Ideas and Technologies

SOLVED Avira Antivirus June 23, 2010 Update is Alarming Warcraft III Players?

2010-06-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Just this day, I was on the internet cafe business owned by my family. Since i am the one who configured everything, my job is to maintain it also. From the operating system setup, online and offline games, up to the security, tweaks and auto-maintain features of the workstation.

I use the Avira Anti-virus 10 on the net cafe. Not to say it's free, but it also provides concrete protection (as for my experiences and for the independent antivirus testing organizations). Most of our customers are gamers. Warcraft III: Frozen Throne and the DOTA (Defense of the Ancient) are some of the most-played games since 2004.

Since i have set the Avira Anti-virus to automatic update it's viral definition, for the past months on business, i can't compare it's stability with regards to viral protection.

Just this day, one customer complained to my cafe attendant that Warcraft III: Frozen Throne is showing an error. To be exact, it's an file-missing error that the FrozenThrone.exe could not find the war3.exe. I decided to turn off my stable cyber cafe manager I then boot up another unit beside the customer to see if another computer was also having that error. If not, i could transfer him and fix it. But after launching the Frozen Throne shortcut on my desktop, i got the same error too. Until i decided to let the other computers boot up and try if it's getting the same. Well as i've suspected, they are on the same page of the book.

I turned on my Acer Aspire 4520 laptop and check for an existing topic on the internet and for me to isolate from the network i have directly connected the modem on my laptop, but got no luck. Since i am using Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, it alerted me that my antivirus was out of date. The last virus definition was dated 2 days ago so i begun updating. After a couple of seconds, notifying that my virus definition was updated, Avira Guard notified me that he found a Malware on my system. I also installed Warcraft III on my laptop for my pastime so indeed i am infected with this Malware.

It's an TR/Patched.IV.43 and the access to that file was denied. I am pretty sure that my network is clean. I did isolation per computer units then fire up a complete system and hardisk scan, and yet i only got this malware alert. Furthermore, I also tried reinstalling the client while isolating the computer out of the network. For the past years i am also playing Frozen Throne and DOTA, my trust is with them.

To releave the business out of this false alarm, and since avira is not keeping off the trail of Frozen Throne, and my customers are craving to play DOTA, the only thing i did is put the war3.exe process on the exceptions. You could found the exception option on the expert mode of Avira Antivirus. Lying beneath the Scanner > Scan tree

PS: As far as i can remember, one of my google searches give me a result that this TR/Patched.IV.43 has a variant of war*.* filename (Where * asterisk is a wild card character). If this post mislead the fact, feel free to complain below and enlighten the readers. Thank you!

Even Animals Have Hearts

2010-06-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is just a total ripped-off from Care2.com, a heart-tugging video captured the extraordinary reunion of two old friends: a man and the gorilla he raised from infancy.

It had been five years since British naturalist Damian Aspinall had seen Kwibi, a lowland gorilla who was born at Howletts Wild Animal Park in England as part of an ongoing conservation program by the Aspinall Foundation to re-introduce gorillas back into the wilds of Africa.

Several years after Kwibi was released to live in Gabon, West Africa, Aspinall traveled there to see if he could catch a glimpse of his old friend. Cameras captured the scene as Aspinall glided down the river calling out to Kwibi, "C'mon! C'mon!" Incredibly, Kwibi appeared on the bank. "He heard my voice and came to the edge of the river," Aspinall explained in the video.

What happened next is astounding. Aspinall approached Kwibi cautiously. After all, the gorilla is a wild animal and he hadn't seen the naturalist in many years. And yet, Kwibi recognized Aspinall. "The moment I heard his deep, rumbling love gurgle, I knew I was OK," explained Aspinall. Kwibi nuzzled his face close to Aspinall, then wrapped his hairy arms around the man, refusing to let him go.

When Aspinall had to leave, Kwibi followed his boat down the river. "All night he hooted, calling for his friend," said Aspinall. At 6:00 the next morning, when Aspinall took a swim, Kwibi was there on the banks of the river.

"It's no different if you go see a friend in another country and you meet and you have a reunion and you go on your separate lives again," Aspinall told Matt Lauer in an interview on "Today." "I always feel I'll see him again."

Aspinall wants the video to encourage people to support the efforts to protect animals in the wild. "I hope when people see this they realize animals deserve their chance and it shows how gentle gorillas can be," Aspinall said on "Today." "We have a responsibility to this earth and I think as a species, we can do so much more for this planet."

Click here for the original post.

Excellent Ads

2010-06-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

Well i guess i don't need to say anything with this advertisements of different companies world wide. Note that these images are resized and for you to see the big picture, you have to click the images :) Good luck!

And Lastly...

