CSS trick - reveal an area when printed

I had to complete some work for a client where they wanted an additional area where the employee could sign off the printed version of a form. They did not want the viewable version of the form to display the signature area until the document was printed. This is the code that i used to present a block of code however only when the form was printed. It worked really well as in the web browser you could just see the form where as when it was printed the additional signature area displayed at the bottom of the page. This code is probably quiet useful to some so I though that I would post it.

Telstra's now 8Mbps or 20Mbps

Telstra's has announced that it had dramatically dialed up the bandwidth on its ADSL broadband service. Millions of Australians now have access to broadband speeds of up to 8Mbps or 20Mbps, where they were previously artificially limited to 1.5Mbps. The up to 8Mbps speeds will now be resold to other Internet service providers which will increase the speeds all around. This is great news for all Australians as the price of bandwidth will now be reduced not only by Telstra but other ISP's around the country. This announcement is a little late on my behalf as this happened a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never.

Search Engine Optimization tips

Some key ways to ensure that you receive higher listing in the search engines is to follow these rules;

- Ensure that you do not have any pages that return 404 messages
- Remove all pages that you do not sure anymore. That means if you have some single test pages that do not link to the main site this can have an adverse affect on your rankings. If you want to setup test pages then setup a test website and host in a separate directory. Not many people know about this one but through the testing I have done it seems to be the case.
- Ensure that your site has a sitemap. Preferably one that has been linked to from your home page. This will allow the search engine spider to find all page easily for your website
- Try not to use encoded URLS for you dynamic pages. Thy to make the URL make sense or include keywords
- Include all of your JavaScript and CSS in external pages. This keeps your code clean and helps the spider to index the page. Another trick with this is to include the keywords as some of the CSS class names that you use. This means that the page will have plenty of references to your specific keywords
- Most importantly, make sure that your page is well formatted.

There are plenty of other tips so keep checking back as future posts will include some more tips for you.

New electricity source

Here is some slightly old news as I found it on a an old post but it is new to me so I though that it was worth a post. Did you know that we can now power batteries from your standard, everyday tree. It sounds interesting enough to me. It is not really a technology tip but think of the possibilities. Instead of paying the power companies electric bills, why not rig your house up to the tree you have in your garden. Not really realistic but amusing nevertheless. Check the post at the link.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/03/the_new_power_p_1.php

Google Newspaper Advertising

l love keeping up with what Goggle are doing and here is an interesting move from them. They have now found a way to make money on advertising when the advertising is not online. This is definitely a shift in Google’s perspective. The company is now looking to run a three-month trial to run ads in many newspapers. 50 U.S. newspapers are apparently taking part in this test. Google looks to be looking for diversification within its ad revenue so it can generate both on and offline revenue. It will also be offering a useful service to advertisers that want to get adds out to lots of newspapers quickly and effortlessly.

Your Own Custom Search

I was looking through a blog that I sometimes check to find out the latest tip bits about Google and came across a new search that can be performed with Google called "Custom Search". The blog I am talking about is Matt Cutts, who is a Google employee. (they often have some interesting stuff to share). Basically you can include a search on your website that of which you can specify the URL's that the search, searches. This means that you can effectively have and configure a search on your site that say searches all of the technology related sites that you look at.

Here is the URL;
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/overview

And here is another URL to some examples of use of custom search;
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/examples/Latest

Its worth having a play as you could create a search that no-one else has created and that could be of high value. (i.e popular cartoon websites search)

Multi Touch Applications

Here is a clip that talks about some of the latest multi touch technology that is out there. Me talking about it does absolutely no justice to what sort of applications can run on this multi tough platform. Check out the clip below;

http://ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_han&flashEnabled=1

Google Doc's & Spreadsheets

If you have a Google Account and log in regularly then you may have noticed that a new option appears in the top left hand corner when you log into Gmail, called "Docs & Spreadsheets". I actually write this blog post in Google "Docs & Spreadsheets" as I type.. The document part off Google "Docs & Spreadsheets" looks to be a re badged version of Writley (Online word processor), and to back this call up when you visit the Writley site, it re-directs you the Google "Docs & Spreadsheets" page, need I say more. The spreadsheet part, i believe Google has been working on for a while. This is early days for both the Docs & Spreadsheets functionality that Google are offering. Both on line apps do lack some of the functionality that the MS Office apps provide, but this is the beginning of what Web 2 has too offer and the can only offer more from now into the future. One of the features that I like is the fact that you can save the document to HTML, PDF, OpenOffice or MS Office format. Go Google for the Open Office format save function. Check it out, I think that I will be using it for creating Blog posts from now so will keep you posted on the functionality that gets added.

