Web Site Turn-Offs

There are a number of ways guaranteed to turn-off visitors to your web site. These are worth considering as you either design a site, or revise a site. Turn-offs generally can be defined as anything that impedes the user from quick and easy (intuitive) use of your site. Turn-offs also are often the result of gratuitous use of technical 'bells and whistles'.

One of the major turn-offs is a sloooow loading site. There can be a number of contributing factors to this:

* Large graphics files (meaning the file size in bytes). Graphics files need to be optimised to reduce the file size to a minimum to enable them to travel through the Internet in minimum time.

* Splash Screens. These are often Flash graphics and can take a long time to 'load', especially where there is limited bandwidth. Bandwidth is the carry capacity of the Internet, the bigger the faster - a bit like comparing a fire hose and a garden hose. Unfortunately in Australia bandwidth tends to be at the smaller end of the scale. Splash screens also annoy repeat visitors, as they revisit the site and have to wait for the screen to load (not everyone knows how to properly Bookmark).

* Excessively long pages. Pages should generally be no longer than three screen-fulls (scrolls). Also, bear in mind that most people scan web pages rather that read in detail (until they find the specific page they seek).

Other turn-offs include:

* Background music that automatically starts as the page loads. As well as slooowing the page loading down, your choice of music is unlikely to please everyone.

* Set a screen resolution too wide for the majority of computers in use. You would be surprised how many computers with 640 pixel x 480 pixel screens are still in use. So, set Table widths as a percentage of screen width, otherwise many of your visitors will be annoyed by needing to utilise the horizontal scroll bar.

* Requiring obscure 'Plug-Ins' as essentials to effectively use your site. A Plug-In is a piece of software that works in conjunction with a browser to display specific material, e.g. a movie clip, sound, etc. As your visitor probably won't have them, they then need to download the Plug-In and install it before they can continue using your site. Often people do not know how to do this.

* Endless little 'Pop-Up' screens that appear on top of the web page, particularly if they contain advertisements. Incidentally, if you are annoyed by these as a user of the Internet there are a number of pieces of software that can eliminate these, as well as banner advertisements when pages are viewed.

* On subscription and order forms ask for excessive information. Research indicates that response drops off almost proportionally to the amount of information required.

© Copyright David Berghouse 2007Krissy Blog3486
Kikelia Blog50110

eBay Auction Home Business Tutorial: Don't Charge Too Much...Or Too Little!

In my last few eBay auction tutorials, we talked about what you can sell to make money on eBay and start your own home business. But whether it's an ebook packed with your favorite recipes or custom coffee cups, one of the most important decisions you have to make is the price of your item.

As we all know, the highest bidder in an eBay auction wins the item. There's also a "Buy It Now" feature on Ebay you can use to sell your item for a set price rather than auctioning it off, and that's the way I sell all of my items. If you use "Buy It Now", the purchaser can decide to pay your asking price and purchase the item immediately, rather than having to wait for the end of the auction.

If you're selling a physical item, you have to take inventory and shipping costs into account, and we all have to pay various fees on eBay in order to sell items there. These fees vary depending on how much your item is sold for. If youre selling a physical item, dont try to cut the price of the item and then charge a lot for shipping. For example, theres a certain type of computer cable I occasionally buy on eBay, and Ill see the same cable listed at $5 from one vendor and 99 cents from another. Why? The vendor selling it for 99 cents asks $8.50 for shipping! EBay is really starting to crack down on this behavior, and frankly, its a really good way to discourage customers from making future purchases.

When deciding on a price, the key is to NOT price the item too highbut you also have to avoid selling it at too low a price, because that will make people think that your item has no value.

I went through that personally. When I started selling my first ebook on eBay, I priced it very low, thinking that I'd make up for the low price by selling a lot of them. It just didn't work out that way. If you put too low a price on an item, instead of being happy that the item is cheaper than others, it makes people wonder what's wrong with it. After a while, I raised the price, and started selling more ebooks!

You may have to experiment a bit in order to find the best price to offer your eBay customers, and that's just part of being in business. The key is not to ask too high or too low a price. If you have a competitor on eBay selling the same thing you're thinking of selling, check their feedback to see if they seem to be selling quite a few of them, or hardly any. Adjust your price appropriately, and if one price doesn't move items, try another. And when it comes to selling on eBay, don't be afraid to ask for a premium price - as long as you're offering a premium product!

Chris Bryant is an eight-year veteran of eBay, and he wants to help you use eBay to change your life just as it's done for him. For free eBay tutorials, articles, and other freebies, visit http://www.freeebayauctiontutorials.com today!Kyla Blog47472
Kore Blog50581

Top 10 Home Software Programs in 2006

Word processing and spreadsheets were the first of the killer apps for home computers when PCs first started to propagate to the millions of households out there. Then, there were Internet Browsers that took everyone by storm. So what are the hot categories and hot products now? There are more products then ever out there for the home shopper and many of them not that good. We looked over many, many different products and product categories to find the best home products, the hot home product categories, and the best software products period. The list is neither exhaustive nor scientific, but the products listed here are definitely great! If you have a computer at home, take a look at these products!

The Hot Product Categories

When searching reviews and products out there on the web some of these categories were not the top on my list, but nevertheless, they are not only out there, but getting a lot of attention. Here are ten top selling software categories for the home computer:

* Home design and gardening software
* Spyware and Adware
* Family Tree Legends
* Video Sharing
* Website builders
* Speech to text conversion
* Parental control and Internet filtering
* Disk-imaging utilities
* Spam Blockers
* Internet Security

Top 10 Best Software Products

The home software market has never had so many choices and for the categories listed above there are too many products to mention. Below are ten standout products for each of these areas.

* Home design and gardening software - Home Designer Pro 7.0
* Spyware and Adware - CounterSpy 1.5
* Family Tree Legends - Family Tree Legend 5.0
* Video Sharing - Grouper
* Website builders SiteMaker
* Speech to text conversion Dragon Naturally Speaking 8
* Parental control and Internet filtering ContentProtect 2.0
* Disk-imaging utility - Acronis True Image
* Spam - Cloudmark Desktop
* Internet Security - ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6

The information about Home Software Programs presented here will do one of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about Home Software Programs or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.

For each of these products there are additional information in the following articles. Take a look at these home software products!

Below are some things to watch for in 2006, some of them are good and, unfortunately, some arent.

First the good news:

- We are getting a lot more serious about our security. This has a lot of reasons behind it. For example, new privacy laws are mandating organizations to tighten their security. Look to see more consumer privacy laws passed in the coming year and more tightening of security systems.

- Authentication requirements are increasing. This is closing in large security holes. Corporations are requiring a great deal more of authentication to get into secure systems (this also is on the bad news side)

- There is a plethora of sophisticated programs to help us be more secure and they will continue to get better. Competition right now is strong in the security industry sparking a lot of innovation.

- ISPs are now taking on the responsibility to help us with our security. Take AOL's recent commercials as a good sign that others will follow the trend.

Now the bad news:

- Securing our networks is costing us. Most companies are globalizing their organizations and making them secure costs a lot of money. It will get worse before it gets better.

- Authentication requirements are increasing. This is getting claustrophobic. Corporations are requiring a great deal more authentication to get into secure systems (This is also on the good news side) Unfortunately, for the end user, it is one more thing to be unhappy about, not unlike airport security lines.

- Hackers are getting more sophisticated. For example, Botnets are becoming more complex and harder and harder to catch and stop. Do a search on botnets on the Internet. They really are causing a whole lot of problems, but it does not stop there. The number of viruses and malware out there is staggering.

- Spammers keep finding more creative ways to fill our email boxes. Don't look for this trend to stop anytime soon.

So now you know a little bit about Home Software Programs. Even if you don't know everything, you've done something worthwhile: you've expanded your knowledge.

Dina Fedorova, finding a Home Business that's Right for You.Visit my site and download "Dotcomology:The Science of Making Money online". Absolutely Free at: http://www.Net-Plus-Profit.com 3 Easy Steps to Make money Online: http://www.Net-Plus-Profit.com/pips.htmlFor more information please visit : http://successuniversity.com.Kellia Blog74218
Karen Blog25182

How to Lose Weight?

For those of us who lead busy lives losing weight can seem difficult to achieve. Health advisors suggest that a sensible way to lose weight is to increase the amount of daily exercise. In their publication, The Step Diet, Hill et al. suggest that over 2000 steps a day will significantly contribute to a reduction in weight. (Hill et al., 2004: 2). This is a useful method as it is doesn't cost anything and can be incorporated into your daily routine. Diet pills and regimes are not advisable as they can precipitate dramatic weight loss, which can cause you more problems - such as skin problems and hair loss. In the worst case scenario they can cause you to gain weight - as any sudden change in the metabolic rate can mean that when you start eating normally again you pile back on the pounds.

If exercise alone is difficult then a balanced regime of exercise and reduced calorie intake - bearing in mind the maxim little and often' - is a good way to approach losing weight. It is generally believed that eating three smaller regular meals, with morning and afternoon snacks in between, is the best way to lose weight. Regular eating maintains a balanced sugar level in the blood, preventing hunger and helps us to avoid overeating. This has the effect of speeding up the metabolic rate so your body breaks food down more quickly to turn it into energy. "Ideally, eat something small (even a piece of fruit) every 3 hours (women) or every 5 hours (men)" (Collins, 2005). Another timeless way to lose weight - and one that will save you money - is to increase your daily intake of water. This is important as dehydration can mean that you don't reap the full benefits of your efforts to lose weight.