Facebook, A Social Media Used as Marketing Strategy

2010-06-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing benefits organizations and individuals by providing an additional channel for customer support, a means to gain customer and competitive insight, and a method of managing their reputation online.
In the emergence of Web 2.0, the internet provides a set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online. The growth of social media has impacted the way organizations communicate with their customers.

Social media is information content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies that is intended to facilitate communications, influence and interaction with peers and with public audiences. This is typically done via the Internet and mobile communications networks. Today this practice is being enjoyed by executives and professionals for brand exposure and marketing.

Facebook, A Social Media Used as Marketing Strategy

Facebook is a social networking website launched in February 2004 and operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add people as friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by workplace, school, or college.
According to Wikipedia, Facebook decided to use these demographics to their advantage. Facebook legally owns all the rights to the information that is posted on their website, and created an advertising program that targets the users of Facebook individually by grouping that information together and targeting each individual person with advertisements that will catch their eye.

This strategy created a buzz in the advertising world. Previous to this type of advertising, online advertising had not been very effective due to pop-ups and banner's lack of substance. Most people found these annoying and or distracting when using the internet. With Facebook targeting each individual on its website, 400 million users strong, it created a target market for every company. Therefore if a bridal company wanted to advertise on Facebook they could literally make sure their ads were only seen by those whose status says engaged or dating depending on how broad they wanted to go. This allowed Facebook to start using the pay-per-click strategy that many advertisers’ shy away from because of the lack of impact on internet users.

With the pay-per-click strategy in effect for Facebook, every time a Facebook user clicks on an advertisement, that company pays Facebook for the ad. Studies have shown that over sixty nine percent of online shoppers use social media like Facebook not only to reach out to people, but also to see what's popular and what are some of the in things. The original pay-per-click strategy was not effective because users did not want to be taken to another page and look at something that did not appeal to them. With Facebook's new targeting system their ratio of clicks per user is astoundingly higher than any other competitor, even Google. This makes sense since the ads appeal to the fact that they are engaged or have an interest in fashion.

Guess what, Ideas and Technologies provides a facebook fanpage for you to stay updated while you're facebook wall. Login to your account now and follow Ideas and Techs on Facebook

Adsense Competitor Yahoo Publisher Network to Close

2010-06-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

Have you already use the Yahoo Publisher Network? The Yahoo! Publisher Network (abbreviated YPN) is a beta advertising network launched on August 2, 2005 by Yahoo!. As the service is currently in Beta, it is currently only accepting US-Based publishers. YPN provides cost per click contextual advertising as well as various tools and services to assist publishers in building and improving their websites.

After conducting an extensive review of the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, we have decided to close the program effective April 30, 2010. We expect to deliver final publisher payments for the month ending April 30, 2010 to publishers no later than May 31, 2010. All publishers eligible for 1099s for the 2010 tax year will have those mailed by January 31, 2011.

I was once a registrant way back 2007. But since i'm from the Philippines, i am not qualified for their service. Yahoo! was never been fair for me that time. I guess the reason why they came up with a low traffic result of their study is because they have target and conduct the study for the U.S. The fact that, it is just 1/4 of the world. Unlike Google Adsense.

Chinese Water Color Artist Guan Weixing

2010-06-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Guan Weixing was born in Dunhua County, Jilin Province, China in 1940.

In 1960, when Guan Weixing was still a first grade student in Luxun Fine Arts Academy, Eugen Popa, a Romanian Professor, broke a rule in order to accept Guan into his oil painting training class. And in 1962, he was graduated a master. So far, many of his works have been published, collected, and exhibited not only in many national exhibitions but also in international ones held in America, Japan, France and so on. These are some of the best works of
Guan Weixing featured in Water Color Artist's article entitled Profiles in Courage.

Old Farmer from Shanbei (watercolor on paper, 11x15)

Wrestler from Inner Mongolia (watercolor on paper, 44x26)

Expectation (watercolor on paper, 14x20)

Northeast Farmyard (watercolor on paper, 30x20)

Autumn Rhythm (watercolor on paper, 21x29)

First Look Into the World (watercolor on paper, 20x15)

Shanbei Folk Singer (watercolor on paper, 15x20)

Little Monk from Xishuangbana (watercolor on paper, 20x30)

The Power of Bounce Rate

2010-06-04T02:18:00.000-07:00

What is a Bounce Rate?

It essentially represents the percentage of initial visitors to a site who "bounce" away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site. A bounce occurs when a web site visitor only views a single page on a website, that is, the visitor leaves a site without visiting any other pages before a specified session-timeout occurs. There is no industry-standard minimum or maximum time by which a visitor must leave in order for a bounce to occur. Rather, this is determined by the session timeout of the analytics tracking software.

The Google Analytics is one of the best and free services offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. Its main highlight is that the product is aimed at marketers as opposed to webmasters and technologists from which the industry of web analytics originally grew.

