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Digg Trims Staff To Move Toward Profitability Goal

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:08 +0000

Popular news-collection and social-networking Web site Digg.com is cutting back its workforce in hopes of achieving profitability. The San Francisco, Calif.-based company will reduce its staff of 75 people by 10 percent, according to founder Jay Adelson.

Adelson said the company’s goal is to become profitable this year and can only do so by being more conservative. He founded the company in October 2004 and has pulled in $40 million in funding, including a $28 million round just four months ago.

“This means we’ll be taking proactive measures to manage our costs, including a head-count reduction in certain areas that are less core to this year’s objectives while continuing to hire for roles that will help build on our leadership position and get us to profitability faster,” Adelson wrote in a Digg blog.

To reach its goal, Digg’s management team plans to hire a direct-sales team in addition to other “targeted hires.”

Things To Do

Digg has other things on its to-do list, including rolling out new features for its more than 35 million-member community, focusing on sponsorship opportunities, and continuing with publisher and trade partnerships.

One critical step for the company is to work on expanding its advertising strategy and building on its partnership with Microsoft to sell ads. Digg’s three-year, revenue-sharing deal with Microsoft began in July 2007 after Digg considered Yahoo and Google as partners. The contract is up next summer.

“I’m confident that with commitment and focus on these priorities, Digg will be an even stronger company in 2009 and will continue to create innovative features for our more than 35 million community members,” Adelson said.

Competition Heats Up

While Digg begins to refocus, competition is getting stronger. Last week, visitors to Twitter, another popular social-networking and news site, surpassed Digg for the first time, according to Hitwise, an Internet…

Source: newsfactor.com

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Social Networks Are the New Web Portals

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:07 +0000

Not long ago, it seemed that four companies would forever dominate the Web in traffic and ad dollars. Each of the Big Four — Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft’s MSN, and Time Warner’s AOL — attracts more than 100 million unique visitors a month. Collectively the group accounts for roughly 90 percent of gross ad dollars online. So far, so good.

But now those companies are facing a threat to their dominance. I’m not talking about the recessionary headwinds that have slowed growth even for mighty Google. Nor is this about the self-inflicted wounds that have weakened the positions of the other three players. Yahoo spent the last year in turmoil following Microsoft’s takeover offer, inducing Carl Icahn to elbow his way onto the board and then force out CEO Jerry Yang as business conditions grew increasingly dire. AOL is hardly better off. Its former CEO, Jonathan Miller, freely admits that AOL essentially missed the boat on social media and the decline of AOL’s legacy connectivity business. Microsoft failed to acquire Yahoo and continues in vain to seek a credible competitive response to Google’s search advertising juggernaut.

These travails aside, there are bigger threats on the landscape. Today’s massive social networking systems are rapidly becoming Webs within the Web — one-stop shops for a wide range of services (from content to communications to commerce) that were once the unique province of the Big Four.

One-Stop Shopping at Facebook

For example, through a combination of its own creation and that of third-party developers, Facebook has become a world unto itself. Now the Web’s largest social network as measured by active users [140 million at yearend 2008], Facebook offers bread-and-butter portal services like e-mail and instant messaging as well as photo posting and video sharing. But Facebook’s reality extends much further. A partnership with Amazon.com has produced a…

Source: newsfactor.com

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Nokia Discontinues WiMAX Tablet Computer

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:07 +0000

Just as Clearwire Corp. has fired up its long-awaited WiMax wireless data network in two cities, Nokia Corp. has stopped selling the only portable gadget that can use the network without accessories.

Nokia spokeswoman Laurie Armstrong confirmed Wednesday that the company has discontinued the N810 Internet Tablet WiMax Edition on its Web site.

Armstrong did not say why the tablet was withdrawn. But she said Nokia is still interested in WiMax, and by the time WiMax networks are more widely deployed, “refreshed products with even better performance will be required.”

Nokia’s portable computer, which has a 4.1-inch touch-sensitive screen and a slide-out keyboard, is still for sale for $438 in a version without a WiMax modem.