Google Analytics

Most know about but I thought that I would mention the premier marketing tool offered by Google. Google Analytics allows you to track website usage on a daily basis and analyses your traffic by telling you where it comes from and what the traffic does once they enter the site. It can provide you with information for working out conversion rates and ROI of site elements. Best of all it is free for up to three sites. Check it out at the URL below;

http://www.google.com/analytics/

Sort and Lock Table

The JavaScript Source: Miscellaneous : Sort and Lock Table

Above is another script from Javascript.com. This script 'sort' of made me think again about the JavaScript that I usually write as it performs sorting, on data, that could be generated from a table of data. It is quiet useful if you would prefer to perform this sort of function on the browser client rather than with using the server. Check it out at the link above.

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Google now have a webmaster blog, which includes information on how Google actually list your site. The site also gives away hints on how to provide them with the right information so that your site will be crawled and indexed correctly. There is quiet a bit there at the moment so check what's there with the link above.

Drag and Drop by className

The JavaScript Source: Miscellaneous : Drag and Drop by className

Above is a link to a simple JavaScript that allows for the user too drag and drop specified div's based on their class name. Have had a play with the script and it works cross browser and is quiet simple. Definitely worth a look if you like JavaScript.

Google Apps for you domain

Google now enables you to setup Email, Calendaring, IM as well as web page creation for your domain name. This means that you can setup Google accounts for each member of you organisation with your organisations domain name. This reduces a lot of the administration time spend administering user and email accounts and provides the organisation with an off site back of all company data. One thing though is that you are placing trust in Google with all of your information; however you can imagine the cost savings implementing such a solution for a non profit organisation, or school. Etc.

https://www.google.com/a/

Dot TK

If you are looking for a free domain name then look no further than http://www.dot.tk where you can get a free web address for your website. The .tk domains are for the island of Tokelau which has a population of 1500 people. The .tk domain has been around for a while however thought it might be interesting to not seeing as their site seems to have been overhauled.

Feed Station

Feed Station from http://www.newsgator.com allows you to download all of your Podcasts through a simple piece of software that works in conjunction with News Gator online. Simply create a New Gator account and subscribe to your favorite Podcasts with this account. Using the link under each of the news items called 'Add to Podcasts" add the downloads that you want to download via Feed Station to the Podcast folder. Download the free download called Feed Station (you will find a link to this on the home page of News Gator) and then once installed click the button to "Download the new items from Pod casts", and there you have it all of you Podcasts will download one by one to the directory of your choice.

Yoseek Search

If you want to perform a search on each of the following search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN and Altavista, then YoSeek is a good way to search them all. By default it will search Altavista however after you have performed you initial search are presented with the option to search any of the other engines. One thing I have noticed is the index is a day or so behind but generally the same results will display the same results for each keyword typed in YoSeek as they would on the actual search engine.

http://www.yoseek.com

NOODP Meta Tag

It is no secret that Google and MSN use the Open Directory Project (ODP) to supplement their search results. Google and MSN use the description from ODP in their results too.
To prevent the description of ODP as a source add a new Meta tag to your web pages.

Click Here to get code

Note that after you add this Meta tag to your pages, it will take some time until a new description of your web page will appear in the search results of Google and MSN.

