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Headspace2 SEO plugin

neil.baldwin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:43:39 +0000

I have installed the Headspace WP plugin in an attempt to improve my SEO. This post should have better SEO?

The great fibre swindle

neil.baldwin — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:40:51 +0000

Listening to the guardian technology podcast yesterday I learnt that BT has a competitve advantage in the fibre broadband market, it comes about because BT only have to £20 per km of fibre where as their competitors have to pay £2,000 per km then £20 per home connected.
This means that BT is going to be in no rush to roll out fibre, because no one else can compete with them. How can this be the case? Well it is complicated in that it is somehow tied up in business rates, and although it seems unfair no politician wants to touch the law because business rates are complex and no one wants to open the can of worms.
You can read more about the issue on the Guardian website here http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/oct/04/bt-broadband I for one will be writing to my MP urging him to do something about it.

The devils pinch part deux

neil.baldwin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:47:41 +0000

the-devil-pinch-google-ranking

You may have read my blog post about the devuils pinch? Well it seems you don;t need to do much to get up high in the google ranking. After the post there was an entry in google 8th in the list. SO my theory goes that if I do another post I should go up the list, hence this post.

Google white out!

neil.baldwin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:05:27 +0000

I hope you have all been using Google’s instant search features. Just to remind yiu you need to be logged in to Google and go to the google page to do your search, searching from the browser search or address bar does not do it. When you search Google presnts the search results as you typen not just the old suggested stuff that appears in the search box but the full results for what you have typed.
Any way it turns out that there are some words that that cause the search results to “white out”. It seems that iif you type a rude or offensive word as you type Google the ajax code somehow is triggered to white the page out. This will open up some interesting stuff.
If it happens you kind of wonder what you have done to cause it. Have you searched for something you shouldn’t or just made a typing error? You can imagine that if you notice someone on google and you see the screen blank, you will wonder what they had done, it is sort of an invasion of privacy.
This also has some implications for some people and companies, as some will fall foul of the trigger words. For example Bitch Magazine, Scunthorpe Council, a Russian name that start Urinea!
Google also get a lot of statistics about how we search and type. The search feature waits for pauses in your typing before presenting in the results, this means they get a real insight into the way you search, do you type the whole lot, or just a word then add more words until you find what you want?
Only time will tell what the trigger word are, how they will deal ith peoples name clashes.

Flickr images

neil.baldwin — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:17:32 +0000

Apparently I can add Flickr images to my posts, here we go.

New Google search better faster

neil.baldwin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:54:05 +0000

Google search

Google have updated their search page, now when you start a search you not not have to press the enter key or button to do the search, the results appear below the search box as you type. I suspect that it waits for a slight pause, the displays, as you type more stuff the search results get updated. This is not the suggested search terms that they have been providing for some time, it is much much better than that. Here is a screen shot of the thing in action.

This is will probably have the effect of shaking up the SEO market, as the way websites will appear at the top of the search results will change some what. You will need far few words before the results appear!

The adwords market may also be affected, not sure how though. The ads appear as you type also, this means that for example if you type “oil” you get ads for oil spill kits, (BP might be responsible for that!), but then if you add the work “tank” the ads change and you get oil tanks adverts. You can see how this is different the user has seen two sets of adverts, and one of the set was for the wrong thing, but the user may have eye balled them.

Blackberry wordpress client

neil.baldwin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:56:59 +0000

Back garden

I am writing this blog entry from my blackberry, using the wordpress mobile app. Previously I have always used the email to blog feature of word press, but I found when I did it from my blackberry it stripped out paragraphs, so I had to spend time fixing the text afterwards.
You can do most of the stuff you would need to do, I.e. You can format the text, insert media from the phone, and even add location information. Drafts can be saved as you go along, so it seems quite comprehensive.
I am going to try to use it from now on and see how I get on. The picture below is from my phone just to prove it works ok.

How to tether you blackberry to your windows 7 machine

neil.baldwin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:50:05 +0000

Stuck at Belfast City I thought I would have one last go at this. As you can tell by this post I was successful.
From this page here are the important bits.

1. Pair your blackberry to your windows machine, via bluetooth.

2. Set up an Internet APN.

Click Start > Settings > Control Panel
Double-click Phone and Modem Options
In the Phone and Modem Options window, click the Modems tab
Select Standard Modem and click Properties
Click Change Settings
In the Standard Modem Properties window, click the Advanced tab
In the Extra initialization commands field, type the following under CODE:

at+cgdcont=1,”IP”,”internet”

Click OK.
In the Phone and Modem Options window, click OK.

3. To configure dial-up networking, complete the procedure that is appropriate to the operating system you are using:

Click Start
Select Connect To
Click Setup a connection or network
Click Setup a dialup connection
In the Dial-up phone number field type *99#
Type the user name web and password web
In the Connection Name field type BlackBerry
Click Dialing Rules
Make sure the profile created in Task 2 has been selected, and then clickOK
Select Connect to establish an internet connection.

Lost productivity

neil.baldwin — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:12:36 +0000

Pacman

How many hours were lost today in offices around the world. The google home page had a pacman game to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the video game. If you want to try it go to the google home page, but remember it is only for today.

Google TV

neil.baldwin — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:41:12 +0000

They have announced it. The big announcement at Google I/O is Google TV, check out the official website http://www.google.com/tv/

Watch the video here Google TV announcement