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Archive for the 'internet' Category

Business Web Hosting Service Models

Published on December 6, 2008 in Host, Web development, business, business venture, internet, resources, tools, web host, web hosting and web hosting reviews. 14 Comments

As some of you might know by now, we have a new full service web offering that clubs design, hosting and managing plan at WP Pro, the concept brings in everything you need to design, build and operate a professional web site, without dealing with multiple service providers. In order to do so, we looked at other business web hosting service providers for ideas and found McKremie to be the one that made the most sense for the scale and personal attention to detail we were comfortable offering.

Since one size does not always fit all, McKremie offer two common sense hosting plans. The Standard Plan is the “everyone plan” and with disk space of 5,000 MB and bandwidth of 1,000 GB it accommodates most websites out there. But for the more serious and advanced user, developer or reseller, they offer a Business Plan with disk space of 15,000 MB and bandwidth of 3,000 GB that allows our customers to get more of the resources and the optional dedicated IP. With McKremie, you can save 20 percent by paying one year up-front on both of the web hosting plans, making this model a win-win for both the host and the user.

After studying the McKremie strategy, we adopted a single plan strategy at WPPro and allow our users to control every part of their site if needed. Since we host the domains and perform the maintenance on servers are powered and partly managed by Media Temple (mt) we can ensure a worry free hosting platform with instantaneous capability to burst/increase resources.

Do You Know What The File Extensions Mean?

Published on October 1, 2008 in Linux, Mac, Microsoft, internet, tech blog, technology, tools and web sites. 2 Comments

Did you know that at one point, Microsoft restricted the file extension to just three characters? What that means is, files like .torrent stood no chance of running on a MS OS like Windows. This has changed since, and thanks to sites like www.file-extension.com, we can now track the progress and purpose of even the lesser know file extensions.

A precise outline of the nature and function of file extensions is not as simple as one would image, with over 40 years of developments and competing influences of Mac, Windows/Dos, and Unix-like operating systems, file systems and metadata formats are now harder to recognize and in some instances trust.

Three of the most popular type of files downloaded frequently online are probably the file extension MP3, GZ files and Zip. My personal favorite is the versatile MP3s, which are commonly used to encode audio with an intentionally simple algorithm specifically designed to maximize compression whilst still reproducing an audio track that sounds faithful to the original. Not only are these files versatile, they can be played with most all audio players.

Back to the File Extension site, I found that neither UNIX nor Mac operating systems used file extensions when they started rolling out. Instead each had their own file systems, with different conventions for storing metadata, which thankfully has changed over time. If you think you have see it all, check the site and you will realize that there are thousands of extensions you have used and many we will never. And when you do run into questions, you can count on file-extension.com to help you out.

Askville, Linkedin or Yahoo: Ask Who?

Published on December 3, 2007 in 2007, Amazon, Best Answers, Best Questions, Google, Linkedin, Quest gold, Questville.com, Strategy, Yahoo Answers, askville.com, internet, media and quest coins. 2 Comments

Amazon has tried it’s own version of “Yahoo Answers” called Askville. Askville.com was earlier launched in December 2006, so this is a re-launch of Askville in a way.

That’s a brave move, I’d say after Google Answers and practically everyone else who duplicated the concept of Yahoo Answers collapsed.

Amazon describes Askville as a “place where you can share and discuss knowledge with other people by asking and answering questions on any topicâ€?. We have heard that one before, so what’s new?

Amazon is rewarding Askville.com users for the use of widgets in answering. So you can add Amazon products, google maps, videos from YouTube, Google, Bolt, etc. Now this reward is in the form of experience points, and virtual currency called “Quest Coins” will be redeemed through another Amazon affiliate site, Questville.com to be launched later this year.

You guessed it right, “Experience Pointsâ€? and “Quest Coinsâ€? will not be easily gained! However, Amazon has mentioned that Askville.com users who answer questions could receive Quest Gold, which will be redeemable for USD50 or USD100 Amazon.com Gift cards for a limited time.

Internet powerhouses and Web 2.0 players are constantly re-inventing the wheel, and in the process, users get split across the board. Those who seek answers seek a site that features “Best Answers” and those who answer seek “Best Returns”..I guess a combination that separates these two out might be a better answer.

Orkut Ask Friends a Question

Published on November 2, 2007 in Ask Friends, Business networking, GOOG, Google, Google Inc., Linkedin, Mobius, Orkut, Questions, Yahoo Answers, internet, networking, resources, social networking and tools. 1 Comment

“Ask Friends a Question” in Orkut reminds me of “Yahoo Answers”. Supposedly the idea is derived from “LinkedIn answers”, and you can now ask questions to your friends on Orkut.

When you ask a question, Google automatically suggests relevant categories based on the keywords/text of your question. The code Mobius is used for this first application on Orkut platform.

For example: I asked “Anyone interested in guest blogging?”
And the suggestion I got was ” Blogging Resources and Services“.

Orkut Ask Friends

“Ask friends” for Orkut users would mean:
Relevant questions.
Relevant answers.
Common questions.
Common answers.
Trust and reliability.

“Ask Friends” for Orkut (or Google) would mean:
More searches
More ads

If you find this a cool feature, go to Edit Feeds, add Ask Friend’s application, navigate to Mobius and fire. You also have the choice to ask “Among Friends” or “Individual Friends you choose”.

Blind Sue Target for not being able to Access Website

Published on October 4, 2007 in Blind Accessibility, Design, Search Engine Optimization, Target, Web development, internet, news, resources, tips and tricks and web design. 0 Comments

image of target.com websiteTarget.com is getting sued, this lawsuit will have worldwide implication for anyone selling anything online. That is scary both as a consumer and a web designer; but issues such as this can be avoided.

There are many ways to include good practice techniques to make your site accessible to the blind; here are a few examples:

  • Adding alt and title tags to describe images and URIs
  • Structure your site to present the most recent news/post first from top down when you view the source page of your site
  • Avoiding pop-ups

Here’s an interesting article to make your blog blind friendly by the American Foundation for the Blind.

Emphasis on building sites that are not only standard compliant but also accessible for the blind will pay off in two folds:

  • You will provide service to the 1.5 million or so blind web surfers in the US, who would otherwise turn to competitive sites
  • Your site will be more search engine friendly, the bots that crawl your site pretty much follow the same flow technique used by the software that converts sites to voice interpretation

Those are just a few I could readily think off, but it really is not about the webmasters, it’s about the users. To check your site’s accessibility, try the Truwex (True Web Experience) test, believe me, I have a lot of work to do on my own site!