WiMax, sometimes described as a long-range version of Wi-Fi, is a competitor to traditional cellular broadband technologies. It offers relatively fast data speeds, and its proponents hope that WiMax antennas will be built into a variety of gadgets, from small computers to GPS devices.

Leading computer manufacturers have announced their intention to make their laptops WiMax-capable, but for now the only way to use Clearwire’s “Clear” network is with plug-in modems.

“We have a robust pipeline of devices slated throughout 2009 and will be providing more details in the coming weeks,” said Susan Johnston, spokeswoman for Clearwire.

The network is live in Baltimore and Portland, Ore.

Clearwire was formed last year by the union of a smaller company of the same name with Sprint Nextel Corp.’s WiMax division.

Source: newsfactor.com

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Apple COO Shoots Down Rumors, Eyes Palm’s Pre

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:06 +0000

Apple COO Tim Cook has poured cold water on some persistent rumors and indicated Apple could take legal action against a competitor.

An iPhone nano was one rumor that has been circulating for at least 18 months. Some reports said the device would have a smaller screen and possibly less functionality. The rumor was fanned in recent months by reports of nano casings being made and of China-based factories gearing up for nano production.

Making the Best Phone

But in an earnings conference call this week, Cook said Apple will not be producing any low-end phones and is not focused on becoming the biggest seller of mobile phones. Instead, he said, Apple wants to concentrate on offering the best phone. He added that software drives iPhone sales, and multiple screen sizes, input methods, and hardware increase the difficulties for developers.

Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said he expected Apple “to develop high-end and low-end versions of the iPhone over time, expanding to multiple price points.”

But he anticipated that the differentiation would focus on faster processors, a better-quality camera, and the like, rather than versions that, for instance, lower screen resolution.

Cook also lanced any ideas that Apple might enter the netbook market at this time. These smaller-than-laptop, less-expensive devices are selling well, and more hardware makers are jumping into the category.

But Cook said netbooks, with cheaper parts and less software capabilities, offer a lower computing experience. He echoed CEO Steve Jobs, now on medical leave, who reportedly said at the last earnings conference call that Apple didn’t “know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk.”

A Veiled Threat To Palm?

However, Cook didn’t totally close the door to the netbook market, saying the company will watch the category’s growth. Apple well knows how quickly…

Source: newsfactor.com

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Mac Malware Spreads on Pirated Copies of iWork 09

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:06 +0000

Who said Macs are immune to viruses? Some malware makers aim to bust that myth with a Trojan horse that’s being downloaded across the Internet.

Mac security software firm Intego identified a Trojan on Wednesday that affects computers running Mac OS X. The malware was found on some pirated copies of Apple’s new iWork 09 productivity suite on peer-to-peer sites. iWork is Apple’s answer to Microsoft Office.

“The installer for the Trojan horse is launched as soon as a user begins the installation of iWork, following the installer’s request of an administrator password,” Intego said. “This software is installed as a start-up item (in /System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices, a location reserved normally for Apple start-up items), where it has read-write-execute permissions for root.” In Mac OS X 10.5.1 or earlier, there will be no password request.
Foolish Behavior

Once installed, the virus, called OSX.Trojan.iServices.A, connects to a remote server, where a cybercriminal is alerted that the virus is installed. At that point, criminals can begin connecting to the infected Mac to perform various actions. The virus may also download additional data to an infected Mac.

Anyone who downloads a pirated copy of iWork 09 is not only breaking Apple’s copyright, but risks becoming infected, according to Graham Cluley, a senior security consultant at Sophos. Like much of the Windows malware we see, he said, that Trojan horse is designed to turn computers into bots (Web robots), which hackers can abuse for whatever nefarious purpose they like, including sending out spam or stealing identities.

“Of course, you would be crazy to download any commercial copyrighted software from a (BitTorrent) site, but that doesn’t seem to stop lots of people from doing precisely that,” Cluley said. “It’s particularly absurd when you realize Apple makes available for free download a 30-day trial version. And so it’s understandable that some Apple fans might…

Source: newsfactor.com

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Senate Republicans Now Support Delaying DTV

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:05 +0000

Now that President Barack Obama is settled in, his administration’s push to delay the transition from analog broadcast television to digital is in full swing. Senate Republicans, who initially didn’t support the DTV delay, now favor pushing the transition from Feb. 17 to June 12. The Senate is expected to vote next week and the House soon after.