How Bounce Rate helps your site's niche?

Bounce rates can be used to help determine the effectiveness or performance of an entry page. An entry page with a low bounce rate means that the page effectively causes visitors to view more pages and continue on deeper into the web site.

Google.com analytics specialist Avinash Kaushik has stated:

"It is really hard to get a bounce rate under 20%, anything over 35% is cause for concern, 50% (above) is worrying."

On an ecommerce site, where the sole aim may be to sell products online, the bounce rate is a primary concern and useful measurement. Information sources and sites which drive the customer to make contact via email or phone may see much higher bounce rates. This may not be a bad thing as they are only viewing one page of the site.

How can you decrease your Bounce Rate?

While Bounce Rate helps you to study the success of your site, you and your site, on the otherhand, can affect the rate of bounce your visitors do. Below are some rules to decrease your site's bounce rate:

Make your blog user friendly. Your blog should be clean, orderly and appealing to the visitors. The text should be readable and the downloading should be fast. If you have an idea of what Web 2.0 means, you should be craving to minimize the use of high-weighing elements(flash animations, images, and applets) on your site/blog.
Write Quality and Relevant Contents. The articles published at your blog should be interesting and useful. Give your visitors the reason to stay longer at your blog.
Inter- linking articles. Offer your visitors more articles to read that are relevant to the landing page. This can be done by: linking to the other articles by using the relevant keywords within the article; and listing few related articles at the bottom of the article.
Proper SEO. In optimizing your blog or every pages of your blog for the search engines, you need to target the keywords that are relevant to the page being optimized.

For example, if you're targeting a specific keyword, “Pinay Scandal” on this case, make sure that the landing page(Learn Landing Page Optimization) contains relevant content because if the content is not related to the keywords used to find a page of your blog, most likely your visitors will immediately click the “Back” button of the browser to check for another websites.

Strange Houses

2010-06-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I found these funny houses while browsing the web and i think you might like it.

Stone House Guimaraes

The Basket Building Ohio

The Kvivik Igloo

The Upside Down House at Poland

The Kerala House Boat

Thanks don't forget to share and comment!

Photojournalism, a Way of Life

2010-06-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

To fill up another entry for the category Photography, here is something great i wanna share to you. Photojournalism. This is my favorite in photography. Since you make a story of your own based on what you see and what is happening around you. About people and how they live their life.

New to photojournalism, photo stories have the same construction as news stories. There is a lead image, transitions, emotion and resolution. Throughout the story, characters, conflicts and motives are revealed, explained and concluded.

Still images remain the most powerful communication tool. Each still image can literally burn into the brain of a viewer. Images speak to every person in their own language. This power accompanies massive responsibility. Consequently, photojournalism is more than a vocation. It becomes a way of life.

Everyone entering the field must understand they must be better than established pros at everything. They need superior technical skills, access, and a unique style. They must capture stories the world has never seen, or be able to tell old stories better than anyone ever has.

They must pursue difficult stories. Much of the news industry has been reduced to pop culture and delivery speed. Instead of following celebrity and entertainment, focus on the issues affecting everyone. Look for the emotion of the events unfolding in the world around us. People are hurting across the planet. Find the cause of the pain, and show the results to others. Whenever possible, show readers a way to help others.

Below are some of my shares about Photojournalism. Hope you like it!

Title: Through The Struggles...

Title: Love Your Children

Title: World

Title: Preparing for that single step

Title: When i just have to carry the world to feed you....

Benefits of Using Web Proxy Server

2010-05-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

There are, in fact, many benefits of using a web proxy server.

Some of the more common ones involve maintaining your privacy and getting around blocks placed upon your IP address, such as the ones placed on school computers.I wouldn't recommend using a proxy service to get around blocks - they are there for a reason - but for many other legitimate uses they can be a real boon.

In simple terms, a proxy works thus:

You want to connect your computer (1) to another computer or website (2) but you either cannot, or you want to do so privately.
In this case you would then use a proxy (3) to connect to computer or website (2), thereby gaining access without the computer or website the other end knowing it was you that had made the connection.

Here are a few reasons why you might want to do something like this -

Improved Security

If you visit a website that you think may pose a risk to your computer for some reason then using a proxy can give you an added layer of protection, much like using a firewall does.

You will not connect directly to the website in question and so you will have a further degree of protection from any malware that the site may try to infect you with.

Hacking Protection
Using a web proxy server between your computer and the web will prevent hackers from obtaining your IP address, thereby drastically redusing the risks of them being able to gain access to your cache or hard drives.

Website Filtering

The ability of a proxy to filter certain sites is quite variable so you will need to put in a little research time to take advantage of this feature.

Big players who use proxies to block certain sites include the United Arab Emirates and, more famously, China who block large parts of the world wide web from their citizens.

