Interesting Snippets!

Interesting But True Facts

2007-06-04T15:04:00.000+05:30

The women of the Tiwi tribe in the South Pacific are married at birth.

When Albert Einstein died, his final words died with him. The nurse at his side didn't understand German.

St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was not Irish.

The lance ceased to be an official battle weapon in the British Army in 1927.

St. John was the only one of the 12 Apostles to die a natural death.

Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer (more commonly known as Satan) are the only 3 angels to be named in the bible.
According to Genesis all demons are angels who were cast out of heaven after Lucifer tried to take God's throne and several of the other angels bowed down and worshiped him.

Many sailors used to wear gold earrings so that they could afford a proper burial when they died.

Some very Orthodox Jew refuse to speak Hebrew, believing it to be a language reserved only for the Prophets.

A South African monkey was once awarded a medal and promoted to the rank of corporal during World War I.

Born 4 January 1838, General Tom Thumb's growth slowed at the age of 6 months, at 5 years he was signed to the circus by P.T. Barnum, and at adulthood reached a height of only 1 metre.

Because they had no proper rubbish disposal system, the streets of ancient Mesopotamia became literally knee-deep in rubbish.

The Toltecs, Seventh-century native Mexicans, went into battle with wooden swords so as not to kill their enemies.

China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.

The Amayra guides of Bolivia are said to be able to keep pace with a trotting horse for a distance of 100 kilometres.

Sliced bread was patented by a jeweller, Otto Rohwedder, in 1928. He had been working on it for 16 years, having started in 1912.

Before it was stopped by the British, it was the not uncommon for women in some areas of India to choose to be burnt alive on their husband's funeral pyre.

Ivan the terrible claimed to have 'deflowered thousands of virgins and butchered a similar number of resulting offspring'.

Before the Second World War, it was considered a sacrilege to even touch an Emperor of Japan.

An American aircraft in Vietnam shot itself down with one of its own missiles.

The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.

During the eighteenth century, laws had to be brought in to curb the seemingly insatiable appetite for gin amongst the poor. Their annual intake was as much as five million gallons.

Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups

The Nobel Prize resulted form a late change in the will of Alfred Nobel, who did not want to be remembered after his death as a propagator of violence - he invented dynamite.

The cost of the first pay-toilets installed in England was tuppence.

Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.

In 1647 the English Parliament abolished Christmas.

Mao Rse-Tang, the first chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, was born 26 December 1893. Before his rise to power, he occupied the humble position of Assistant Librarian at the University of Peking.

Coffee is the second largest item of international commerce in the world. The largest is petrol.

King George III was declared violently insane in 1811, 9 years before he died.

In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an 'ugly' potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man.

For Roman Catholics, 5 January is St Simeon Stylites' Day. He was a fifth-century hermit who showed his devotion to God by spending literally years sitting on top of a huge flagpole.

When George I became King of England in 1714, his wife did not become Queen. He placed her under house arrest for 32 years.

The richest 10 per cent of the French people are approximately fifty times better off than the poorest 10 per cent.

Henry VII was the only British King to be crowned on the field of battle

During World War One, the future Pope John XXIII was a sergeant in the Italian Army.

Richard II died aged 33 in 1400. A hole was left in the side of his tomb so people could touch his royal head, but 376 years later some took advantage of this and stole his jawbone.

The magic word "Abracadabra" was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.

The Puritans forbade the singing of Christmas Carols, judging them to be out of keeping with the true spirit of Christmas.

Albert Einstein was once offered the Presidency of Israel. He declined saying he had no head for problems.

Uri Geller, the professional psychic was born on December 20 1946. As to the origin of his alleged powers, Mr Geller maintains that they come from the distant planet of Hoova.

Ralph and Carolyn Cummins had 5 children between 1952 and 1966, all were born on the 20 February.

John D. Rockefeller gave away over US$ 500,000,000 during his lifetime.

Only 1 child in 20 are born on the day predicted by the doctor.

In the 1970's, the Rhode Island Legislature in the US entertained a proposal that there be a $2 tax on every act of sexual intercourse in the State.

Widows in equatorial Africa actually wear sackcloth and ashes when attending a funeral.

The 'Hundred Years War' lasted 116 years.

The British did not release the body of Napoleon Bonaparte to the French until twenty days after his death.

Admiral Lord Nelson was less than 1.6 metres tall.

John Glenn, the American who first orbited the Earth, was showered with 3,529 tonnes of ticker tape when he got back.

Native American Indians used to name their children after the first thing they saw as they left their tepees subsequent to the birth. Hence such strange names as Sitting Bull and Running Water.

Catherine the First of Russia, made a rule that no man was allowed to get drunk at one of her parties before nine o'clock.

Queen Elizabeth I passed a law which forced everyone except for the rich to wear a flat cap on Sundays.

In 1969 the shares of the Australian company 'Poseidon' were worth $1, one year later they were worth $280 each.

Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath to cover the onset of baldness.

Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour during World War II, left school at the age of eleven.

At the age of 12, Martin Luther King became so depressed he tried committing suicide twice, by jumping out of his bedroom window.

It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary.

The Turk's consider it considered unlucky to step on a piece of bread.

The authorities do not allow tourists to take pictures of Pygmies in Zambia.

The Dutch in general prefer their french fries with mayonnaise.

Upon the death of F.D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman became the President of America on 12 April 1945. The initial S in the middle of his name doesn't in fact mean anything. Both his grandfathers had names beginning with 'S', and so Truman's mother didn't want to disappoint either of them.

Sir Isaac Newton was obsessed with the occult and the supernatural.

One of Queen Victoria's wedding gifts was a 3 metre diameter, half tonne cheese.

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never phoned his wife or his mother, they were both deaf.

It was considered unfashionable for Venetian women, during the Renaissance to have anything but silvery-blonde hair.

Queen Victoria was one of the first women ever to use chloroform to combat pain during childbirth.

Peter the Great had the head of his wife's lover cut off and put into a jar of preserving alcohol, which he then ordered to be placed by her bed.

The car manufacturer Henry Ford was awarded Hitler's Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle. Henry Ford was the inventor of the assembly line, and Hitler used this knowledge of the assembly line to speed up production, and to create better and interchangeable products.

Atilla the Hun is thought to have been a dwarf.

The warriors tribes of Ethiopia used to hang the testicles of those they killed in battle on the ends of their spears.

On 15 April 1912 the SS Titanic sunk on her maiden voyage and over 1,500 people died. Fourteen years earlier a novel was published by Morgan Robertson which seemed to foretell the disaster. The book described a ship the same size as the Titanic which crashes into an iceberg on its maiden voyage on a misty April night. The name of Robertson's fictional ship was the Titan.

There are over 200 religious denominations in the United States.

Eau de Cologne was originally marketed as a way of protecting yourself against the plague.

Charles the Simple was the grandson of Charles the Bald, both were rulers of France.

Theodor Herzi, the Zionist leader who was born on May 2 1860, once had the astonishing idea of converting Jews to Christianity as a way of combating anti-Semitism.

The women of an African tribe make themselves more attractive by permanently scaring their faces.

Augustus II, the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland seemed to have a prodigious sexual appetite, and fathered hundreds of illegitimate children during his lifetime.

Some moral purists in the Middle Ages believed that women's ears ought to be covered up because the Virgin May had conceived a child through them.

Hindus don't like dying in bed, they prefer to die beside a river.

While at Havard University, Edward Kennedy was suspended for cheating on a Spanish exam.

It is a criminal offence to drive around in a dirty car in Russia.

The Emperor Caligula once decided to go to war with the Roman God of the sea, Poseidon, and ordered his soldiers to throw their spears into the water at random.

The Ecuadorian poet, José Olmedo, has a statue in his honour in his home country. But, unable to commission a sculptor, due to limited funds, the government brought a second-hand statue .. Of the English poet Lord Byron.

In 1726, at only 7 years old, Charles Sauson inherited the post of official executioner.

Sir Winston Churchill rationed himself to 15 cigars a day.

On 7 January 1904 the distress call 'CQD' was introduced. 'CQ' stood for 'Seek You' and 'D' for 'Danger'. This lasted only until 1906 when it was replaced with 'SOS'.

Though it is forbidden by the Government, many Indians still adhere to the caste system which says that it is a defilement for even the shadow of a person from a lowly caste to fall on a Brahman ( a member of the highest priestly caste).

In parts of Malaya, the women keep harems of men.

The childrens' nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses' actually refers to the Black Death which killed about 30 million people in the fourteenth-century.

The word 'denim' comes from 'de Nimes', Nimes being the town the fabric was originally produced.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, there was a tax put on men's beards.

Idi Amin, one of the most ruthless tyrants in the world, before coming to power, served in the British Army.

Some Eskimos have been known to use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing.

It is illegal to play tennis in the streets of Cambridge.

Custer was the youngest General in US history, he was promoted at the age of 23.

It costs more to send someone to reform school than it does to send them to Eton.

The American pilot Charles Lindbergh received the Service Cross of the German Eagle form Hermann Goering in 1938.

The active ingredient in Chinese Bird's nest soup is saliva.

Marie Currie, who twice won the Nobel Prize, and discovered radium, was not allowed to become a member of the prestigious French Academy because she was a woman.

It was quite common for the men of Ancient Greece to exercise in public .. naked.

John Paul Getty, once the richest man in the world, had a payphone in his mansion.

Iceland is the world's oldest functioning democracy.

Adolf Eichmann (responsible for countless Jewish deaths during World war II), was originally a travelling salesman for the Vacuum Oil Co. of Austria.

The national flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Matami Tribe of West Africa play a version of football, the only difference being that they use a human skull instead of a more normal ball.

John Winthrop introduced the fork to the American dinner table for the first time on 25 June 1630.

Elizabeth Blackwell, born in Bristol, England on 3 February 1821, was the first woman in America to gain an M.D. degree.

Abraham Lincoln was shot with a Derringer.

The great Russian leader, Lenin died 21 January 1924, suffering from a degenerative brain disorder. At the time of his death his brain was a quarter of its normal size.

When shipped to the US, the London bridge ( thought by the new owner to be the more famous Tower Bridge ) was classified by US customs to be a 'large antique'.

Sir Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' cloakroom after his mother went into labour during a dance at Blenheim Palace.

In 1849, David Atchison became President of the United States for just one day, and he spent most of the day sleeping.

Between the two World War's, France was controlled by forty different governments.

The 'Crystal Palace' at the Great Exhibition of 1851, contained 92 900 square metres of glass.

It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on their testicles when taking an oath. The modern term 'testimony' is derived from this tradition.

Sir Winston Churchill's mother was descended from a Red Indian.

The study of stupidity is called 'monology'.

Hindu men believe(d) it to be unluckily to marry a third time. They could avoid misfortune by marring a tree first. The tree ( his third wife ) was then burnt, freeing him to marry again.

More money is spent each year on alcohol and cigarettes than on Life insurance.

In 1911 3 men were hung for the murder of Sir Edmund Berry at Greenbury Hill, their last names were Green, Berry , and Hill.

A firm in Britain sold fall-out shelters for pets.

During the seventeen century , the Sultan of Turkey ordered his entire harem of women drowned, and replace with a new one.

Lady Astor once told Winston Churchill 'if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee'. His reply …' if you were my wife, I would drink it ! '.

There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.

The Great Pyramid of Giza consists of 2,300,000 blocks each weighing 2.5 tons.

On 9 February 1942, soap rationing began in Britain.

Paul Revere was a dentist.

The Budget speech on April 17 1956 saw the introduction of Premium Savings Bonds into Britain. The machine which picks the winning numbers is called "Ernie", an abbreviation, which stands for' electronic random number indicator equipment'.

Chop-suey is not a native Chinese dish, it was created in California by Chinese immigrants.

The Russian mystic, Rasputin, was the victim of a series of murder attempts on this day in 1916. The assassins poisoned, shot and stabbed him in quick succession, but they found they were unable to finish him off. Rasputin finally succumbed to the ice-cold waters of a river.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, the leader of the Jacobite rebellion to depose of George II of England, was born 31 December 1720. Considered a great Scottish hero, he spent his final years as a drunkard in Rome.

The Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, was born of the 29th December 1809. Apparently, as a result of his strong Puritan impulses, Gladstone kept a selection of whips in his cellar with which he regularly chastised himself.

A parthenophobic has a fear of virgins.

South American gauchos were known to put raw steak under their saddles before starting a day's riding, in order to tenderise the meat.

There are 240 white dots in a Pacman arcade game.

In 1939 the US political party 'The American Nazi Party' had 200,000 members.

King Solomon of Israel had about 700 wives as well as hundreds of mistresses.

Urine was once used to wash clothes.

North American Indian, Sitting Bull, died on 15 December 1890. His bones were laid to rest in North Dakota, but a business group wanted him moved to a 'more natural' site in South Dakota. Their campaign was rejected so they stole the bones, and they now reside in Sitting Bull Park, South Dakota.

St Nicholas, the original Father Christmas, is the patron saint of thieves, virgins and communist Russia.

Dublin is home of the Fairy Investigation Society.

Fourteen million people were killed in World War I, twenty million died in a flu epidemic in the years that followed.

People in Siberia often buy milk frozen on a stick.

Princess Ann was the only competitor at the 1976 Montreal Olympics that did not have to undergo a sex test.

Ethelred the Unready, King of England in the Tenth-century, spent his wedding night in bed with his wife and his mother-in-law.

Coffins which are due for cremation are usually made with plastic handles.

Blackbird, who was the chief of Omaha Indians, was buried sitting on his favourite horse.

The two highest IQ's ever recorded (on a standard test) both belong to women.

The Tory Prime Minister, Benjamin Disreali, was born 21 December 1804. He was noted for his oratory and had a number of memorable exchanges in the House with his great rival William Gladstone. Asked what the difference between a calamity and a misfortune was Disreali replied: 'If Gladstone fell into the Thames it would be a misfortune, but if someone pulled him out again, it would be a calamity'.

The Imperial Throne of Japan has been occupied by the same family for the last thirteen hundred years.

In the seventeenth-century a Boston man was sentenced to two hours in the stocks for obscene behaviour, his crime, kissing his wife in a public place on a Sunday.

President Kaunda of Zambia once threatened to resign if his fellow countrymen didn't stop drinking so much alcohol.

Due to staggering inflation in the 1920's, 4,000,000,000,000,000,000 German marks were worth 1 US dollar.

Gorgias of Epirus was born during preparation of his mothers funeral.

The city of New York contains a district called 'Hell's Kitchen'.

The city of Hiroshima left the Industrial Promotion Centre standing as a monument the atomic bombing.

During the Medieval Crusades, transporting bodies off the battlefield for burial was a major problem, this was solved by carrying a huge cauldron into the Holy wars, boiling down the bodies, and taking only the bones with them.

A ten-gallon hat holds three-quarters of a gallon.

George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.

Via: Bitworks

mGinger update

2007-05-30T11:18:00.000+05:30

I am very impressed with how mGinger has been progressing and the very fact that they are creating a lot of noise on the media indicates that it is likely to go places. My current First Level network stands at 154 :) with a lot more at the second level. Check out the snapshot below.

Here is the link to all their press releases etc etc. mGinger Press
Go ahead, join my network and make money, just as I do.

Personalize your credit card - ICICI Bank's latest addition

2007-04-30T23:27:00.000+05:30

How many of us would love to customize our credit cards rather than have the same drab silver/gold/platinum colors. Quite many I guess. I personally would love to have a credit card with the Firefox logo on it. :) Here is probably my opportunity to get that done now. :D

ICICI Bank has come up with an option to personalise your credit card with any image you choose. It is called the ICICI Bank Picture Credit Card and you can use pictures taken with a digital camera, pictures taken with a mobile phone pictures taken with a mobile phone, scanned images etc etc.

To get a clear image on your ICICI Bank Picture Credit Card, your digital image must be at least 640 x 480 pixels in size. If your image is smaller than that, it may not look very good on the card. Oh and by the way, as always, everything that is good in this world is charged. This card will cost you Rs. 200 and you can change the image as many times as you want, each time you change, the charge is the same!

Update on mGinger

2007-04-29T15:16:00.001+05:30

mGinger reports on its website that its first sms campaign for Travelmart India to be a great hit! mGinger's total payout stands at Rs. 908.60. The maximum individual payout was Rs. 2.80 and I got Rs. 1.05. :D. Not bad huh!

First sms ad from mGinger

2007-04-27T08:00:00.000+05:30

A few days back I had written a post on mGinger explaining why its business concept should work in India. Looks like they have started off today, or so it seems as I received an sms ad from mGinger this morning. It was an ad by Travelmart India with giving out a special offer followed by a mobile number. My immediate reaction was to login to mGinger to see if there is any change in my earnings. Check out the screenshot. It says that I have earned Rs. 0.20 because of the ad I got this morning and a referral earning of Rs. 0.80 thus summing up my earnings at Rs. 1. :) That's good for a starter I guess. Now I am gonna wait and watch till my earnings reach Rs. 300 so that I can redeem it.
All those who want to give mGinger a shot can do so through this link.

How to Truly Impress A Client!

2007-04-24T17:04:00.000+05:30

One of the email fwds I got today.. And a good one too. Check it out!

I was in the airport VIP lounge en route to Seattle a couple of weeks ago. While in there, I noticed Bill Gates sitting comfortably in the corner, enjoying a drink.
I was meeting a very important client who was also flying to Seattle, but she was running a little bit late.
Well, being a straightforward kind of guy, I approached the Microsoft chairman, introduced myself, and said, "Mr. Gates, I wonder if you would do me a favor."
"Yes?"
"I'm sitting right over there," pointing to my seat at the bar, "and I'm waiting on a very important client. Would you be so kind when she arrives as to come walk by and just say, 'Hi, Ray,'?"
"Sure."
I shook his hand and thanked him and went back to my seat.
About ten minutes later, my client showed up. We ordered a drink and started to talk business.
A couple of minutes later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Bill Gates.
"Hi, Ray," he said.
I replied, "F*** off, Gates, I'm in a meeting."

