Entries Tagged 'Internet' ↓
February 16th, 2010 — Blog, Internet, Stollen-Content, copyright
How do you know if your website content is good? Well I suppose if 4 of your competitors copy & paste your content onto their website, of just copy your website as a whole, that’s a pretty good indication that you’re on the right track 
Have a look at Ciplex’s website. This is a website design company in Los Angeles, quite a nice website – well designed I would say with my very limited knowledge on the subject, but I like the look, and the content is definitely sufficient to give you an idea of what type of services they offer.
Now have a look at Impet Tech
Note how Impet Tech is even using the same flash intro as Ciplex! I haven’t checked it for myself, but I heard that they even have Ciplex clients in the portfolio – lol.
Apparently this is not the only company who ripped off the design off Ciplex, and Ciplex replied to a tweet of mine, saying that its not worth suing about it, since these rip-offs are not competition for them. I understand that, and I actually have a lot of respect for Ciplex. I’d have been so ticked off I might have done something horrible to them 
Now to explain how I found all this out… I saw a advert of a company here in SA that does website design and an array of other things, and decided to see what their own website looks like. Apart from the fact that I felt I was getting arc-eyes when looking at their site, its not too bad. (Yes, I am sarcastic when I say its not too bad). Its one of the most horrible websites I’ve ever seen in my life!
Here it is – close your eyes if its too much. On the other hand, if you’re brave, you can visit the Web Devine website.
Apart from the fact that they cannot do a decent design, they also cannot write their own original content. They stole Ciplex’s content – exactly as is, and stuck it on their own website. They didn’t even bother to remove the name “Ciplex” from a piece of text on their services page!!! How ridiculously lame is that?!
Here is a content comparison:
And then lastly I want to show you the mention of Los Angeles & TwoSpots (other website of Ciplex)
I cannot believe the STUPIDITY of this company. Posting content which they have not so much as READ THROUGH!!! I’m a little embarrassed on their behalf!!
Now how do you catch people who steal your content? And what do you do about it?
Well, finding them is not so difficult… I used Copyscape, but I am sure there are other tools out there too. Once you’ve found them, Lorelle has some advice on how to deal with these copy cats. If its any consolation, the thieves’ websites are usually not half as good as the original, and I doubt their service is any better!
February 8th, 2010 — Internet, South Africa, Technology
Someone asked me if it is possible to fax from the internet to a normal landline fax number. I have never done this, and haven’t been able to find a service offering of the sort.
Do you know of a service like this? Obviously I need it to work to South African numbers, and preferably the service should be free
Let me know if you’re aware of something like this please?
December 1st, 2009 — Communication, Google, Internet, Technology
Woohooo – I have received my invite to join Google Wave, and immediately joined. Now I’m not too sure if I’m missing something, but its not as exciting as I hoped :S
If any of you have any suggestions of what you enjoy most about Google Wave please share!
I think I still need to spend some more time on there to figure it out though. As mentioned in the about section, Google Wave is about sharing documents, photo’s, maps and more. Its about collaborating, and sharing information in a live environment – i.e. real time conversations.
I don’t have too many contacts on my account yet, and should probably give it a fair shot before I’m disappointed, but for now I can’t give it a thumbs up yet.
More About Google Wave
November 11th, 2009 — Internet
I’ve been a member of Amatomu for quite some time now – I’m guessing over 2 years, and today when I wanted to log in, I found this message:
Amatomu facilitates blog networking specifically in South Africa, and has been the catalyst in many online acquainting, friendships and obviously the increase of traffic for many of us.
Its sad to see such a brilliant project come to an end, but at the same time I want to say thank you to all those involved up until this point. Thank you Mail & Guardian for you effort, time and passion for this project – it was a huge success.
I’m hoping that someone will take this project over, or at least that it will still be successfully maintained by the community.
July 30th, 2009 — Ideas, Internet, Online, Time Wasters
Here are a few interesting sites to visit if you have 5 minutes to spare…
Photofunia
This interesting website will allow you to choose from several templates to insert your photo’s
Etsy
Buy & sell all things handmade, and if you prefer searching for items by color, the “Shop by Color” page is fantastic.
DeviantArt
If you’re looking for any type of image, you will most likely find it here. I love the wallpapers here.
Lost In Translation
A website which translates through different languages, and definitely proves how context is completely lost from one language to the next. I tested this with a simple phrase “My boss sucks” (suggested by a co-worker, not myself , and after translating through other languages and back to English, it came out as “My proprietor absorbs” – hehe. Definitely worth a try.
5 Minute Game
Miniclip offers a wide variety of games to pass the time. There’s a whole section with all the “5-Minute Games” which you can try out!