On a more personal note, you could employ a proxy service to prevent your kids watching porn or your employees from accessing social networking sites such as Facebook, Friendster, Plurk and Twitter.

Basic Understanding of CSS Frameworks

2010-05-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

You don’t have to write the same CSS-code or (X)HTML-Markup over and over again. Whatever project you’re starting to work with, at some point you have to define classes and IDs you’ve already defined in your previous web-projects. To avoid unnecessary mistakes you might want to start not from a blank file, but from an almost “perfect” scratch. The latter might contain some basic definitions you’d write in your code anyway. However, once you’ve decided to create such a scratch, you need to make sure it is really bulletproof — besides, if the stylesheet also sets up optimal typographic rules and basic form styling you manage to kill two birds with one stone.

And this is where CSS Frameworks and CSS Reset are becoming important. Using them, you can get yourself a perfect default-stylesheet and markup, save your time and ensure the best quality of your code from the very beginning. But what are CSS Frameworks? And why do you need the Reset for?

So What is a CSS Framework?

A framework is a basic (usually abstract) conceptual structure which you can use as a “scratch” for your web-projects. For instance, instead of defining global reset, consistent baseline, typographic rules or basic styles for forms over and over again — every time you work on a new project — you can prepare a default-style once and reuse it in all your future projects. This is what you call a CSS Framework.

CSS frameworks don’t have to be complex or large, they may contain a set of simple CSS-styles such as

typography.css for basic typographic rules,
grid.css for grid-based layouts or
layout.css for general layouts,
form.css for basic form styling,
general.css for further general rules

and so on. In your code segmentation you can also go further, for instance: structure, typography, design presentation, specialist sections (e.g. menus, navigation), print, mobile web, tweaks (mostly old style browser hacks), browser specific workarounds (via IE conditional statement).

List of CSS Frameworks Available on the Web

The Blueprint CSS framework, created by Norwegian tech student Olav Frihagen Bjørkøy, is a very promising foundation for developing typographic grids using CSS. The framework offers an easily customizable grid, sensible typography, a typographic baseline and a stylesheet for printing. It also uses relative font-sizes, provides a CSS reset and is supposed to be cleaned of code bloats. The latter isn’t always true.

YAML is based on web standards and supports every modern web browser. All Internet Explorer’s major rendering bugs are countered. YAML fully supports all IE versions from 5.x/Win to 7.0.

Apart from a number of standard-conform layouts the framework also offers a debugging stylesheet, print stylesheet as well as various robust tools for web-development in YAML. All CSS components of the framework as well as the various layout methods are thoroughly documented in both English and German, supplemented by numerous examples.

That's it for now. On my future post i will discuss about CSS Resets. If you have any suggestions comment below. Meanwhile, for additional topic relating to Web Design and Web Development you might consider reading What is really Web 2.0 and Mashup means?

The House Attack

2010-05-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

In 2006, artist Erwin Wurm had an art exhibit at Austria’s MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst), displaying work that was often architectural in nature such as ‘fat houses’. Outside the building, the theme continued with an installation called ‘House Attack’ – an actual house imbedded in the museum’s roof.

Photos are from An-Architecture

Choosing A DSLR Camera

2010-05-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

There are a wide range of options and features available for DSLR (digital single lens reflex) cameras and it can be confusing if you are buying this type of camera for the first time. This guide will help you decide which features are important to you and hopefully help you to choose your ideal DSLR camera.

Price

A major factor in your decision is, of course, the price. DSLR cameras start at about $400 and can be as much as $8000 for a top of the range camera. A camera of between $400 to $1000 would probably be a good choose for a newcomer. Lenses tend to be expensive and can cost more than the camera body do make sure you take this into account when you make your budget.

Format Size

There are four format sizes at the moment for 35mm DSLR cameras.

Full Frame

This format, with a sensor size of sensor size is 36mm x 24mm, is found on most higher end cameras and is the same size as that used in 35mm film cameras.

APS-C

On a Canon camera this format has a 15mm x 22.5mm sensor and on a Nikon 15.6mm x 23.7mm. This format is used by most DSLR cameras except some higher end cameras and Olympus makes. Nikon call it a DX format.

APS-H

This format is only found in a few cameras such as the Canon EOS 1D MkIII and has a 18.7mm x 28.7mm sensor.

Four Thirds

This is a smaller format at 13.5mm x 18mm and is found on Olympus and Panasonic cameras. The aspect ratio is 3:4 unlike other cameras with an aspect ratio of 2:3.

All of the formats will give a good print out up to 11″ x 14″ which is the largest most amateur photographers will usually need. Most cameras below about $1000 dollars use the Four Thirds or APS-C format so the choice is usually dictated by the price rather than performance.