;-)

mGinger helps you pay your phone bills!

2007-04-24T14:13:00.000+05:30

Welcome to the world of mobile ads. After the ads on blogs/websites, this one had to come.

When Google Adsense was introduced like any other blogger, i added it to my blog so that I could earn some pocket money. Fortunately or unfortunately, I never kept my blog up to date and never really earned anything out of it and therefore lost any hope of earning thru Adsense. I'm sure a lot of people have had similar experiences like mine. Now this is probably something different.

Would you like it if someone sent you ads to your mobile and also paid you for it? If yes, then read on!

mGinger is a service which sends ads to users based on their preferences. You get paid 20p for every ad sent to your phone. Wait, but that's more! For every advert that your friend receives, you get 10p and for every advert that your friend's friend receives you get 5p.

The mGinger website also gives a sample calculation as to how much a person can earn in a month. If you get 10 ads a day and you have referred 10 friends, and each of those friends have referred 10 other friends, then you will be earning Rs. 1,860/- per month which I guess will cover your mobile bills :) Thanks to mGinger if it really works out!

Seriously speaking, not a lot of people are going to say no to this kind of money every month. After all, it is only going to be a few extra smses per day. Infact, I only stand to gain from it.

This reminds me of an article based on a SMS research conducted by Intellect - Lintas Media Services, Research & Technologies which says that 66% of the respondents are willing to accept advertising through SMS on their cell phones.

You can sign up for mGinger with this link.

Duplicate File Finder

2007-04-19T10:39:00.000+05:30

Duplicate File Finder is an awesome but simple and effective tool developed by Brooks Younce Software to locate duplicate files in one or more selected search paths or drives. It scans the files and compares them based on a byte for byte comparison, which ensures 100% accuracy. You can then choose to delete the selected duplicate or original files. There is also a 'Fast Searching' option for comparing large files. 'Fast Searching' compares the first and last 10 mb of large files, thus ensuring 99% accuracy.

Duplicate File Finder is ideal for disk cleanup and for people like me who may have downloaded the same file many times by mistake :D. I saved close to 1 GB because of this tool!

The tool is only 110 kb and you can download it from here.

Recuva - File Recovery

2007-04-11T12:43:00.000+05:30

Many a time we delete files by mistake and by the time we realise, it is too late. Here is a software called Recuva from Piriform (yeah, they are the same guys who developed CCleaner) which helps us recover deleted data

Recuva is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer. This includes files emptied from the Recycle bin as well as images and other files that have been deleted by user error from digital camera memory cards or MP3 players. It will even bring back files that have been deleted by bugs, crashes and viruses!

You can download Recuva from here.

Update Checker - filehippo.com

2007-04-11T12:07:00.000+05:30

Would you like to be reminded about updates available for the all the softwares on your computer? Check out Update Checker, a tool created by filehippo.com.

Update Checker will scan your computer for installed software, check the versions and then send this information to filehippo.com to see if there are any newer releases. These are then neatly displayed in your browser for you to download.

What's more, the tool is only approximately 100kb to download. So why wait, download it from here.

Addicted to the internet??

2007-04-11T11:58:00.000+05:30

Wanna know whether you are an internet addict or not? Take up the Internet Addiction T est created by the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery and you will know for yourself!

If you are interested in Internet Addiction and want to know more, read this study report.

To take the test, click here.

Agloco - Earn money online by browsing.

2007-04-11T11:48:00.000+05:30

I'm sure most of us have probably had one or two emails from close friends and from not so close friends trying to get us to join AGLOCO by now. If you haven’t, then AGLOCO is a new service that will be finally launching this week that allows advertisers to reach you directly while you surf and search the internet, by adding a small toolbar called the Viewbar at the bottom of your browser.

The incentive for users to join is that they not only get paid for their own surfing and searching, but also for any of their friends that they refer. Though I'm not sure about the whole thing, I’m prepared to at least give it a go.

To join Agloco, click here.

Fire Tune - An awesome Firefox tuning tool

2007-04-07T15:26:00.000+05:30

Fire Tune is an awesome tool created by Totalidea Software with a very simple interface and does a very good job of tweaking Firefox according to the users' preferences. A snapshot of the interface is shown below.

The tool is less than a mb in size and doesn't take more than 2 min to setup. You can download it from here.

Apart from Fire Tune, they also have tweaks for Windows XP/Vista and Outlook 2002/2003/2007. Check out the all their products here.

And for all those who haven't used Firefox, you can download it from here.

Orbitfiles - 6 Gigs of free online storage

2007-04-07T11:44:00.000+05:30

Orbitfiles helps you backup 6 gigs of your files online for free and share them with your friends.They have 2 plans - a free one and a paid one (obviously!). You can sign up for free here. However, with the free account, the maximum file size that can be uploaded is 100 mb. They also give an option of a paid account which offers 70 GB at $20 per year.

And what's more, you can earn money thru Orbitfiles too. You can invite all your friends to join Orbitfiles and earn cash! You will get $0.10 for every referred user who confirms his account. I know it is not a lot, but then, something is better than nothing!

Domain Name Prices To Increase 7%

2007-04-06T11:54:00.000+05:30

Verisign, the domain name registry that controls the .com domain (as well as .net and others), just notified its registrars (the companies that actually sell domain names to end users) that the wholesale price of .com domains will be raised 7%, from $6/year to $6.42/year.

This means registrars, particularly discount registrars like GoDaddy with little margin to play with, to raise their prices by roughly the same amount.

And with roughly 65 million .com domain names registered worldwide, Verisign just added $27 million dollars per year to their bottom line. ;)

iPhone killer by a 15 year old!

2007-04-05T15:09:00.000+05:30

Here is another iPhone killer, only the difference is, it is designed by a 15 year old Korean high-school student studying in Canada. Check it out here. It's nicknamed butterfly and its for all those slide phone lovers!

Top 10 SEO ranking factors

2007-04-05T09:40:00.000+05:30

SEOmoz have just released version two of their Search Engine Ranking Factors Guide. It is the result of the collective wisdom of the collective wisdom of 37 leaders in the world of organic search engine optimization. The contributors rated each factor on a scale of 1 - 5.

Top 10 positive factors were:

1. Keyword Use in Title Tag
2. Global Link Popularity of Site
3. Anchor Text of Inbound Link
4. Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure
5. Age of Site
6. Topical Relevance of Inbound Links to Site
7. Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community
8. Keyword Use in Body Text
9. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
10. Topical Relationship of Linking Page

Top 5 negative factors were:

1. Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
2. Content Very Similar or Duplicate of Existing Content in the Index
3. External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
4. Participation in Link Schemes or Actively Selling Links
5. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages

And the most controversial factors were:

1. Manual Authority/Weight Given to Site by Google
2. Relevance of Site's Primary Subject Matter to Query
3. Participation in Link Schemes or Actively Selling Links
4. Duplicate Title/Meta Tags on Many Pages
5. Global Link Popularity of Linking Site
6. Quality of the Document Content (as measured algorithmically)
7. Domain Extension of Linking Site (edu, gov, com, ca, co.uk, etc)
8. Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots
9. External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites
10. TLD Extension of Site (edu, gov, us, ca, com, etc)

The complete SEOmoz report can be read here and it is highly recommended.

Straight from a child's mouth!

2007-04-03T12:37:00.000+05:30

Out of the mouths of children…!

1. A nursery school pupil told his teacher he’d found a cat, but it was dead.

“How do you know that the cat was dead?” she asked her pupil.
“Because I pissed in its ear and it didn’t move,” answered the child innocently.
“You did WHAT?” the teacher exclaimed in surprise.
“You know,” explained the boy, “I leaned over and went ‘Pssst’ and it didn’t move”

2. A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later…..”Da-ad….”

“What?”
“I’m thirsty. Can you bring a drink of water?”
“No, You had your chance. Lights out.”
Five minutes later: “Da-aaaad…..”
“WHAT?”
“I’m THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??”
I told you NO! If you ask again, I’ll have to smack you!!”
Five minutes later……”Daaaa-aaaad…..”
“WHAT!”
“When you come in to smack me, can you bring a drink of water?”

3. An exasperated mother, whose son was always getting into mischief, finally asked him “How do you expect to get into Heaven?”

The boy thought it over and said, “Well, I’ll run in and out and in and out and keep slamming the door until St. Peter says, ‘For Heaven’s sake, Dylan, come in or stay out!’”

4. One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her son into bed.

She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mummy,will you sleep with me tonight?”
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear,” she said. “I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.”
A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”

5. It was that time, during the Sunday morning service, for the children’s sermon.

All the children were invited to come forward. One little girl was wearing a particularly pretty dress and,as she sat down, the minister leaned over and said, “That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter Dress?”
The little girl replied, directly into the minister’s clip-on microphone, “Yes, and my Mum says it’s a bitch to iron.”

6. When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my three year old came into the room when I was just getting ready to get into the shower.

She said, “Mummy, you are getting fat!”
I replied, “Yes, honey, remember Mummy has a baby growing in her tummy.”
“I know,” she replied, but what’s growing in your bum?”

7. A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself,

“Two plus five, that son of a bitch is seven.
Three plus six, that son of a bitch is nine….”
His mother heard what he was saying and gasped, “What are you doing?”
The little boy answered, “I’m doing my math homework, Mum.”
“And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?” the mother asked
“Yes,” he answered.
Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, “What are you teaching my son in math?”
The teacher replied, “Right now, we are learning addition.”
The mother asked, “And are you teachingthem to say two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?”
After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered,
“What I taught them was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four.”

8. One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her class.

She came to the part of the story where Chicken Little tried to warn the farmer. She read, “…. and so Chicken
Little went up to the farmer and said, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”
The teacher paused then asked the class, “And what do you think that farmer said?”
One little girl raised her hand and said, “I think he said: ‘Holy Shit! A talking chicken!’”
The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

9. A certain little girl, when asked her name, would reply,

“I’m Mr. Sugarbrown’s daughter.”
Her mother told her this was wrong, she must say, “I’m Jane Sugarbrown.”
The Vicar spoke to her in Sunday School, and said, “Aren’t you Mr.
Sugarbrown’s daughter?”
She replied, “I thought I was, butmother says I’m not.”

10. A little girl asked her mother, “Can I go outside and play with the boys?”

Her mother replied, “No, you can’t play with the boys, they’re too rough.”
The little girl thought about it for a few moments and asked, If I can find a smooth one, can I play with him?”

11. A little girl goes to the barber shop with her father.

She stands next to the barber chair, while her dad gets his hair cut, eating a snack cake The barber says to her, “Sweetheart, you’re gonna get hair on your muffin.”
She says, “Yes, I know, and I’m gonna get boobs too.”

You can make/receive in-flight calls on planes soon

2007-04-03T08:59:00.000+05:30

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation may soon allow domestic airlines to permit passengers to use mobile phones and access mail on PDAs while air-borne.

In India, Kingfisher Airlines could be the first airline to implement it. The airline has sought government permission and has started talks with German telephone equipment company OnAir to install technology allowing passengers to use GSM mobile phones while in the air.

Under this new technology, GSM phone signals will be transferred from the cabin through a satellite to a GSM network on earth and connect the in-flight caller to the receiver of the call.

Source: Business Standard

Sponsors show the door to Dravid & Dhoni

2007-03-29T10:31:00.000+05:30

Rahul Dravid and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have got the axe from their sponsors Sansui and Videocon respectively. Financial Express has quoted Sansui marketing director Anil Khera saying "We have lost Rs 6 crore on our Rahul Dravid ad campaign”. Videocon has spent Rs 15 crore on its ad campaigns on the World Cup. Just before the World Cup, Sachin had lost the lucrative Airtel contract. I have a strange feeling Reebok is next in line!

Yahoo Mail offers unlimited storage

2007-03-28T15:41:00.000+05:30

John Kremer, Vice President, Yahoo Mail has announced that Yahoo Mail will be offering its users unlimited storage from May 2007.

Now that Yahoo has gone the Rediff way (which started giving unlimited storage since the first week of March, 2007), we only have to wait and watch to see if GMail and Hotmail follow suit.

T-Series files lawsuit against Google

2007-03-28T15:17:00.000+05:30

Music and entertainment major T-Series has filed a lawsuit alleging losses to the tune of Rs. 100 Crore against Google, accusing the internet major of showcasing T-Series’ copyrighted videos on its video sharing site YouTube.com.

Dog Attempting Suicide!

2007-03-08T10:22:00.000+05:30

Awesome ad!

THE YEAR'S BEST [ACTUAL] HEADLINES OF 2003

2007-03-07T15:27:00.000+05:30

Crack Found on Governor's Daughter [imagine that!]

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says [no, really?]

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers [now that's taking things a a bit too far!]

Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus? [not if I wipe thoroughly!]

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over [ what a guy!]

Miners Refuse to Work after Death [good-for-nothing lazy so-and-sos!]

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant [might work better than a fair trial!]

War Dims Hope for Peace [I can see where it might have that effect!]

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile [you think?!]

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures [who would have thought!]

Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide [they may be on to something!]

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges [you mean there's something stronger than duct tape?!]

Man Struck By Lightning Faces Battery Charge [he probably IS the battery charge!]

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group [weren't they fat enough?!]

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft [That's what comes from eating all those beans!]

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks [Taste like chicken!]

Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy [That was really giving of himself!]

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half [Texas Chainsaw Massacre all over again!]

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors [Boy, are they tall!]

And the winner is...

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead [I certainly hope so!]

A Microsoft Vista Upgrade Experience

2007-03-04T20:58:00.000+05:30

Below is an experience of a person who has had his share of troubles with Microsoft Vista. Read On!

"Let me begin this by stating that I am writing this on an un-Activated/No CD-Key/Activation-Cracked copy of Windows Vista Home Premium... at the express recommendation of, and instructed by: Microsoft Technical Support.

Like many others, I purchased Vista the day it was released. According to the box my laptop had plenty of juice to run it (Turion64 1.6, 1280 MB RAM, 80 GB HD, Mobility Express 200M) and since I had a spare $178, I figured "Why not?" I get home and open the package (how many others out there spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to open the package ??), put the disk in my XP Pro laptop (I've already downloaded the Upgrade Advisor and verified that you can upgrade from XP Pro to Home Premium) and proceed to "Upgrade" my laptop.

Two hours later (!) I've got a fully functional Windows Vista laptop... sort of; it seems kinda sluggish... actually, it's performance just sucks to be honest.

I live with the Vista "upgrade" for about two weeks before I decide that a fresh install is in order to hopefully allow Vista to perform up to its promises. I reboot with the Vista DVD in the drive, go through the beginning of the install process again until I reach the spot where you choose "Upgrade" or "Fresh Install". I chose "Fresh Install" instead of "Upgrade" this time, entering my CD Key and proceed to wait 45 minutes or so for the install to complete. Hooray !!! I have a Vista laptop that actually performs... sorta better than before, but it's still not as fast as XP Pro was, but it's OK.

Now...here comes the fun part:

I click on the taskbar icon to "Activate Vista", I follow the prompts, click the Activate button and Vista promptly kicks back an error that the CD Key I have provided is for an upgrade of Vista ONLY. As I have installed this as a "Fresh Install", my CD Key was not valid !! (Just wait...this gets better).

I decide for the first time in my life I'll call Microsoft Customer Service - I figured that this has probably happened hundreds of times already and I'll be on the phone 10 minutes at most. After 45 minutes of wading through various Tier 1 techs that have all asked me the same questions 10 times each, I get transferred to a customer service manager who seems to speak slightly better English and may have a clue as to how to help me.

I explain (for the fifth time) what I've done to reach this point - he promptly tells me that you cannot upgrade to Vista Home Premium from Windows XP - that the installer will not let you do so (!?!?!?!?) and that the upgrade DVD will not let you complete a fresh install (!?!?!?!?). At this point I ask him how I have managed to reach this point if neither of those possibilities are able to occur (even though it is their software that has allowed me to do so); he replies that the only fix I have for my predicament is to reinstall XP Home and then reupgrade.

I politely tell him that since I have recently moved I do not have the foggiest idea as to the location of said XP disk and inquire as to whether there is ANY other way to fix this. The forthcoming reply rather shocked me I must say - The Customer Service Manager told me that I could either borrow an XP Home disk from a friend (isn't that software piracy ??) or look online for one of the many Vista Activation cracks to bypass Vista Activation completely, and specifically mentioned "TimerLock" (um... hey, HE told me to do it !!). Well, I followed his instructions.

I did a little bit of searching on Google and came up with information on the "Timerlock" crack. I downloaded and installed TimerLock and now have a quasi-legal fully functional version of Vista Home Premium (I HAVE a legal CD-Key - even if Vista doesn't like it).

I would like to make it very clear that I tried to do this the right way before I resorted to the guerilla method, I DID stay with the correct version of Vista that I had purchased (the DVD will allow you to install ANY version of Vista) and I do not advocate the use or distribution of pirated software.

It truly surprised me that not only was Microsoft Technical Support not able to help me with my problem correctly, but actually suggested an illegal method to do so. I'm extremely disappointed not only in Vista, but in Microsoft as a company for allowing such behavior to occur.

Al Menard"

Spiceworks IT Desktop

2007-03-04T20:28:00.000+05:30

Spiceworks is an IT Help Desk/Network Administrator's best friend. Spiceworks IT Desktop aids in

Simplifying your network inventory
Simplifying your hardware and software monitoring
Simplifying your network reporting
Simplifying your network tracking
Simplifying your search for the right information
Simplifying your IT management tools

Download Spiceworks IT Desktop

And BTW, Spiceworks IT Desktop is FREE :)

Free Keyword Research Tools

2007-03-04T19:41:00.000+05:30

Over the past few weeks I have been testing out a few keyword research tools to try and find out which ones are the best. During these trials I looked at the ease of use, features, speed, and the overall interface of the tool.