The reintroduced DTV Delay Act, pushed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), still keeps the June 12 date, but now allows broadcast stations to switch to digital signals before June 12.

The bill would also allow consumers who have expired coupons for converter boxes to apply for new coupons. If approved, the deadline to apply for a coupon would move from March 31 to July 31.

“I am pleased that Chairman Rockefeller worked with me to address many of the concerns with the early proposals,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas). “These changes will help consumers whose coupons have expired and allow TV stations that are prepared and ready to move forward without the requirement of simulcasting.”

Ready or Not

Before his inauguration, Obama and his aides asked Congress to delay the change after being told by the National Telecommunication Information Administration (NTIA) that funding for the $1.34 billion digital converter box coupon program had run out.

Carlos Gutierrez, then secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, quickly responded with a letter to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) saying the department and the NTIA were ready for the transition. Gutierrez said awareness of the transition moved from less than 40 percent of Americans to nearly 97 percent in two years.

The NTIA was tight-lipped on the situation because “no secretary of commerce has been either nominated or confirmed,” according to Bart Forbes, a spokesperson for the NTIA. “Also, no NTIA administrator has either been nominated or confirmed.”

Source: newsfactor.com

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Review: New Windows Basically Fixes the Old

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:05 +0000

For an operating system that took five years to create, Windows Vista saw its reputation go down in flames quickly. Not since the Microsoft Bob interface in 1995 has anything from the software giant racked up so much contempt and derision. Not every company lives to see the day when its customers beg, plead and create petitions to bring back the previous version of its flagship product.

One thing is certain: It won’t take Microsoft five years to produce the next Windows. The company wants to put Vista behind it as soon as possible. In fact, the next version of Windows is almost here already. It’s called Windows 7, and it’s available as a free download, in not-quite-finished, beta-test form, from Microsoft.

It is not nearly the overhaul that Vista was. In fact, what Microsoft seems to be going for in Windows 7 is “Vista, fixed.”

If you ask the masses what they disliked about Vista you’re likely to get a common set of responses. That list makes a good framework for assessing the prospects of Windows 7, which is expected to arrive within a year.

It’s naggy and intrusive.

Windows Vista is always popping up warnings and messages, making you wish you could just be left alone. Many of them stem from the much-despised, Orwellian-named User Account Control, or UAC, which is supposed to warn you about virus and spyware.

The trouble is, UAC was too suspicious, demanding your name and password even when you were just making innocent changes, like setting your computer’s clock. In Windows 7, you can tone UAC down. For example, you can eliminate the warnings when you are the one making the changes.

Furthermore, Windows 7 bites its tongue far more often. Ten categories of low-urgency alerts no longer appear as taskbar balloons. Now they get consolidated in a new…

Source: newsfactor.com

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eBay Sales: Going, Going . . . Gone?

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:40:04 +0000

By his own admission, eBay Chief Executive John Donahoe is “frustrated.” With good reason. Fourth-quarter results reflect the company’s first-ever quarterly revenue decline, a sign that Donahoe’s effort to reignite growth has yet to take effect.

On Jan. 21, the company said sales dropped 6.4 percent, to $2.04 billion, amid weakness in consumer spending and strength in the U.S. dollar, which reduces the value of overseas sales. “It’s a sign that eBay hasn’t been able to buck the trend” of poor consumer turnout during the holiday season, says Jeff Lindsay, an analyst at New York-based Sanford C. Bernstein. “All the advantage of the online channel has gone mostly to Amazon.”

Fixed-Price Shopping Goes to Amazon

But eBay’s most recent earnings reveal deeper problems than a sour Christmas. As CEO since the March 2008 departure of predecessor Meg Whitman, Donahoe has redoubled efforts to cut eBay’s dependence on auctions, which have fallen out of favor for many consumers, and raise the company’s reliance on fixed-price items. In short, management has tried to make eBay more like online retailing stalwart Amazon.com. Fixed-price sales now account for almost half of all transactions.

