Online Virus Analysis Site

Posted by Ben Harris

I acthually found this website quite a while ago. Its a site which allows you to upload suspect files, and it checks them against a few virus databases. It then gives the file a score. If its definatly a virus all 32 databases will return it as a virus. Its really good if you have a suspect file you want to check out.

I just found it again today as I wanted to check out some files I didnt recognise in my C:/ drive.

Anyway, check it out.

Ben

Posted in: Internet, Software Comments(0) June 2008

Blooming Business Cards

Posted by Ben Harris

I was looking at business card designs recently, and came across these magical masterpieces. Blooming Business Cards.

Full article here!

Ben

Posted in: Internet Comments(0) May 2008

SearchMe

Posted by Ben Harris

The ULTIMATE new search website.

Ok, over the past 18 months or so, we have seen many new search websites claiming to be the best, too many to list really. But this one has really impressed me. It may only be beta, but im still using it daily!

Basically, its a graphical search engine where you can basically find exactly what you are looking for with the least effort.
It is graphically so nice to use, they have two themes to choose from at the moment. When you want to search, you just
browse in and enter your search term. For this example, lets say you want to search for ”driving”, ok, there are thousands of results. But what I really want is to look at car companies, SearchMe generates about 8-10 categories for your keyword, so I can just click the “Car Companies” button, and then only results from car companies are show. Ok, its not perfect, but thats why its still in the beta stages.

I have to admit up to here they have just made it easier, but then what about when your looking through all of those results.
What if you could see the sites in the search! Well with SearchMe, you can. Screenshot of search results for aeroplane below. (I also selected the online games category at the top).

For those who arent ready to move straight into the deep end with the full on graphical display, you can also drag the little
button at the bottom up to view the text listings, shown below.

The listings are also syncronised with the images, so if you select a listing, it goes to a preview in the top pane.

This is a great site. You can sign up to their beta on their main page here!

Cheers for reading,

Ben

Posted in: Internet Comments(0) March 2008

About your DOB

Posted by Ben Harris

Today, I stumbled over a really rather funkey site. You enter your date of birth, and it will spit out a nice load of stuff here are some snippets of mine. Simply briliant. Have to say before now, I wasnt aware that I was born on a Tuesday

Your date of conception was on or about 22 August 1989 which was a Tuesday.

You were born on a Tuesday under the astrological sign Taurus.

Your Life path number is 3

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 1/27/1990 and ending 2/14/1991.

You were born in the Chinese year of the Horse.

The Mayan Calendar long count date of your birthday is 12.18.17.1.2 which is 12 baktun 18 katun 17 tun 1 uinal 2 kin

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 15 April 1990.

As of 3/23/2008 6:19:06 PM EST
You are 17 years old.
You are 214 months old.
You are 932 weeks old.
You are 6,522 days old.
You are 156,546 hours old.
You are 9,392,779 minutes old.
You are 563,566,746 seconds old.

Your lucky day is Friday.
Your lucky number is 6.
Your ruling planet(s) is Venus.
Your lucky dates are 6th, 15th, 24th.
Your opposition sign is Scorpio.
Your opposition number(s) is 9 & 11.

There are 53 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 18 candles.

Those 18 candles produce 18 BTUs,
or 4,536 calories of heat (that’s only 4.5360 food Calories!) .
You can boil 2.06 US ounces of water with that many candles.

Your birthstone is Emerald

The Mystical properties of Emerald
Though not meant to replace traditional medical treatment, Emerald is used for physical and emotional healing.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)
Agate, Chrysoprase

Your birth tree is
Chestnut Tree, the Honesty

Of unusual beauty, does not want to impress, well-developed sense of justice, vivacious, interested, a born diplomat, but irritable and sensitive in company, often due to a lack of self-confidence, acts sometimes superior, feels not understood, loves only once, has difficulties in finding a partner.

There are 277 days till Christmas 2008!
There are 290 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon’s phase on the day you were born was waning gibbous.

Before I babble even more about this, i’ll call it a day :D. You can see a load of info like above about your date of birth here http://www.paulsadowski.com/BirthData.asp

Ben

Posted in: Internet, Uncategorized Comments(0) March 2008

VoIP Calling

Posted by Ben Harris

During my exploration of VoIP, I discovered that VoIP really isnt that complicated or expensive. I have managed to get my own local land line number over VoIP free, and I can just use it to recieve calls 100% free. I’ll briefly explain how I did it.

Firstly, you will need a broadband connection, microphone and speakers/headphones.