DigitalPoint Keyword Suggestion Tool

DigitalPoint’s keyword suggestion tool is fairly simple yet powerful. It searches through both the WordTracker and Overture data, and displays the results side by side for easy comparison. The only major thing that I disliked about it was its sluggishness, but then again it is probably a major resource hog.

Ratings:
Ease of use: 9/10
Features: 7/10
Speed: 6/10
Overall: 8/10

Google Adwords Keyword Tool

I would have to say Google’s AdWords keyword tool is one of the best tools for finding profitable niches. You can either type in a keyword, or search a dynamic page for keywords. For example, you could put in yahoo.com, set the maximum bid price to $60, and figure out which niche is high paying. You can also view search trends and keyword popularity.

Ratings:
Ease of use: 8/10
Features: 10/10
Speed: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

Free WordTracker Keyword Tool:

The WordTracker tool is pretty basic, it simply displays the number of searches for a specific keyword. It is extremely quick and really simple.

Ratings:
Ease of use: 10/10
Features: 6/10
Speed: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

If you know of any more free keyword tools, feel free to post them in a comment with a quick review of it :)

Longest & Shortest Scheduled Flights!

2007-03-02T09:14:00.000+05:30

The world's longest scheduled flight from Newark to Singapore is 18 hrs 40 min long. The shortest?? About 2 min! The latter is a flight operated by Loganair for British Airways, is between the Scottish islands of Westray and Papa Westray. The Pilatus Islander prop plane takes off from Westray at 8.49 A. M. and arrives at Papa Westray at 8.51 A. M. The 14.5 km route has been once done in 58 seconds due to a strong tail wind. And since coffee takes three minutes to brew, no beverages are served on board!

Learn Chinese in 5 Minutes!

2007-03-01T12:52:00.000+05:30

Source: Office Humor

Lexicool - Directory for Translators, Linguists, Language Students etc.

2007-02-27T22:39:00.000+05:30

Lexicool is primarily a directory of 'all' the online bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries freely available on the Internet. It is a resource intended for translators, linguists, language students and all those interested in foreign languages.

Levi's New Steamy Ad (Dangerous Liaison) - Valentine's Day Special

2007-02-27T22:20:00.000+05:30

Damn good video! And the song used is 'Strange Love' by Little Annie.

Removing Dead/Duplicate Bookmarks

2007-02-23T11:19:00.000+05:30

Over the years I’ve accumulated hundreds of bookmarks and maintaining these had become a pain in the ass as many links become dead or even worse, I duplicate them.That's when AM-DeadLink came to my rescue.

AM-Deadlink detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser's Bookmarks. If a Bookmark has become unavailable you can verify it in the internal preview and delete it from your Browser.

Even better news is that AM-Deadlink works with Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Firefox and it’s free!

Download AM-Deadlink.

Street Art by Julian Beever

2007-02-23T10:51:00.000+05:30

These brilliant pieces of street art are created by Julian Beever, an artist who has been creating these for ten years all over the world.

They come under “Anamorphic illusions drawn in a special distortion in order to create an impression of 3 dimensions when seen from one particular viewpoint.”

More can be found here

GooSync - Sync your Google Calendar with your mobile phone/PDA

2007-02-22T15:27:00.000+05:30

GooSync is an over-the-air (like GPRS) synchronisation service for Google Calendar.
All you have to do is hit the sync button on your mobile device to synchronize your Google Calendar and the calendar on your mobile device.

Create your Google Calendar
Create your GooSync Account
Start Sync'ing!

OpenID

2007-02-22T10:30:00.000+05:30

I was reading an article on Read/WriteWeb about OpenID which aroused my curiosity. After an initial research about OpenID, I wanted to use my own domain name as the OpenID URL and was fortunate to find this by Simmon Willson. You need to just follow the instructions and add the Code in the header.php of your Theme. MyOpenID is a OpenID Server, which provides you the the Service. They even have an affiliate programme which will help you have people logon to your website using OpenID. I intend to submit my affiliate request for verification with them.

OpenID is gaining tremendous momentum as AOL , Microsoft and Digg announced their support recently.

Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal - Comprehensive PC Care Utility

2007-02-21T17:08:00.000+05:30

Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal is a comprehensive PC care utility that takes an one-click approach to help protect, repair and optimize your computer. It provides an all-in-one and super convenient solution for PC maintenance and protection. This fantastic program is available free of charge for private use.

Comparison of Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal with its competitors can be found here.

Download Advanced WindowsCare v2 Personal from here.

Firefox crossed 300 million downloads

2007-02-21T16:51:00.000+05:30

My favorite browser has achieved yet another milestone. :) Kudos!

BTW the official download counter can be found at the spreadfirefox homepage.

Yaplet - Chat With People Viewing the Same Website

2007-02-21T16:40:00.000+05:30

Yaplet is a nice Ajax browser side application created by some Techie students. Yaplet allows you to chat with others that are viewing the same Web page.

There are three ways to activate chat on a website:

Use the Yaplet bookmarklet.
Enter a URL into the yaplet URL field.
Add a “Chat Here” button to your website.

Now chat with the people who are visiting this site here!

Deleting Files That Refuse to be Deleted

2007-02-21T13:30:00.000+05:30

I am sure that most of you who use a computer have run into a file that you cannot delete [Cannot delete file: Access is denied, There has been a sharing violation,
The source or destination file may be in use,
The file is in use by another program or user, Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.] Simply put you get the dialog box shown below or similar. This normally happens when there is a process that remains in the background and is still accessing the file you wish to delete. Sometimes you have to restart your computer in order to get rid of the file, other times you can't get rid of the file at all. There is a solution to this problem, Unlocker.

"Unlocker is an Windows Explorer extension allowing you with a simple right-click on a file or folder to get rid of error message such as error deleting file or folder, cannot delete folder: it's being used by another person or program."

Comments/suggestions are welcome. :)

Unlocker 1.8.3 - Download Here

USB Cell - USB Rechargeable Battery

2007-02-21T13:25:00.000+05:30

Damn useful!

Source: Usbcell

Mispronounced domain names!

2007-02-21T13:11:00.000+05:30

www.therapistfinder.com

www.penisland.net

What comes into your mind when you read the above websites? ;) If these aren't enough, read on here..

Agloco - Own the Internet

2007-02-21T12:40:00.000+05:30

Get paid for browsing! Check this out - Agloco

Cute Pic

2007-02-21T10:54:00.000+05:30

Damn cute pic found while Stumbling!

List of websites to watch TV for FREE online!

2007-02-16T16:01:00.000+05:30

Here it is... Do leave a comment if i have missed out on any...

General TV

TVlinks: A directory that amalgamates the most popular tv shows, cartoon & anime series. Once you’ve found a show you want to watch, all you have to do is just click on the link and it will take you through to the website hosting the movie
New! ChannelSurfr: Sexy looking site with nice video montage showing what’s hot. Even has full movies available and pretty up to date TV listings. All you have to do is click on a thumbnail and the video will start playing.
Streamick: More then 300 real TV channels to choose from including NBC, ABC, ESPN, BBC1 and many more, organized in categories and ranked by the site users
TIOTI (Tape It Off The Internet): Over 2,000+ TV shows or 90,000+ episodes, including all the big shows like Lost, Prison Break, Heroes, Veronica Mars etc etc
New! TV-Video.net: All the latest TV shows as they aired including 24, Smallville, Prison Break, Lost etc
BeelineTV: Free TV shows, movies, music, entertainment and sports from around the world. 159 channels
SopCast: Easy way to watch foreign channels full screen.
Tevootv.com: Movie, news, sports and music channels sorted by country
PPlive: Popular service for watching foreign tv and sport.
wwiTV: Huge collection of free television stations. Over 1600 channels
Freetvonline.com: Approximately 100 channels. Plugin required
Peekvid.com: Over 700 episodes of popular shows such as 24, Buffy, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy. Shows can be downloaded
ABC (US Only): Watch popular shows like Lost, Desperate Houswives, Alias etc online
New! PPStream: Sports, movies - all in one please. Just choose a show from the list of available channels

Sports

Sopcast: Easy Way to watch international football including English Premier League. Once you’ve installed the client then bookmark this site which has up-to-date schedules
PPlive: Popular service for watching foreign tv and sport. Once you’ve installed the client then bookmark this site which has up-to-date schedules
EuroGoalsNews: stream details for all top European football matches
New! TVants: can be hard to use as in chinese, but features some games not available elsewhere
New! TVU Player: In English which helps!

Maxim for sale!

2007-02-16T09:30:00.000+05:30

After denying for almost a year, Dennis Publishing Inc. has confirmed that it has retained Allen & Co. to find a buyer for its three successful brands - Maxim, Stuff and Blender.

More details here.

Google likely to sell additional space for GMail?

2007-02-15T15:45:00.000+05:30

Sergey Brin is rumored to have said that Google might start offering additional space for GMail users in lines of Picasa.

Picasa, Google's photo-hosting service charges $25 annually for 6.25 gigabytes and $500 annually for 250 gigabytes.

This would be good news to a whole lotta people who store a lot of data online, like me :)

Mini Desk!

2007-02-15T10:37:00.000+05:30

For all those who like the mini ;)

Source: Uncrate

Samsung Ultra Smart F700 - iPhone Killer????

2007-02-14T12:36:00.000+05:30

Ning - Your Own Social Networking Website!

2007-02-14T11:49:00.000+05:30

For all those who dreamt of creating/owning their own You Tube, Flickr and Orkut, this is your chance. Ning helps you in creating your own social networking website and yes, it does allow you to use your own domain name!

Desktoptwo!

2007-02-14T11:20:00.000+05:30

Desktoptwo is this awesome free web-based desktop or webtop (some call it a WebOS) that mimics the look, feel and functionality of a local computer, all contained within one browser window and fully accessible from any Internet-connected device.

It provides 1GB of FREE space and the upload/download speeds are very very good! Also, it offers features such as an RSS reader, mp3 player, IM, blog, mail etc etc.. Check it out..

Snail Mail via EMail

2007-02-13T11:37:00.000+05:30

PixelLetter is a gateway between your computer and the real mail system. You send us your letter online, we print, fold, envelope, prepay and send it out within 24 hours. Only in Europe though!

List of IQ Tests

2007-02-13T11:27:00.000+05:30

Follow this link..

All IQ Tests

Amazingly Designed Websites

2007-02-13T10:20:00.000+05:30

Its a long long list.. Check it out...

2advanced.com
2xu.pl
4efx.com.br
555design.org
5nak.com
8edge.com
9rules.com
adaptic.cz
agencynet.com
agx.be
akbrothers.com
albertocerriteno.com
alessandrobavari.com
alfacommunication.it
allstarr.de
alwaysbeta.com
alterform.com
alxdesigns.com
angryblue.com
artreality.com
artypapers.com
ashwebstudio.com
bebopjeans.com
bigspaceship.com
blitzagency.com
blog.expansecms.com
b-man.dk
brainworks.com.mx
carlosmarcelo.com
cerebrocreativo.com.ar
chapter3.net
chromazone-imaging.co.uk
christopherlawrence.com
cluster07.com
colony9.com
convex7.co.uk
contrecoups.com
couchart.com
creaktif.com
creativelab.ca
crisvector.com
crossmind.net
cssimport.com
cssmania.com
cssvault.com
csszengarden.com
converserussia.ru
cwd.dk
dache.ch
danlindop.co.uk
damnengine.net
dark-i.com
davidho.com
ddmweb.com
defragmag.com
depiction.net
depthcore.com
designchapel.com
designisruin.com
designshack.co.uk
dpivision.com
deviantart.com
digital-bath.net
digitalbrand.com.ar
digitalica.arg.pl
digitalmalaya.com
dotkraft.com
draftmedia.de
dreamstudiodesign.com
dr-photoshop.com
dsdesign.be
dunun.fr
effectlab.com
elements.bnim.com
factory4.co.uk
fcukstar.com
firstknightsecurity.net
flight404.com
floodgear.com
fuelindustries.com
fullsail.com
fullahead.org
freshwebjobs.com
getmobio.com
goldenshower.gs
group94.com
heathrowe.com
hell.co.nz
hybrid.com.pt
iamjohnmills.com
iam-studios.nl
iconbuffet.com
idigitalemotion.com
imagewall.com
imagined.ca
inovartis.com
introversion.com
iso50.com
ituloyangsulong.com
javierferrervidal.com
jcaruso.com
jonathanyuen.com
jp33.com
k10k.net
kazees.de
kenetix.net
kidawa.com
kilfish.com
kreativika.com
lefthandbrewing.com
lindsaydevine.co.uk
liquidchrome.net
lounge72.com
luovo.com
markdearman.com
matscordt.com
mediamonks.com
mikaelnaslund.com
mileswjohnson.com
misprintedtype.com
misspato.com
monoone.com
monumentstudio.com
mooch.info
mstudio.com
m-pv.com
naxcon.com
nastee74.com
noxcel.com
nucleocide.net
nuestrafamilia.ca
nuwen.com
onepixelarmy.com
onyro.com
ownyourc.com
patrickkeefe.com
perfect-disorder.net
phark.typepad.com
phirebrush.com
photoshopcafe.com
pixel2life.com
pixeloso.com
placidminds.com
plastiqueweb.com
preloaded.com
project-angel.com
purephotoshop.com
pukme.com
rezmultimedia.com
rihardsonline.com
ronemedia.com
satsu.co.uk
screenfluent.com
seriousmedia.net
shadowandlight.net
shoonyadesign.net
simplebits.com
snecx.com
splitdivision.com
spoono.com
southbites.com
solarclima.es
stadia.ru
stanleystudio.net
steeldolphin.com
stepfools.com
steveleggat.com
superfamous.com
techessential.com
terafirm-design.com
thedesigncore.com
thedesignerslounge.net
tubodensaio.pt
turbomilk.com
unmatchedstyle.com
ushida-findlay.com
vantageous.com
veerle.duoh.com
verdurethought.com
virtualskystudio.com
volumeone.com
waxlab.net
wddg.com
webcreme.com
webdiod.com
webshots.com
wesbenscoter.com
zeldman.com

Source: Squared Productions

GMail Open To All!

2007-02-08T17:14:00.000+05:30

Google has removed the invite-only part of Gmail, after almost 3 years (it launched April 2004). The 'beta' tag is still there though!

Most Unusual Buildings On Earth

2007-02-08T13:17:00.000+05:30

Check this out.. These are real civil engineering wonders!!

"Dancing House"
Two talented architects from the Czech Republic and Canada designed The Dancing House in the early 90's, which soon became one of the most talked about buildings in Prague. It featured a structure that seemed to melt during a hot summers day, and is habited by multinational firms and a French restaurant.

"Robot Building"
The great Bank of Asia is a famous building in Bangkok which was built back in the mid 80's. Its robotic appearance symbolizes banking in the modernize world, and has the ability to transform into a spectacular robot. So, if Godzilla ever decided to show his green face in the land of Bangkok, they would have to fight to the death!

"Ripley's Building"
If you saw this building for the first time you probably thought it was hit by lighting. But it wasn't. So in true fashion of the Ripley Legacy, it was built to reflect the odd 1812 earthquake that measured 8.0 on the rickter scale. The building has now become one of the most photographed in the world because of it.

"The Wilson Hall"
This modern-day building was built between 1971 and 1974. Its unique design gave the Wilson Hall a great sense of architecture, and a prominent landmark for the skyline. The building provides big laboratories, hundreds of offices and support space for over 1,500 scientists. It also houses experiments that deal in Dark Matter.

"135 Degree Angle"
This bizarre house doesn't have an official name, but it does have a 135 degree angle. So that's what we're going to call it. Unfortunately, the only information we have on the house is that it was built by Japan. And that it has a silly pink roof in which, if you look real close, you'll notice that there's someone living inside the damn thing.

"Hotel Sofitel"
The traditional temples in Japan inspired this hotel's unique design. The Tokyo Sofitel has over 72 rooms, 11 suites with 3 non-smoking floors and 5 meeting rooms that include super high-tech boardrooms that would make Spock proud. But please realize that you have to sell your soul in order to step foot inside this beautiful hotel.

"Triangle Building"
We wonder what type of work goes on inside a strange building like this. The unofficial Triangle Building is a wonder to look at and to ponder over. But can this be one of the many evil offices for Scientologists or those Starbuck-ists? Does this building have triangle bathrooms or stairs? There's so many damn questions!

"The Astra Haus"
This strange building is an actual brewery in Hamburg, Germany, in which the floors could move up and down on its skinny column core. Unfortunately, they destroyed this unique building after a big refreshment corporation bought one of its more famous beer brands. The building soon turned into a large parking lot for that company.

"Upside Downer"
Take a journey into the unknown with a building called WonderWorks. It's central Florida’s only upside down attraction, and an amusement park for your mind. This odd building has over 100 wacky interactive displays for your entire family to experience. But make sure to free your mind before coming, or it will explode.

"Crooked House"
You know that your looking at a real building right? The Crooked House, built in 2004, is an addition to a popular shopping center, and is a major tourist attraction in Sopot, Poland. We just wonder what happens when someone, who's under a controlled substance, sees this building for the first time in their lives.

Source: Unique Daily

Making Google Go Crazy!

2007-02-06T11:22:00.000+05:30

Here's what you need to do to make Google go crazy (this supposedly works for other websites too, though I only got it to work with Google):

1. Go to Google.com
2. Remove everything from the address bar, then copy & paste the following into it:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

3. Hit enter. Enjoy.

Locking a Folder Using Notepad

2007-02-05T16:39:00.000+05:30

There are plenty of software which lock your folders, some are free, other costs a lot of money. Why you’ll waste time and money when you could do it with your notepad.

* Consider you want to lock a folder named PICS in your D:\, whose path is D:\PICS

* Now open the Notepad and type the following

ren pics pics.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

* Where pics is your folder name. Save the text file as loc.bat in the same drive.
* Open another new notepad text file and type the following

ren pics.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} pics

* Save the text file as key.bat in the same drive.