Yet, consumers who shop online are flocking to Amazon and other retailers. At eBay, the core online shopping business suffered a double-digit drop in revenue, down 16 percent, to $1.3 billion. Transactions on its site, excluding the especially poor-performing auto category, fell 12 percent over the same period. “At the end of the day, if you compare the experience of buying fixed-price items on eBay vs. buying them on Amazon, Amazon wins,” says Jim Friedland, an analyst at Cowen & Co. who has a neutral rating on eBay’s stock. “It’s such a better shopping experience.”

Amazon doesn’t report earnings until next week. But the site surprised analysts in December when it reported its best Christmas ever,…

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Vatican Launches YouTube Channel

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:32:18 +0000

These days, it seems everybody has a YouTube channel. The latest entrant into the digital-media mix is none other than Pope Benedict XVI.

The 81-year-old pope made the YouTube channel announcement during the Catholic Church’s World Day of Communications. The theme was New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship.

The Vatican is taking advantage of social media to reach the masses even as the Catholic Church warns today’s youth not to get obsessed with new media. The YouTube channel will offer links to Vatican and Catholic Web sites and video channels around the world.

The Pope on Facebook?

The Vatican channel is broadcasting short video news clips that feature the pope’s activities as well as Vatican and Catholic Church events. The clips are currently available in English, Spanish, German and, of course, Italian.

The Vatican channel will have daily updates. News clips will run about two minutes. The Vatican television center is producing the clips in cooperation with Vatican Radio journalists and Web managers.

The Vatican launched its first Web site in 1995 and seems to be open to leveraging additional social-media technologies. YouTube is the first effort, but Archbishop Claudio Celli has indicated that the Catholic Church may have its own Facebook page one day.

Don’t Neglect Human Contact

The pope’s message to YouTube users revealed the Catholic Church’s motive: To put social media in “the service of the truth.” The pope also warned not to disregard human contact and to seek quality online relationships rather than quantity.

“It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop online friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbors, and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation,” the pope wrote in a message.

“If the desire for…

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Nokia Reports Mobile Market Share Decline

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Nokia told investors that its sales declined 19 percent year-over-year to 12.7 billion euros (US$16.5 billion) in the fourth quarter. The company also said it now expects the mobile-device industry’s sales this year will fall about 10 percent from 2008 levels.

Nokia’s mobile-device shipments in the fourth quarter slid 15 percent year-over-year to 113.1 million. And for the entire industry, the Finnish handset maker estimates mobile-device shipments fell nine percent year-over-year to 305 million in the quarter.

Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo attributed the poor performance to weaker consumer confidence, unprecedented currency volatility, and credit tightness. “We are taking action to reduce overall costs and to preserve our strong capital structure,” Kallasvuo said. “This is clearly our top priority in the current economic environment.”

Approximately 1,000 employees are expected to depart from Nokia, with about half occurring through divestitures, Kallasvuo said. However, the economic realities “require us to do significantly more, and we will take further action,” he said.

A Tough Quarter

During last year’s final quarter, Nokia’s slice of the mobile-device market dropped three percentage points from the 40 percent share it had captured in the year-ago period. The decline was driven primarily by market-share losses in the Middle East and Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and in Greater China, the company said. Moreover, the average selling price of Nokia’s mobile devices slipped to 71 euros (US$92.22) — down from 83 euros (US$107.81) a year earlier and one euro less than in the prior quarter.

“The fourth quarter was really tough,” said Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi. “Their volumes were a bit lower than what we had anticipated.”

Milanesi said in late November that Nokia was best positioned to deal with tough market conditions because of its economies of scale. Despite Nokia’s latest sales woes, Milanesi sees no reason to change her mind.

“Though it’s…

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Google Reports 18 Percent Jump in Q4 Revenue

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:27:58 +0000

For all the doom and gloom around Intel and Microsoft this week, Google offered some bright news on the heels of Apple’s record earnings report. Late Thursday, Google announced financial results for the fourth quarter.