Image Stabilization Systems

Systems for image stabilisation vary between manufacturers. Some systems are mounted in the camera body others on the lens itself. Nikon and Canon use a lens based system and use gyros on the lens to sense movement and keep the optical groups stable. Gyros mounted on the camera body are used by Sony, Panasonic and Olympus in a stabilisation system called a sensor shift. The sensor shifts to compensate for any movement. Although both systems perform equally as well the lens mounted systems need to be included on every lens which adds to the cost. In addition not all lenses have the system included especially prime lenses under 200mm.

Size and Weight

Cheaper cameras tend to be smaller and lighter although, as no DSLR camera is going to fit into a pocket anyway, the size is not of primary important.

Pixel Count

DSLR camera start at about 6 mega pixels (MP) and can be as much as 22 MP for a high end camera. The pixel count will dictate the size that a print can be blown up to and you need to decide how large you would like your prints before you decide on which model to buy. 240 pixels per inch will give a very good quality print so a 6 MP camera will be adequate for a high quality 8" x 10" print.

If you need larger prints a 10 MP camera will be capable of producing a good print at a size of 11″ x 14″. A top of the range camera with a pixel count of 22 MP will give excellent 11″ x 14″ prints.

ISO Settings

ISO ranges between 100 and 1600 are found on most lower end cameras. Mid range cameras may have settings up to 6400 and a high end camera can reach as high as 25,500 and as low as 50. Most DSLR cameras will give pictures with low noise at ISO settings between 100 and 800 but the noise dramatically increases above this. The noise at the higher levels can vary considerably between models so, if possible, try to see images taken at higher setting with the cameras you are considering.

Noise

All digital images will have some noise which will be more noticeable at higher ISO settings. Noise comes from the electronics and sensor when the digital signal is produced from the analog signal. All DSLR cameras have noise filtering systems but this works less well above an ISO setting of about 800. Noise reduction softens the image so try to see images taken in low light if you will be using the higher range ISO settings.

Autofocus

Autofocus systems vary a great deal between manufacturers. All auto focus systems work well for static images but can vary a great deal for moving subjects, especially in low light. Check reviews of specific cameras for information on how well auto focus works for the model you are considering.

Buying A Used Computer? Then Learn to Evaluate it

2010-05-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

Used computers are available plenty in number. But, the prime concern is that how it will satisfy the needs of the purchaser. The next one is about the functionality of the used computer and the longevity of the computer parts of the used computer. Many people decide to purchase used computers due to a tight budget, but they should not end up buying a showpiece rather than a working piece. This makes it very important to evaluate the used computer before buying it. Evaluation can be done by the purchaser himself provided he has some knowledge on computers and their parts. If not, he can get some help from their friends or relatives who are good in evaluating computers.

The used computer’s physical parts should be inspected thoroughly. First step is to look for any damages and then trying to turn on and off. It should be done by the buyer or by his friend rather than watching the computer sales person do it as it will alert for any glitches. Checking needs to be done to find out if the used computer has an original version of the operating software without which the computer is not worth buying. Manuals, licenses for software applications, discs and fonts should be got along with the computer.

The operating system of the used computer should be compatible enough to run the required applications of the buyer. Some times the seller may sell a used computer along with used disk drives, scanners and printers and include the cost of them too. It is not wise to buy used scanner, printers or disk drives as they have peripherals with moving parts which wear and tear with the passage of time and also the cost of them can be deducted making the price of the used computer even lesser.

The speed of the central processing unit needs to be checked. If it is not up to the expectation of the buyer, it needs to be found out if the used computer system can be upgraded for improving the speed and functionality. The entire hardware components should be checked including the keyboard, speakers, monitor, mouse and microphones. It should be if all the hardware components inside the computer like the CD-ROM drive, sound card, number of RAM sockets etc are if present or not and if present what are the components in use. Also it needs to be checked whether it has a provision for adding different type of cards etc.

If the purchaser has already got some computer components like the monitor, printer and so on, the used computer which is bought should be compatible with them. Nowadays used Pentium machines and power PCs are available at very low price. It is not advised to buy a used computer which is very old. Also it is good to find out if the used computer comes with a transferable warranty or service, if so it is worth buying.

The buyer should not end up overpaying as used computers depreciate at a lightning speed. There are many online auctions, which can give the idea of how much people are ready to pay for a used computer. Unfortunately, there is no reputed or unbiased source for knowing the prices for used computers.

How to Fix Cyber Cafe Pro Runtime Error

2010-03-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

Cyber Cafe Pro (CyberCafePro) is one of the most popular cybercafe management software packages available. Here is a short review of the software.

CyberCafePro is aimed at Internet Cafe, Cyber Cafe, and Internet Gaming Cafe owners for easy management of cybercafe security, pricing, timing, POS, chat and more. The software is flexible on many configurations, running over standard peer-to-peer networks including Wireless LANs (On any Windows OS). From managing your customers point-of-view, it is not intrusive to your system files but locks control of the computer except for programs you allow customers to run.