NewsGator Online

I checked out NewsGator which is a web based RSS reader similar to Google reader. Found that the interface was nice and clean and quiet easy to use. It provides an OPML import feature so that you can import all of your feeds from any other reader. Once feeds were imported it worked very well if you like to view your feeds on a per feed basis or if you would like to view them all on the same page (it still splits the feeds into separate content areas though). If you use RSS then it’s worth a look.

http://www.newsgator.com

Australian search engine submission

I have been doing some research into which of Australia’s search engines still offer free submission and here are the results of my findings. Note I have added a link to site submission pages where the search engine offers them;

Web Wombat
- AUD$40 (inc. gst) annual fee for 1 page
- AUD$65 (inc. gst) annual fee for up to 150 pages
Site Submit - https://trans.webwombat.com.au/

Yahoo 7 Australia
- Pay per click advertising
Site Submit - http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/en_AU/
- Free Search Submission to Yahoo network
Site Submit - http://au.search.yahoo.com/free/submit

AltaVista
- powered by Yahoo search results
Site – http://au.altavista.com

Sensis
- Looks like have to have a business to be listed or sponsored links "BidSmart"
Site Submit - https://bidsmart.sensis.com.au/bidsmart/info/infoService.jsp

Nine MSN
- Have a sponsored links site and also gathers listings from the MSNBot
Site – http://ninemsn.com.au

Google Australia
- Have a sponsored links site and also gathers listings using Google bot.
Site – http://www.google.com.au

Anzwers
- Free URL Submission
Site Submit - http://www.anzwers.com.au/suggest_site.html

OptusNet / Excite
- Once Excite now directs to OptusNet the search is powered by Yahoo.
Site - http://www.excite.com.au

WebSearch
- Offers a free listing - only lists Australian and New Zealand website domains (go Aussie Go..)
Site Submit - http://www.websearch.com.au/cgi-bin/submit.cgi

ANSearch
- Does not provide a submission service (collect search data from other search engines and uses this to only list the most popular sites)
Site - http://www.ansearch.com.au/

You Found Me
- Add your business for free here. Seems to only list businesses.
Site Submit - http://www.youfoundme.com.au/link_submit.php

Net Exposure
- Allow free listing for non commercial sites - $5 for business site listing + premium services.
Site Submit - http://www.netexposure.com.au/cgi-bin/cgi/addurl.cgi

Open Source Parking

Open Source Parking is a website designed so that people with unused domain names can point their unused domains at the domain as an attempt to promote Open Source Software. If you have any unused domains you should point them.

http://www.opensourceparking.com/

Diigo bookmark manager

Diigo is a new online bookmark / annotation / stick note web service that provides the a similar service as del.icio.us however you are able to save sticky notes along side each of your bookmarks. With Diigo you can then keep annotations private or share them with the community, which is great for a debate on a particular bookmark. I found it that it is worth a look at however if you are simply looking for an online bookmark manager then del.icio.us is the smarter option.

http://www.diigo.com/

Skype Toolbar for FireFox.

You can now download the Skype toolbar for FireFox. At first glance it looked like all it did was integrate the Skype client as a “sidebar” for FireFox however it goes one step further and actually highlights any phone numbers on a webpage with a Skype call link which allows you to add the contact as a Skype out no. and call direct with a single click. It even seems to be able to identify the origin of the no. and add the correct international calling code.

http://www.skype.com/download/skypewebtoolbar/

Skype also provide you with links to each countries phone listing so that you can search each countries phone books and call direct from your browser.

simple stat counters

After doing some investigation for a client, on which hit counters are the easiest to use and implement on a simple website, I found that the following hit counters were some of the easiest to implement and are all free. Although I would use more comprehensive stat counters for more professional sites;

http://www.statcounter.com/free_hit_counter.html

http://www.freestatscounter.com/free-counter.asp

http://www.hit-counter-download.com/

Clam Antivirus

If you are looking for free Antivirus software then ClamWin Free Antivirus is a free solution that seems to work very effectively. It even picks up some viruses that some of the more well known antivirus software seem to miss. You get new definitions downloaded everyday, and also come with a free addin for Microsoft Outlook. One drawback it that it tends to take a while to run.

http://www.clamwin.com/

Free PDF writer

I stumbled across free PDF writing software today. It works well with printing from all Windows based programs as far as I can tell and have not had it crash out on me yet. Check it out at;

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/

Google Reader

If you have a Google account, Google offers users an online RSS reader. It provides an import feature so that you can import from other RSS Feed programs.