Usage:

* To lock the pics folder, simply click the loc.bat and it will transform into control panel icon which is inaccessible.
* To unlock the folder click the key.bat file. Thus the folder will be unlocked and the contents are accessible.

That’s all!

Using IE in Firefox

2007-02-05T15:22:00.000+05:30

Even the hardcore Firefox users like me need to use Internet Explorer once in a while. There are two reasons for that:

1. Sometimes you need to perform cross-browser testing to make sure that your website is being displayed correctly in both browsers

2. Certain sites, like the Microsoft Windows Update homepage, require the user to be using Internet Explorer

3. MS Sharepoint is not compatible with Firefox.

In order to avoid having to switch between browsers you can use a Firefox extension called IE View. The extension allow the user to load pages under Internet Explorer with a single right-click, and it also makes possible to make some sites load under IE by default.

Another Catch Me If You Can!

2007-02-05T14:22:00.000+05:30

Only this time, it is a woman. Esther Reed seems to have impersonated quite a lot of ppl, registered at Harvard and Columbia and so on.. Read more here...

Nailing Jelly To A Wall!

2007-02-05T14:06:00.000+05:30

Is it possible?? Check this out... ;)

Nailing Jelly To A Wall

:)

Simply Awesome Folding Chair

2007-02-05T13:57:00.000+05:30

Who is giving away your mail ids?

2007-02-05T13:46:00.000+05:30

When you give your email address to a website, you hope that they don't sell or trade your address to a bunch of spammers. Well if they do, here is a simple way to see what sites are responsible for what particular piece of email. This requires you have a Gmail account.

If your Gmail login name was username@gmail.com and you went to samplesite.com to fill out a registration form, instead of just entering username@gmail.com as your email, enter it as username+samplesitecom@gmail.com instead. When Gmail sees a "+" in an email address, it uses all the characters to the left of the plus sign to know who to send it to. In this example it would still send it to username@gmail.com.

Now whats cool is if you search Gmail for username+samplesitecom, you will see all massages that were sent to that email address.

To see who is responsible for sending a specific message click the Show Details link and you will see the complete address.

The World's Most Expensive House

2007-02-03T15:13:00.000+05:30

Tim Blixseth, timber and real estate baron has just upped the ante. He is planning to build and sell a 53,000-square-foot stone and wood mansion at the Yellowstone Club, the members-only, Blixseth-developed residential ski and golf resort near Bozeman, Mont.

Price tag: $155 million. Woho!

For more, go here.

Top 10 Billboard Advertisements

2007-02-03T14:58:00.000+05:30

10. Bic ad:

Apparently located in England. However, this is the only one of the ten that I can’t independantly confirm as being real (if you’ve seen it, let me know where). Picture via

9. Moving and storage ad:

I saw a few of these in New York last time I was there. At the time, I thought it would have been much funnier if the adjacent billboard read: “Why store your doll collection? There’s plenty of freaky people on eBay!” Picture via Billboardom

8. Max Factor mascara:

This cool billboard changes from an attractive model to a make-up nightmare when it rains. Not sure how this is supposed to help sell more mascara though. Picture via Frederik Samuel

7. Sign from God:

Funny and a clever play on words - definitely more amusing than the other dozen or so “Billboards from God” dotting our highways. Picture via

6. Ikea - The page cannot be displayed:

This electronic billboard was supposed to be showing a real advertisement, but it looks like Microsoft Windows pooped out. While almost certainly not intentional, something tells me this would make a great ad for a Microsoft competitor. Picture via

5. Gain - Irresistible Scent:

3d billboard ads are popping up everywhere, particularly in big cities. This is one of my favorites, probably because it’s the first laundry detergent ad that was both effective and made me laugh. Picture via

4. Ford Mustang Blurred Motion:

This simple Ford Mustang billboard isn’t painted - it was actually created using a special type of semi-transparent material that blurs the scene behind it to make it look like you’re moving really fast, regardless of weather. Picture via Ian Hart

3. Nike 10k in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Another new trend is interactive billboards. In this ground level billboard, passersby can walk or run on the enclosed treadmill. For every kilometer run, Nike will donate a certain amount to UNICEF. Picture via Briefblog

2. Massive 3d Adidas goalkeeper:

To make sure they weren’t upstaged by Nike or other rivals, Adidas constructed this massive 3d advertisement at the Munich airport for the 2006 World Cup. Defining this as a billboard may be a stretch, but it was too cool not to include. Picture via

1. Summer 2006 Cartoon Network:

These funny ads showed up in the summer of 2006 all over the US. Most people had no idea what they meant, and the uncertainty heightened the buzz.

What A Credit Card's First Digit Means

2007-02-02T23:07:00.000+05:30

You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their shoes, and likewise, by looking at their credit card's first digit. This represents the Major Industry Identifier, which is to say, the type of institution that issued the card. Here's the breakdown.

1,2: Airlines
3: Travel/Entertainment
4,5: Banking/Financial
6: Merchandising/Financial
7: Petroleum
8: Telecommunications
0,9: Other

So what's your number??

New Template and New Blogger!

2007-02-02T16:57:00.000+05:30

Changed the template, layout and shifted to the new blogger after some amount of self persuasion... :)

iPhone - Where it is going down...

2007-01-31T16:01:00.000+05:30

Battery Backup - Going by Apple's figures which is 5 hours and considering the fact that people will be using a lot of WiFi which is a battery drainer, it is gonna go for a toss..
Will the touch screen last all the drops and falls a mobile phone is prone to face? Doubt it...
Whats the point in providing a 2 MP camera when competitors such as Samsung are planning to introduce a phone with 10MP cam?
Key features of the phone are dependent on the network.. hence may not be suitable in many parts of the world..
8 gigs aint a lot when u are gonna use it for videos also..
Nothing is told about third party softwares/applications.. wud v be able to use word/excel/pdf etc etc???

Apple certainly has a lot of answering to do..

Poster No 3 created by Amit Poddar for No Smoking Poster Contest

2007-01-31T10:25:00.000+05:30

Poster No 2 created by Amit Poddar for No Smoking Poster Contest

2007-01-31T10:23:00.000+05:30

Poster No 1 created by Amit Poddar for No Smoking Poster Contest

2007-01-31T10:13:00.000+05:30

Fog in Hyd - Taken with my k750i

2007-01-30T17:18:00.000+05:30

Samsung's SCH-B600 - 10 megapixel cameraphone

2007-01-30T15:00:00.000+05:30

Is this a camera?

Is it a Phone?

Well, its both!!

n its gonna b freakin costly!

Envelopes and Cockroaches

2007-01-30T11:10:00.000+05:30

I'm not sure if the below is true.. but never ever will i use my tongue to wet an envelope.. read on...

A woman was working in a post office in California.

One day she licked the envelopes and postage stamps instead of using a
sponge. That very day the lady found a cut on her tongue. A week later,
she noticed an abnormal swelling of her tongue. She went to the doctor,
and they found nothing wrong. Her tongue was not sore or anything. A
couple of days later, her tongue started to swell more, and it began to
get really sore, so sore, that she could not eat. She went back to the
hospital and demanded something be done. The doctor took an x-ray of
her
tongue and noticed a lump. He prepared her for minor surgery. When the
doctor cut her tongue open, a live cockroach crawled out!!!!

There were cockroach eggs on the seal of the envelope. The egg was able
to hatch inside of her tongue, because of her saliva. It was warm and
moist...

A guy called Andy Hume writes:
Hey, I used to work in an envelope factory. You wouldn't believe the
things that float around in those gum applicator trays. I haven't
licked
an envelope for years!" I used to work for a print shop 32 years ago
and we were told NEVER to lick the envelopes. I never understood why
until I had to go into storage to pull out 2500 envelopes that were
already
printed and saw several squads of cockroaches roaming around inside a
couple of boxes with eggs everywhere. They eat the glue on the
envelopes.

My IQ is 140!! Well, thats wat this says..

2007-01-30T11:07:00.000+05:30

Your EQ is 140

50 or less: Thanks for answering honestly. Now get yourself a shrink, quick!
51-70: When it comes to understanding human emotions, you'd have better luck understanding Chinese.
71-90: You've got more emotional intelligence than the average frat boy. Barely.
91-110: You're average. It's easy to predict how you'll react to things. But anyone could have guessed that.
111-130: You usually have it going on emotionally, but roadblocks tend to land you on your butt.
131-150: You are remarkable when it comes to relating with others. Only the biggest losers get under your skin.
150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.

What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T22:46:00.000+05:30

Wish you all a very happy new year!!!

Top 10 antiviruses

2007-01-01T22:30:00.000+05:30

I was doing an analysis on good antivirus solutions and stumbled upon this review... Would be useful for a whole lotta people...

http://www.pcworld.com/article/124475-1/article.html

Fully Loaded Legal Windows Based Applications at No Cost

2006-11-18T13:02:00.000+05:30

Many of my friends once in a while ask me to format and reinstall their windows system. While reinstalling system is not a big deal, getting all other necessary programs is, so I decided to write this post covering software tools everyone must have for healthy and trouble free usage(including antivirus, spyware removal, firewall, system maintenance tools, office software, media players and other). Based on the number of downloads and user reviews I have compiled list of the best software tools available which are 100% free to use. The cool thing about this is that most of these tools are the best available in their particular domain, meaning that you can actually have fully loaded legal system at no cost.

Name	Description	Review / Download
Security
Antivir Personal Edition 6	Antivirus Program	link (allmost 1 mil downloads withiin 5 month)
AVG Antivirus Free Edition 7	Antivirus Program	link (over 11 mil downloads within 3 weeks)
ZoneAlarm 6	Firewall (protect your computer from hackers and prevent some programs connecting to the internet without your consent)	link (over 40 mil downloads)
Spybot Search & Destroy 1.4	Spyware Removal Tool	link (over 80 mil download)
Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition 1.06	Spyware Removal Tool	link (over 220 mil downloads)
Maintenance
SyncBack 3.2	Files Backup Tool	link (over 50.000 downloads within 4 month)
CCleaner	System Optimization Tool / Registry Cleaner	link (allmost 1.8 mil downloads in 2 weeks)
RAM Booster 2	RAM Recovery Tool(speedup your computer by recovering RAM)	link (3.2 mil downloads in 11 month)
Free RAM XP Pro	RAM Recovery Tool	link (4.4 mil downloads in 7 month)
Office/Documents
OpenOffice 2.0.4	Microsoft Office Alternative	link (over 500 .000 downloads in 4 month)
Adobe Reader 7.0.8	View and Print Adobe PDF files	link (over 30 mil downloads in 4 month)
Media (Play any Movies)
VLC Media Player	These 2 players in combination with codec pack below will play almost any video file you may have. I am a big movie buff and it always worked for me	link (approx 3.5 mil downloads in 6 month)
DivX Player 6.2.2		link (over 50 mil downloads in 5 month)
Advanced DVD Player	DVD player	link (more then 400.000 downloads in 3 weeks)
Avant DVD Player	DVD player	link (more then 400.000 downloads in 3 weeks)
Klite Codec Pack	No more hunting for codecs.	link (one of the best codec packs available)
Browsers & Internet Related
Mozilla Firefox 2.0	All belowed web browser	link (more then 2mill downloads in 2 weeks)
Internet Explorer 7	New version of Microsoft’s IE browser. Much better then previous releases. (IE7 vs. Firefox 2 by CNET)	link (more then 8 mil downloads within 3 weeks)
Flash Player 9	Needed for viewing flash animations on the websites	link (more then 8.5 mil downloads in 4 month)
QuickTime 7.1.3	Most popular player used for viewing videos integrated into websites (ex; video blogs, trailers)	link (more then 16 mil downloads in 2 month)
Other
WinRAR	RAR archiver	link (more then 40 mil downloads in 2 month)

Top 10 list of Top 10 Firefox add-on/extension lists

2006-11-13T10:12:00.000+05:30

Hope this is of some help? I made good use of it though..

Download.com: Best extensions for Firefox 2
Webware.com's brothers at Download.com have a good general list, as covered in this post.

About.com: Top 10 Firefox Extensions
A collection of some of the most popular and useful general Firefox extensions.

Irfan Habib: My Top 10 Firefox Extensions
A thoughtful list for serious Firefox users. See also the comments to this post, which point to other good extensions.

Read/Write Web: Top 10 Firefox Web 2.0 Add-ons
The focus is on effective browsing, bookmarks, and RSS. A good line-up if you explore the Web a lot and want to keep track of things you find.

The Simple Dollar: 10 Firefox Plugs That Save You Money
Love the premise, even if it's stretched a bit thin in this list. This ia a unconventional list of extensions that, one way or another, can impact your pocketbook.

CyberNet: 10 Great Firefox Extensions for Tabbed Browsing
You can push Firefox's breakout feature, tabbed browsing, to the limits if you use the extensions in this list. CyberNet also has a Top 10 list of privacy and security extensions.

Quick Online Tips: Top 10 Extensions to Manage Firefox Extensions
If you need this list, your Firefox setup has gotten way out of hand.

The Moleskin: Firefox Extensions For Web Development
If you're writing your own extensions, see this list.

Mozilla: 10 Most popular Firefox Add-ons
Maybe it's cheating to include this list, but if you want to know how everybody else is tweaking out their browser, don't neglect to go to the source.

Lifehacker: Top Firefox 2 config tweaks
Neither a list of extensions nor numbering 10, this is a tutorial, with excellent examples, on tweaking Firefox's many internal settings. A lot of the things you can do with these tweaks preclude the need for extensions, so it's worth checking out.

HOTEL KERALA-FONIA

2006-11-06T13:29:00.000+05:30

Inspired by - Hotel California by The Eagles

On the road to Trivandrum
Coconut oil in my hair
Warm smell of avial
Rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance
I saw a bright pink tube-light
My tummy rumbled, I felt weak and thin
I had to stop for a bite

There he stood in the doorway
Flicked his mundu in style
And I was thinking to myself
I don't like the look of his sinister smile

Then he lit up a petromax
Muttering "No power today"
More Mallus down the corridor
I thought I heard them say

Welcome to the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace,
Plenty of bugs at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
It's infested here

His finger's stuck up his nostril
He's got a big, thick mustache
He makes an ugly, ugly noise
But that's just his laugh

Buxom girls clad in pavada
Eating banana chips
Some roll their eyes, and
Some roll their hips

I said to the manager
My room's full of mice
He said,
Don't worry, saar,I sending you
meen karri, brandy and ice

And still those voices were crying from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them pray
Save us from the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace
Trying to live at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
It is no surprise
It is no surprise (background)
That it swarms with flies

The blind man was pouring
Stale sambar on rice
And he said
We are all just actors here
In Silk Smitha-disguise

And in the dining chamber
We gathered for the feast
We stab it with our steely knives
But we just can't cut that beef

Last thing I remember
I was writhing on the floor
That cockroach in my appam-stew was the culprit,
I am sure

Relax, said the watchman
This enema will make you well
And his friends laughed as they held me down
God's Own Country? Oh, Hell!

---- The Yeagles

Prison Vs Work!

2006-10-26T13:08:00.000+05:30

IN PRISON...
You spend the majority of your time in an 8x10 cell.

AT WORK...
You spend most of your time in a 6x8 cubicle.

IN PRISON...
You get three meals a day.

AT WORK...
You only get a break for 1 meal and you have to payfor it.

IN PRISON...
You get time off for good behavior.

AT WORK...
You get rewarded for good behavior with more work.

IN PRISON...
A guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.

AT WORK...
You must carry around a security card and unlock and open all the doors yourself.

IN PRISON...
You can watch TV and play games.

AT WORK...
You get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON...
You get your own toilet.

AT WORK...
You have to share.

IN PRISON...
They allow your family and friends to visit.

AT WORK...
You cannot even speak to your family and friends.

IN PRISON...
All expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work required.

AT WORK...
You get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON...
You spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside wanting to get out.

AT WORK...
You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON...
There are wardens who are often sadistic.

AT WORK...
They are called supervisors.

20 Things the Average Person Does Not Know about Windows XP

2006-10-17T16:57:00.000+05:30

1. It boasts how long it can stay up. Go to the Command Prompt in the Accessories menu from the All Programs start button option, and then type ’systeminfo’. The computer will produce a lot of useful info, including the uptime. If you want to keep these, type ’systeminfo > info.txt’. This creates a file called info.txt you can look at later with Notepad. (Professional Edition only).

2. You can delete files immediately, without having them move to the Recycle Bin first. Go to the Start menu, select Run… and type ‘gpedit.msc’; then select User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Windows Explorer and find the Do not move deleted files to the Recycle Bin setting. Set it. Poking around in gpedit will reveal a great many interface and system options, but take care — some may stop your computer behaving as you wish. (Professional Edition only).

3. You can lock your XP workstation with two clicks of the mouse. Create a new shortcut on your desktop using a right mouse click, and enter ‘rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation’ in the location field. Give the shortcut a name you like. That’s it — just double click on it and your computer will be locked. And if that’s not easy enough, Windows key + L will do the same.

4. XP hides some system software you might want to remove, such as Windows Messenger, but you can make it show everything. Using Notepad or Edit, edit the text file /windows/inf/sysoc.inf, search for the word ‘hide’ and remove it. You can then go to the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Windows Components and there will be the software and you can now uninstall it.

5. For those skilled in the art of DOS batch files, XP has a number of interesting new commands. These include ‘eventcreate’ and ‘eventtriggers’ for creating and watching system events, ‘typeperf’ for monitoring performance of various subsystems, and ’schtasks’ for handling scheduled tasks. As usual, typing the command name followed by /? will give a list of options.

6. XP has IP version 6 support — the next generation of IP. Unfortunately this is more than your ISP has, so you can only experiment with this on your LAN. Type ‘ipv6 install’ into Run… (it’s OK, it won’t ruin your existing network setup) and then ‘ipv6 /?’ at the command line to find out more. If you don’t know what IPv6 is, don’t worry.