Your cybercafe is unique, so your software should be customizable. With CyberCafe Pro, you can customize most aspects of the client interface, as well as languages for both the server and the client software. Because of the software's flexibility, it is a very popular option among cybercafe owners, and often referred to as the world's no.2 Internet cafe management software package (after Internet Caffe software).

Other features in the Cyber Cafe Pro include:

Multi-Location Account/Timecode Usage
Unique Employee Logins
Employee Restrictions
Reporting by Employee
Other Product Sales
Sales Reports
Receipts
Cash Drawer Setup
Print Monitoring
Discount Plans
Tax Setup
Inventory System
Reservation System
Block Internet Explorer Functions
Disable File Downloading
Disable Hotkeys
MSN Messenger Security
Unlimited Accounts or Timecodes
Grouped Accounts/Timecodes
Overtime Mode Option
Bulk Pricing
Pricing Options, such as Basic Pricing, Bulk Pricing & Scheduled Pricing
Manual timing of Laptops, Xbox, PS2 etc...
Sales Reports
Auto-Email Reports
Shutdown All Computers feature

Runtime Error 339

NOTE: This commonly occurs on versions 5.x. If you're using later or latest version (v6) you won't might encounter this problem but worth sharing your experiences.

With all of these tremendous gifts of Cyber Cafe Pro, there is a known bug on it commonly encountered with Windows XP Service Pack 3.

And this error is so annoying. Well, the best way you opt to do is to remove the current copy and have a fresh install according to many forums. But it won't actually solve the problem.

The solution is so simple. Since these dependencies SHOULD be on the system's root directory (\WINDOWS), the installer wrongly copied the dependencies to another CCP folder on System32 causing the application to miss these important files. Therefor, you need to copy all the contents of that folder (\WINDOWS\System32\ccp4) to the system's root directory (\WINDOWS). That's it! Enjoy using Cyber Cafe Pro!

Online Property Investing: Smart Way To Invest Your Money

2010-02-11T04:13:00.000-08:00

Needless to say, property investing is one of the greatest money-making vehicles of our time. Not just that, property investing is also a smart and sound way to invest your money. It definitely is better than hoarding cash. Just think about it, properties will always be needed. One of the most important bare essentials that we need to in life is properties. That, together with clothing and food. All else equal, it all depends on how much value you can put on a property.

For some individuals, investing in the stock market or on start-up companies is too bland and boring. Property investing is a hands-on business. It involves surveying pieces of properties, evaluating their assets, and eventually calculating its profit potential. If you're trying to find a more stable yet aggressive investment, putting your money on properties is definitely the way to go.

Of course, investing on properties isn't a walk in the park. It will take a lot of work and if you're not the kind of person who can fathom a lot of work and sometimes stress, it would be better for you to leave this profession to somebody else. With property investing, you can certainly make a lot of money. It takes work, charm, persistence, some luck, and wit.

In order to start investing in properties, it would be best if you arm yourself first with knowledge and connections. It wouldn't be such a smart idea to jump into this kind of business without a good foothold on how things work. By doing that, you're asking for trouble. In addition to that, you wouldn't want to spend thousands of dollars on a property only to see your investment go belly up. Again, education, research, and connections will help you go a long way in this business.

Evidently, you're going to want to start looking for classes regarding property investing. A good place to start is online. There are a lot of noteworthy and credible programs for property investing online. Just be careful because occasionally, there will be programs that will do more harm than good to you. Once you've found the right classes, it's now time to study and immerse yourself on all the principles of the business. While attending classes, you will also meet other like-minded individuals whom you can possibly be partners with in the future.

The Effects Global Warming May Have On Our Planet

2010-02-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

While many realize that global warming is occurring on our planet, few understand the implications that this may have on our way of life. These rising global temperatures are going to cause a host of changes on our planet, and we need to act now or prepare to adjust to some very profound changes.

First, these rising temperatures present a huge threat to our ice-caps. Layers of ice that have not melted for thousands of years are beginning to break apart and fall into the ocean. One of the biggest ice sheets on the planet, located on Greenland, is at a great risk of splitting apart and falling into the ocean.

While it doesn't sound like too big of a deal, the loss of the Greenland ice sheet will cause catastrophic circumstances world wide. The world's sea level is expected to rise as much as 23 feet when the sheet falls, and that spells disaster for the coastal cities that represent some of the largest and most important centers of trade and commerce across the planet. Manhattan would be sunk; much of Florida would be underwater, and that's not even to mention the worldwide consequences. Every area of the globe would be affected by this rising of sea levels, and the disaster caused would make hurricane damage seem like a blessing.

