Posted 09/22/09 at 11:30:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Want to increase your website's presence on Google? Don't waste your time littering your site with "keywords" meta tags, because according to Google, that won't do you a bit of good.

In a blog post on Monday, Google explained that it doesn't use keyword meta tags, disregarding them completely. The reason, Google says, is because meta tags are subject to abuse. It's far too easy (and common) for a webmaster to inject oft-irrelevant keywords without typical visitors ever seeing them, so Google has been ignoring them for "many years."

The search giant also clarified that it doesn't ignore all meta tags, such as sometimes using the "description" meta tag as the text for its search results snippets. However, these too are disregarded in terms of ranking.

Full explanation and video here.

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Posted 05/12/09 at 08:00:00 AM by Paul Lilly

Like, OMG! Netbooks are soooo cute! But "once you get beyond how cute they are, you'll find that netbooks can do a lot more than check your mail." For example, they can help you 'Get healthier' (tech tip #2) by tracking exercise and food intake at free online sites, and to 'Eat better' (tech tip #3) by finding recipes online. You can even 'Get Organized' (tech tip #4), because "Remember the Milk is a free, tweakable online task manager." Or use a netbook to 'Chill out' (tech tip #5).

These are all real tech tips, and they're all listed on Della, Dell's new microsite dedicated to helping women shop for notebooks without focusing on all those manly GHz and GB abbreviations. The new site pays particular attention to the Dell Mini 10 and Studio notebooks, making it a point to convince women that these laptops won't cramp their stylish lifestyle.

But it's the Tech Tips page that offers the most amusement, even if not everyone is amused.

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Posted 04/08/09 at 09:43:42 AM by Paul Lilly

Anyone miss Circuit City yet? For those of you that do, you may be in luck. Sort of. While the bankrupt electronics chain won't be making a brick and mortar comeback anytime soon, it appears Circuit City has some kind of future planned online. Going to Circuit City's website now reads:

"CircuitCity.com is also temporarily closed, although we anticipate the website will reopen in the coming weeks. Please check back for updates."

What exactly the former chain has planned so far remains a mystery. News site TGDaily notes that calls made to the company's office in Richmond, Virginia have gone unanswered, and without any kind of statement from Circuit City or its liquidator, that leaves the online message as the only clue we have to go on.

Circuit City did everything it could to avoid going out of business earlier this year and last year, including closing down over 150 stores and cutting 20 percent of its workforce. But it was unable to find a buyer and, following a controversial liquidation sale, closed its doors for good last March.

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Posted 03/13/09 at 09:46:55 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Hulu is celebrating its first anniversary. And what an amazing inaugural year it was for Hulu: its market share rose steadily through the year making it one of the most riveting video sites on the internet. The video-on-demand site has stepped into its second year armed with new social networking features.

Now website users can share their favorite shows with each other using the new "Hulu Friends" feature. Users can import contacts from major social networks and email services. The site ensures that friends are kept up to speed with each other’s viewing activities. This move is expected to make Hulu more enticing for advertisers.

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Posted 03/09/09 at 07:23:10 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Youtube houses arguably one of the largest music-video collections on the internet, which even features some hard-to-find musical gems. Dan Nelson, a 15-year-old developer, has built an iTunes-esque, free-music service that streams Youtube music to the user’s desktop. His downloadable music player is called Muziic.

Muziic can be considered the notional progeny of Youtube and iTunes: it delivers free music available on Youtube in a seamless manner one associates with iTunes. But its adolescent creator is yet to secure Google’s endorsement.

A Youtube spokesperson told Cnet that Muziic appears to be in breach of the Youtube API terms of use. But he admitted that their inquiry is still in its youth. “This is the first we've become aware of the site,” he said.

Google’s gripe may emanate from the fact that there is no mechanism in Muziic to display the advertisements that usually accompany Youtube videos. So Muziic is effectively depriving Google of ads revenue that is lawfully its due. Having used Muziic, this author can vouch for its utility. But will it be music to Google’s ears?

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Posted 02/14/09 at 05:51:15 PM by Pulkit Chandna

It is a disgrace that humans haven’t still got the hang of setting passwords. It seems as though that most internet users have inextricably tethered themselves to a promise of not setting strong-enough passwords, which may force hackers to reconsider their choice of profession for its grueling nature. As you devour more of this story, you will begin to envy hackers for having it stroll-in-the-park easy.

A new study has revealed – rather reiterated - that internet users nonchalantly continue to set unimaginative, fatuous passwords. The study appraised 28,000 passwords that were recently stolen from a U.S website.

Sixteen percent of the users had set their first name as their password. Around fourteen percent chose easiest to recall key combinations, including “1234” and “12345678”. Other users, who apparently don’t rate their mathematical ability highly, chose to steer clear of numbers and settled for passwords such as “AZERTY” and “QWERTY”.

Five percent of the passwords were found to be inspired by popular things and celebrities, including names of movies, TV shows and actors. The strongest password in this category was found to be “Ironman” as it sounds impenetrable.

Three percent of the people reckon passwords are another medium of expression. How else would you explain passwords like “Iloveyou” and “Ihateyou?”

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Posted 02/10/09 at 05:40:34 PM by Josh Kampschmidt

Yes, you heard right! Microsoft is giving away free, hosted domains. This means you can finally set up a website for your special hobby or anything else that you wish. There is a catch though. Unfortunately, it is only free for the first year and then $15 per year after. This is still a good deal though. So why would you want such a thing? Because it’s your website and you can do whatever you wish to it. Other free services, such as Tripod, give you free website hosting, but you do not get your own domain name. Hit the jump for more details.

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Posted 02/05/09 at 08:03:19 AM by Pulkit Chandna

UK’s Competition Commission has disapproved Project Kangaroo, a proposed Hulu-esque VOD service, which was supposed to provide video content – mostly free videos - from three of its joint owners, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. The fear of Kangaroo’s inevitable hegemony led the Commission to veto the alliance. The Commission felt that the video-on-demand service would have resulted in the “loss of competition” between its proprietors.

The three companies expressed their disconsolation in a joint statement. “We are disappointed by the decision to prohibit this joint venture. While this is an unwelcome finding for the shareholders, the real losers from this decision are British consumers. This is a disproportionate remedy and a missed opportunity in the further development of British broadcasting,” the statement reads. Although consumers would have most certainly devoured the service, the Commission's findings appear to be reasonable.

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