You can view each feed separately through the "Subscriptions" link or by default a combination of all of your subscribed feeds in the main view. Best of all there are a number of keyboard shortcuts to scroll through your feeds. (I.e. spacebar to move through each news item)

http://www.google.com/reader/view/

I am going to keep trying RSS software in the future so stay posted for reviews of each of the pieces of software if you’re an RSS enthusiast.

csamp - colour picker

To find the RGB or Hex colour of any screen element “csamp” is a great freeware tool for doing so. It is the smallest and most efficient I have found. Simply install then a small icon will appear with the rest of your task icons. If you need to find a colour simply click the tool and drag the pointer over the colour that you want the value of. As a developer you can imagine how useful this is on many occasions. Download at;

http://www.netreach.net/~gavin/gavsfreeware/csamp.htm

Google checkout service.

Google has launched a new service called Google checkout. It allows users that are signed to have a single account for making purchases online, with stores that offer the Google checkout service. This is done by having you credit stored with Google.

It is solely for US residents at the moment, but hope that it will make it to the Australian shores soon.

Check out the Tour at;
https://checkout.google.com/buyer/tour.html

Google Checkout;
https://checkout.google.com

Google checkout stores;
http://www.google.com/buy/m.html

Meta Tag keywords tip

When setting your websites META tags one trick you can use to gain higher placements for specific keywords is to slightly misspell the keyword that you want. For example if you type "Domian Services" instead of "Domain Services", then having the keyword "Domian" as a keyword will increase the chances of you site getting coming up in the listings.

Pluck - RSS Reader

If you love RSS then you will love "Pluck". Pluck comes as an extension for either IE or Firefox, and appears to users as a bookmarks side bar. It is quiet simple to use, only takes minutes to setup and allows you to add RSS feeds with a simple method of entering the feed name and feed URL. Once you have added a few feeds the feeds are aggregated, once the feed name is clicked in the left hand side. This saves download time as some RSS aggregators tend to download all feeds.

Pluck provides you with three ways to view the data, by day, by week, or by month so that you can isolate the latest feeds. There is also a "Find Feeds" link to search for more feeds.

Check it out at http://www.pluck.com

Adding a link to del.icio.us

If you have a website and want to enable users to add a link to there del.icio.us account then you can add the following code to your site. Please check the values relevant to 'subske's blog' as these are the values that you should update to tailor the bookmark link to your needs.

Get Code

Here is an example of the link;

Add link to del.icio.us

SMS Pup - free SMS

If you want to send free SMS in Australia then SMS Pup is a good way to go. You basically receive 1 free SMS for each promotion that you click on, which is sent to you from via email from SMS Pup. The good thing about them is that they tend not to send heaps of emails so you don't receive bucket loads full of spam.

Other services they offer are SMS Broadcast, SMS to Email, Email to SMS, SMS to Landline and SMS Speak;

http://www.smspup.com

del.icio.us bookmark manager

If your looking for an online bookmark manager then del.icio.us is a fairly new online bookmark manager. It can be used to replace your current bookmarks, and as it is online, will allow you view and update your bookmarks from any machine.

It uses 'Tags' instead of categories, like a standard bookmark manager, which makes those bookmarks that could come under two categories allot easier to find and file. The search allows you to search your own as well as other people bookmarks, which have been made public.

There is also an extension for IE and Firefox so that you can easily add bookmarks to it while you are browsing.

Check it out at;
http://del.icio.us

Windows document storage tip

If you are the only Windows user, and using Windows OS, it is a good idea to keep you data in a custom folder rather than in the "My Documents' folder. This helps prevent data theft should you be hacked, as most hackers head straight to the "My Documents" folder. It is also a good idea, as if you ever go and remove old profiles, from you computer, you prevent the chance of having you data deleted if you remove an incorrect profile.

Opera Browser - On Mobile

If you are tired of using the standard web browser software, on you mobile, I suggest that you give Opera Mobile a try.

I have had a play with it and it seems to be very stable as well as allot easier to use than any of the standard mobile browsers that come with you phone. I tried out the one for the Symbian OS and found that the page rendered allot quicker, and with much greater success than any of the other browsers. Best of all the phone browsing is more secure, and the bookmarks function is easier to use.

Unfortunately you have to pay $24 US to use but you can get a 14 trial at;
http://www.opera.com/products/mobile/

Cheap SMS with Skype

Skype 2.5 now has SMS capability. You can now send SMS's to anywhere in Australia for 0.071 euro, which is approximatly 12c per SMS. Cheap!