Millions of refugees from the coastal cities will be without home or workplace; it would be one of the hugest human issues ever faced in our history. The changing of the climate could also affect a host of circumstances on our planet; crop yields can be affected by the rising temperatures, which would also pose significant problems to a planet of refugees. Much of the land may become barren due to the effects of temperature change, and we may find some of our most arable lands subject to the effects of soil erosion, and eventually, a transition into desert land. Also, water supplies, forests, and plant and animal life would be affected by the planet's changes, and we may not be able to see how significant these changes may affect our lives until they are already upon us.

For that reason, it's important that we increase our knowledge of global warming, and do our best to prevent it in the coming years. While it may have adverse affects on our economy and our way of life, we owe it to our children to give them a peaceful, safe planet to grow up in.

Naturally Increase Your Traffic with Google Trends

2010-02-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

There is a big secret behind the Google Trends. Which became one of of the ways to boost traffic. As we known that in online business, visitor is “the king” and one of the most influential factor to monetize your blog/website. This tips may boost your adsense’s earnings since it based on keywords targetting

Google Trends is one of Google's popular services where in this service we can find what things are being trends today. Google Trends displays the most wanted keywords results which are being searched by lots of people now, even on this day. Whatever it is, Google Trends is a very useful service to help website or blog owners to boost their web/blog traffic. Recently, I'm using Google Trends’s service to activate one of my blog that has not been updated for quite long time and has only visitor up to 10 people a day .

Google Trends has a collection of the top keywords which are being searched by the mostly USA visitors. So, keywords that often appear on Google Trends is a keywords that are always changing according to how many times people searched for those keywords.

Keywords that often appear on Google Trends is an advantage for us to use it as topic and post to blog/ website. Especially keywords that have traffic’s graphics trend increasingly , because these keywords describe how many people seeking these information.

After posting the article to your blog/website, do not forget to bold the letter keyword. Furthermore submit the post URL to social bookmarking.

To gain more traffic, try posting an article more than 5 posts in 1 day, with “hot” keywords target that appear on Google Trends.

Buying an Ebook Internet Marketing Strategy Guide

2010-02-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

More and more people are becoming interested on learning how to do internet marketing and most of them wan to purchase an ebook internet marketing strategy, so the business minded people in the internet are coming up with their own versions of an ebook that talks about internet marketing. Sadly, there are a lot of internet marketing strategy ebooks which are just pure deception and do not teach you what you need to learn. But things like this should not discourage you for there are still a number of internet marketing strategy ebooks that turn out to be true to what they promise.

Nevertheless, if you shall encounter an ebook which would promise you to be some impossible things like making you a millionaire in as short as 24 hours and without having to do any work at all, then be on guard for that is more of a scam than true. Do not allow them to deceive you!

Methods in Making Profit with an Ebook Internet Marketing Strategy

It's good that now you know what to look for in an ebook internet marketing strategy so when you purchase one, you only get what an authentic version and one that gives you value for your money. First thing is that you have to be able to promote product of other people as with any marketing strategy and get commissions on sales. Actually there are more and more people who have started doing this and they are actually getting a good income from it. The next thing you can do is come up with your own ebook which discusses various internet marketing strategies that can be done for free.

After constructing your ebook internet marketing strategy, start advertising your ebook and market it online. Or if you are not really good when it comes to sales, you can have someone do the selling for you and then pay them commissions. This guarantees you to make a sale and earn even if you are not the one doing the promotions. Coming up with your own ebook internet marketing strategy and letting other people do the promotion and marketing is a proven and profitable method.

If you really want to buy ebook internet marketing strategy now, always keep in mind or better yet ask yourself what you really want to and why are you buying this ebook. If you are doing this to campaign for the product of other people, otherwise known as affiliate marketing, you can acquire membership to some sites that will teach you the basics of internet marketing.

The usual purpose people buy ebook internet marketing strategy is to get some help in succeeding with their online business. Finding the perfect ebook internet marketing strategy is absolutely easy with just a few clicks of your mouse. For those who need something to drastically improve the sales of their online business, the ebook internet marketing strategy is the answer.

Being the latest trend that it has become in the world of internet marketing, more and more people buy ebook internet marketing strategy. When compared to traditional books, an ebook is easier to obtain, easy to understand and there is no need to keep it in a bookshelf. You can keep those ebooks in your PC which saves a lot of space.

What exactly is landing page optimization?

2010-02-05T05:31:00.000-08:00

For most search marketers, optimizing landing pages means A/B testing and multivariate testing (MVT). It means using tools such as Google Website Optimizer to experiment with different arrangements of a page – or different variations in the content of a page – to maximize its conversion rate.

We may ask questions about many different elements of a page. Which headline works best? Is the offer button better with “complimentary shipping” or “free shipping”? Does a picture of the product compel more people than an image of a friendly customer service representative, or the other way around? What about a blue color scheme versus a green one?