Google reported revenue of $5.7 billion for the quarter ended Dec 31, an increase of 18 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2007 and an increase of 3 percent compared to the third quarter of 2008. Google reports its revenues, consistent with GAAP, on a gross basis without deducting traffic-acquisition costs (TAC). In the fourth quarter, TAC totaled $1.48 billion, or 27 percent of advertising revenues.

“Google performed well in the fourth quarter, despite an increasingly difficult economic environment. Search-query growth was strong, revenues were up in most verticals, and we successfully contained costs,” said CEO Eric Schmidt. “It’s unclear how long the global downturn will last, but our focus remains on the long term, and we’ll continue to invest in Google’s core search and ads business as well as in strategic growth areas such as display, mobile and enterprise.”
Global Income

Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.81 billion, or 67 percent of total revenue, in the fourth quarter. This was a 22 percent increase over fourth quarter 2007 revenues of $3.12 billion and a four percent increase over third-quarter revenues of $3.67 billion.

Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.69 billion, or 30 percent of total revenue. This was a four percent increase over fourth quarter 2007′s $1.64 billion and a one percent increase over third quarter revenues of $1.68 billion.

Revenues from outside the U.S. totaled $2.86 billion, or 50 percent of total revenue, compared to 48 percent in year-ago quarter 51 percent in the third quarter. If foreign exchange rates had remained constant from the third quarter through the fourth quarter, fourth-quarter revenue would…

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Obama Will Keep BlackBerry One, Limit E-Mail

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:26:44 +0000

The world’s biggest to-do list, on the desk of President Barack Obama, now has one less item. Obama will keep his BlackBerry.

Among the many issues the new president faced, the tug-of-war with his security team on continuing to use his portable device received more than its share of attention. But, in the post-partisan manner favored by the 44th president, a compromise was announced on Thursday.
‘Use Will Be Limited’

Under the arrangement, a super-encryption package will be added to Obama’s BlackBerry, giving the most powerful person on the planet on-the-go access to e-mail. According to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, “use will be limited.” Obama will only be able to e-mail senior staff, Gibbs told reporters, as well as “a small group of personal friends.”

The highest level of encryption for BlackBerrys currently used by top-level government officers is Secret, and — as the most visible target for hackers — Obama’s security needs are higher. For instance, a BlackBerry can become a homing device broadcasting its user’s location, or it can be hacked to act as a remote microphone, in addition to more standard e-mail and voice-communication prying.

Obama has said his BlackBerry allows him to more easily get around the bubble that presidents find themselves in. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands,” he told one interviewer before the compromise was reached.

But e-mail, which appears to be Obama’s main interest, can be a two-edged sword. The Freedom of Information Act and the Presidential Records Act of 1978 require that e-mails relating to official business be preserved as public records. The informal nature of such e-mails can lead to embarrassment or worse.
Oh, the Irony

In fact, former President George W. Bush dropped e-mailing altogether because of the public-record laws, and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, reportedly still doesn’t e-mail.

Last fall, The Onion, a satirical…

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Record Apple Earnings Top Wall Street Expectations

larnau — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:23:29 +0000

What recession? Apple on Wednesday announced its fiscal 2009 first-quarter results with record-breaking numbers. The company topped $10 billion in quarterly sales for the first time and exceeded Wall Street’s expectations.

Apple posted record revenue of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

“Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history — surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,” said CEO Steve Jobs.

What’s Selling? Everything!

Apple sold 2,524,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter. That’s a nine percent growth over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold a record 22.727 million iPods during the quarter, a three percent growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 4.363 million, an 88 percent growth over the year-ago quarter.

“Our outstanding results generated over $3.6 billion in cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $7.6 billion to $8 billion, and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about 90 cents to $1.00.”

Apple’s stock, which has taken a beating in recent weeks from speculation about Jobs, his health, and the impact of his decision to take a six-month leave of absence, rose to recover recent losses. Shares were selling around $88 at noon EST.