7. You can at last get rid of tasks on the computer from the command line by using ‘taskkill /pid’ and the task number, or just ‘tskill’ and the process number. Find that out by typing ‘tasklist’, which will also tell you a lot about what’s going on in your system.

8. XP will treat Zip files like folders, which is nice if you’ve got a fast machine. On slower machines, you can make XP leave zip files alone by typing ‘regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll’ at the command line. If you change your mind later, you can change things back by typing ‘regsvr32 zipfldr.dll’.

9. XP has ClearType — Microsoft’s anti-aliasing font display technology — but doesn’t have it enabled by default. It’s well worth trying, especially if you were there for DOS and all those years of staring at a screen have given you the eyes of an astigmatic bat. To enable ClearType, right click on the desktop, select Properties, Appearance, Effects, select ClearType from the second drop-down menu and enable the selection. Expect best results on laptop displays. If you want to use ClearType on the Welcome login screen as well, set the registry entry HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop/FontSmoothingType to 2.

10. You can use Remote Assistance to help a friend who’s using network address translation (NAT) on a home network, but not automatically. Get your pal to email you a Remote Assistance invitation and edit the file. Under the RCTICKET attribute will be a NAT IP address, like 192.168.1.10. Replace this with your friend’s real IP address — they can find this out by going to www.whatismyip.com — and get them to make sure that they’ve got port 3389 open on their firewall and forwarded to the errant computer.

11. You can run a program as a different user without logging out and back in again. Right click the icon, select Run As… and enter the user name and password you want to use. This only applies for that run. The trick is particularly useful if you need to have administrative permissions to install a program, which many require. Note that you can have some fun by running programs multiple times on the same system as different users, but this can have unforeseen effects.

12. Windows XP can be very insistent about you checking for auto updates, registering a Passport, using Windows Messenger and so on. After a while, the nagging goes away, but if you feel you might go insane before that point, run Regedit, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/Advanced and create a DWORD value called EnableBalloonTips with a value of 0.

13. You can start up without needing to enter a user name or password. Select Run… from the start menu and type ‘control userpasswords2′, which will open the user accounts application. On the Users tab, clear the box for Users Must Enter A User Name And Password To Use This Computer, and click on OK. An Automatically Log On dialog box will appear; enter the user name and password for the account you want to use.

14. Internet Explorer 6 will automatically delete temporary files, but only if you tell it to. Start the browser, select Tools / Internet Options… and Advanced, go down to the Security area and check the box to Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed.

15. XP comes with a free Network Activity Light, just in case you can’t see the LEDs twinkle on your network card. Right click on My Network Places on the desktop, then select Properties. Right click on the description for your LAN or dial-up connection, select Properties, then check the Show icon in notification area when connected box. You’ll now see a tiny network icon on the right of your task bar that glimmers nicely during network traffic.

16. The Start Menu can be leisurely when it decides to appear, but you can speed things along by changing the registry entry HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop/MenuShowDelay from the default 400 to something a little snappier. Like 0.

17. You can rename loads of files at once in Windows Explorer. Highlight a set of files in a window, then right click on one and rename it. All the other files will be renamed to that name, with individual numbers in brackets to distinguish them. Also, in a folder you can arrange icons in alphabetised groups by View, Arrange Icon By… Show In Groups.

18. Windows Media Player will display the cover art for albums as it plays the tracks — if it found the picture on the Internet when you copied the tracks from the CD. If it didn’t, or if you have lots of pre-WMP music files, you can put your own copy of the cover art in the same directory as the tracks. Just call it folder.jpg and Windows Media Player will pick it up and display it.

19. Windows key + Break brings up the System Properties dialogue box; Windows key + D brings up the desktop; Windows key + Tab moves through the taskbar buttons.

20. Windows XP secretly KNOWS that the average user has no idea what they are doing. Therefore, it doesn’t let you do really stupid things like deleting the windows directory (at least not without spending several hours convincing it that you REALLY want to do this). Oh yeah, and internet explorer kinda sucks, get Firefox.

Making Firefox load faster....

2006-10-17T16:12:00.000+05:30

Kill the amount of RAM Firefox uses for it’s cache feature
Here’s how to fix it:
1. type “about:config” (no quotes) in the browser.
2. Find browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewer
2. set it’s value to “0″

Increase the Speed in Which Firefox loads pages
1.Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return.
Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:
Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30.

This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″.

This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages faster now
More options for your about:config (you might have to create some of these entries by Right Click –> New– > Interger or String

network.dns.disableIPv6: set “false”
“content.notify.backoffcount”: set “5″
“plugin.expose_full_path”: set “true”.
“ui.submenuDelay”: set “0″ (zero)
Kill RAM usage to 10mb when FF is minimized
This little about:config hack will drop Firefox’s RAM usage down to 10 Mb when minimized

1. Open Firefox and go to the Address Bar. Type in about:config and then press Enter.
2. Right Click in the page and select New -> Boolean.
3. In the box that pops up enter config.trim_on_minimize. Press Enter.
4. Now select True and then press Enter.
5. Restart Firefox.
Ok I hope this makes a few people’s browsing experience a bit better with Firefox and debunks a myth about their being a bug.

101 Awesome Freebies!

2006-10-16T09:09:00.000+05:30

7-Zip
Create ZIP compressed archives for free with this handy utility.

Abilon
This powerful, speedy RSS reader offers a choice of views, and features a built-in tabbed browser.

AbiWord
This lightweight, full-featured word processor is compatible with Microsoft Word documents and also runs on Linux and Macs.

AIM Mail
AIM mail offers 2GB of storage and integration with AOL Instant Messenger.

AirDefense Personal Lite
This simple program alerts you whenever you connect to an insecure network or to a hotspot you haven't previously marked as safe.

Alleycode
A simple HTML editor for people who are comfortable with code and need to do some quick editing.

All-in-One Secretmaker
All-in-One Secretmaker blocks banner ads and pop-ups, filters spam, and offers an array of utilities for cleaning up and securing your system.

Anonymizer
This anonymous browsing service will display Web pages without revealing any information to the sites you visit.

Audacity
All-purpose audio editor lets you record, play, and edit digital files.

Avast Home Edition
This antivirus scanner can do a boot-time virus scan (which can catch more viruses than scanning once Windows is running) and will continually monitor your system for threats.

Avvenu
This free remote-access and file-sharing service lets you and your colleagues get to files on an Avvenu-enabled computer from another computer, Web-enabled phone, or PDA.

Backpack
Create Web pages--with to-do lists, notes, pictures, and more--that you can share with a group.

Bartleby
This online reference library offers a host of features, including a dictionary, thesaurus, and various books of quotations.

BeInSync
Make sure you have access to your critical files and folders with this remote-access tool.

BitTorrent
BitTorrent is useful for downloading legitimate content quickly or for sharing your own files.

Blogger
This blogging service remains incredibly simple to use, but offers a rich complement of features.

Bloglines
This Web-based RSS reader lets you access your news from multiple PCs.

CCleaner
Finds and zaps useless files--including cache files and old Registry entries--that may be slowing down your PC.

Celestia
Zoom through the solar system with Celestia, which offers real-time views of planets, moons, comets, stars, and more.

Copernic Desktop Search
Copernic lets you search local files as well as Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail.

Del.icio.us
Forget bookmarks--this service keeps track of your favorite sites, and much more, from any Internet-connected PC.

eFax Messenger
You can receive faxes on your PC with eFax, viewing or printing them via the eFax Messenger software.

EssentialPIM Free
EssentialPIM combines a calendar, contact manager, to-do list, and notes manager in a single program.

Feedreader
This free Windows utility displays your news feeds, and includes flexible keyboard shortcuts.

Festoon Beta
This add-on for Skype and Google Talk lets users of these two services make calls to each other, and brings video chat capabilities to Google Talk.

Firefox
Still using Internet Explorer? It's time you made the switch to Firefox--a more secure, faster, and more flexible Web browser.

FlashGot
This Firefox plug-in simplifies downloading, allowing you to grab every page from a Web site or download multiple files efficiently.

Flickr
Easily upload, share, and post pictures with this popular service.

FolderShare (Mac)

FolderShare (Windows)
Automatically sync files and folders between multiple computers and easily share data with colleagues and friends.

FolderSync
Keep your USB drive and your hard drive on the same page with this synchronization utility.

FoxIt Reader
For viewing PDF files, FoxIt Reader beats Adobe Reader hands-down--and it's got some tools Adobe lacks.

Free Download Manager
This companion to Internet Explorer can speed up single-file downloads, resume interrupted downloads, manage bandwidth usage, or schedule multiple file downloads for specific times.

FreeConference.com
Set up and host conference calls with this free Web service.

FreeMind
FreeMind allows you to compile your notes in a "mind map"--a free-form tree structure that mimics the way your brain works.

Furl
Save your favorite Web pages in an online account that you can access from any computer.

GetByMail
Don't pay for a pricey remote-access app--GetByMail offers access to your office computer through your e-mail account.

Gmail
Google's e-mail service feels more like a Windows application than a Web mail service.

Google Desktop
Google Desktop extends the power of the Web's most popular search engine to your desktop by indexing nearly every document on your hard drive.

Google Earth
Spin the earth, tilt it, and zoom in to objects as tiny as one building.

Google Picasa
Picasa offers a simple--and free--way to organize, touch up, and share your photos.

Google Video
Google's service is well suited for commercially oriented video producers looking for a large audience for their work.

GRC Shields Up
This browser-based tool checks your PC for common vulnerabilities, such as open ports.

Groove Virtual Office
Bring your far-flung coworkers together with this file-sharing and collaboration tool.

Hyperwords
This Firefox browser plug-in makes any text on any Web page clickable.

Irfanview
This lean, mean graphics utility offers basic image editing and file format conversions.

iTeamwork
This Web-based project management service helps groups keep track of complicated projects.

iTunes
Apple's media player is a joy to use even if you never buy a 99-cent song.

Kodak EasyShare Gallery
This site's usability, mobile-phone access options, and lack of upload restrictions make it our top pick for photo sharing.

Kristal Audio Engine
This sophisticated audio mixing and sequencing platform offers features found in much pricier apps.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal
Ad-Aware scans your PC for spyware, making sure that no digital snoops are lurking in memory or on your hard drive.

LiveJournal
LiveJournal offers plenty of customizable options for your blog, and carries no advertising.

LogMeIn
This remote access service lets you control your PC from afar, via a Web browser.

Microsoft Tweak UI
Take control of hidden Windows XP settings, from determining what appears on your Start menu to specifying how users log on to your computer, with this extra set of tools created by Microsoft developers.

Microsoft Windows Defender (formerly AntiSpyware Beta)
Microsoft's antispyware app catches spyware that other programs don't--including the dangerous "rootkit" Trojan horse that some Sony music CDs carry.

MSN Hotmail
MSN Hotmail offers a respectable 250MB of storage and a familiar, Windows-like look.

MSN Search Toolbar With Windows Desktop Search
This search tool indexes your hard drive and provides search results through a Windows application, rather than a browser.

MySpace
MySpace lets you store an unlimited number of small images, and makes uploading music and images easy.

Netomat
This social networking service allows you to create, access, and share content on the Web or a phone.

Netscape Webmail
Netscape Webmail offers 250MB of storage and features large, easy-to-click buttons.

NewsGator
NewsGator displays your RSS feeds in a clean, readable display.

Nvu
This sophisticated Web page editor doesn't require any understanding of the underlying tags.

OmniFormat
Convert BMPs to JPEGs, GIFs to PDFs, Word documents to TIF image files, and more with this free document conversion utility.

OpenOffice.org
This full-fledged, Microsoft Office-compatible office suite offers a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation package, and database--and it doesn't cost one thin dime.

Palm Desktop
This remarkably well-designed calendar and address book application will appeal to users who don't even have a PDA.

Pandora
Enter the name of an artist or song that you like and Pandora creates a custom "radio station" for you--and makes surprisingly good choices.

PBwiki
Create a free, password-protected wiki--a collaborative Web site--with PBwiki.
PDF Creator This printer driver lets you create Adobe Acrobat files from within almost any application.

Pegasus Mail
A longtime favorite of power users, this e-mail client provides a huge amount of control over your mail, with support for mail merges and flexible filtering options.

podAmigo
podAmigo works with the Podomatic Web service to organize and download your podcasts.

Project Gutenberg
Browse electronic versions of more than 17,000 books at this online library.

Putfile
This basic video sharing service works reliably and well.

PuTTY
This free utility allows you to create an SSH, Telnet, or Rlogin connection.

QNext
This universal instant messenger service includes robust music-sharing%252520and photo-sharing features.

Revver
This service--our Best Bet--is a video sharing site from which you can actually make money.
RssReader
RssReader displays your news feeds simply and cleanly.

SeaMonkey
This suite of Internet tools includes the Mozilla browser, an enhanced version of the netscape Messenger e-mail client, the ChatZilla IRC chat program, and an HTML editor.

SightSpeed
This video calling service is simple to set up, synchronizes lip movements and audio neatly, and offers easy in-call controls.

Skype
Skype offers free PC-to-PC voice calls with text chat and file transfer capabilities.

Spybot Search & Destroy
Spybot is a powerful antidote in the battle against spyware.

Steganos LockNote
Password-protect text files with LockNote, a simple notepad with strong encryption.

Streamload Mediamax
Streamload Mediamax is great for users who want to share lots of big files in addition to videos.

SyncNotes
This sticky-note application runs on your computer, but allows you to view and edit your notes from any Web or WAP browser.

System Information for Windows
This utility will tell you everything you need to know about your computer's hardware, operating system, installed programs, and more.

Ta-Da List
Stay organized with this straightforward to-do list manager.

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
This freely distributed app includes tools for photo retouching, image composition, and image authoring.

ThinkFree Online Beta
This software runs in your browser and lets you edit Microsoft Office-compatible documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

Thunderbird
The tighter security and robust stability of this e-mail client make it the top choice for managing e-mail on your PC.

Trend Micro HouseCall
This Web site runs software in your browser to scan for and eliminate malware on your PC.

Trillian Basic
This universal IM client lets you keep in contact with your friends whether they use IRC, AOL, ICQ, MSN Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger.

Vimeo
Of the video sharing services we tested, Vimeo is perhaps the easiest to use.

Wapedia
For accessing Wikipedia from a PDA or smart phone, try Wapedia.

Wikipedia
This online encyclopedia is a convenient way to find general information on almost anything.

Windows Live Mail
This Ajax-based service is still in beta, but you can put your name on a waiting list.

WordPress.com
This hosted blogging service offers a clean, fast interface.

WordWeb
This handy utility provides a dictionary and a thesaurus that work in any application on your computer.

WriteBoard
This service lets you create, edit, and share documents with others right in your browser.

Xanga Classic
Xanga offers 200MB of image storage and features plenty of blog-formatting templates.

Yahoo Briefcase
Yahoo Briefcase is one of the easiest ways we know of to store and share files online.

Yahoo Calendar
This ad-supported calendar is one of the best available online.

Yahoo Mail
With a traditional, forms-based Web interface, Yahoo mail is quick and easy to use.

Yahoo Mail Beta
Beta, not yet public.

Yahoo Widgets
This application puts "widgets" on your desktop that provide useful information, such as news updates, weather reports, stock tickers, or photos, or provide handy little services, like performing search engine queries, storing your notes, and more.
ZoneAlarm
Zone Alarm's free firewall keeps watch over inbound and outbound Internet connections, helping avert malicious attacks by hackers and spyware.

Zidane saves Materazzi from a sniper!

2006-10-12T16:17:00.000+05:30

See it to believe it!!

Top 50 SEO Resources

2006-10-12T15:00:00.000+05:30

Another post on SEO..

Information

These are sites that have general information on search engine optimization and search engines. They offer news, information, and search engine optimization tips.

Search Engine Watch
Marketing Terms - This dictionary will help you understand all of the search engine terms you come across.
Search Engine Relationship Chart - This chart shows you which search engines are connected to each other so you know what search engines to submit your site to and optimize for.
Search Engines - Tips on search engine optimization and promotion.
Google SEO Guidelines - Google's brief information on search engine optimization.
SEO Beginners Guide - Rand Fishkin writes a detailed guide on search engine optimization for beginners. It is a long read, but well worth it.
ISEDB
Search Engine Guide
Pandia
SEO Chat
Search Engine Colossus - This is a directory of all of the search engines in the world. If you are looking to target other countries, it is important to get familiar with the search engines in that country.
Thread Watch

Tools

Here is a list of tools that will be useful if you are looking to do search engine optimization. Some of the tools give you insight on search terms and others give you an idea of how well optimized your site is. These tools are great for research or for improving the optimization of your website.

SEO ToolSet
GoogSpy - If you are interested in finding out what search terms your competition is ranked for or is adverting on, then this site will be a great tool for you.
SEOMOZ's Tools
Wordtracker - This is a keyword research tool that tells you the popularity of certain keywords across the major search engines. It also gives you suggestions on other related terms that are high and low in traffic.
Search Term Suggestion - This tool comes directly from Yahoo and it gives you an idea on how popular search terms are. This gives you good input on what terms you want your site to be optimized for. Be careful because the total number does not mean that a high ranking for that keyword will get you that amount of traffic.
Meta Tag Analyzer
Google Toolbar - If you want to find out your site's Google PageRank you will need to install this toolbar. It will show you your PageRank, but be careful because it is not frequently updated.
Marketleap Link Popularity Checker - This link popularity checker will show how many sites link to you for each search engine. It can also show you the number of sites that link to your competitors. They also have a neat feature that shows the growth or decline in your link popularity over time.
Digital Point SEO Tools
SEO Chat Tools/
We Build Pages SEO Tools

Blogs

You may want to pay attention to blogs if you are looking to keep up with daily search engine news, information, and the latest search engine optimization tips. Blogs provide a constant update of news and information about the latest ideas. This space is constantly changing, so it's important to stay current with what is going on.