Enough water is considered to be at least two litres a day (Biggs, 2006). If you dont drink enough then your metabolism will shut down first causing your weight loss to slow right down; your digestion will suffer; and you might experience fake hunger' symptoms (Biggs 2006) . It is important to remember that some people lose weight more easily than others because of their body's ability to burn fat. One of the most effective ways to burn fat is through cardio-vascular exercise which increases the heart rate sufficiently - for example, aerobics or running. This form of exercise is more effective than, say for example, weight lifting or light walking, which are good muscle-toning activities helping to reduce the appearance of fat. However, if you simply don't have time to go to an aerobics class or the space in your own home, then other forms of exercise are still effective. Jon Shepherd, from Ultra-FIT magazine, explains: "You won't burn so many calories weight training, but the potential effect it will have on your body composition and metabolic rate are significant. Muscle is the most metabolically active part of your body, burning up to three times as many calories as any other tissue type. Weights (and other forms of resistance training, like circuits) promote the development of lean muscle, boosting your fat burning potential" Source: (http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/chewing_the_fat.php#2)

Fitness activities and calorie burning

Activity calories/hour Aerobics high intensity 520 Rowing slow 400 Weight training 270-450 Swimming for fitness 630 Treadmill running (3.8min/km) 1000 Treadmill running (5.6 min/km) 750 Source: (http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/chewing_the_fat.php#2)

The above figures are based on a 65kg individual. If you weighed more then additional calories will be expended, fewer if you weigh less. The table illustrates the differences in calorie reduction between various activities. It is important to find the right kind of exercise to suit you. For most people, walking is the easiest and most effective form of exercise. Ann Bolger, M.D., a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association (AHA) says, exercising is like taking the pennies from under the couch cushions and putting them into your piggybank,' in that every little bit counts.' (Meadows 2003: 18). There are many small ways of increasing the amount of walking in your day. For example, if you have a dog, or someone in your family or a friend has a dog, then try to find the time each day to take it for a brisk half-hour walk. If you're lucky to live a mile or so away from work then get up a bit earlier and walk instead of catching the bus. Even parking a bit further away when you go shopping can make a difference.

So this is all about what to do outside the home. But what about when you come back from a day at work and you want to relax? You can contribute to your efforts to lose weight by the way you cook: using unsaturated vegetable oils, and oils such as corn, olive, or soyabean makes a significant difference to your fat intake. Snacks too can be swapped for healthier, lower fat options such as sesame snaps; Ryvita, or a piece of fruit. (Meadows 2003: 18). Many of us like to relax with a glass of wine in front of the TV - but there are other more weight-loss-effective ways of relaxation. Try substituting your daily glass of wine (110 calories) or half bottle (250 calories) for a session of meditative yoga. In this way you can reduce calorie intake, and exercise and relax all at the same time, and it doesn't cost you a penny. "Yoga also offers psychological benefits. As Baxter Bell, a graduate of Piedmont Yoga Studio's Advanced Studies Program, says: Weight gain often brings with it a great deal of harsh self-judgment. Through yoga, we can counteract this by creating a safe, positive environment to reconnect with our bodies and quiet the counterproductive messages that often arise in our minds. (http://www.yogajournal.com).

If the traditional more-exercise-less-calories method doesn't work then look into alternative ways to lose weight. There are little exercises and tips that can take all of 15 minutes of your day - such as the ancient Chinese system of exercise called Chi Kung. A specific series of movements called the Swimming Dragon is renowned for its effectiveness in helping to lose weight. Through a series of simple movements, the Swimming Dragon works to stimulate the correct flow of chi, or vital energy, through the meridians (energy pathways) of the body. The exercise massages all the internal organs and helps to normalise hormone secretions. By practising the exercise for 15 minutes once or twice a day, it is claimed that your body will begin to naturally break down unwanted fatty tissue. (Alexander, J, 1996: 31)

Lastly, weight loss is something to be achieved over time: take it a step at a time and don't expect too much. Most importantly, losing weight should be something that fits comfortably into the rest of your life and something that you enjoy.

References

Alexander, J., 1996, How to lose weight in fifteen minutes.' The Daily Mail. December 30.

Bell, B, 2006, Can Yoga help me to Lose Weight?' Yoga Journal. Online. Available from: http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/963_1.cfm' [Accessed 14/11/06]

Biggs, S, 2006, Lose Weight with Water.' Website For Women. Available from: http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfitness/wtmngment/weightloss/articles/0,9544,233_576059,00.html' [Accessed 14/11/06]

Collins, A, 2005. Weight Loss Support website. Available from: http://www.annecollins.com/weight-loss-support/eating-little-often.htm' [Accessed 14/11/06]

Hill, J., Peters, J.C., Jortberg, B. T., Peeke, P., 2004, The Step Diet : Count Steps, Not Calories to Lose Weight and Keep It off Forever. New York: Longman Publishing Company

Meadows, M., 2003, How to Keep Your Heart Healthy.' FDA Consumer. Vol 37. Issue 6.

Ultra-FIT Magazine. Available from: http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/chewing_the_fat.php#2' [Accessed 14/11/06]

Copyright © 2006 Verena Veneeva

This article was written by Verena Veneeva professional writer working for http://www.coursework4you.co.uk.Kelila Blog97155
Katti Blog2489

The Pitfalls and Perils of Pair Programming

Pair programming: People either love it or hate it.

The concept of pair programming first became popular thanks to extreme programming or XPa set of practices that supposedly allows companies to develop software in a more efficient, more agile manner. Proponents of XP claim that it allows programmers to respond to changing or ambiguous software requirements without sacrificing quality. Skeptics disagree, arguing that these alleged benefits are either illusory or exaggerated.

XP proponents argue that two programming heads are better than onethat two software developers working together will tend to produce better, more reliable and more maintainable than a single programmer working alone. This practice is known as pair programming, and at first glance, it sounds like a great idea. Personally though, I think that it smacks of a one size fits all mentality. That is, it assumes that two programmers working in concert will indeed be more efficient and that they will produce better results. I think there is good reason to believe otherwise.

THE MUCH VAUNTED WILLIAMS STUDY

XP fans typically point to an infamous study headed by Prof. Laurie Williams at the University of Utah. In this study, Williams concluded that pair programming takes 15% more time than solo development, but results in software that is 15% better. They argue that this modest increase in development time is a small price to pay, since better code quality means that less time and effort will be required later down the road during testing and maintenance, for example.

I think that there are numerous problems with this study, though. How did the researchers gauge software quality, for example? The used the length of code as the quality metric; that is, the shorter the source code, the better they deemed it to be. The reported, [The paired teams] consistently implemented the same functionality as the individuals in fewer lines of code. We believe this is an indication that the pairs had better designs. I think this is a hasty leap of logic, to say the least!

Does shorter source code exhibit greater quality? Sometimes, perhaps. However, one could just as easily speculate that the longer code contains more bug fixes and safeguards. In addition, adding more code lines to implement a design pattern, for example can make the software more efficient or easier to maintain. I think that the presumed correlation between code length and lack of quality is poorly justified at best.

The study also exhibited a severe case of participant bias. The students in a class were asked if they preferred to work in groups or alone. 35 of the respondents said that they preferred collaborative working; of these students, 28 of them were selected to constitute the pair programming experimental group. The remaining seven were placed in the solo programming group, i.e. the experimental controls. This created a strong experimental bias; all of the pair programmers were willing volunteers, whereas some members of the control group were there reluctantly.

Whats more, 13 out of the 14 pairs were self-selecting; that is, students were allowed to pick their partners willingly. Once again, this biases the results, since participants are likely to select partners with whom they are particularly compatible.

(Interestingly enough, these biases could have been easily avoided by assigning pairs randomly. I dont wish to cast aspersions; however, I cant help but wonder if Prof. Williams and company might have unconsciously biased their experiment to demonstrate the superiority of pair programming.)

SHORT-CIRCUITING THE CREATIVE PROCESS

In short, the supposed evidence for increased productivity under pair programming is questionable at best. In addition, we should ask if theres any reason to believe that pair programming can be counter-productive or otherwise harmful.

I believe that it can be. Pair programming can certainly help people catch or prevent bugs; as the hoary cliche goes, two pairs of eyes are better than one. When faced with a thorny problem though, one often needs to let the problem percolate in ones brain for a while before arriving at a proper solution. Often, thats how creative minds operate; they need to let their minds sift a problem first before attempting to fix it.

With pair programming though, this process is short-circuited. Instead of letting ones mind digest the problem in due time, pair programming puts pressure on people to arrive at a solution more quickly. Sometimes, this may produce better results; however, it can also have the opposite effect. I suspect that for the most creative minds, this kind of pressure can stifle creativity rather than hinder it.

But wait! Isnt there power in numbers? Arent there times when the best results are produced by having people brainstorm and confer? Certainly but these meetings of minds dont have to occur during the programming process. They can occur during planning sessions, during design reviews, or when sitting around a lunch table. We shouldnt dispense with group troubleshooting and design; we simply shouldnt force this to occur at the coding stage. That can do more damage than good.