The Impact of the iPod Touch

Apple reported that iPhone 3G sales have been significantly greater than sales of the first-generation iPhone. During the first quarter of iPhone 3G availability ended Sept. 27,…

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Servo switch assemblies

Ask Salomon — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:00:01 +0000

If you are interested in trying out some home automation, but don’t want to get into the potentially dangerous area of hacking your house wiring, consider these servo switches. These allow you to flip a switch, using a servo. They are clean, temporary, and fairly compact. You can purchase them at oomlout.com or download the designs and build your own.

Source: http://hackaday.com

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Passive MIDI foot switch

Ask Salomon — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:00:00 +0000

[Matt] was looking into some software that allows him to use his audio card as a means to control analog audio devices. After seeing how it worked, he got an idea to try to do the opposite. He is sending a signal into his audio input, and piping it to a pice of MIDI software. The input he has chose is a foot switch. To create the signal, he simply needed to supply voltage while the switch was depressed. You can see above that he used a battery and a simple contact switch to send the signal. He then piped it to a virtual MIDI port using Maple Virtual MIDI Cable. Unfortunately, this isn’t suitable for knobs, but that may be next on his list.

Source: http://hackaday.com

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Running a VBulletin Powered Forum

Ask Salomon — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:31:29 +0000

Running a VBulletin Powered Forum

Are you a forum owner, or would you like to be? Forums require a scipt and hosting to run. I’ll quickly go over some of the basics that you’ll need to setup your own forum. First off the script, I prefer vBulletin, but you can use IPB as well as free scripts like SMF, phpBB and MyBB.

I choose vBulletin for a number of reasons, one being the upgrades. As I previously mentioned, I had used phpBB before switching to vBulletin. I hated updating all the php files when you needed to do an upgrade on a modded phpBb forum. I’m not sure if the current version of phpBB has easier upgrades, but I’d had enough of phpBB. Time for vBulletin the professional forum script; I had looked at IPB (the other paid alternative) but was not impressed with the actual look of the forum from a users point of view. I used vBulletin for the first 9 months and it was great, then they released the plugin and product system which allowed mods to be with one upload and a click of a button. The product/plugin addition also made the upgrades much easier. You could update a fully modded forum in a matter of seconds, you still need to update each of the templates but you’re still saving time of updating php files.

One of the great addons for vBulletin is a product called vBSEO. vBulletin Search Engine Optimization in one single product. You can do a number of the tweaks that vBSEO does with other addons, but you can’t do everything and who really wants to install 20 hacks to take the place of one? Not to mention the strain 20 hacks will have on your forum and that’s just 20 more chances for a security exploit. vBSeo is the #1 SEO script for vBulletin, I will not start a forum without it. Even if it’s a very small forum, and low on funds, you have to take every advantage that you can in optimizing your forum for search engines.

So if you want the best forum possible, you’ll want vBulletin and vBSEO. Now we can talk a little about hosting. You should be able to get a good host for less than $10 a month to start off. Then as your site goes, you’ll need to extend your hosting package to cover the traffic and bandwidth that your site will be consuming. If you want to host several sites, you may want to look into a VPS or virtual private server. That’s what I use on my websites it allows me total control that your shared hosting plans aren’t going to give you.

I hope I’ve explained a few things here, feel free to ask any questions. I’ll be posting some articles on building back links and advertising for your forums in the near future. If you do need any help setting up your vBulletin forum or would like to talk on the phone and brainstorm topics for your forum, you can contact me at my Professional vBulletin Services pages on one of my other blogs.

Brandon Sheley @ http://www.sheley.com & http://hq.vc

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The Role of a Webmaster in Your Internet Business

Ask Salomon — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:01:56 +0000

The Role of a Webmaster in Your Internet Business
By Darren W Chow

A webmaster is one of the most important person in your Internet business. This person should be one who is reliable, and can work quickly. An agile mind with efficient coding ability is what you should be looking out for.

In many circumstances, your Internet business will need changes to be made on the site fairly quickly. Therefore, it’s only reasonable to assume that your webmaster can keep up with the demand of the job. For example, you may be doing a product launch, and you desperately need the site to be up by a certain date. So your webmaster needs to get things organized – setup the graphics, setup the emails, etc. All must be completed within the time frame. Otherwise, you will get a lot of complains from angry customers.