SEOMOZ
Search Engine Blog
TopRank
Search Engine Roundtable - This is one of the more unique blogs out there. There are search engine conferences that go on every couple months and they write about each session. It's like being at the conference and listening to the speakers.
Search Engine Watch Blog
SEO Book
Matt Cutts - This is the blog by one of Google's engineers. He is their most popular engineer and writes about Google, search engine optimization, and gadgets.
Search Engine Journal
Search Engine Lowdown
John Battelle's Search Blog
Google - Blog News Channel
Traffick
SEO by the Sea
Cameron Olthuis
Google Blogoscoped - Covers the ins and outs of Google. Sometimes they have information about Google before it is released to the general public. There are also interviews with Google employees.

Search Engine Forums

Forums are a great resource if you need help, input, or are just looking for information on search engine optimization. You post your questions and can expect a response from other people with their thoughts. This is great for finding information and getting help.

Search Engine Forum
High Rankings Forum
I Help You Forum
Webmaster World - Unlike most of the search engine forums, this is a paid forum and you have to pay yearly fees to be part of it. There are thousands of members and they discuss search engine optimization, news, tips, and general Internet-related topics.
Search Guild
SEO Chat Forum
Digital Point Forum
Cre8asite Forum
Search Engine Watch Forum

Conferences

Conferences are a great way to take your learning to the next level and get deeper into the industry. Conferences allow you to listen to experts in the field, meet them in person, and talk to people from the major search engines.

Search Engine Strategies - They hold conferences every couple months all over the world. They have sessions for beginners and you can also meet people from the major search engines.
PubCon - This is a search engine related conference that covers everything from general information to search engine optimization tips. They have conferences every couple months and the price is cheaper than Search Engine Strategies. The downfall is that the conference is smaller with less attendees.

Google Ranking - Factors

2006-10-12T13:13:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wondered why some sites are ranked so high on Google and why other sites are no where to be found? Over the last 5 or 6 years Google has been tweaking their algorithm to analyze on page (code) and off page (links) factors which affect how websites rank on their popular search engine. Here is a list of the factors that Google analyzes and a viewpoint that Google can take when analyzing a site:

Title Tags

1. Keywords - the keywords within the title tag should represent the content on the page.
2. Length - the title tag should be short and to the point.

Recommendations

* When creating a title tag make sure it is both unique and concise.
* Try to keep the number of characters between 60 and 80.
* If you have a blog try to make the title tag the name of the blog entry instead of the name of your blog.
* Do not try to stuff too many keywords in your title tag.
* Make sure that the title tag is readable and makes sense to your website's visitors.

URL

1. URL structure - the URLs of a website should be static with no extraneous characters.
2. Keywords - URLs should contain keywords as long as they are relevant to the content.

Recommendations

* Remove any extraneous characters from your URL strings (%&$?...)
* Try to add keywords in the URL strings but make sure that they represent the webpage.
* Make your URLs end with a .html or .htm extension or appear to be a subdirectory (about.html or /about).

Meta Description Tag

1. Keywords - the keywords in the meta description tag should represent the content of the page.
2. Length - the meta description should be short and to the point.
3. Unique - each page should have a unique meta description.

Recommendations

* Make the description a complete sentence so it is easy to read and understand.
* Try not to make the meta description tag longer then 120 characters.
* Do not use the same meta description tag throughout your site, each page should have a different tag. Many times it is best to just place the first one or two sentences from the content into the meta description tag.
* If possible, use only a couple of keywords in your meta description and try to place them towards the beginning.

Headings

1. Text type - sites should use H1, H2, and H3 tags
2. Keywords - the keywords in the heading tags should represent the content of the page.

Recommendations

* Use H1-H3 tags over H4 or lower tags.
* If you place a keyword in your heading tag, make sure that keyword is also in the content or at least related to the content of the page.
* Make headings short and to the point.

Content

1. Keywords - there should already be keywords within the content if content is written for your visitors. There should also be variations in the keywords (apple, apples) as well as additional related keywords (apple, fruit) within the content.
2. Prominence - the earlier the keywords appear in the content the more likely that the content is related to these keywords.
3. Font - Words within the content that are larger, bolder or italicized are usually considered more important.
4. User - The content should be written for visitors.
5. Links - links within the content should be related to the content.
6. Freshness - content that is updated more frequently may be more useful to searchers.
7. Uniqueness - content that is unique and original will generally rank higher then duplicate content.
8. Quantity - sites that have a only a few pages of quality content.
9. Themes - The content on a website should be based on similar topics or "themes".
10. Keyword density - the keyword density of a website should be similar on context to other related websites.

Recommendations

* Always write content for the user first and then the search engines.
* Try to place keywords throughout the content, also make sure that keywords are related to each other and the content on the page.
* Place links in your content to related websites as well as related conteont on your own website.
* Try to add content on a daily basis.
* Do not worry about keyword density, if the content is on "apples" then you will naturally mention "apples" multiple times within the content.
* Writing on related topics will show that your website is related to that topic and other keywords associated with that topic.
* Content should be unique, try not use content that is also on other websites.
* Use bold and italicized styled text when it makes sense for the readers, do not just do it for the search engines.

Alt Tags

1. Images - all images should have alt tags.
2. Keywords - words in the alt tags should be relevant to the image.
3. Length - alt tags should be short and to the point.

Recommendations

* Place alt tags on all images so you can improve the accessibility of your website.
* You can place keywords in your alt tags as long as they describe the image.
* Make sure your images are links when it makes sense, such as for a company logo.
* Do not stuff alt tags with keywords.
* Length of alt tags can vary, but usually the shorter the better.

Internal Links

1. Keywords - links that contain keywords should be related to the webpage they point to.
2. Titles - links should have titles that represent the anchor text of the link (tool tip).
3. Representation - link text should represent the linked page.

Recommendations

* You can place keywords within the anchor text of internal links but it is best to make sure they are relevant to visitors.
* Do not stuff your anchor text with tons of keywords.
* Keep the anchor text representative of the page you are linking to.
* Make the titles (tool tip) on each link the same as the anchor text.

Indexing

1. Links - by crawling all the links, all the pages of that website should be discovered and indexed.
2. Sitemap - a sitemap should contain links to important pages within a sitwebe.

Recommendations

* Link within your content to other pages within your website this can help Google index all of your pages.
* Create a sitemap that links to all or, at the very least, the important pages on your website.

External Links

1. Authority - if an authority website links to another website, then that other website will be considered valuable to people.
2. Keywords - if there are keywords within the anchor text of a link then it is normal for Google to consider that the website should be ranked for those keywords.
3. Age - the longer a link stays live on a website, the more valuable the link is.
4. Relevance - if a website links to you and another website, both websites, or at least web pages, should be related to the same topic.
5. Quantity - the more outbound links on a page, the less weight each link will have.
6. Extension - sites with important extensions such as .edu and .gov are considered to link to more valuable sites.
7. Freshness - if a site has outbound links and updates frequently, then even the old outbound links are considered to be valuable.
8. Link count - if a lot of websites link to one website, then that one website is considered useful to people.
9. Linking websites - links from related websites are better then links from non-related websites.
10. DMOZ - websites that are in DMOZ and link out to other websites are considered to link to good sites.
11. Placement - links within a website's content is considered better then links in the footer of a website.

Recommendations

* Try to get links from authority websites.
* Do not participate in link exchanges to build up your link popularity.
* Try not to purchase all page links.
* Do not go for links from high PageRank websites; instead go for links from related websites.
* Links from directories such as DMOZ and Yahoo Directory can not just help with search engine rankings but can also drive traffic.
* Use the new social websites such as MySpace, digg, del.icio.us, and YouTube to build link popularity.
* If you purchase text links try to keep them live as long as possible. The older the link, the better.
* Links from .edu or .gov websites will usually carry more weight and greater benefit.
* Stay away from websites and blogs that link out to non-related websites or that may seem spammy.

Code

1. Size - the size of the code on a website should be streamlined, the less KB it takes up, the better.
2. Clean - sites that are using web standards and have clean code usually load up faster for users.

Recommendations

* Use CSS to make your page size smaller.
* Use CSS to help improve the cleanliness of your code.

Website

1. Website Age - older websites are considered more relevant then newer websites.
2. Visit Length - in most cases the longer people stay on a website the great the chance that the website is useful to them.
3. Sandbox - websites in the Google sandbox are usually not as relevant compared to older websites.
4. 301 redirect - websites should do a 301 redirect from "yourdomain.com" to "www.yourdomain.com" or vice versa, depending on the circumstance.

Recommendations

* Try to register your domain name for more then 1 year.
* Use a 301 permanent redirect so that your website appears as 1 website instead of two separate websites. (www and the non-www are looked as two sites unless your do a redirect from one to the other)
* Try to grow at a natural rate; growing too fast may put you in the Google sandbox.

The following are some factors that Google may look at in a negative way:

1. Visibility - websites with invisible text might be trying to trick Google.
2. Over optimization - websites that are overly optimized may not be relevant for any search terms.
3. Keyword stuffing - websites with too many keywords stuffed into the content might be trying to trick Google.
4. Reciprocal links - websites that link between each other too many times might be trying to cheat.
5. Cloaking - websites that show Google a different page then what the viewer sees usually get banned.
6. Anchor text - if all the websites linking to a website have the same anchor text, those links will not be considered natural.
7. Doorway pages - if tons of 1 page websites filled with keywords are linking to another website, the ranking of that website can be affected negatively.
8. Frames - it is hard for Google to crawl and index a website with frames, which can make it harder to rank that website.
9. Flash - it is hard to read/crawl websites made fully in flash which will make it harder to rank Flash websites.
10. All page links - if tons of websites link to another website on every one of their pages then the text links may have been purchased, which is frowned upon by Google.
11. 301 redirects - websites that have tons of other websites redirecting into them might be trying to increase their link count to rank high, so Google may penalize these websites.

My 50 favorite design softwares/applications/resources

2006-10-12T13:06:00.000+05:30

There are thousands of design resources on the web which can lead to an overwhelming experience when looking for inspiration or ideas, so I created a list of resources that I use on a regular basis. Here is a list of 50 design resources that can be helpful to any designer or marketer.

CSS Galleries

Sometimes it can be hard to come up with design inspiration. CSS galleries are a great place to get design inspiration and they can also be leveraged as a great source of traffic. If you can get your design on these galleries it can drive thousands of visitors to your website.

Unmatchedstyle
cssBeauty
cssvault
Stylegala
CSS Drive
css thesis
Styleboost
CSSElite
CSS Import
Web Creme
CSS Mania
DesignShack

Web Standards

Designing with web standards is a great way to keep your code clean and search engine friendly. Why design a site with a 1000 lines of code when it can be done in 100 lines of code.

Developing With Web Standards - This document explains how and why using web standards will let you build websites in a way that saves time and money for the developer and provides a better experience for the visitor. Also discussed are other methods, guidelines and best practices that will help produce high-quality websites that are accessible to as many as possible.
Roadmap to Standards
Web Standards Project - The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.
Web Standards Checklist
Importance of Web Standards

Validators

Now that you know all about web standards, here are some tools that can help check if your site is compliant. These tools will also help you find errors in your code.

HTML & XHTML Validator
CSS Validator

Usability

Usability is probably the most important factor in a website design. Making your website usable can help improve the experience for your visitors as well as help improve your conversion rate.

What is usability
Usability First - An approach to web design which emphasizes usability.
Weblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes - Blogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.
Web Design & Usability Guidelines - An 18 part online book that goes over usability and design guidelines.
Web usability - the basics
The Culture of Usability - How to spend less and get more from your usability-testing program.
90% of All Usability Testing is Useless
Ten deadly sins of web design - A list of ten huge mistakes no web designer or developer should be caught making.
Information architecture resources
Usability Views - Usability with a twist.

Blogs/Resources

Blogs are a great resource for up-to-date information on design and usability. Here is a list of blogs that you may want to subscribe to or read on a regular basis.

Stopdesign
Signal vs. Noise Blog - A design and usability blog by 37signals.
Digital Web Magazine - Digital Web Magazine is an online magazine intended for professional web designers, web developers and information architects. The magazine consists primarily of work contributed by web authors, as well as by others who occasionally delve into the web realm. We put emphasis on and provide recognition for contributed work. The Magazine is recognized by nearly all of the major web design agencies in the industry.
A List Apart - A List Apart explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.
456 Berea Street - This is a site by Roger Johansson who writes articles on web standards, accessibility, or usability in one way or another.
mezzoblue - A semi-daily expository and exploratory on all things web, design, and typographic. It is also a personal portfolio site with works in any creative discipline the owner feels fit to publicize.
Adaptive Path
Jesse James Garrett - The blog of the founder of Adaptive Path.
Jeffrey Veen
Your Total Site - YourTotalSite touchs on a wide range of subjects that include usability, accessibility, visual design, online marketing, (X)HTML & CSS, JavaScript, Information Architecture, and more.
IxDG Resource Library - A repository of information about interaction design.
Apples to Oranges - A blog by Ryan Nichols.
Demystifying Usability - A blog by Frank Spillers, a usability consultant.

Color Resources

Color is an important factor in design. Color can separate your site from your competition and it can also convey a specific message to your visitors. If you provide a personalized service you may want to choose colors that are soft and personal or if you want a corporate look and feel you may want to pick hard colors. Here are several resources that I use to help me make color decisions.

Color Schemer - Online color scheme generator.
Color Meaning - An article that explains the symbolism and meaning of different color types.
The Meaning of Color in Web Design - How colors influence audiences when marketing products through the Internet.
Symbolism of Color
Color Matters - Explore how color affects emotions, appetite, vision, sexuality, design, and art.

Typography

There are many different types of fonts and they can greatly affect how readable your site is, so choose wisely.

1001 Free Fonts - A large selection of true type fonts for Windows and Macintosh.
The Anatomy of Web Fonts
Typetester - Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its' primary role is to make web designer's life easier.

Disabling F1 in Windows Explorer

2006-10-12T12:55:00.000+05:30

Many power Windows XP users who frequent the F2 key for renaming files seem to have the same problem hitting the F1 key every now and then, bringing up the rather slow Windows Help and Support Center. Since there doesn't seem to be an official registry-based fix without disabling F1 completely or running a background process to trap the key, I had to figure out a hack. Here's my solution, and I think it's pretty clean.

When you press F1 in Windows Explorer, an EXE called "helpctr.exe" is run. This makes it relatively easy to get rid of this behavior, by replacing it with a dummy executable that does nothing.

Of course, if your copy of Windows is somewhere other than C:\Windows, replace any references with the correct directory

First, download the dummy EXE to C:\Windows\
Run the Registry Editor: go to Start, Run, and type:
regedit
Navigate the tree on the left to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsCurrentVersion\App Paths\HELPCTR.EXE
On the right side, double-click the word "(Default)" in the list
Change the value in the text box to:
C:\Windows\Dummy.exe
Click OK and close the registry editor

To test the fix, just visit My Computer and press F1. Nothing should happen!

This solution seems to have no negative impact on other programs' Help systems, since regular Windows Help files don't use the Help Center.

The List of Lists aka The Baap of All Lists!!

2006-10-06T16:16:00.000+05:30

A list of the most useful web-development-related lists you will ever find out there. Ajax, Social Bookmarking, Cheat Shees, CSS, Google, RSS, Web-Tools, Web 2.0, Wiki, Wordpress. On one single page.

In the era of Web 2.0 everyone is collecting, tagging and presenting bookmarks, images, videos, mp3s and, of course, links. Being focused on the most useful tools for web-developers, we’ve decided to collect something quite different - most useful lists, which include references to the best web-development-related resources. We’ve collected them, sorted them and listed in one single article. A quick overview of the most popular and useful lists for your web-projects. For web-developers and designers.

AJAX

AJAX Toolkits and Frameworks
Round-up of 50 AJAX Toolkits and Frameworks
30 AJAX Tutorials
Round-up of 30 AJAX Tutorials - Max Kiesler
60 AJAX Tutorials
60 More AJAX Tutorials - Max Kiesler
AJAX Tutorials
A list of good and well known tutorials for AJAX Applications. From simple widgets to entire application. Find it all here.

Bookmarklets

More Must-Have Bookmarklets
General, Web Design and Development, Search Engines, Specific Browsers

Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking Sites
Your bookmarks should go wherever you go. Here’s a list of social bookmarking websites.
Social Bookmark Managers
Social Services that can “Manage Bookmarks”
Social Bookmarks
Social bookmarking Sites

Calenders

Best Online Calendars
Systems that allow you to keep track of your calendar online, and/or share your calendar w/ others.

Cheat Sheets

Cheat Sheet List
compilation of cheatsheets for popular apps….over 90 Cheatsheets for web developers.
Cheat Sheet Roundup
Over 30 Cheatsheets for developers, Web Development Cheat Sheets, Databases / SQL Cheat Sheets, Language Cheat Sheets

CMS

Content Management System List
Open Source
Comparison of content management systems
This is a list of content management systems that are used to organize and facilitate collaborative content creation. Many of them are built on top of separate content management frameworks.

CSS

CSS Design Galleries
Huge list of css an design galleries (61 resources)
CSS Galleries
Get design inspirations from these showcases.
Holy CSS Zeldman

del.icio.us

Absolutely Del.icio.us
Complete Tools Collection
del.icio.us A-to-Z
All 150+ hacks, links, tools organized by applications / languages / platforms / services

Digg

All the digg-style applications
There are 218 Digg-style applications….
Complete Digg Tools Collection
Huge list of digg tools
Digg Tools
Large list of various digg tools/links collected from around the web….

Editors

List of HTML editors
Huge List From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WYSIWYG Web Editors - The List
This list of WYSIWYG rich text web editors is being maintained as a general resource for developers who want to add a richer editing experience to web based applications….

Flickr

The Great Flickr Tools Collection
Huge List Of Great Flickr Tools!