Whats more, the most creative minds often need a measure of playtime an opportunity to play around with the code, tentatively exploring various options and letting ones mind roam free. This can be difficult to do when another programmer is looking over your shoulder. After all, what should we do explain and discuss every tentative step? For a creative mind, this can be stifling indeed.

CONCLUSION

In short, I think that the evidence for pair programmings effectiveness is questionable and overblown. I also think that theres good reason to believe that pair programming can stifle the creative process, instead of helping it. Can pair programming be helpful? Certainly However, when forced upon people, it becomes a one size fits all strategyand unfortunately, a single size cant possibly fit everybody, no matter what the salespeople say.

V. B. Velasco Jr is a senior electrical and software engineer at a small immunology biotech company (http://www.immunospot.com, http://www.elispot.cn, http://www.elispot.co.jp, http://www.elispot-analyzers.de) that provides ELISPOT plate readers and serum-free media.Kris Blog81947
Lainey Blog57886

Stuff Ill Try Not to Do as I Get Older

As I begin my transition into the second half-century of my life, there are some things that huh? Whaddya mean, I shouldnt lie about stuff like that? Yeah, I know Im supposed to tell the truth in these articles but that doesnt mean I cant fudge just a little once in a while, does it? Not even just a little bit? Once in a while? Well crap! OK then

Having passed the half century mark some time ago (there are you happy now?) I find myself thinking more about the years that lie ahead and more specifically, about who I will become as those years continue to pile on. Will I be just another old person? Will I wake up one morning and find myself doing all those funny old people things that Ive been watching over the past fifty OK, sixty-six years. Maybe. But Ive thought about it and here are some of the things Im going to work really hard NOT to do.

1. Make weird sounds every time I stand up or sit down.

Now I realize that I may not have a bunch of control over the strange pops and snaps that my joints produce from time to time but I should be able to have at least some authority over the sounds that are rolling from my throat. Know what I mean? Just listen sometime to the weird noises older folks make when they change positions. Ummmph! Uhgggg! Augggggffffff! Ennnngh! Unggggh! Im going to try not to do that.

2. Become so bored that I sit on the front porch waiting for a leaf to fall so I can totter out to pick it up off the lawn.

No kidding, I knew an older guy who did exactly that. Every morning he would make sure his little lawn was absolutely leaf-free and throughout the day, he would diligently pick up every single leaf that fell from the trees. OK, living in Phoenix, Arizona on a small lot with a half dozen orange trees didnt mean he had to really scramble to keep up with the tree droppings so it didnt occupy a bunch of his time. It was his focus though. Ill try not to do that.

3. Tell the same story to the same people over and over and over and

Yeah, we all have a tendency to lose track of who weve told what. And its not just jokes. Its the significant events or situations that weve experienced over the years too. The experiences and memories, that for whatever reason, we want to share. Ive known more than a handful of older folks and a couple of younger ones - who seemed to continually push their replay button. Im going to try not to do that.

4. Tell the same story over and (just kidding)

4. Develop a rigid daily routine and eating habits.

Im sure youve all seen examples of this and not only in our older generations either. Its doing exactly the same thing at the same time day after day after day. Up at six, breakfast at seven, read the paper until eight, watch Mayberry RFD until eight-thirty, etc., etc., etc. Its the same way with the meals. Every morning one egg over easy with toast and orange juice, lunch is always a small bowl of chicken noodle soup and half a peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich BORING!!! Ill try not to do that. (Tacos and chocolate cake for breakfast any one?)

5. Forget that Im older than dust.

Two things here. The first is not trying to accomplish the same things at the same pace I did when I was twenty years younger. Mowing the lawn, trimming trees, painting, shoveling snow, lifting heavy stuff An older guy could pop something doing that. So far Im having no problem at all grasping this concept.

Second remembering that even though on certain occasions when my brain is busily thinking thoughts of a twenty-year-old, my body is displaying all the signs of a pop-up advertisement for arthritis and incontinence medications. Yeah, Ill still look and enjoy the scenery wiggling by but there aint gonna be many lookin back. Ill try to remember that.

6. Lose my sense of humor.

I understand, considering the usual aches and pains that tend to sneak up on us in our later years, that sometimes its difficult to just slap on a smile and press on. And weve all seen our share of growly, grumpy, snarly old folks. It seems to me that as we lose the ability to be productive or even to take care of ourselves, a good sense of humor may be the only thing we have left that is worth a hoot. This is a funny world filled with strange creatures doing goofy things. Im going to try to remember to watch and enjoy them. In fact, Ill probably be one of em. I think you can count on it

Gene Simmons, through NuPathz.com, provides an easy reading self-help blog, articles, quotations, thoughts and links along with affordable personal growth and self improvement books & materials - all designed to help folks find the road to a more enjoyable lifestyle, to pass on some of lifes secrets for survival in a chaotic world & offer a few smiles along the way. It's a down-to-earth, simple approach to discovering a better life. You can visit Gene at http://www.nupathz.com/Kitti Blog74860
Kora Blog16373

Relaunch Of New Archant Life Websites

Stylish, interactive, packed with information and easy to use, another batch of Archant Life websites are set to launch over the next few weeks.

Sites for Living South and Grove have already been launched and revamped sites for Kent Life, Surrey Life, Cornwall Life, and Somerset Life will be going live over the next few weeks.

The revamp is the second stage of a project to develop the websites for all of Archant Lifes magazine titles with everything from news, entertainment, fashion, food and drink, property and interior advice to arts & antiques, gardens and wildlife.

The first phase was completed in January with London titles The Green, The Hill, SW and Resident, alongside county glossies Cheshire Life, Yorkshire Life, Sussex Life, Cotswold Life, Devon Life, and Lancashire Life all given a make-over.

Before the project began, most of the county titles already had sites, however they were very dated, and many of the London titles had no websites at all.

As well as being full of information, the new-look sites have developed interactive features such as a Your Space section for readers news and views and the opportunity to send in photos and diary dates for social events, balls and concerts.

In addition there will soon be a trail of a new search tool to enable users to find out exactly what is going on in their area from cinema listings to organised walks. Cotswold Life will be the first site to trial this new function, we expect this to be up and live from early September.

The new sites will also have more commercial opportunity to increase advertising revenue as well as the facility for photo sales and links to the new Homes24 site.

Project manager Sandra Fennemore was given the task of overseeing the project, which will eventually see 23 sites revamped this year.

They have done a great job with the first sites and we are well set for the on going roll out of another 21!

The new county and London websites are being launched one a week for the next six weeks, after which it will settle down to a more leisurely one every two weeks! running parallel to the work for the county / London sites, there is a major re-launch of three sites from within the Archant Life France portfolio including France, Living France and French Property Shop plus the Archant Life mother site too, so, a busy schedule ahead.

I manage 20 comunity based lifestyle magazines from county titles http://www.cheshirelife.co.uk to city magazines http://www.thegreenmag.co.uk.Karylin Blog1857
Lane Blog63325

Beware Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optomisation is the Web Development equivalent to Franchised Personal Injury Lawyers or even worse Debt Management Consultants many (not all) are more than happy to sell you a service you probably dont need or could do for yourself considerably cheaper.

How do they succeed ?

They succeed because their basic business model assumes that most potential clients are too ill informed to achieve what they want for themselves. They rely on the fact that most people dont know much about the mechanics of searching the web . They also rely on the fact that most people will take as gospel whatever they are told by their chosen web developer.

There are NO! excuses for being ill informed or believing someone who has a vested interest in telling you that you need to spend more money than you were intending to.

Ask yourself two simple question:

Would you pay FULL price for a car with four flat tyres and no MOT ?

Would you then agree to pay extra for

ROAD OPTOMISATION ?

NO of course you wouldnt, not without good reason anyway.

So what do you do ?

The Microsoft Small Business Center [http://www.submit-it.com/subopt.htm] gives free and open advice on Search Engine Optomisation techniques along with a list of dos and donts.

Careful reading of this mini site will reveal that all of the Seven Tips that are listed are coding issues that any experienced and or competent Web Designer/Builder should be avoiding as a matter of coarse. Anything less would constitute a poorly built site and therefore a waste of your money.

Google also offer free advice on dealing with SEOs in their Webmaster Help Center [http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291&ctx=sibling]. Googles advice is centred around how to choose an SEO and what not to do when optimising your site. Most noteably they say.......

"Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a "special relationship" with Google, or advertise a "priority submit" to Google. There is no priority submit for Google. In fact, the only way to submit a site to Google directly is through our Add URL page or through the Google Sitemaps program, and you can do this yourself at no cost whatsoever."

-Google Webmaster Help Center.

Google also point out that it is entirely possible for some of tactics used by the less reputable SEOs to result in your site being removed and or barred from there index.

At Sideimpact Web Design we pride ourselves on the fact the that we follow all the Microsoft and Google guidelines for submission as standard. In our opinion any developer that doesnt is at best lazy at worst they are trying to garner further work at extra cost to you.

