WordPress 2.8 Now Available for Download

// June 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Wrdpress

WordPress has just released the newest version of their installable blog software: WordPress 2.8.

The most notable addition would seem to be the ability to browse themes from within the WordPress Dashboard. With the Theme Browser, you can specify the color you want, how many columns there should be, and fixed or flexible width. You can then select and install themes that match those criteria on-the-fly, without leaving the Dashboard. Continue Reading

20 Quick Ways to Increase Your Alexa Rank

// May 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Search Engine Optimization

Alexa.com is a subsidiary of Amazon.com and is a website which provides information on traffic levels for websites. The Alexa rank is measured according to the amount of users who’ve visited
a website with the Alexa toolbar installed. In this article, I’ll examine the importance of the Alexa Rank as it relates to site monetization while briefly discussing some of the weaknesses involved in using Alexa ranking as a reliable traffic measure for any website. Lastly, I’ve also included an extensive list of twenty methods and strategies you can use to

5 Great Microsoft Web Services You Probably Don’t Use

// March 4th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Technology News

Microsoft is so often the behemoth everyone loves to hate that people overlook the stuff it does right. We tried its newer Web services and found five gems. Preston Gralla, PC World

When you think of Web apps and services, Microsoft doesn’t immediately come to mind. Lately, though, the company has been rolling out a slew of them, including several that match or beat competing offerings from Google, Yahoo, and any number of startups you’ve never heard of.

Which of those Microsoft services are the best? We’ve tried them all, and we’ve selected five free hidden gems. Continue Reading

Microsoft reveals details of Gazelle browser

// February 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology News

Bigger and better than Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer, says Microsoft.

Microsoft researchers are working on a new browser called Gazelle which it promises will have some impressive new features and capabilities.  The firm released a research paper (PDF) late last week, saying that the new browser would offer significant security improvements compared to other browsers, including Internet Explorer. “No existing browsers, including new architectures like Internet Explorer 8, Google Chrome and OP, have a multi-principal operating system construction that gives a browser-based operating system the exclusive control to manage the protection of all system resources among web site principals,” Microsoft said in the report. Continue Reading

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Marks a Big Upgrade for Web, Rich Media Developers

// February 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology News

With its Adobe Creative Suite 4, Adobe Systems offers significant enhancements over Creative Suite 3. The improvements to the graphics suite of tools include a redone interface, better component integration and upgraded 3-D tools. Adobe Creative Suite 4 completes the integration of the former Macromedia products with the Adobe Creative Suite. Adobe Creative Suite 4 also gives developers six versions to choose from.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 adds a revamped interface, improved component integration and advanced 3-D tools to the dominant graphics suite. And while some users will probably be able to get by just fine with the older versions, serious Web and rich media developers will find Creative Suite 4 to be a very worthwhile upgrade. Continue Reading

Social Networking Drives Adobe Flash Lite Adoption

// February 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology News

The popularity of social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace is driving the success of Adobe’s Flash Lite technology on mobile handsets, says Strategy Analytics. Social networking applications are driving the use of Adobe Systems’ Flash Lite technology, according to a study by Strategy Analytics. Social networking applications are driving the use of Adobe Systems’ Flash Lite technology, according to a study by Strategy Analytics. The company said in a news release:The popularity of social networking sites like YouTube and MySpace is driving the success of Adobe’s Flash Lite technology on mobile handsets. Continue Reading

WordPress Launches WordPress.tv

// January 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Wrdpress

Over the weekend I noticed that WordPress has launched a sweet new visual resource for their blogging software, which can be found at WordPress.tv.   As you would probably guess by the domain extension, WordPress.tv will provide video tutorials for both WordPress.org and WordPress.com installations. If you look at it now, you’ll find a lot of extremely basic tutorials for people new to WordPress, but one cool thing is you can submit requests to see future WordPress video tutorials.  I would imagine over time you’ll start to find a lot more advanced WordPress tutorials. Continue Reading