Google

Google Services
A list about all the google services
The Big Google Search Tools Collection
Here is a list of Official Google Search Tools

Photoshop

PhotoShop Massive List Of Plugins, Filters…..
Brushes, Actions & Gradients

PHP

PHP Related Links
On these sites you will find tutorials, articles, example scripts, PHP related tools, jobs, web hosting services, etc.

RSS

Online Feed Aggregators
Read your news anywhere and everywhere.
RSS Readers - Online and Offline
List of RSS/ATOM feed readers/aggregators.
RSS Feed Submission Sites
Here is the site lists for RSS Feeds submissions

Software & Tools

Analysis
Validation, Accessibility, Checks, SEO Tools…
Validators and Checkers
The Web Design Group’s links to HTML validators and other document checkers.
Color Tools
Great color tool list
Digital Artist Freeware
Great alternatives to Photoshop and other Adobe or Corel products
complete freeware collection…
alternatives to expensive software
High Quality Web Development Resources
Specials - Browsers, Generators, Optimizers, SEO Tools…
Online Generators
Great list of available online helpers for web workers. CSS Layout and style generators, htacess generators,…..
Online Tools, Generators, Checkers
List of online free tools that help us to program, design, develope, optimize, etc.
Open Source Freeware : 400+ free applications and utilities
Extremely useful open source applications and utilities available free under various licenses.
Protolize
Essential web tools in one place
Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List
Scott Hanselman’s 2005 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List
Windows opensource and/or freeware
List of freely available windows software. NOT SHAREWARE.

Web 2.0

All Things Web 2.0 - “THE LIST”
A huge list of Web 2.0 applications
Complete List of Web 2.0 Applications
Following is an alphabetically sorted list of popular Web 2.0 applications.
List of Web 2.0 Lists
a list of the web 2.0 lists and other helpful product data that I’ve found on the Web. I encourage you to add other sources in the comments…Richard MacManus
Navigation Menus
Collection of Web 2.0 Navigation Menus
Web 2.0 Directory
There are 1007 Web 2.0 sites/services/links in 50+ categories
Web 2.0 Products and Services
Complete List of Web 2.0 Products and Services

Wiki

Wiki software
Wiki software is a type of collaborative software that runs a Wiki system. This typically allows web pages to be created and edited using a common web browser.
List of Wiki-Software
This is a list of wiki software applications.

WordPress

805+ Free WordPress 1.5 and 2.0 Themes / Templates
Comprehensive list of 805+ Free WordPress 1.5 and 2.0 Themes / Templates available for download
Essential WordPress Plugins
39 resources…..created by Mary-ann HORLEY
WordPress Resources
WordPress and blogging help, tips, techniques, and news for WordPress, Wordpress.com, and blog users

List of Best SEO Tools

2006-10-06T16:10:00.000+05:30

What are the best ways to boost your position in search engines? What keywords should you use on your web-pages? And which tools should you use to improve the quality of backlinks, link popularity and Google Pagerank? We deliver answers. Here is the list of the most useful SEO-tools you might be willing to use, developing and optimizing your next web-site. Our personal choice: 156 Seo Tools - one of the most comprehesive lists with essential SEO-references and tools. For even more resources check out the SEO section of The Web-Developer’s Handbook.
Alexa

Alexa-Ranking
Alexa page-rank-and-rating-results
Alexa Web Rank Checker
Check your site’s current Alexa Web Rank, Incoming Links, Reach Rank & Average Reviews

Backlink

Anchor Text Backlink Checker
This tool is to check your backlinks and the anchor text used in those backlinks.
Backlink Analyzer
Research and analyze websites for link quality. Checks for Indexed Pages, Links to Website, EDU & .GOV Links, Domain Age & Expiration, Google PageRank, Alexa Traffic Rank, DMOZ Listing
Backlink Anchor Text Analyzer
This tools help you determine the backlinks of your website and link text used by your backlinks to Link to your website
Backlink Builder
Building Quality backlinks is one of the most important factors in Search Engine Optimization…

Domain Popularity, Domain Stats Tools…

Domain Age Tool
This tools displays the approximate age of a website on the Internet and allows you to view how the website looked when it first started
Domain Dossier
Investigate domains and IP addresses
Domain Popularity
This tool shows you all backlinks for the given domain, including up to 10 subpages per backlinking domain, host IP and Google PageRank
Domain Stats Tool
This tool helps you get all kind of statistics of your competitor’s domains. The statistics include Alexa Taffic Rank, Age of the domains, Yahoo WebRank, Dmoz listings, count of backlinks and number of pages indexed in Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, Msn etc.
HTTP / HTTPS Header Check
This tools allow you to inspect the HTTP headers that the web server returns when requesting a URL. Works with HTTP and HTTPS URLs
View HTTP Headers
This little tool lets you view the HTTP headers for a HTTP request
View HTTP Path
This little tool lets you view the path/redirects a request takes to get fulfilled

Google Page Rank Checker, Adwords Keyword Tools,Google Banned Tools…

Advanced Google searches
Use this tool to search google in many special ways. A useful resource for search engine optimization (especially keyword research) among other things
Check Google Pagerank
Now you can check the Google PageRank of any web page without installing the Google toolbar
Check PageRank by Google data center
With this tool you can check the PageRank from different data centers
Free Google Adsense Keywords & YPN Keywords Search Tool
With the ability to search a growing database of tens of thousands of high-dollar Adsense keywords, Iotaweb allows publishers to find the keywords and key phrases that will allow them to focus their content to monetize their site most effectively.
Google Adwords Keyword Tool
Keyword tool from Google that provides Specific and Similar keywords.
Google Banned Tool
This tool uses two methods to check to see if a URL you enter is in the Google database. Its a great way to check to see if you have been banned by Google for various reasons….
Google Keyword Ranking Tool
Search with list of keywords from differnet Google search sites
Google Page Rank Checker
Instantly check the PageRank of any website or web page
Google Page Rank Checker
A simple tool that checks and your PageRank so you can display it on your website
Google Sets
Automatically create sets of items from a few examples.
Google Synonyms
Type in a keyword to get Google’s synonyms using the “~keyword -keyword” method.
PageRank Authenticity Check
This tool shows you the PageRank of a given domain. Also the PageRank will be checked of authenticity
Page Rank Tool
Our PageRank Tool will query and return the Google PageRank values for submitted URL from various Google datacenters…
Poodle Predictor
See your site like Google does. Simulate search engines and predict your Google listings
Visual PageRank
The Visual PageRank - Tool shows all links and there corresponding PageRanks

Keyword Analysis Tool, Keyword Density, Keyword Suggestion Tools…

McDar Keyword Analysis Tool
Enter URL and keyword, it will display Pagerank and Back links pages for the Top 10 websites.
Keyword Density
This tool shows you how often appears which word in content of given domain
Keyword Density
The keyword density tool is useful for helping webmasters and SEOs achieve their optimum keyword density for a set of key terms.
Keyword Density Checker
Keyword Density is the percentage of occurrence of your keywords to the text in the rest of your webpage. This tool will crawl the specified URL, extract text as a search engine would, remove common stop words and Analyze the density of the keywords.
Keyword Difficulty Tool
The keyword difficulty tool is used to analyze the competitive landscape of a particular search term or phrase, this tool issues a percentage score and provides a detailed analysis of the top ranking sites at Google and Yahoo…
Keyword research service
Type a keyword or phrase and get the top 10 Keyword Discovery listings
KwMap.net
A Keyword Map For the Whole Internet
Keyword Suggestion Tool
This keyword suggestion tool will help you with the choosing of the right keywords for your website. You can see which keyword combinations are more popular and also get ideas for more keyword combinations..
SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool
Free Overture and Google Keyword suggestion tool
Website Keyword Suggestions
This tools tries to determine the theme of your website and provides keyword suggestions along with keyword traffic estimates.
Ontology Finder
Related Keywords Lookup Tool
Overture Keyword Tool
This tool, based on the excellent Overture and Wordtracker keyword search tools, gives similar data, including search figures from the previous month. It also adds statistics for average searches per hour, day, week, projected figures for the next 12 months and then also a figure to see how searches may look in 3 years from now.

Link Popularity Check, Site Link Analyzer, Link Value…

Deep Link Ratio Tool
This tool was created to analyze how the deep link ratio of a site affects its rank in search engines. We can use this tool to compare the DLRs for the best ranking sites for a search phrase.
Link Popularity Check
Link popularity check is one of the best ways to quantifiably and independently measure your website’s online awareness and overall visibility…
Link Popularity Checker
The Link Popularity Checker tells you how many websites are linking to yours…
LINK VALIDATION SPIDER
Free Online Broken Link Checker
Link Price Calculator
This tools will help you determine the approximate amount you should be paying (or charging) per month for a text link (ad) from each and every page of the specified website
Link Value
This tool calculates the link value per month of a given website.
Reciprocal Link Check
This tool helps you ensure that your link partners are linking back to your website. It also determines the anchor text used by your link partners to link to your website.
Site Link Analyzer
This tool will analyze a given web page and return a table of data containing columns of outbound links and their associated anchor text…
The Link Reputation Measurement Tool
Reveals backlinks pointing to your target url along with the following: Link Survey - Link Reputation Score - Text used in links pointing to you - Alexa traffic analysis for the site corresponding to each backlink
Outbound Links
This tool shows every outgoing link from the given domain. Separated in external and internal links

Meta Tag Generators

Meta Tag Generator
Our Meta Tag Generator will read the page you specify, remove common words from it, and pick the most used words on the page. It will then generate a Meta Keywords tag using the words it has found…
Meta Tag Generator
Use this tool to generate a search engine friendly Head Tag for your web site
Title & Meta Tags Generator
his code generator will build the title and meta tags for your site to help improve your website’s search engine ranking using our Meta Tag Generator

Miscellaneous Tools

156 Seo Tools
One of the most comprehensive lists with useful, essential SEO tools.
Directory Submission Manager
Use this free tool to track your submissions to various web directories….
Copyscape
Search for copies of your page on the Web
Crazy Egg
Get a clear picture of where your visitors are clicking and enhance your site’s results
Site Analysis including Link Popularity
This tool generates a complete site analysis e.g. amount of backlinks, indexed sites, Google PageRank and also if your domain is listed in DMOZ and Yahoo directory
Sitemap Generator
Create your Google Sitemap Online
Browser Screen Resolution Checker
The browser screen resolution checker shows what your web page looks like with the viewer’s monitor set to different screen resolutions
Similar Page Checker
Search Engines are known to penalize websites that contain Duplicate / Similar content. Your content could be similar to other websites on the Internet, or pages from within your own website could be similar to each other. This tool allows you to determine the percentage of similarity between two pages
Speedtester
This tool shows the duration of a given website. This value can be used for showing how long a website take to load and if it is better to optimize the website or change a (slow) ISP.
mod_rewrite RewriteRule Generator
Our mod_rewrite RewriteRule generator will take a dynamic url given to it, and generate the correct syntax to place in a .htaccess file to allow the url to be rewritten in a spiderable format
URL Rewrite (mod_rewrite)
With this tool you can generate dynamic urls to search engine friendly urls..
URL Rewriting Tool
Create Search Engine Friendly URLs
User Agent Cloaking Detector
This tool simulates the Googlebot (based on User-Agent) to detect cloaked content
What is Hosted on that IP
This little tool lets you view the virtual hosts on a particular IP

Search Engine Position Checker, Spider Simulator, Ranking Report, SERP Tracker

Dogpile
Search Comparison Tool
Google vs Yahoo Graph
This tool looks at the results from Yahoo and Google, finds the similarities and then gives you a graphical display of what results are in both search engines
Search Engine Position Checker
The Search Engine Position Checker tool will automatically query the search engines you specify and check if your URL appears in the first 50 results for your chosen keywords….
Search Engine Simulator
This service allows web authors to see what their pages will look like (sort of) to a search engine. This service ignores the META tags that some search engines honor.
Search Engine Spider Simulator
With this tool you see all informations a search engine spider receive from a website.
Marketleap Search Engine Verification Tool
Our verification tool checks to see if your site is in the top three pages of a search engine result for a specific keyword
Number of pages indexed
This tool will generate a report showing how many pages of your website has been indexed by the search engines so far. It supports all major search engines: Google, Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb, Hotbot and AltaVista.
Search Engine Ranking Report
Input key phrase list get Google rankings
Serps Position
Use this tool to find out, on which position your domain is ranked for the given keyword and compare the first 100 results by Google, search.MSN and Yahoo.
SERP Tracker
The SERP Tracker reports on search engine results and charts performance over time

SEO Analyzer, Scanner

Free SEO Tools
SEOToolSet
Cool SEO Tool!
This internet marketing tool checks the top 10 sites that rank in Google. After that, it checks to see how those 10 sites rank in Yahoo and in MSN….
SEO Analyzer
The SEO Analyzer is a FREE tool that uses a sophisticated algorithm that detects how optimized your web design is for search engines
SEO Scanner
An all-in-one advanced SEO analysis, tracking, and reporting tool

Robots.txt Tools

Robots Txt Generator
Use this tool to generate a simple robots file for your website…
Robots.txt syntax checker
This robots.txt syntax checker checks the contents of a site’s robots.txt…

Best/Popular Web 2.0 Applications

2006-09-28T10:54:00.000+05:30

Web 2.0 applications are available from anywhere with an internet connection for a small monthly fee and sometimes even for free. These software programs are designed for small and medium businesses or workgroups that don’t really have the budget or the need for enterprise class software.

Web 2.0 applications provide the user with an easy to use program that get the job done and done well. I have categorised the different systems to make it easier to find what interestes you.

If you know of other Web 2.0 applications,leave me a comment and let me know where to find it.
Web based Todo Lists

Web Based Word Procesing

Online Calendars

Project Management & Team Collaboration

Social Bookmarking

Browser Home Pages - Start pages

Peer Production News Sites

Image and photo storage

Web Based File Storage

Blog Filters

Non Profit

Drawing Programs

Application Development & Databases

Facts about Shaving!!

2006-09-28T09:58:00.000+05:30

If you’ve always wanted to know how many hairs are removed from a man’s face by shaving, you’re in luck! Can you believe the prehistoric man shaved too? This article is filled of shaving facts, that may be useless but at least you’ll know.

1. The average shave will trim away somewhere between 20,000-25,000 hairs from a man’s face.

2. Shaving cream was only made for men until the industry specifically targeted women in 1986 by manufacturing the whipped magic specifically for women!

3. Shaving cream didn’t always come in aerosol cans; the method wasn’t even introduced until 1950.

4. The Pharaohs of Egypt probably liked a good shave every now and then, of course using nothing less than the best made from gold and silver. Archeologists have found razor relics that date back as far as the fourth century.

5. Only about 30% of men who shave use an electric device to shave.

6. When a man wet shaves, it’s as good as using an exfoliating product because the process removes dead skin cells promoting healthier skin.

7. Shave gels weren’t even thought of until the 1970’s.

8. Archeologists believe that caveman used clams and shark teeth to shave with, 20,000 years ago-in the Stone Age!

9. Nearly 70% of American women prefer a clean-shaven man.

10. Some archeologists think that many warriors shaved their heads before battles so opponents didn’t have any hair to pull … maybe they were discouraging the practice of scalping?

Women and their Fairer Sex tag......

2006-09-28T09:56:00.000+05:30

Are women really the fairer sex? Here are some examples of women ‘behaving badly’.

Charlotte de Berry’s career as a pirate began in the 1600’s when she dressed up as a man to follow her husband into the Royal Navy. Charlotte’s ruse was discovered when the ship they were on was attacked and it was discovered that she was really a woman. She was made to take a ship back to England. Along the way, the Captain of the ship bound for home assaulted Charlotte and in revenge, she lead the crew in a mutiny and lopped off the Captain’s head, whereupon she usurped his position and decided instead of going home, it would be more fun to be a pirate and raid ships along the African Coast.

Madame Popova operated a service in Russia in the late 1800’s specializing in helping married women get rid of cruel husbands. She used poison, her own hands, weapons or sometimes assassins to get rid of over 300 victims during her ‘career’ in murder-for-hire. The jig was up when one of the women she helped ratted her out and she was put in front of a firing squad.

Belle Gunness was the first 20th Century Black Widow. During the 1900’s she is said to have killed 49 people- husbands, ranch workers who worked on her farm and even children who were assigned to her care through social agencies. Most of her victims were poisoned, or suffered ‘accidents’ while on the farm. She convinced another ranch hand to use arson and help her cover it up by faking her own death. The ranch hand, who ended up dying in prison, was innocent of every crime but the arson. She was never convicted.

Melita Norwooda of London supplied Soviets with nuclear bomb plans back in the 30’s while working as a secretary in a scientific research institute. Most knew her as ‘Grandma Hola’, who happened to make the best darn homemade jellies in the whole neighborhood! A staunch communist and great-grandmother, Grandma Hola says she doesn’t regret a thing!

Creating a Virtual Private Network

2006-09-27T17:36:00.000+05:30

This guide shows you how to use free software to easily and quickly create a VPN (virtual private network) between two computers. An example of a great use for this is connecting to your computer at your house from your computer at the office and using files at your office that are located on your home PC.

What is a VPN tunnel?

A VPN is a virtual private network. What that means is you can create a VPN tunnel between your computer at your work and your computer at your house. Once you have a VPN tunnel between the two computers you can access files through the internet (in the VPN tunnel) on your home computer from your office or vice versa.

Is it secure?

Yes. If you have to seriously ask that question and you have things that other people must not see I would stay away from this. Don’t get me wrong, VPNs are very secure, but if you have sensitive data traveling across a VPN I would stick with CISCO VPN hardware or software to establish a VPN.

The security of the VPN tunnel talked about in this guide is more than enough for the average person.

Download the Software

The software I use is called Hamachi. Hamachi is free and VERY easy to use.

Click here to download Hamachi.

Once you download Hamachi, install it on your computer.

Once you install Hamachi you’ll see a quick guide popup the first time you run Hamachi. I suggest reading it.

Create a Network

Once Hamachi is installed and running on your computer you need to turn it on. Click the on button on the lower left of the Hamachi window. Once you turn it on for the first time you’ll see a window similar to the one below.