Paul Betts is the senior Designer/Developer at Sideimpact Web Design [http://www.sideimpact.co.uk] and has been designing and developing CSS based websites for over three years.Kellia Blog97095
Lacy Blog52729

Preparing Your Site For Internet Explorer 7

Here's the scenario: one morning you open your email and your inbox is flooded with emails that your site isn't working properly. Maybe your text or images don't look right, or even worse maybe your site isn't properly processing credit card transactions. How could this happen when you didn't change a thing? Well, that morning could be the morning later this year that Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 7.

How are people going to get IE7?

According to Kevin Yank in a recent issue of the SitePoint Tech Times (http://www.sitepoint.com/newsletter/viewissue.php?id=3&issue=147&format=html):

Word on the street is that, upon its release (before year's end), IE7 will be pushed out as a forced update to Windows XP users everywhere, as was done for Service Pack 2. The move to IE7 among the end-user masses will not be a gradual migration, but a sudden and significant shift.

One night Windows XP users will go to bed using IE6 and the next morning they'll wake up, install a routine update, and just like that they'll be using IE7 to browse the web. That means, that as a site owner, you need to begin preparing immediately for IE7's impending release.

What's different about IE7?

>From a user's perspective, improvements include tabbed browsing, better printing, RSS feed integration, more advanced searching, and better security features, as well as a plethora of add ons to enhance the user experience (similar to Firefox extensions).

However, the most important changes that will have a more direct impact on how your site is loaded and displayed are:

RSS integration IE7 automatically detects RSS feeds and asks you to subscribe. It also gives you the option to have IE7 auto-check for feed updates (even when it's not running). Is your feed properly recognized by IE7?

Updated CSS behavior the IE7 team worked very closely with the W3C workgroup to ensure standards compliance. They made over 200 changes from IE6 to become compliant with CSS2.1. Even if your site is standards compliant, it may not be rendered exactly the same as it is in IE6 or Firefox.

AJAX XMLHTTP Request changes the IE blog states: to have your cross-browser AJAX work better with IE7, you really should be invoking the native XMLHttpRequest (the cross-browser one) first to see if its available before instantiating the ActiveX control, instead of the other way around

Added security features everything from more secure SSL defaults to disabling most Active X controls by default has been changed to help make the user's browsing experience more secure. These changes could drastically change your users browsing and purchasing experience.

You can get full details on all of the changes by visiting the IE Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/category/8680.aspx)

What you should do?

The only way to know for sure how your site will work in Internet Explorer 7 is to download it and try. The IE7 team recently released Internet Explorer 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1), which can be downloaded on the Internet Explorer web site (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx). I'd recommend downloading IE7 on a computer other than your primary machine (you still want IE6 on your primary machine at least until IE7 is officially launched). RC1 is essentially the final version of how IE7 will display sites when launched, so if your site passes the test now you'll likely be OK when IE7 is released for real.

In testing my sites there were a few instances where my site worked flawlessly in Firefox and IE6, but had small problems in IE7. The changes I needed to make were minimal, but regardless of how well you code there could still be some potential problems. It's better to find and fix them now than to wake up one morning and have hundreds of customer complaints!

Adam McFarland owns iPrioritize (http://www.iPrioritize.com) - web based to-do lists that help people and businesses organize their tasks. Email, print, check from your mobile phone, subscribe via RSS, and share with others.Karlen Blog5677
Kynthia Blog43355

Gold The Celebrity Of The Metal World

The most iconic precious metal of all time, gold is a valuable and widely used metal for jewellery, currency, computer parts, dentistry, satellites and various other applications.

Gold occurs naturally as nuggets or grains in rock; in fact the gold nugget is an iconic symbol of frontier America when prospectors would pan for gold, sifting through rivers and streams for traces of a gold mine. Gold gets its chemical symbol Au from the latin aurum which means glowing dawn, due to its distinctive yellow metallic glow. The purity of gold is measured in carats, with 24 carats being pure, though this was originally for measuring the weight of the gold. Merchants from the Middle East would weigh items with carob beans and this is still used for gems.

Gold is known for its practicality. It is very malleable meaning that it can be made into various shapes with relative ease; it conducts heat and electricity (this being a reason for its use in electronic components) and does not react to most corrosive chemicals which makes it better for jewellery. It also forms alloys easily, allowing other properties to be found and the colour to be changed. One such alloy, platinum with gold, makes white gold which has become massively popular in jewellery, because it has the elegance and stature of gold while being new and distinct

Gold is so malleable that it has been used as thread in clothing, wiring in computers, in dentistry for crowns and bridges and even actual gold teeth. It is used on satellites and astronauts visors because of its reflective properties. Gold flakes are even used in expensive gourmet dishes is come countries. It has no taste and is merely a delicacy and status symbol, thought some people believe that gold has medicinal properties. The symbolism of gold as a token of wealth has been used throughout history; the negative of golden pocket watches in Communist propaganda and the positive of gold cards or golden tickets employed by credit card companies and promotional marketing. It has been used by civilisations all over the world to decorate religious artefacts and temples. This contributes to the steadfast place that gold holds in our society as a symbol and a practical tool, giving it a permanent place in our history.

John Gibb is the owner of gold-advice-and-information.info, for more information on gold, please check out http://www.gold-advice-and-information.infoKare Blog58431
Kellia Blog74218

Need For Smart Use Of Graphics On Your Website

Pictures are worth thousand words. Use graphics efficiently on your site. Having badly done graphics is bad then not having graphics. Good graphics will have a positive effect on the overall traffic of your site.

The graphics that you use should imply your idea. They should tell what your site is all about. They should be attractive and encourage the visitor to have a complete look at your site. This is a kind of marketing for your services.

The colour , the images on your site gives the visitor an idea of your company. So make sure to use eye pleasing colours and images.

Do not make your website messy with too many images. Add smaller images nad too big or heavy images as this will backfire by making page downloading slow. Too many images also hamper search engine indexing. There should be some content accompanying the graphics. All graphics no content will make the site look bland.

The background colours should be chosen with great care. They can either make or break the attractiveness of your. Good graphics and images will be of no use if the background colour is a total mismatch. Moreover, the background should not hamper the readability of the content. The content should be easily visible.


The knowledge of your target population in addition to the service or products provided will help you in deciding the overall graphics of your site. It is very important to know and understand the purpose of your site.

Try to attack the emotions of your visitors as purchases are based on emotions. The way the image of a product affects the visitor decides if they will buy it or no. the graphics on your website should encourage the visitors to become your customer.

This article has been compiled by the content development team at Pegasus InfoCorp which pulls subject matter specialists from different work domains. They can be contacted through the Pegasus InfoCorp website at info@pegasusinfocorp.com. Pegasus InfoCorp is an India based web design, web development and online/offline software development company. Please visit http://www.pegasusinfocorp.com to read more articles and know more about us!

Other companies and organizations are welcome to reprint this article on their websites provided the following conditions are met.

 The article is not changed in any manner

 The article is copied as is in its entirety (including back links to the Pegasus InfoCorp website).

 The company/ organization reprinting the article agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Pegasus InfoCorp, its employees, directors, officers, agents, partners and their successors and assigns from and against any and all liabilities, damages, losses, costs and expenses, including attorney's fees, caused by or arising out of claims based upon the use of the article, including any claim of libel, defamation, violation of rights of privacy or publicity, loss of service by subscribers and infringement of intellectual property or other rights

Pegasus InfoCorp (P) Limited (http://www.pegasusinfocorp.com) was formed with a single powerful belief among its two founders that the Internet could enhance and transform businesses in an amazing way. This belief continues to drive us towards our mission of helping discover and implement the best online strategy for businesses, institutions and professionals.Kee Blog25532
Kelila Blog67056

Custom Software Development Checklist

Custom database software development is facilitated by the use of a checklist of standard questions to be answered before a system is created, and before analysis begins. This checklist is provided to assist in the Analysis/Requirements phase of a new custom software development project.

If you are interested in having 21st Century Technologies, Inc. create a new system for you, then the following checklist and the associated answers will facilitate the analysis process. The answers can be e-mailed or faxed to us at the email address and fax number at the bottom of the page.

BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS

1. Desired delivery date or proposed project schedule.
2. Business reason for, and urgency of project.
3. What are the cost constraints?
4. Use cases - description of how each group of users will be using the system.
a. General business process - web user will buy a product, web user will add a customer, web user will add contact information, etc.
b. Input/Output - web users will enter data into forms, data will be imported, administrator must run many management reports, administrator needs to export to Excel and text, etc.
c. Frequency of activity - many times each day, once daily, weekly, etc.
d. Cycles of activity - weekly sales reports to all sales managers on Monday morning, close books at end of year, etc.