1. Go to sipgate.co.uk
2. Signup for an account and number
3. Download X-Lite here http://www.counterpath.com/x-lite-downloadsurvey.html
4. After installing X-Lite, you should see something that looks kind of like a phone on your desktop. Right click on the top of it and click ‘SIP Account Settings…‘.
5. Click properties, and making sure you are on the ‘Account‘ Tab enter the following details

Display Name: [This can be whatever you want your display name to be]
User Name: [Your sipgate username (Can be found by logging into sipgate.co.uk and clicking settings at the top)]
Password: [Your sipgate password (Can be found by logging into sipgate.co.uk and clicking settings at the top)]
Authorization User Name: [Same as User Name]
Domain: sipgate.co.uk

‘Register with domain and recieve incoming calls‘ Should be ticked, and make sure ‘target domain‘ is selected

6. Click the ‘Topolog‘ Tab at the top.

7. Select ‘Discover global address‘
8. Select ‘Use specified server‘, and set the box next to it to stun.sipgate.net:10000
9. Make sure ‘Enable ICE‘ is checked.
10. You can now receive free incoming phone calls, and make free phone calls to other sipgate members

You can also setup voicemail via the sipgate site, and add credit if you want to pay for outgoing calls.

Regards

Ben

Posted in: Internet Comments(0) February 2008

Webcam Fun

Posted by Ben Harris

Due to extreme bordum, I went around the internet looking for a piece of software that would allow me to easily take pictures of myself with my webcam, and muck arround with them (effects and stuff).

I came accross one called Snap! (Can be downloaded here http://www.snapstrip.com/). Its quite funny to mess arround with, but unless you buy the full version you can only take 10 pictures per day, and you get their little watermark. The following are a few pics I took, and stuck some effects on:

So that concludes this little nugget

Regards

Ben

Posted in: Internet, Software Comments(0) February 2008

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Posted by Ben Harris

My latest project has been all about SEO, or search engine optimisation. Its really facinated me now to be honest. I thought that it would be cool to post all that ive learnt to get that good old pagerank up.

Firstly, its really worth finding out what your sites pagerank is now. You can find out by visiting my nice little pagerank checker here. In most cases, if you dont even know what pagerank is then yours will probably be 0, like mine for this site. Right, if you have no idea what pagerank is then read on.

What is Pagerank?

Pagerank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with purpose of “measuring” its relative importance within the set. That prety much summarises it, You can read the rest of this article here! (Cheers Wiki).

Ok, so now you should have a better understanding of it all. But the big question is ‘How can I increase my sites pagerank?’. To be honest theres no really simple answer like close your eyes, count to 42 and you will have pagerank 10, but there are ways in which you can raise it. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes in. There are a few steps you should take in order to raise your pagerank.

• Choose your Keywords.
• On-Page Optimization.
• Off-Page Optimization / Link Building.

In depth explanation.

Step 1: Choose your Keywords

This may sound like a simple step, but you should take a lot of time when choosing your keywords. Consider these questions:

How popular are the words?
In other words, how many times do people search for this keyword? Generally, if no one (or very few people) is searching for a keyword, it’s not as valuable.

How competitive are the words?
Or how many other sites are trying to rank for the same keywords. Generally, the more competition there is for a keyword, the harder it is going to be to rank for it.

It’s best if you can find words that are popular with less competition. This is where it pays to spend a lot of time. Research your keywords. You’ll be surprised at the untapped gems you can find.

The next section discusses some of the tools you can use to research and find good keywords. They use data from search engines to give an idea of how popular and competitive your keywords are.

Keyword Research Tools
WordTracker.com - WordTracker is a very good tool for researching keywords.
Yahoo Keyword Selector Tool - Great tool for researching keywords, simple and easy.
Google AdWordsKeyword Tool - Google’s own keyword utility

Step 2: On-Page Optimization

Now that you have your keywords, let’s look at a list and descriptions of the most important places in your web pages to use them.

• Page Title
  The Page Title is the text between the <title></title> tags. If there is one necessary element, this is it. Not only for SEO reasons, but also because users rely on it to know what a page is about.The title is also very important because most of the time, it is used in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). A well put together page title can have a much higher click-thru rate.Here’s an example from Hotels.com.
  “hotels.com - We know hotels inside and out.”
  Their main keyword is [hotels]. Its a good title because they the main keyword, once as the first word, and once later in the sentence, and it is also very user friendly. It makes sense. If you try searching for [hotels] in Google, you will see that they have been very successfully. (I must add that that success has come from Off-Page Search Engine Optimization. We’ll talk about that soon).
• Body Text
  The body text is any text between the <body></body> tags. Body text, or page content is important for on-page optimization, because without it, there is very little for search engines to judge a site by. More body text is generally better, but you want to keep paragraphs short (short paragraphs help hold the attention of readers). Use your keyword as much as you can In A Reasonable Manner. Overuse of your keyword will result in an Over Optimization Penalty (OOP).
• First Sentence of the Body Text
  Try to use your keyword somewhere in the first sentence of the body text. It sets the tone, and reinforces to the search engine the fact that the keyword is important.
• H1 Tag and H2 Tag Text
  The H1 text is the text between the <H1></H1> tags, and H2 tags are used in the same manner. These tags are called Header tags. Meaning that they should describe everything that is under them. Header tags are helpful for on-page optimization, and letting search engines know what a page is about, but if you don’t use them, its not the end of the world.
• Anchor Text (internal)
  Anchor text is anything between <A></A> tags. In other words these are links. Anchor text helps search engines know what the link leads to. So a link with the anchor text “Click Here” is not very descriptive, while one that makes use of your keyword like “keyword” or “click here for keyword” is much better.One element of the Anchor tag that is usually overlooked is the Anchor Tag Title. This is not visible unless the user hovers the mouse pointer over the link. Here is an example for the keyword [foo].
  <a href=”foo.html” title=”Click here to learn all about Foo!”>Foo
• IMG ALT Attributes
  The IMG ALT is important for on-page SEO and probably more important because it is required by law. For disabled users who cant see your images, the alt text should describe what the image is. This is a good thing because its another place to use your keyword.Example: <img src=”/images/foo.jpg” alt=”foo”>
• URL/ File Name
  It can be helpful for pages to be named using the keyword. For example if a page is about “Green widgets”, then you would name the page green-widgets.html. Always make sure to use a hyphen “-” and not an underscore”_” (don’t even think about using a space), since most search engines have a hard time with underscores.
• Meta Tags (Meta Description and Meta Keywords)
  Meta tags are located in the <head></head> tags. They are invisible to users, and are used strictly by some search engines. There is a good reason that I have put Meta Tags at the end of this article. They are becoming less important to on-page search engine optimization. With that said, it can’t hurt to use them. I will briefly describe and give examples of both.- Meta Description:
  Include a complete, descriptive sentence that describes the page. Make sure to use your keyword, but don’t go overboard.Example:
  <META NAME=”description” CONTENT=”Wiget supplies for users of green widgets.”>