So let’s talk a little bit about the role of the webmaster in your Internet business. What exactly is he (or she) responsible for in your Internet business? There are no standard answers for a question like this. It all depends on your agreement with your webmaster. And your agreement depends on the needs of your Internet business. So to re-frame the question, it would be better to ask what does your Internet business need?

Graphics work.

Obviously, all websites need to be updated with the latest graphics. Graphics can be logos, photos, posters, and so on. These need to be posted on the website on a regular basis. If your webmaster is too busy with other stuff, such tasks can be outsourced. Of course, your webmaster will still need to supervise the work and stay on top of things.

Development work.

Webmasters should also be competent when it comes to coding. There are many different types of web programming languages on the Internet – PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, CFM, etc. The most popular is PHP. Make sure that the webmaster you hire is familiar with the language that you are currently using on your website.

Development work means working on bugs on the website and coming up with new features. As you can see, there is never ending work for new features. So it’s easy to overload your webmaster with too much work. The key here is to stay organized. Make a weekly plan to roll out the features, and work on them one at a time. That way, it’s easier to have quality control, and the work gets done.

Maintaining the website.

This is another key area that your webmaster should be in charge of. Maintaining a website means keeping everything ship shape. If there is a broken link, fix it. If there are spam emails coming from the site, work on it. If there are trouble makers posting nonsense on the forum, ban them.

Professional webmasters provide quality services that cover all the above areas. You can easily hire a webmaster from an online webmaster forum. Such community sites are where webmasters hang out, and you can easily pick up a few good webmasters from there.

Webmaster News Forum . Online Marketing and Google Search Engine Optimization.

Important Webmaster News. Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimization forums.

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Webmaster News On Forums – Time to Join The Discussion

Ask Salomon — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:16:28 +0000

There are many benefits when participating in webmaster forums. Webmaster forums offer first hand news and resources on what is happening on the Internet. Everyone is involved with the Internet some way or the other, whether it’s for work or for pleasure. So it’s certainly in your best interest to keep abreast of the latest webmaster news. Here are some examples of webmasters news that may affect you directly or indirectly.

Search engines related news.

This is one of the most closely watched topics. Webmasters watch what is happening to the search engines because on the Internet, it’s all about traffic. Nothing ever happens without traffic. You can’t get leads, registrations, and you certainly can’t get sales. And for many websites, the majority of the traffic comes from search engines. Therefore, if there is any search engine related news, webmasters will cling to its every word. It’s that important.

This traffic generation method is also commonly known as search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a combination of internal page and external page factors that helps a website to rank well in the search engines. You can pick up some really great SEO tips just by scanning webmaster news in forums.

It is not uncommon to see webmasters visiting forums just to complain about a drop in search engine rankings. When that happens, every webmaster wants to know what went wrong. In fact, some even offer to pay others money, just so their website can regain its rankings. But the Internet is not all about the search engines. There is more.

Internet marketing news.

Many webmasters depend on Internet marketing news for the latest money making opportunities. This may be in the form of untapped traffic source, or a new way of generating traffic online. Whatever the method, the webmaster community is usually the first to hear about it.

Of course, they are also the ones to profit from these opportunities. In fact, many have made fortunes from various traffic generation methods such as buying clicks or article marketing. The best part is, webmasters learn how to conduct their online businesses for free on these forums.

Another reason why you should be concerned about internet marketing news is that you want to avoid being scammed. Some people think that they can cheat people of their hard earned money and get away with it when they trade on the internet. But usually, the law catches up with these crooks. It’s just a matter of time.

However, if you are updated on the latest internet marketing news, you will be able to avoid such unpleasant experiences altogether. Who wants to go through the hassle of being cheated of one’s hard earned money, and then having to go after some crook that may be halfway across the globe? For sure, we all have better things to do.

These are just a couple of examples on how webmaster news can benefit you. If you have benefited from the information provided by a webmaster forum, be sure to share some of your own knowledge as well. Communities thrive when everyone shares.

So join a webmaster forum, and participate actively. For all you know, you may end up profiting handsomely from an internet marketing opportunity.

Visit our Webmaster Forum for very Important Webmaster News – Join in the discussion!