NATURE OF APPLICATION

1. Do you have a desired development tool or technology in mind? You may want to split the application into some parts that can be run on a Windows workstation computer, while other parts (like reports, or timecard entry screens) are accessed via a web browser on your local intranet. Web applications and reports can be viewed on all computer types and operating systems that are capable of viewing web pages. Some tools currently available to build the system are listed here:
a. C#/VB.NET
b. ASP.NET
c. Active Server Pages or Cold Fusion for robust database driven Web applications
d. ColdFusion
e. Visual Basic
f. SQL Server
g. MS Access
h. JavaScript - for cross browser compatibility,
i. VBScript - for server scripting, and client scripting if Internet Explorer is the only client browser
j. Dreamweaver - for higher ended client functionality
k. SQL Server Reporting Services
l. Crystal Reports - for Windows and Web based reports
m. ActiveReports
n. Excel
o. PowerPoint
p. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Systems - dial 1 for English, 2 for Spanish...
2. If other applications are involved (MS Word, MS Excel, QuickBooks, etc.), what version will be used?
3. Desired screen resolution (800x600, 1024x768, etc.),
4. Screen Size (15", 17", 19, 21")
5. Preferred Font and size (Arial 10, Times New Roman 12, etc.)?
6. Target Windows version for each client computer in the system (98, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003 Server, etc.),
7. Web Server MS Internet Information Services (IIS), Apache, etc.
8. Target computer Operating System if not a Windows Platform - Apple, Unix, Linux, etc.
9. Target workstation hardware for all client stations,
a. Clock speed 1333, 1500, 2000, 3000, etc. MHz,
b. Hard drive space 100, 200, 400, etc. Gbytes,
c. RAM 128Mb, 256Mb, 512Mb, 1Gb, etc.
10. If a network application, which network and version? Windows, Novell 3.1, Novell, etc.
11. What are the drive letters for the networked back end databases if a network application? F, G, H, etc.? This reduces the deployment effort by developing in the same environment as the target workstations.
12. If available and pertinent, please provide a network configuration diagram with paths to server (where database will reside) and all clients, security/user groups, etc.
13. Is 24x7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) uptime required? If so, please explain the business need. We will discuss this further. The cost goes up as more uptime is required. More resources are needed - various personnel on pagers, redundant computers or components like power supplies RAID or mirrored hard drives, etc.
14. Is Internet/Intranet data access desired?
a. For data entry?
b. For report reviewing only?
c. To disseminate existing documents?
d. To email notification of pre-determined business trigger events (project milestone met and approved, employee appraisal ready for approval, etc.)?
15. Is Security desired?
a. Extremely high network (Internet) security - firewall, proxy server, etc.
b. Database level security - MS Access has security, but SQL Server has a much tighter security model tied in with the Win 2000/NT operating system.
c. Application level security
d. Minimum (pseudo) security algorithm low cost
e. Please specify User Groups that may have special Security needs requiring different levels of security:
i. Administrative Assistants
ii. Analysts
iii. Engineers
iv. Managers
v. Company Owners
vi. System Administrators
16. Are Backup Scenarios currently in place? Backups will be an integral component of the system. The importance of this cannot be over emphasized.
a. Daily, Weekly, Monthly onto tape
b. Daily, Weekly, Monthly onto CD or other optical drive
c. Onto another computer
d. Regular backups located at a remote site
17. Are Anti-Virus protection and policies in place? It is an important part of ensuring that a system stays up and running.
18. Will remote troubleshooting be desired? The addition of Error Processing and Logging software will facilitate remote support and troubleshooting.
19. Desired Documentation?
a. None
b. Installation
c. User
d. Administrator
e. Software
f. On-line help
g. Special
h. All of the above
20. What is the proficiency level of all users for the target tools and environments Windows, Excel, etc.?
21. Will interfaces to other systems (accounting, payroll, another database, GIS, truck routing, etc.) be required? This will affect the data model and system configuration, so early planning for these interfaces is critical to their successful inclusion into the system.
22. Is an audit trail function desired for changes to existing data? What parts of the system will need to be audited?
23. Is government reporting or data security required Sarbanes Oxley, HIPAA, etc.
24. Number of reports. A sample hardcopy or at least hand drawing of each will significantly help in determination of report prices and commonalties (company headers, formats, etc.). Important items are:
a. Number of sections including sort groups,
b. Definition of the source data for all fields in each section and their calculation method,
c. Summaries,
d. Desired output format:
i. Windows screen preview
ii. HTML
iii. E-Mail
iv. PDF
v. Delimited Text
vi. Excel spreadsheet
vii. Other outputs
25. Is an ad hoc user-defined reporting, data retrieval, or analysis (On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), Data Mining, etc.) capability desired?
26. Is an installation program needed for distribution of an application to many users?
27. Is an automated network or internet installation desired?
28. Are custom point to point communications needed? This may also include automated faxing.
29. Special Considerations:
a. Unique business rules, calculations, desired warnings, etc.
b. Significant text parsing
c. Known or possible issues and problems that may be alleviated with testing
d. Voice driven capability
e. Multiple databases (Access and SQL Server, Oracle, etc.)

DATA AND VOLUME

1. How many users are expected on the system in the near (first 6 months) and long (1 3 years and past) term?
2. How many users are expected to use the system at the same time during peak periods in the near and long term?
3. What type of data traffic will be on the network for the near and long term - numbers, text, images, video, multi-media, etc.?
4. What is the expected volume of traffic for the near and long term?
5. What is the estimated number of data records to be stored for the near and long term?
6. Do we need to import data from existing files or systems? Note that Characters like " # have special significance in data processing and conversion, and require special code handling. Names (DJoy) and other data fields may contain these characters.
a. No. Example data will usually be provided in database, text, or spreadsheet format. This helps significantly in system testing and allows for error discovery and error trapping before the system is delivered.
b. Yes.
i. Is all or part of the existing data needed? What parts?
ii. Can use of the existing data be stopped while we convert the data into the new system?
iii. Is this a one time data conversion, or will we have to import data from existing systems regularly?
iv. Are some fields mostly blank?
v. Are some desired fields missing?

Michael A. Cordova is the President of 21st Century Technologies, Inc. Contact him at:Kelli Blog91659
Lanna Blog10986

Products You Love at Prices You Can Afford: All Needs and Wants on Closeout

When shopping for items on the internet, why should you be paying full price for anything? Well at All Needs and Wants on Closeout we feel the same way. Now you can get everything you NEED and everything you WANT at affordable closeout prices, what could be better than that! We feel that everyone should have the opportunity to get the items they need, at a price that does not put a whole lot of stress on their wallet.

Rather you know exactly what you need or are looking for the perfect gift, but have not decided what that is as of yet, All Needs and Wants on Closeout has just what you are looking for. You name it we have it. Looking for affordable clothing for your family? We have apparel for men, women, and children. Want to purchase wedding rings or jewelry cheaper than anywhere else you cannot miss this website.

Attractive and easy to use, All Needs and Wants on Closeout was created for the fast paced society we live in. Everything is neatly organized into specific categories, which means you will have no problems in finding exactly what you need when you need it. Also each product page is a great starting point to see information about the product, an image, comments by other users, and reviews. You can become a key contributor yourself by leaving your opinion about the products you have used or purchased there.

What is more on each product; you will have the ability to see what other customers think about the products as well. Each product is rated by customers just like you and many choose to leave comments about how well the product did or did not work for them and their needs. Therefore, while you are shopping through the vast amount of products on All Needs and Wants on Closeout, you will have the distinct understanding of the products, good or bad, and what others thought about it as well.

Again, no matter what you are looking for office products, movies, music, video games, computer accessories, household items, electronics, or tools, chances are you will find it at All Needs and Wants on Closeout at a much cheaper and affordable price than anywhere else on the internet!

Tatiana Velitchkov is the owner of http://www.TakeYourFortune.com and runs Needs & Wants on Closeout and Discuss MP3 site and blog. Check out the customer reviews for help in choosing!Kariotta Blog3484
Katey Blog27802

Online Guitar Lessons Learn how to select, buy, string, tune and, of course, play the guitar in the privacy of your own home at your own pace by learning from experienced guitarists online or through other digital media

Online Guitar Lessons Learn how to select, buy, string, tune and, of course, play the guitar in the privacy of your own home at your own pace by learning from experienced guitarists online or through other digital media.

So, you want to be a Rock Star, huh?what about a classic guitarist, or country guitarist, or maybe even a blues or jazz guitarist? Or, maybe you simply want to improve your skills of your favorite pastimeplaying the guitar. Well, as you know or are probably discovering, one-on-one, in-person guitar lessons can be expensive, ranging anywhere from $25/hour to over $40/hour, and there is no guarantee that you will learn how to play the guitar or improve your current skills. Over time, learning the guitar using this traditional method of instruction can cost you thousands of dollars per year (Even at the low end of the price range, $25/hour for 2-hours/week for 50-weeks in a year 2 weeks left out for vacation your total cost for one year of lessons would be $2,500; even if you did only 1-hour/week, the cost would still be expensive at $1,250 for the yearand, again, thats using the low-end of the price range).

But, you ask, whats the alternative? How can I learn to play the guitar if I dont get professional instruction? My answer is simple: digital or online guitar lessons provided by a professional guitarist with teaching experience.

So, what are digital or online guitar lessons? Simply put, they are the equivalent of one-on-one guitar lessons that are presented by an experienced guitar instructor and come in the pre-packaged form of a CD, DVD, video file, audio file, and/or web-access. Why would someone choose their guitar instruction to come in the form of a disk or web-site instead of in-person? Simple:

Inexpensive
Most of these quality programs are offered at about $25-$50 while some may cost upwards of $200. However, compared to traditional in-person instruction as calculated previously, these programs, provided by experienced guitarists, would save you thousands per year.

Money-Back Guarantee
Have you ever heard of a guitar instructor offering a money-back guarantee? Most, if not all, of these programs do!