  - Meta Keywords:
  Include a list of keywords. The best way is to write your body text, and then select keywords from that text. Don’t use keywords that aren’t in the page.
  <META NAME=”keywords” CONTENT=”Wiget supplies, green widgets, blue widgets, widget cakes, …..”>

Off-Page Optimization (Link Building)

Now that you’ve finished your on-page optimization, it’s time to move on to off site factors. These are external factors that affect your site’s ranking in the search engines, and they pretty much just include external links to your site, or other web pages that link to your pages. These links are also known as Backlinks and inbound links (IBLs),

Whatever you call them, they are highly valuable, and highly sought after.

For some people, link building can definitely the most difficult part of Search Engine Optimization, but it doesn’t have to be. Link building can be quite painless if you go about it in the right way.

• Placed Links
  We’re going to start with what I’ll call, Placed links. These are links that you have some control over. (how, where, and when they are created)Web Directories
  Directories are an easy way to get started with link building. They are basically large lists of links to other sites; sort of like the yellow pages of the internet. Some directories list websites for free, while others charge a fee.The best way to find a good directory to list your site in is to search Google for “Your Keyword Directory” or “Directory Your Keyword”.

  Usually, top ranked directories will benefit your site the most.

  Some tips for directories:
  - Look for nich directories that rank well in Google
  - Look for directories that your competitors may be listed in
  - Look for directories that offer a permanent link

  Link Requests
  This involved finding sites that are related to yours and asking them to link to you. Honestly, this is one of the most tedious things you can do, but it does work sometimes, so if you’re up to the task, go for it. If you’re going to do this, remember to be sincere, and don’t send out generic link requests (spam).

  Paid Links
  When it comes to paid links, you should be careful. Paid links from sites that make it obvious that the links are paid for, will most likely not help your ranking in the search engines.

  Thinks like “Sponsored Links” written above your links, sitewide links (links that appear on every page of a site), or even links that appear on the right or left side of a site as opposed to in the center (editoial) part of a site, can all be big red flags telling search engines that “these are Paid Links.”

  Search engines are constantly striving to negate the power of paid links, so that they don’t offer any benefit for ranking.

  If you want to buy paid links for ranking purposes
  - keep it under wraps.
  - Ask for links in the content part of a page, not in the sidebar, and not sitewide
  - Use anchor text (the words in the link) that contain your keywords
  - Vary your anchor text
  - Try to buy links permanantly, as opposed to monthly

  Insider tip: Probably one of the most effective methods to find paid links to help your ranking is to search for sites that rank in the top 10 for your keywords. Find a page that ranks well, but that isn’t going to be in competition with you, and send the webmaster an email, offering cash to add a link to your site from that page. You can offer £10, £20, £50, or whatever you think is fair.

  Article Sites and Press Releases
  There are lots of people who use article sites to get links, but I’m not going to talk about that because I really don’t think it’s worthwile. If you’re good at writing articles, you should start a blog. (see the link bait section below)

• Natural Links
  If your Content is Great, you’ll have Link Bait
  I think the term “link bait” has a bit of a bad reputation because it sounds sort of shady, but in actuality, link bait is just great content.Link bait can be anything that naturally attracts links. It can be a funny or bizarre picture, a useful tutorial, a video, or in some cases, Free tools (see some free SEO tools ). They are fun for me to make, and people naturally link to them.Link bait draws natural links, and these natural links are the best, and most effective kind of backlinks you can get.

Posted in: Internet Comments(1) February 2008