Type a nickname you want to use and click create.

Now you need to create a network. Think of a network as an account name for the computer you want to connect to. When you connect to a computer from another computer you use the network name and password to find and connect to it.

Type your network name and a very secure password. The network name must be unique.

Click create when you are finished.

If you want to create a network after Hamachi has been started simply click the create or join networks button on the lower right of the Hamachi window and select create network.

Join a Network

Once you’ve created a network on a computer and you are ready to connect to that computer from another computer click the create or join network button located at the bottom right of the Hamachi window and select join existing network.

Type the network name and password of the computer you want to connect to and click join.

If everything goes well you are now directly connected to your computer through a VPN tunnel.

You can browse to that computer and open files just like you would if you were on the same network at home or at work.

Top 10 Firefox Web 2.0 Add-ons

2006-09-27T14:28:00.000+05:30

Here is something very useful that i found on another site.

With all this talk of the Web as a platform, it's worth taking a closer look at what web apps are using Firefox as their platform. Firefox is regarded as the best Web browser in terms of extensions - i.e. small browser add-ons which modify or add to existing functionality. It has hundreds of add-ons, which can be downloaded from here. But which are the best 'web 2.0' add-ons for Firefox? And I'm using the term 'web 2.0' very broadly here, to mean any add-on that has a social Web aspect to it.

Based on Mozilla's list of recommended extensions, AdaptiveBlue's Alex Iskold and I have generated a top 10 list of Firefox Web 2.0 add-ons. As always, let us know your own favorite add-ons in the comments.

Smart Browsing / Personal Productivity

Browster

Browster is a very cool add-on that enhances your browsing experience - for example mousing over a link gives you a preview of the website. It enables you to speed up your browsing experience and can save a lot of clicks in the long run. It does this by automatically pre-fetching links. It's a free add-on for both IE and Firefox - and hopes to make a profit by putting ads in the pop-up previews.

Answers

Answers is an add-on that promises to "instantly deliver the information you are looking for". It comes from answers.com, which is a popular online dictionary and Wikipedia syndication site. Alex says this is a "perfect example of smart integration with a service in the browser". The Answers add-on works like this:

"Just point at any word, hold the Alt key and click. Upon letting go, an AnswerTip in the form of a pop-up "information bubble" appears on the screen explaining the term."

blueorganizer

The blueorganizer smart browsing extension for Firefox is developed by Alex's company adaptiveblue. This extension drives productivity by building smarts and semantics into the browser. The blueorganizer integrates with many popular sites and services - including Amazon, Flickr, YouTube, iTunes, Odeo and Netflix. It utilizes Amazon's S3 storage service, as well as being run from the Firefox browser - so it is using the Web as a platform in many ways. SolutionWatch has a great review of blueorganizer, if you want to find out more.

Bookmarking / Social Bookmarking

delicious

The del.icio.us extension for Firefox allows you to easily bookmark webpages in del.icio.us, from within the Firefox browser. It integrates with the Firefox toolbar and provides extra options such as right-click menu and highlight text to add notes.

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is an increasingly popular bookmarking tool - indeed in my recent post about the Turkey market, we discovered that StumbleUpon is a very popular app in Turkey. The StumbleUpon add-on is described as "collaborative surfing tool", because you can browse websites according to what other people recommend.

ClipMarks

ClipMarks is an early pioneer in the clipping space. Users clip pieces out of web pages and share these bits with each other. They can also tag and lookup the clips, but not much more can be done since the information is not structured. The Clipmarks Firefox add-on integrates this with the browser.

Google Notebook

Google Notebook is very similar to Clipmarks, but has better Firefox integration. It also works in IE6. As with Clipmarks, the user manually extracts text and images out of the page - but this information is unstructured. Google Notebook has had mixed reviews so far, but we think Google is currently putting in resources to improve it.

Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer

FoxMarks Bookmark Synchronizer is an easy way to sync your Firefox bookmarks, if you use Firefox on more than one computer. It is very simple, but does its job nicely and has been well received by Firefox users.

RSS Readers

Unfortunately, we are not aware of a really great RSS Reader for Firefox. If you know of one, please mention it in the comments section. In our opinion the best reader in a Mozilla-based browser is the one which comes with Flock. It would be great if someone got inspired, extracted it and released it for Firefox - since Flock is also open source.

There are however two RSS readers that most Firefox users rely on:

Sage

Sage is a basic and lightweight RSS Reader, although you need to be a techie to use it. It leverages Firefox bookmarks to store feeds - and it does the job pretty well.

Wizz RSS News Reader

Wizz RSS is a fancier reader that works well. It supports OPML import and export, plus has advanced features like filtering news items on words and/or phrases. But it is still not as smooth in terms of usability and options as the Reader that is built into Flock.

Conclusion

Firefox is currently one of the best platforms for building a new breed of web applications, on top of the emerging Web Platform. Given its native support for JavaScript and excellent extension API, we expect to see more complex and more tightly integrated web apps built on Firefox in the near future.

Blogging Terms Glossary

2006-09-21T14:20:00.000+05:30

This article attempts to simplify some common blogging terms organized into a simple blogging glossary. Only common and popular blog tools and services have been included.

Note : The language used here is mostly non technical to make the newbie blogger understand the blogging basics. These have not been created by me, but collected over time. This is NOT a substitute for dictionary meaning or a strict definition of these terms, but a simple layman approach to understanding what they mean. Please feel free to propose a better meaning in the comments.

BLOGGING

Weblog- An online dated diary listing your periodic thoughts on a specific topic, often in reverse chronological order.
Blog - short form for weblog
Blogging - the act of posting on blogs
Blogger - a person who blogs
Blogosphere - The internet blogging community

BLOGGING FORMS

Photoblogging - a blog predominantly using and focusing on photographs and images. Photoblogs are created by photobloggers
Podcasting - a method of distributing multimedia files (audio / videos) online using feeds for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. Podcasts are created by podcasters.
Autocasting - is an automated form of podcasting
Blogcasting - the blog and the podcast merged into a single website.
Vlogging - Also called video blogging. Shortened to vlog. Posted by vlogger. A variant on the blogging using video instead of text.
Audioblogging - Also called audioblog, MP3 blog or musicblogs. a variant on the blogging using audio instead of text. Created by audioblogger.
Moblogging - Also called moblogs. A blog posted and maintained via mobile phone. Moblogs are created by mobloggers.

BLOG COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONS

Index page - the front page fo the blog
Header - the topmost part of the blog usually listing the blog title.
Footer - the most bottom part of the blog usually listing navigation and copyright statements
Sidebar - One or more columns along one or both sides of most blogs main page
Categories - A collection of topic specific posts
Post, Entry- individual articles that make up a blog
Comments - enabling readers to leave their remarks
Captcha - short for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”. Those word and letter verification images you need to type in to show you are human and not a bot. Helful to block automated spam comments. more
Ping - Short for Packet Internet Grouper. Blog and ping helps to notify other blog tracking tools for updates, changes and trackbacks.
Trackback - A system by which a ping is sent to another blog to notify that their article has been mentioned by you
Pingback - See trackback.
Permalink - A link to a specific article
Tags - labelling / attaching keywords to collect similar posts
Tag cloud - Displaying tags lists or keywords in a blog.
Blogroll - list of links to other blogs in your sidebar. Also see blogrolling.com
Sideblog - A smaller blog usually placed in the sidebar of a blog.
Template - the blog presentation design
BlogThis - a function allows a blogger to blog the entry they a reading
Plugins - Small files that add improved functionality and new features. Wordpress plugins can greatly improve your blog usage and interactivity
Dashboard - When you login to your blogging account, it is the first screen with all controls, tools and functions.
Archives - a collection of all your posts on one page. Can be categorized by month etc.
Expandable post summaries - show a small teaser part of the post on the index page that link to the full post. more
Jump - the continuation of a the story on another page to preserve space on index page.
FTP - short for file transfer protocol. Transferring file to and fro from your web host using FTP tools like Filezilla

WEB FEEDS

Web Feed - allows online users to subscribe to websites that change or add content regularly.
RSS - a family of web feed formats used for Web syndication. Short form for Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0), Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0), RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0). Wordpress generates RSS 2.0
XML - short for eXtensible Markup Language. a general-purpose markup language for syndication formats used on blogs.
RDF - short for Resource Description Framework. A web content syndication format.
Atom - another specific web feed format. Blogger feeds are usually of this type.
OPML - short for Outline Processor Markup Language. It is an XML format for outlines. Easily import and export multiple blog subscriptions between different rss aggregators.
Photofeed- a web feed with image enclosures.

BLOGGING SOFTWARE / CLIENTS

Blogger - a free blogging platform by Google.
Blogspot - free Blogger hosting blog at name.blogspot.com
LiveJournal - free blogging tool by SixApart
Movable Type - paid blogging tool by SixApart
Typepad - paid blogging tool by SixApart
Wordpress.org- Free. Easy to Upload, customize and upgrade.
Wordpress.com - A Wordpress blog hosted free for you.
Radio Userland - another blog publishing software package

TYPES OF BLOGS

Group blog- with multiple contributing bloggers.
Event blog - focussed on an event
Kittyblogger - writing about cats.
Celeblog - focused on a celebrity.
Celebriblog - maintained by a celebrity.
Clog Blog - written in Dutch and/or in Holland.
CEOBlog - run by a chief executive officer.
Plog - a project blog. Also for Amazon.com personalised weblogs
Movlogs - mobile video blogs.
Splog- a spam blog
Tech blog - focused on a technical subject.
Anonoblog - by an anonymous blogger
Linguablog - about linguistics, translation etc.
Metablog - a blog about blogging.
Milblog - a military blog.
Blawg - blogged by lawyer / related to legal stuff
Edu-blog - education oriented blog.
Progblog - A progressive blog.
Shocklog - provokes discussion by posting shocking content
Klog - used by company knowledge workers. by Kloggers
Blogsite - A web site that combines blog feeds from a number of different sources
Dark Blog- A non-public blog
Photocast- a photoblog that automatically updates when new photos are added.

BLOGGING HABITS

Metablogging - writing articles about blogging
Blogstipation - writer’s block for bloggers. Cant think of what to blog about?
Blogathy - I do not want to post today and I do not care about it
Blogopotamus - A long long blog post
Blogorrhea - unusually high output of articles
Bleg - To use one’s blog to beg for assistance etc.
Hitnosis - Refreshing your browser repeatedly to see if your hit counter or comments have increased
GAD - Google Adsense Disorder. Repeatedly checking your adsense earnings. more
Blego - Blog+Ego. Measuring blogger worth
Blog hopping - jumping from one blog to another
Blogroach - A commenter who rudely disagrees with posted content
Blogoholic - addicted to blogging
Blogorific = blogtastic - something which a blogger says is terrific
Blogsit - maintaining a blog while the primary blogger is on leave
Blogvertising - Also called blogvert. Advertising on a blog.
Blurker - a blog reader not posting comments, just lurking around quietly.
Blogathon - update your website every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. Maybe collect sponsorships. more
Blogiversary - your blog birthday
Blog Carnival - Links to other articles covering a specific topic.
Multiblog - running multiple blogs
Blog Tipping - Compliment 3 blogs on day 1 of every month. more
Blogger bash - a blogger party
Commenter - someone who leaves remarks / comments
Reciprocal Links - called link love. You link to my blog, I link to yours. To improve search engine rankings.
Linkbaiting - a habit of writing good content with the sole purpose of getting it linked from multiple sites.
Blogstorm - a large amount of blogosphere activity due to particular controversy. Also called Blog Swarm.
Blogsnob - refusing to respond to blog comments from “not-friends”.
Doppelblogger - plagiarize the content of another blogger. To Doppelblog.
Blogophobia - Fear of blogs and blogging.
Bloggerel - the same opinion posted repeatedly on a blog

BLOGGER TYPES

Problogger - professional blogger
Blognoscenti - especially knowledgable bloggers
Blogebrity - a famous blogger.
Blogerati - the blogosphere intelligentsia.
Commentariat - The community of those leaving comments.
Dooced - lost a job because of blog entries. To Dooce.
Blogther - a fellow blogger.
A-List- the top bloggers who influence the blogosphere.
Blogstar- blogger running a popular blog

OTHER BLOGGING TERMS

Bloggies- Annual blogging awards. more
MSM - Mainstream Media, or old media like newspapers etc.
BSM - Blogstream media. from most heavily trafficked blogs.
Blog Day - 31 August. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting and tell them. more
Blaudience - your blog audience.
Blargon - Also called Blogssary. Blogging slang and glossary. What I am telling you now.
Blogiversary - your blog birthday
Blogiverse - see blogosphere
XFN - short for XHTML Friends Network. Is a simple way to represent human relationships using hyperlinks.
Blogonomics - blogging conference on a Blog Cruise in 2006. more
EFF - short for Electronic Frontier Foundation. A nonprofit group working to protect blogger rights.
Blog of Note - a recommended blog. more
Navbar - a navigation bar usually seen on top of Blogger blogspot hosted blogs. more
Blook - a book created from a blog. more
Hat Tip- acknowledgement of the source that tipped you the news.
Spomments- Spam comments
Blammer- Blog spammer
SOB- acronym for Successful and Outstanding Blogger. From successful-blog.com
Blogiday- you get fed up and take a holiday from blogging

BLOGGING TOOLS & SERVICES

Bloglines, Rojo, Newsgator, Kinja, - are News Aggregators that display content from syndicated Web content from web feed. Can be configured online or downloaded on your desktop. Like . Also called RSS readers, feed readers, feed aggregators or news readers
Pageflakes, Newsvine - Track multiple feeds on a single page by modules.
Odeo, Podnova - are Podcatchers, a form of aggregator used to automatically download podcasts and can sometimes transfer a portable media player. Like
Feedburner - a professional feed management system
Pingomatic, Pingoat - ping multiple blog tracking services. More
Feedblitz, Zokooda - Email subscriptions and newletter tools.
Technorati - a real-time search engine that keeps track of what is going on in the blogosphere
b5media, 9rules - examples of popular blogging networks. Collection of blogs and bloggers providing great content, with revenue sharing sometimes.
K2, Blix - names of some popular wordpress themes.
Blogexplosion, Blogclicker- popular blog traffic generation / exchange services.
Adsense, Adbrite, CJ, Chitka, Blogads - popular affiliate programs to generate money from your blogs.
Sphere, Icerocket - blog search engines
Live Bookmarks - a firefox web browser feature. Update themselves automatically with the latest content from the Web.
Creative Commons - licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach.
CoComment - Tracks your comments across different platforms and follow conversations
WBloggar, Ecto, Qumanna - desktop blog publishing tools
Mint, Mybloglog, Measuremap, Analytics - site traffic tracking tools.
Haloscan- free trackback service
YouTube, Rapidshare- puts video on your blog
Flickr, Imageshack - photo sharing service. Host images on your blog
Del.icio.us, furl, spurl - share social bookmarks.
Blogburst - Syndicating your feed to top publishers.
Bloggeropoly - professional blogger recruiting agency. more
Blogger code - a way to describe different types of bloggers. more
Bloggoggle - Directory of Blogging Professionals
BlogHer - where the women bloggers are. At Blogher.org

BLOG TRAFFIC SURGES

Digged - link posted on digg.com driving huge traffic to your blog
Slashdotted - link posted on slashdot.org driving huge traffic to your blog. more
Instalanche - link posted on instapundit.com driving huge traffic to your blog
Farked - link posted on fark.com driving huge traffic to your blog
Boing Boinged - link posted on boingboing.net driving huge traffic to your blog

MISCELLANEOUS BLOGGING TERMS

Ajax - acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. creates interactive web applications.
Greasemonkey - a firefox web browser extension that can alter the functionality of any website using specific scripts.
Wiki - a collaborative on-line software that allows readers to add and edit content.
SEO - search engine optimization. To improve your search engine rankings.
Page Rank - Google measures of importance of a page which reflects in its rankings.
CMS - short for Content management system. software used to publish and manage websites.

One Click Multiple Blog Services Pinging Tools

2006-09-21T13:49:00.000+05:30

Blog and Ping! Pinging lets dozens of services which specifically track and connect blogs to know you’ve updated so they can come check you out. I was using Pingomatic for several months, but maybe it has become so popular with bloggers, that it many times does not connect for me or works very slow. So what are alternatives to Pingomatic?

So I set out to look for alternative pinging services that ping or notify a number of blogging services that keep track of weblogs and publish them. By pinging, you let the services know that your blog has been updated and hence, they crawl and index your site, publishing your blog contents, thus increasing your blog’s popularity.

Remember pinging is important if you use feedburner feed since feedburner will come crawling around after you ping it and update your feed with the latest content. And based on its content other blog tracking services will update.

So here are the One Click Multiple Blog Services Pingback Tools

Pingomatic - the most popular. Pings several popular services and specialized services. Create a bookmark for each ping url.
Pingoat - Pings a huge collection of 52 blogging services, including special services and non english tracking services. You can easily select all services by selecting the category.
King Ping - Pings multiple services - 18 in all. Easy to check and uncheck boxes. And you can also create a bookmark with your settings.
Blogflux Pinger - Pings 32 services, including several specialized services and language specific services too.
Feedshark - Ping, submit, & promote your blog, feed, or podcast for free to multiple services.
Blogomatic - Just enter the rss url and it submits to all the 12 listed services. You do not need to select each service.
BlogBlip - Just enter the blog url and it will submit to 15 popular blog tracking services.
Ping.ws - pings 16 popular services. 3 are ticked, rest you have to select.
PingQueue - Pings 16 preselected popular services in one click.
Pong - is a free desktop ping application that notifies blog tracking web services about updated blogs and feeds. It currently supports XML-RPC protocol pings for up to fourteen services at a time.
Ping The Empire - Pings 18 common blog tracking services.

Please let me know of more services which I can add to this list and keep it updated. Till then Blog and ping!