Experienced Instruction Whenever, Wherever and for However Long You Wish
No more wasting time and money commuting or trying to schedule your life around your instructors schedule. Now you can practice with a professional whenever, wherever and for however long you wish. You could get professional guitar instruction at 2am if you wanted.

FREE Repeat Instruction
No more wasting money because you cant seem to grasp a skill and you have to continue to ask your instructor during multiple lessons to spend time showing you how it is to be performed. With these "digital" or "online" guitar programs, you can get experienced instruction on whatever skill you need as many times as you need it...and it doesn't cost you any more money!

FREE Ongoing Support
Most, if not all of these courses, offer continued online support for FREE after you purchase their program. What guitar instructor who offers in-person lessons would give you their phone number or even their email address so that you could ask them questions anytime you needed some support?

The disadvantages of using digital or online guitar lessons are:

NONE
With a cost typically less than 1% of a year's worth of in-person guitar instruction; a money-back guarantee; experienced, professional instruction anytime, anywhere and for however long; no commuting; and ongoing support for FREE. What else can you ask for? Nothing, I think.

So, before you go looking for a place of instruction for learning how to play the guitar or improve your current abilities, you might want to review some of the online instruction being offered in the comfort of your own home at your own pace. These programs could very well get you playing like an experienced guitarist in no time while saving you a small fortune, literally thousands of dollars, each year. You can review some of these educational programs at Online Guitar Lessons at http://www.databaseofknowledge.com/music/online-guitar-lessons.php (simply cut-and-paste this link if it is not clickable or click on the associated link found in the "About the Author" box located below this article).

Wishing you an exciting and fulfilling experience in learning how to play the guitar or play the guitar better with online guitar lessons,

Greg Smith
Founder/President
The Database of Knowledge: The Source for Enhancing Our Lives
http://www.databaseofknowledge.com
Online Guitar Lessons: http://www.databaseofknowledge.com/music/online-guitar-lessons.php
president@databaseofknowledge.com

(c) Gregory Smith, Elysian Holdings, Inc. 2006
NOTE: You are welcome to "reprint" this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including all links and the "about the author" info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to webmaster@databaseofknowledge.com.

Greg Smith is the founder of The Database of Knowledge: The Source for Enhancing Our Lives (http://www.databaseofknowledge.com), which acts as a central repository for resources that can be used by people to do just that, enhance their lives. We are all familiar with the old adage knowledge is power. Well, knowledge, when applied properly, can quite literally transform ones life for the better.Kip Blog92993
Kally Blog63147

Uses of the .NET and ASP.NET Infrastructures

Microsoft's .NET technology is a technology designed to connect. What to connect? Well everything that can be connected through software - people, systems, computers, and other things and devices.

A more thorough definition of .NET would be that it is a top level domain, initially designed to be used by Internet Service Providers, but now it has expanded and everyone can make use of a .net domain. It uses the Internet DNS (domain Naming System) and it is an abbreviation of the word 'network'.

.NET can hold servers that provide web services or the tools needed to create these services.

What are Web Services and their benefits? Well they can be called enhancements that help businesses expand and connect with their customers and partners. Their benefits are that they make the communication between business partners much easier and even increase the profits by making a business known and available to much more people through the help of the Internet.

An Important part of the .Net technology and framework is the ASP.net set of technologies. These web development technologies are used in the creation of Websites and Web services usable on the .NET infrastructure.

ASP.NET was built by Microsoft from one of their older technologies and web programmers can use any programming language they want to write ASP.NET, from Perl to C# and of course Visual Basic.NET and any other language understood by the .NET technology.

The advantages of the ASP.NET technology are that it makes building Websites, Web applications and Web services very easy and with less code that older languages. Also, the applications compiled in ASP.NET run faster and with less errors

You can find many free tutorials and documentation about how to use the .NET framework and about the ASP.Net platform so getting started in this domain can be pretty easy. You can also find many examples amd articles about things that are easy to make and that you can study and use for learning and understanding. After learning a little you will be able to create easy-to-build applications that allow users to organize their own page's appearance.

Also, if you're going to use ASP.NET applications you should get one of the specially designed software packages for ASP , like Visual Studio.NET or the ASP.NET Web Matrix.

So the .NET and ASP.NET technologies are very popular and have an extremely large number of business-enhancing uses and applications.

A good place to start learning more about how people-ready applications and systems can be built using the .NET 2.0 framework is the Microsoft Practice section of www.unitekconsulting.com.

Shannon MargolisKanya Blog76635
Karleen Blog84260

Momo Corse : Companion Of Your Car

Purchasing a car for the first time might be a dream comes true for many. The joy of first ride which you take with your family drench you with happiness over pouring. But, as you are busy driving and thinking that you new car needs little attention to paid as it is new, you may be mistaken. There are several accessories which have to be added to your car just after you have bought it. As you new car is no less than your newly wedded bride, you have to give it the value it needs. Taking a little care of its decoration which includes only some small equipments to be added escalate the beauty as well as efficiency of your car.

Momo Corse, the Italian company pioneering in top class of racing car wheels has come up with numerous of car accessories. With Momo, there are abundant of options of availing variety of car accessories. Be it alloy wheels, alarms, car security, interior and exterior styling, dash kits, GPS detector or entertainment accessories, suspension, springs, body kits, roof racks, boxes, etc. Momo has stock for all purposes related to accessories of your car.

Car accessories manufactured by Momo Corse are long-lasting and easy to be taken care of. With their reliability and excellent services, it has got huge number of buyers from all over the world. That is the reason its wider popularity has made it number one choice for buyers when it comes to shop for car accessories. To let their products be easily available, the company has numerous of agents and dealers taking care of selling and services. The best way to buy all the car accessories manufactured by Momo is to go online. You can easily find a number of online agents and companies giving you such accessories at competitive rates. Moreover, you can get all ordered stuffs delivered at your doorstep.

Alexus Devon is a automobile writer specializing in automobile and car accessories products and has written authoritative articles on the car accessories industry. He has done his Master in Business Administration and is currently assisting directcaraccessories as a car accessories specialist.Kaila Blog17584
Kylynn Blog52813

Home Theatre Speakers - What You Need To Know

Speaker types

There are four basic home theater speaker categories: towers, satellites, subwoofers, and center channels. A tower speaker is a tall, freestanding model capable of reproducing a full range of sound. Satellites, which can be used as both front or rear-channel (surround) speakers, are small, bass-limited models designed to be paired with a subwoofer - a dedicated speaker for reproducing both bass and the low-frequency-effects channel in Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. And a center channel speaker is a horizontally oriented satellite that's designed to reproduce dialog.

Freestanding vs. on-wall

In the past, home theater speakers were usually installed alongside big-screen TVs - either freestanding or placed on top of speaker stands. But many new models are on-wall designs that come with wall-mounting hardware. One advantage to these kinds of speakers is that they get positioned on walls where they don't take up any room space. A second advantage is that their slim, wall hugging design nicely complements flat-panel plasma and LCD TVs.

Do you really need a center channel?

With some systems - especially those built around a large, slim rear-projection TV - finding a place to put the center channel speaker can be a problem. Although you can get by without using one, it's not recommended - center channel speakers are specifically designed to reproduce voices. You'll find that movie dialog will sound much clearer when you use them. So instead of bypassing the center speaker or using the TV's built-in speakers as a center channel substitute (a terrible option, since the tonal balance of your TV's speakers isn't likely to match that of your other speakers), look for an alternative mounting method. Speaker wall mounts make a fine option, especially with flat-panel TVs. Most TV stands also include storage shelves that can hold a small center channel speaker.

Speaker connections. A variety of connectors can be found on the back of speakers.

A spring-clip connector is a plastic, spring-loaded clamp that's usually found on the back of inexpensive speakers. The connection provided by spring clips isn't as secure as other types, and they can only accept bare speaker wire.

Binding posts are a step-up connection option found on high-quality speakers. There are two types of binding posts: regular and five-way. Regular types accept both banana plug and spade-lug connectors on speaker cables. The connection they provide is very secure, and in some cases the connector is also gold-plated to prevent oxidation - a condition that can potentially degrade performance. And five-way binding posts, which accept bare wire and pin-type connectors in addition to banana plugs and spade lugs, offer even more hookup flexibility than regular types.

In-wall and in-ceiling speaker + and

For those who prefer to keep their audio/video equipment out of sight, in-wall and in-ceiling speakers make a great alternative to regular models. Although the sound quality of in-wall and in-ceiling models is generally a notch below that of regular speakers, they can be mounted inside of cutout cavities in the walls or ceiling of your room where they won't take up any space. Both types are also designed to contain vibrations within the cabinet, so you won't have to worry about rattling the walls during action movies. Installation of in-wall and in-ceiling speakers involves running wires through the walls and/or ceiling of your home. If you're an experienced DIY type, you might be up to that task, but for most people it's best left to a custom installer.

Surround speaker considerations: direct-radiating, dipolar, and bipolar There are several options to consider when choosing surround sound speakers for your system.

Direct-radiating models fire sound directly out from the speaker's front baffle toward the listener's ears. These are a good all-purpose surround sound speaker choice since their clear, focused dispersion pattern can accurately convey the directional sound effect pans in DVD soundtracks.