July 5th, 2008 — Internet, Job, Online, Sponsored
Someone recently asked about webhosting. Not in those words though, but rather something along the lines of “how do you get a plain .com” blog instead of the blogspot behind your blog name. I tried to explain by telling him about hosting on your own domain, and how it all works, but it was kind of useless.
I’ve since tried to make it a bit simpler to explain to myself in plain terms exactly what ‘hosting’ means – trying to think what I would use if I had to give a comparison to something which is more commonly known.
Wiktionary defines it like this: “The service of hosting a site on the Internet making it viewable for other users on the net”
However, if you compare it like this, maybe it will make more sense: Blogspot accounts are free, because the main domain name, being www.blogspot.com has already been bought – however, they choose to give people free accounts, for whatever reason they have. Comparing this to market is the best I can do. You don’t pay for the space you use, but at the same time the space you’re using is very high quality. For some people this could work perfect. They don’t intend upgrading, ever. The cons of hosting with a free server such as Blogspot is that your website address might be a little bit difficult to remember if you intend to attract customers for that matter.
If you can run a successful business (or blog) from your free market space (or blogspot blog), you might want to consider upgrading. See this as moving into an office park, or maybe even a mall. This sounds wonderful, but you need to be able to justify the move. It doesn’t help you move to a mall if your income is so little that you’ll not even be able to pay the rent from your profit you make.
Its pretty much the same with webhosting in that sense. If you generate an income from your blog, that’s great, and if it could cover a proper .com domain (www.yourblog.com), and you still have a bit extra left, I believe that justifies it. However, if you want a .com domain name just for the fun of it, you’re going to be prepared to put cash into your hosting, without getting anything back – kind of like a hobby I suppose. This is still fine if you can afford it, but you need to understand your motivation for wanting to move before doing so. Also be sure that you are aware of the cost – there’s a registration fee, and also a yearly hosting fee. Be sure that you know what these are, and that you will be able to cover those. Its better to have free account which is hosted by a provider such as blogspot, and never move from there, than to have a .com domain, and only stay there a year, only to realize that you don’t want to pay for something that you can have for free in any case.
My reason for moving to a .com host is first of all, the free service that I was using before shutdown my blog, because they didn’t allow paid posts. And secondly, I make an income from my blog (however little it is) it still covers more than my hosting costs.
If you need webhosting advice, speak to a couple of different service providers, and make sure that you know about all the costs before making a decision. There are different types of packages available. Some give you more space (if you intend to host large files, such as images or video’s). For a normal blog you might not need as much space as a business would, so double check that you take the right package for your needs.
May 26th, 2008 — Blog, Internet, Sponsored
Choosing a web host doesn’t have to be as tricky as it sounds. Whenever people hear the words web host they think they need a professional to tell them what to do. Whether you’re wanting a host for your personal website, blog, or even business, you can fairly easily find a good host online by just searching for one. There’s no need to pay an excessive amount of money. There are various web hosting articles on the internet where you can read up on some of the options you have.
“If you run a business online, you want to ensure that it can run 24/7 – or you will lose out on potential profits or worse, jeopardize your whole business. The fact that the internet has this amazing capability of being there to serve anyone at any time is probably why business owners started utilizing this incredible platform in the first place.
If you want a personal website that will advertise your portfolio or services, you wouldn’t want your potential client to see a huge error page when he or she tries to access the your website via the address you provided in your name card. This could portay you as someone who is cheap and unreliable, potentially destroying any chance of getting business at all.”
The trick is, to tell a good web host from a bad one, and for most people, that’s not very easy, hence they feel that they are compelled to seek the help of a professional. Before you pay hundreds of dollars for advice which you’re not even sure you can trust, make sure to read up enough about web hosting, so that you can make a well-informed decision before tying yourself to a 12/24 month contract of unreliable hosting.
January 29th, 2008 — Humor, Internet
1.Open Google
2.Type in “find chuck norris”
3.Don’t click on Google Search, click on “I’m feeling lucky” instead
This is what you’ll find…
January 7th, 2008 — Internet, Privacy, Sponsored
Are you curious on why people hide IP addresses? Maybe you need to hide yours? The point of it for me? Your information should be confidential. And your PC shouldn’t be sending personal information right across the internet. This might not always be things that are illegal, but plain and simple things like your banking, financial statements, contracts etc. Quite clearly, not the type of things you want any hacker to know, and even worse an identity thief! Unfortunately the internet is not such a safe place as we would like to believe, so we have to find some way of protecting ourselves.
With http://www.hide-my-ip-address.com/ software, your IP and identity on the internet is as safe as you make it.
