backed out, cause its a lot of money for something you can not test or touch before shipping and everything else.

Nov242009

Location of Your Web Host

web hostingHow important is the location of your web host? Here I explain how much more important it is then you think!

All the way from FTC regulations for blogging websites through to Global Warming, when choosing a web host you should really consider where their servers are located and if this effects the industry that you are in. Recent regulations say that Bloggers from USA need to follow the new FTC laws. So this also means if you are a blogger with a site on a US server you have to consider the legalities.

I recently started to use servers that are located in Canada because Canada is a cold destination and is a good way to keep the servers cool. There were recent talks from BBC that some countries such as Iceland are becoming more known now for IT hubs and server space. 100% of the country’s electricity is renewable and basically carbon free, much generated from water heated far below the ground. So carbon dioxide savings are enormous. Banks who have hundreds and thousands of servers are also looking at alternative re-location methods such as this.

Another example is if you are targeting website traffic from say New Zealand, then a server from New Zealand wil help you get your site more optimized for the New Zealand search engines. Search engines such as Google rank your site based on server location and IP. So for SEO purposes location plays a big role.

Also beware when having your server located in US. Never presume this is totally safe. For example, personally I wouldn’t host my websites on servers that are based in Florida as there are quite a lot of hurricanes, if your server is also located in earthquake areas then your chances of losing your data or sites are fairly high. There are alot of web host companies that have servers located in Texas and this area seems to be very safe.

UK Web Hosting companies are also another hot topic at the moment. Registration of European domain names are much easily accepted through UK host companies. Domain name registrations for .eu web addresses peaked at three million earlier this year. So this is a prime real estate area!

Be careful when having your websites located on Asian servers such as China or Thailand. If you state anything politically incorrect on your sites you can get fined big time, your sites will not only be shut down but you can also be imprisoned.

Having a local host is also an option for some as faster upload and download speed is a luxury for your websites and customer care is quicker for support.

Hope this is helpful for you for when choosing a host and remember to take into as much consideration as possible.

Oct122009

Google Wave

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After 2 years of production in Sydney, Australia, Google have finally announced their new platform Google Wave . There has been alot of interest in getting an Invitation to try it out before release. It is still in beta stage and will be officially ready early next year.

They call it the 3p’s – Product – Platform – Protocol

What is really cool about this product is when you are emailing you can kind of quote each paragraph to comment on each paragraph and it automatically does spell check and corrects words for you.

google wave

What is also amazing is there is an instant messaging type of system within the platform, as you type and have a conversation the user can see that your typing and instead of waiting on the message, you can see what the user is already starting to type before they have clicked submit.

There is also a playback option that if another user jumps in on the conversation or email, they can see what was said previously without having to go back in other emails. Just really a remarkable option.

Another amazing option is the photo gallery tool. I must admit this is going to be a real test on Facebook as most users love Facebook purely for the reason that they can upload all their images. But with the Google Wave it’s so much more advanced as you can drag and drop photos straight onto your email. Once you see how this works in the video below, your mouth will honestly drop.

photo album google wave

This product being open source will be great competition in my view to Microsoft as Microsoft are always clearly after the money. And will kill programs like outlook and any other email programs will totally flop in my opinion. I tell you im certainly ready to move over as soon as they release this to the public, without question.

The Google Wave concept was initially developed as “Walkabout” by Lars and Jens Rasmussen, the brothers who developed the software that became Google Maps.

Oct122009

Linux or Windows

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As most internet users are aware Windows is the most used operating system, but Linux is slowly and steadily increasing. It also seems as though Matt Cutts from Google seems threatened by Microsoft’s new search engine Bing.

I recently partitioned my hard drive so that on start up you can login either in Windows or Linux. The reason why I wanted to do this is so that I can run most of my programs in which use passwords and are more vulnerable for attacks on Linux, as linux is known to be pretty hacker safe.

Using FTP on Linux is also a very good idea, as there are loads of password sniffer tools out there on the market that can get into your Windows and if they are smart enough can really do some damage to not only your computer but also your sites and servers.

I recently had an iframe injected into around 100 sites of mine over 4 dedicated servers. Even though im certain 2 of the other servers were not hacked as a result of the vulnerability of my system, I am still taking all precautions necessary.

One think I like about Linux is instead of downloading files from the internet and installing manually as you would on Windows. Linux allows you to run commands and install using their terminal. It’s really handy. I also the Linux system with the Ubuntu theme . The Ubuntu theme reminds me of the simplicity and layout of the Mac. Really nice layout and easy to use.

ubuntu

One thing that I cannot except though with Linux and tend to rely on Windows is using Dreamweaver. For most developers not being able to use Dreamweaver is like not being able to drive a car. So for the most part I am still using Windows and will continue to do so until Ubuntu makes it a bit easy on us developers. One thing I am impressed though is when I recently installed Windows 7.

windows 7

The Windows 7 interface is really sweet! It’s quick and very futuristic, I must say it has a touch of Vista, but without all the complicated navigation runs nothing like it and perform really well and if you ask me is just like XP but more sleek and  sexy. I know Windows 7 was giving away free download trials for 1 year up until a month or so ago, but are still offering 90 day trial’s. Here is also the Ubuntu download best of all it’s free. Give both a go and let me know how you experience these, and which one you find better!