Dipolar models radiate sound from both the speaker's back and front, with the opposing driver sets wired out-of-phase with each other. This design offers a more diffuse, spacious sound than a direct-radiating model while retaining some of the latter's focused dispersion characteristics. (Dipolar models are favored for THX-certified designs specifically because of their diffuse sound, which more accurately resembles what you'd hear in a real movie theater.)

Bipolar models also radiate sound from the front and back, except that in this case both sets of drivers are wired in-phase with one another. This design allows a bipolar speaker to provide the best of both worlds: a direct-radiator's clarity and focus, and a dipole's spaciousness.

What is frequency response, and what should I look for?

The range of audio frequencies that a speaker can reproduce is known as its frequency response. Human hearing extends from 20 Hz to 20 kHz (20,000 Hz) - a span that few models are able to cover fully. The bass frequencies at the bottom of the range (approximately 20-120 Hz) are the most difficult for a speaker to cover. Satellites don't attempt it at all, but instead pass the task off to a subwoofer - a dedicated bass speaker with drivers large enough to move the massive quantity of air needed to reproduce low frequencies. Since tower speakers usually contain one or more woofers, they generally deliver decent bass. But if you're shopping for tower speakers - especially if you plan to use one in a system where there's no subwoofer - make a point of checking the low end of its frequency response specification. And remember that not all measurements are the same. For example, the bass response of a speaker spec'd at 6 dB at 40 Hz probably won't sound as full as one that measures 3 dB at 40 Hz.

Speaker impedance and selection

Most new speakers are designed to be compatible with a wide range of receivers and audio amplifiers, so specifications like impedance-the measure of a speaker's resistance to electrical power flowing through it as specified in Ohms-generally aren't things you need to worry too much about. But what you should know is that an amplifier has to work harder to drive a speaker with a lower impedance rating than one with a higher rating. Say that your receiver is rated to deliver 100 watts into an 8-ohm load. If your speakers have an 8-Ohm impedance spec, then you aren't likely to encounter any problems. But if your speakers' specified impedance is 4 ohms or less, the chances for that same receiver to overheat and shut down will be increased.

Placement: the final frontier

Many people tend to be casual about where they put their speakers; more often than not, they get shoved into any old space where it's convenient. But speaker placement becomes crucial when setting up a home theater system. You'll want the positioning of surround sound effects in your room to correspond to what's happening on screen, and that will only happen if speakers are set up properly.

Front channel towers or satellite models on stands should ideally be placed equidistant from the TV's sides and about three feet out from the front wall. This setup will heighten imaging and reduce any sound-muddying room reinforcement effects. And your subwoofer should be pushed into a corner of the room to permit the sound-reinforcing effect of adjacent walls to strengthen the bass. While placement guidelines for surround speakers are less strict than those for front speakers, installing them in a high position at the sides and slightly behind the listening area will usually enhance surround sound envelopment.

Microtek Lab Inc. is a consumer electronics company focused on scanners, plasma and lcd televisions, digital projectors, lcd monitors, digital cameras, home theatre equipment, and accessories. You can view their online store at http://store.microtek.com Use of this article is permitted provided that the article is used in its entirety.Karen Blog25182
Kally Blog26347

Music for Nothing and Your Tracks for Free

Around the globe, the record industry has gone on the offensive and who can blame them? Faced with numerous peer-to-peer networks and bit torrent clients, it has never been easier for individuals to obtain music for free.

Having given birth to the term illegal downloading, the record industry claims the activity seriously threatens the development of music and artists. But does this argument have any validity or is it a clever corporate spin?

Whilst the record industry have not published any factual information to support this claim, there is certainly information to show that, those illegally downloading music actually spend, on average, some 27% more on music than those who exclusively confine their activity to the legal download sites and pay for every track in advance.

Recent research by the UK software house, Remlap Software, themselves a publisher of a music download application, suggests that, illegal downloaders are anything but the thieves the record industry labels them as.

The term illegal download is in itself an interesting phrase. While most people would define illegal as an activity which is outlawed under Criminal Law, the Oxford Dictionary merely states, contrary to law. The difference between public perception of the definition and the officially recognised version may only be a subtle, but it is powerful enough for the record industry to exploit.

Certainly they would have you believe that, illegal downloading of music is theft. In doing this, the record industry further re-enforces the public perception that such activities are in contrary to CRIMINAL law; with all the serious consequences such an offence implies. The truth of the matter is, there is no criminal offence in either the EU or USA of downloading music without paying for it.

At best, the record industry could claim that, illegal downloads are in violation of Civil Law, but even this would be spurious. Indeed if such a legal prospect were a reality, every YouTube visitor who has watched (and in doing so, downloaded) a video which violates someones copyright could be prosecuted. And so the whole notion of illegal downloads is a total nonsense.

In desperation, the record industry has scraped the bottom of the barrel, several times and now resorts to suing its own customers. But to date they have not been able to prosecute one case of illegal downloading. In every case they have sued on the allegation that the defendant has distributed music in violation of copyright. They have been able to do this, because the whole basis of peer-to-peer networks is that each user shares their music collection with the rest of the network. It is the act of sharing or distribution which is the offence, not what they have downloaded.

Their eternal effort to force the world to only use pay-for music download sites, the record industry has already persuaded a number of universities and ISPs to turn-off Bit Torrent and Peer-to-Peer traffic. So could this be the end of downloading music for free?

In response to this situation UK software developers, Remlap Software considered that there were probably more mp3 files sitting on web servers, than there are on all the peer-to-peer networks put togetherand they were right.

Their freeware application Clickster gives access to over 25 million individual tracks; all found on Internet web servers and available for download. With no sharing of the end-users own mp3 collection, Clickster is being hailed as the first legal mp3 downloader.

One of the great things about Clickster is that, because mp3s are being downloaded from a web-server and not from some guy on a dial-up connection 6000 miles away, the download speeds are much quicker. With an integral media player, tracks can be previewed/played without having to first download the file.

With Clickster clearly navigating around the latest attempts of the record industry to stamp out what they call illegal downloading, the future remains bright. And to paraphrase the Eighties rock-band, Dire Straitsget your music for nothing and your tracks for free.

Further information:

Clickster Remlap Software (http://www.remlapsoftware.com)
Record Industry RIAA (http://www.riaa.com)

Morgan HamiltonKirby Blog29992
Karna Blog96614

Differences betwen LCD and Plasma TVs

Plasma and LCD panels may look similar, but the flat screen and thin profile is where the similarities end. There are a number of significant differences between the two.

Let us understand the meaning of Plasma and LCD Televisions in order to better understand the differences between them.

LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY TELEVISION (LCD TV).

LCD TV uses LCD technology for its visual output. Liquid Crystal Display or LCD is a thin, flat display device made up of a number of color or monochrome pixels arrayed infront of a light source or reflector. In color LCDs each individual pixel is divided into three cells or subpixels which are colored red, green and blue. Each cell or subpixel can be controlled independently to yield thousands or millions of possible colors for each pixel. LCD TVs can make for excellent High Definition TV viewing.

LCD TVs - The Good

1. Excellent Color Reproduction - LCDs can display millions of colors accurately.

2. Multi-functional - LCD TVs have a plethora of connectivity options. They typically include inputs for composite video, S-video, High Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI) and PC In.

3. No Burn In - With LCDs there is no problem of Burn In. Some TVs that rely on phosphors such as Plasmas and CRTs can experience Burn In where ghost images are permanently burned into the screen.

4. Inherently Progressive - LCDs use millions of tiny transistors that can be individually controlled by the "brains" inside the display. So LCDs can easily handle progressive-scan sources.

5. High Resolution - LCDs can display High Definition content with resolutions of 1366x768. The highest resolution achieved in a LCD is 1920x1080. 1080p is also called Full High Definition whereas 720p is called High Definition.

LCD TVs - The Bad

1. Expensive - LCD TVs are great but they are not cheap. LCD TVs cost more per inch than plasmas.

2. Poor Reproduction of Blacks - LCD TVs tend to produce grays, not blacks.

3. Limited Viewing Angle - LCDs have typically poor viewing angle. However, there has been a drastic improvement on this front with latest LCDs achieving a wide viewing angle of 178 degrees.

4. Slow Response Time - LCDs have longer response times than Plasmas.For example, when moving the mouse too fast on an LCD, multiple cursors can sometimes be seen. This is also known as Ghosting Effect. But this problem seems to have been addressed with the latest LCD TVs with response times as low as 8ms.

5. Low Contrast Ratio - Contrast Ratio is the ratio of the intensity of the brightest bright to the darkest dark. LCDs comparitively have lower Contrast Ratios than Plasmas.

PLASMA TELEVISION

A plasma screen contains literally millions of gas-filled cells (each one acting as a single image pixel) trapped between two pieces of glass. An electrical grid zaps these cells and causes the gases to ionize (and ionized gas is plasma - hence the name). The ionized gases, in turn, cause a layer of phosphor on the viewer's side layer of glass to light up. Plasma TVs combine a thin, compact chassis with a truly large screen size. Despite their compact dimensions Plasmas are available in 42+, 50+ and even 60+ inch sizes.

Plasma TVs - The Good

1. Excellent Brightness - Plasma TVs don't rely on a light bulb shining through or reflecting off of something (as an LCD or DLP system does). Plasma brightness is even better than CRT's in some ways because the picture is evenly bright across the entire screen.