Useful WordPress Plugins

// January 28th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Wrdpress

There are several thousands of WordPress plugins in the WordPress community and new plugins are coming out everyday. However, not all plugins are useful, in fact some are very bad written that will mess up your site or harm your WordPress installation. So how do you know which plugins are right for you? Well, here is a list of plugins that I have used or played around before. Hopefully you will something useful here. Continue Reading

Study Finds Firefox Users Safest, IE Users Unsafe

// July 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // Technology News

Mozilla Firefox users are the safest Web surfers on the Internet, according to a study by The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Google and IBM’s Internet Security Services. According to the study Firefox users were the most likely to use an updated version of their browser.

Researchers determined Firefox users are by far the safest Web surfers on the Web during an 18-month study. The study based its conclusions of safety on how often users of different browsers updated to the most recent version of browser software. Much of the credit to Firefox’s safety ranking stems from its ease of self updating by the software. Unlike IE which has to update via Windows Update, Firefox has a self-contained updating mechanism which translates into Mozilla users being far more likely to have the most up-to-date (and safest) version of their browser. Continue Reading

XHTML Challenge

// July 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // General

XHTML Challenge is a freshly launched project by Valentin Agachi, which enables you to create challenges between two websites. The script will analyze the sites’ XHTML markups and return a report for the visitors to vote. The signup process and overall workflow is very simple. Within a minute, I created a challenge between Best Web Gallery and CSS Remix (see the challenge).
Continue Reading

Adobe unveils Reader 9 with Flash

// July 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Technology News

Adobe released on Tuesday the first Reader application to bake movies and animation into the Portable Document Format. With Adobe Reader 9, users can play Flash movies, Shockwave animation, and other rich media content without needing to open a third-party player. PDFs are reaching new levels of interactivity with this release. Past versions of the nearly ubiquitous and free application, by contrast, have enabled dynamic forms but served largely to open print-ready PDFs. Continue Reading

Uncloaking ‘invisible’ Flash Web content

// July 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Technology News

Adobe announced late Monday night that it was providing optimized Adobe Flash Player technology to Google and Yahoo to help them better index dynamic Web content and rich Internet applications that include the Shockwave Flash file (SWF) format. It sounds exciting, but what exactly does it mean for Web searchers, Webmasters, and Flash creators? CNET News.com asked Adobe, Google, and Yahoo and got some answers. Continue Reading

Official: Windows 7 date is confirmed

// July 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Technology News

Bill Gates may have only just said his goodbyes, but the Microsoft machine keeps on running with the company announcing information about the release of Windows 7. The paint may not have even dried on the Windows that is Vista, but it seems that Microsoft is already looking to launch its successor within the next two years. In a letter to enterprise and business customers on Tuesday, vice president of Microsoft Bill Veghte announced that the approximate launch date for Windows 7 is January 2010. Continue Reading

Adobe Director 11 Review

// July 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Technology News

Adobe Director multimedia authoring software, which gained popularity during the CD-ROM era of the 90s, has released its first upgrade since Adobe acquired Macromedia in 2005. The last significant upgrade for Director was in 2001, with the 8.5 version. Many developers began using Director at that time, as an introduction to 3D applications. While quite a few other 3D tools have hit the scene, many still find that Director is the most useful to them. Continue Reading

Firefox Impressions From An Internet Explorer User : 5 Things Microsoft Can Learn From Mozilla To Build A Better Browser

// July 3rd, 2008 // No Comments » // Technology News

The latest release of Firefox 3 should give Microsoft something to worry about. I wasn’t an avid Firefox user until the pre-release days of Firefox 3. And by the time I made the switch, it dawned on me how Firefox 3 was light years ahead of Internet Explorer 7, and the lackluster Internet Explorer 8 beta. I won’t go on and on about the virtues of Firefox, rather what pointers Microsoft can take from Mozilla to build a better Internet Explorer and hopefully regain their dwindling market share. Continue Reading