Launch applications from browser

Here is a trick to launch applications form IE, using a windows shortcut

To test this out for yourself do the following;

- Right click on the Desktop and create a new Shortcut
- Point the shortcut to any executable file -- such as C:\Program Files\Winamp\Winamp.exe
- Create a shortcut called www.winamp.com
- Start IE and type "www.winamp.com" into the address bar

There you go winamp launched from your browser.. This tip only works for applications that have shortcuts on the desktop as far as I can tell, so you still need to maitain a shortcut to the application there. Might be usefull for some web applications.

free web hosting

Good free web hosting is few and far between these days. There used to be loads around but I can't seem to find that may these days.

Here is one I stumbled across just the other day. I setup an account and tested them and they seem to be very reliable and best of all are completely free, providing you don't generate too much traffic.

You get a 30mb account and are able to run CGI scripts. If you do start getting allot of traffic they send you a bill, however their rates are very reasonable.

Check them out at;
http://www.memebot.com

Skype - Fixed Numbers

Most Australian Skype users may know this but for those who don't you can now enable "SkypeIn" and allocate a fixed number to you account. (“SkypeIn” - is basically incoming calls). You even have the ability to setup a voice message box.

“SkypeIn” numbers are sold on a subscription basis:
a 12 month subscription is €30 and 3 months is €10.

In my opinion Skype is the cheapest solution about, however to be honest I haven’t checked out many of the other options.

http://www.skype.com

idont - for those who dont follow the herd

For all those people that don't have a ipod, check the new option for SanDisk. The 6gb ipod alternative labelled the e200 seems like a true competitor for the ipod, check the URL's below for more details;

http://www.idont.com/
http://www.cnet.com.au/mp3players/

Google Pack

Old news but not too many people seem to be using Google Pack. Google created a download for Windows XP that allows you to install a collection of free software, 'Google Pack' which includes automatic updates for each piece of software. Before you install you are given the option of which software you want to install.

The software include in the Pack include;

Google Earth - 3D Earth browser
Picasa - Photo organizer
Google Pack Screensaver - Photo screensaver
Google Desktop - Desktop companion
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer - Search toolbar
Mozilla Firefox with Google Toolbar - Web browser
Norton Antivirus 2005 Special Edition - Antivirus utility
Ad-Aware SE Personal - Antispyware utility
Adobe Reader 7 - PDF reader
Google Talk - Voice and IM application
RealPlayer - Media player
Google Video Player - Video player
GalleryPlayer HD Images - Images

Check Google Pack out for yourself at http://pack.google.com

Save on Line Rental

The savings you can make by using VOIP are big. Here is a trick to save even more money on line rental if you are living in Australia. If you do switch to a VOIP service I suggest you ring your phone provider straight away and ask them if they can reduce your line rental. You can cut your line rental to around $20 a month; however, should you make any calls using the land line they cost more than usual.

Below are some Australian VOIP options;

Fresh Tel - http://www.freshtel.net/
My Net Phone - http://www.myfone.com.au/
Engin - http://www.engin.com.au/
Ace Communications Group - http://www.acecommunications.com.au/
Skype - http://www.skype.com (Cheepest Option)

Mobile - Google Search / Personalised News

If you’re on the road and like news on the go, you can now perform Google searches, check on the latest Google news headlines, as well as access your personalised Google home page on your mobile phone. Type the URL below into your mobile phone browser and once the page is served you will be provided with a search, news link and personalised home link. There is also a mobile search option which serves up mobile phone optimized pages in the search.

http://www.google.com/xhtml

If you don't have a Google account yet, post your email address and I'll send you an invite.

Anonymous Web Browsing - Tor

Some of you would have heard of this before but is a new bit of software to me. Most of us have heard of anonymous web surfing, using anonymous proxies available on the internet, but Tor is something a bit different. It is designed to prevent sneaky buggers from monitoring your internet usage patterns, by sending TCP/IP traffic down alternate internet through a network of virtual tunnels. It also masks your location, so let’s say you are overseas and connect to a client’s web server; the snoops in that country will not be able to identify you as someone working overseas for a particular company.

I can see the attraction to the security conscious amongst us. If you fancy reading a bit more about this piece of software check the link below;
http://tor.eff.org/overview.html.en

Why not give it a try. You have nothing to loose except your ability to be snooped.