2. High Resolution - The finest plasma TVs have such high resolutions (and such smooth images) that they look life like.

3. Progressive in nature - All the pixels on the screen light up simultaneously. You can have progressive HDTV sources (such as 720p) and non-HDTV sources (such as progressive-scan DVD players) displayed to full advantage on a plasma HDTV.

4. Wide Viewing Angle - Plasmas have a wider viewing angle as compared to LCDs. Plasma displays have a good picture even when you're sitting "off axis" (not perpendicular to the screen surface). This is a huge benefit for smaller rooms, where viewers may sit relatively far off to the sides of the screen, at wider angles.

Plasma TVs - The Bad

1. Burn-In - Plasmas rely on phosphor to display video. This can cause Burn-In where ghost images are permanently burned into the screen.

2. Short Lifespan - Another phenomenon of any phosphor-based display system is that eventually the phosphors "wear out" or lose their brightness. This is a subtle and slow process, but it inevitably happens.

3. Less-than-perfect color reproduction - Although plasma displays can produce a breathtaking array of colors, a lot of sets have the unfortunate tendency to make red colors look more orange than true red.

4. Poor reproduction of black - Plasma TVs fall short in the realm of reproducing black images. Most plasmas do slightly better job than LCD TVs at black reproduction, but they fall short of CRTs and some projection systems.


Other factors such as pricing, weight, power usage, high altitude performance and transportation are other considerations that apply on a person to person basis. So I will briefly just state the overall differences in these areas.

Pricing: Plasma TVs are still significantly less expensive than LCD in sizes over 32".

Weight: LCD TVs are considerably lighter and as such easier to mount and install. So Plasma TVs will almost likely require a professional installer.

Power Usage: LCD TVs use on average half of the power Plasma TVs use

High altitude performance: High altitudes can affect the performance of plasma TV displays because the gas held inside each pixel is stressed, and has to work harder to perform. SoLCD TVs are better at high altitude (6500 feet and above).

Transportation: LCD TVs are lighter and far less fragile than plasma displays making shipping easier and less expensive.

Because technology in both Plasma and LCD TVS is advancing rapidly we may find some of these differences (such as size) very minimal in the near future.


Johnny Waymire has a great free resource site, http://tv-advisor.com , containing practical and helpful information on how to purchase Flat Panel TVs that fit YOUR needs. Visit to find all the helps, brands and reviews to make your next purchase very informative.Kiley Blog8234
Karena Blog74650

The Devil Made Me Do It!

With sincere thanks to Flip Wilson who deserves the all credit for popularizing the preceding phrase. OK, so it used to be popular. I still like it anyway.

To start this little discussion, lets talk about evil as in evil forces and stuff like that. Are there evil forces at work in our world? It doesnt take a great deal of super-heavy thinking to realize theres something rotten in Hog Hollow. In this far from perfect earthly world there are a whole bunch of individuals and groups who are resorting to all sorts of skullduggery to achieve their devious goals. And yes, sometimes with catastrophic results. The newspapers and other media news reports are commonly filled with examples.

From a spiritual point of view, theres probably a reason to allow these things to happen. For one thing, this yucky stuff could always serve as a source of lessons and positive reinforcement for all of us. If we see and hear about things happening that we believe are just not right, this can help to solidify our values. If we are on the receiving end of a really bad situation, this could possibly turn into one of the best learning experiences of our life if well let it.

The bad or evil stuff also provides a reference against which we can measure good. I think the following question sums it up nicely. If there were not evil, what would good be?

So what is the source of all the evil things we see happening in this world? Are they the work of satan? Is the devil really meddling in our affairs to try to drag us away from our God?

Heres a quick history lesson. A long, long time ago, a satan was a considered to be a member of the divine court whose main job was to snoop around earth and report back to the super powers on us humans. The original Hebrew word for these sneaky folks was later translated in Greek to diabolos (slanderous) and then to the Latin diabolus eventually reaching our language as devil. Along the way we personified the original Greek translation so we eventually wound up with a concept of a really bad guy who is responsible for the worlds evil doings. The image of the human-animal demon with horns and a tail popped up sometime during the Middle Ages. Interesting, huh?

My guess (thats all it is folks) is that we humans have maybe promoted the concept of this bad guy for a couple of reasons. One may be so we dont have to take responsibility for our own actions. Its the easy way out, isnt it? Its pretty much the same as blaming your little brother (or sister) for the crayon scribblings on the wall. Not me, Mom. Herbie did it! Only now as adults, we can all chime in together to sing, The devil made me/us/them do it!

Or maybe we just picked up on what appeared to be a logical idea from the ancient Persians and put it to use. Its a good guy/bad guy good and evil thing. You know how easily that sort of thing can happen. Someone else already has what seems to be a reasonably good idea so we just buy into it either because we honestly believe its true or it blends in smoothly with whatever concept were trying to promote.

Heres another off-the-wall thought. Maybe we would be well advised to stop mentioning or even thinking about the evil dude altogether. We humans are very special creatures with amazing abilities. We know that we have the ability to imagine, visualize and create those things which never before existed. This includes not only material objects but abstract concepts as well. The evidence is everywhere we look. Perhaps the very recognition of the possible existence of a modern satan is the very thing that is allows him to exist and negatively influence our lives. Maybe its the only thing. Maybe we should all just forget about the horned dude altogether and individually take responsibility for and be accountable for - our actions as good or as evil as they might be.

So, are we humans inherently evil? Nah, but for whatever reason, we do frequently wander off the path into the thorny bushes. Sometimes it may be because our life experiences (programming) have been a bit screwed up. Or sometimes maybe we just develop some weird priorities and over-focus on some really strange (and frequently hurtful) things. And some of it may even be due to a skewed interpretation of messages provided by our survival instincts. Lots of possibilities.

Yes, there are certainly evil forces in this world, however it really looks like we humans are the ones who are exerting all the effort to keep these forces alive and well. Maybe who knows? I recently heard that our universe is created in conundrums (as in the answer to a question is only another question). For whatever reason, that appears to be quite intentional. Perhaps to promote questioning, the learning process and our individual development. Again, who knows?

As a wrap-up, your assignment is now to try really, really hard to think about mostly good stuff for the rest of your life. Give it a shot. Youll probably like it

Gene Simmons, through NuPathz.com, provides an easy reading self-help blog, articles, quotations, thoughts and links along with affordable personal growth and self improvement books & materials - all designed to help folks find the road to a more enjoyable lifestyle, to pass on some of lifes secrets for survival in a chaotic world & offer a few smiles along the way. It's a down-to-earth, simple approach to discovering a better life. You can visit Gene at http://www.nupathz.com/Kakalina Blog59985
Kristen Blog7326

How To Find Hot Niche Markets

Working out what your niche market will be to start your home business is something that can elicit much excitement. This is when you can put all those great ideas you have had for your business into a plan of action. Give yourself a number of options to work over. Some will be great and some won't fit. Get more than one so you always have a back up when you start a home business.

Look to 3 sources for ideas:

* A hobby you love: You won't find many hobbies from which you can't build a business. And since you enjoy doing it, it won't be tedious to "go to work" every day. When you pick something for your business that you sincerely like, you will have fun at doing it.

* Your experiences: In life we go though many experiences and you can use these to build a business. For example if you have raised children you can then put all your parenting experience together and start a business related to parenting.

* Your talents: Everyone has one or more talents within them. Dig down and see what yours are. You can start a freelance business using your talents.

Defining your niche market:

1. List out some ideas then put them in the order of what you like the best.

2. Go to the site listed here and put a key word into the overture suggestion tool box: This will bring up the amount of searches that have been done for your keyword and will represent demand.

3. If you search out that same key word on Google search engine http://google.com then you will see websites supplying that item and you will know how many competitors are out there that will be competing with you when you start a home business.

4. If you find a topic that is demanded in quantity but low in the suppliers, you will then make money. This should be your special market for which you do your niche marketing. You will make more money with a niche market as you will reduce and sometimes even eliminate competition. Go through your list of ideas until you narrow it down to about

5. Then go through them again and see which one will fit into a niche market.

Establishing your USP:

Once you have found the concept that fits into a specialized or niche market it is time to establish your USP, Unique, Selling, Point. This is when you will take your idea, and see how you will make your business uniquely different from your competitors. Often neglected, finding the USP is something that new business owners need to do to set their item above the competition. Online businesses are very competitive and you have to stay ahead of the game.

There are two reasons you need to set yourself up as different from others:

1. Get ahead of your competitors

2. To clearly define to your potential customers why your product and service is better than your competitors.

Deciding on your business model:

Part of your business concept will not only be consolidating your ideas but also choosing your business model. There are a few that you can choose from:

* Affiliate marketing-Getting involved with affiliate programs will target your efforts

* Network marketing (MLM)- again this will target your market and idea.

* Marketing-taking the product and selling it

* Service- you should use your talents, which includes freelancing.

You can see there are a number of things you will have to do to get your business concept into operation. But it's worth it to plan and take care in developing it. It will be your foundation, after all.

Dan Farrell has a newsletter, Build An eBusiness On A Shoestring. To sign up with free bonuses, go to: Niche Market Ideas (http://build-an-ebusiness-on-a-shoestring.com) Kimmy Blog31761
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