This is landing page optimization as most people know it. And for what it does, it is a good approach. Let’s call it content optimization – finding the best presentation of content on a particular landing page.

But content optimization is not the only way to optimize landing pages. In fact, when it comes to boosting your conversion rate, it may not even be the most effective method.

Segment optimization offers a new approach

Segment optimization is about determining how many different landing pages are optimal for a given campaign, and determining how each should be different from the other.

Instead of stretching one page to try to please everyone, which is quite hard to do – segment optimization breaks out several specialized landing pages that each focus on pleasing a particular segment of your audience.

For example, say you’re marketing language learning software. Although everyone who clicks on your ads wants to learn a language, there are different motivations among them. Students hope for better grades in their classes. Vacationers crave more authentic trips. Business travelers are most concerned about efficiency.

It would be difficult to have one page that speaks passionately to all of those distinct audience segments simultaneously.

Just consider the headline. If you were deploying one page to fit everyone, you might try lots of variations (content optimization) to discover that “Learning French is easy!” is the best headline (on average) for all respondents. Let’s say it achieves a 5% conversion rate, not bad, but not earth-shattering either.

But if you had three different landing pages, one for each of these segments – you might find that “Ace your French exams!” works best for students, “Experience France as only a French speaker can!” works best for vacationers, and “Business French in 10 minutes per day!” works best for business people. These might achieve conversion rates of 12%, 11%, and 14% respectively for each segment, a tremendous success that more than doubles your overall conversion rate.

You could never achieve this using one page for everyone. “Ace your French exams!” would perform disastrously for vacationers and business people. If you tried that headline for all respondents, content optimization would throw it out as suboptimal because 2/3 of the audience would think it was awful. But when it’s presented to students (and only students) – it is the indisputable champion.

In that example, segment optimization was achieved by deploying three different pages instead of just one. Content optimization was then used to determine which headline was most effective for each separate segment.

How can you begin using segment optimization in your campaigns?

Start by making a list of possible segments within your audience. Who are the different types of people who look for you online – and why? Don’t restrict yourself to the way you may have segmented people in your database or your business plan. Brainstorm what’s important and relevant from the respondent’s point-of-view, by considering any or all of the following issues:

the specific “problem” the respondent wants to solve
the demographic/psychographic “persona” of the respondent
the respondent’s stage in the buying process
the role of the respondent in their organization
the respondent’s geographic location
the respondent’s industry or the size of their organization

These are your initial buckets into which respondents could be segmented. Don’t worry if there’s overlap between buckets, as these won’t necessarily be either/or choices.

Next, review the keywords and ad creatives you’re running in your search marketing campaigns. For each keyword/creative pair, ask yourself – is there a particular segment that its respondents would clearly belong to? If the answer is yes, add it to that bucket along with the number of clicks per month it generates. If there answer is no, leave a question mark next to it – perhaps with a handful of segments it might appeal to.

For instance, in our example above, the keyword phrases “french exam” and “college french” are obvious candidates for the student segment. Phrases like “business french” and “executive french” fall into the business traveler bucket. But “learn french” can’t be segmented just from the keyword.

Now, look over your segment buckets and see which ones have the most number of clicks per month. These are your best targets for segment optimization.

For each one, create a dedicated landing page that is focused on the needs, wants, and characteristics of that particular segment. Here you can use content optimization such as A/B testing or MVT to find the best headline, imagery, layout, etc. for each page.

You can almost be guaranteed that these segment-specific landing pages will outperform your more generic ones. With your first few big segment wins in place you can move further down The Long Tail, to less popular, but still easily identifiable keywords to meet each segment.

What about keywords that you can’t automatically associate with a particular segment? In those scenarios, you can use techniques such as multi-step landing pages and “directed behavioral segmentation”. But that’s an article for another day.

Power Saver: How it works?

2010-01-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

Can you really save 40% on your electricity bills by plugging a small box into your AC socket?

In the past six month a number of products have been advertised on TV and online which seem too good to be true. I’d like to explain the reality of these exciting claims and give you a layman’s understanding of how Power Savers work.

A Power Saver is a device which you plug in to your power socket. Apparently just by keeping the device connected it will immediately reduce your power consumption. Typical claims are savings between 25% and 40%.

The technology behind Power Saver units comes from German research coupled with Asian manufacturing and it is based on sound scientific principles.

Electricity is not stable. When electricity flows the voltage can rise and fall all the time. The rises in voltage are known as ‘spikes’ and they cannot be used by your appliances at all. All these spikes do is waste your electricity. These power spikes also convert electrical energy into heat energy which leaks power from your circuit. Not only that but the heat will also do long-term danage to your wiring and to your appliances.

There are a few Power Saver models on the market but they all work along the same principle. They store the electricity inside of it using a system of capacitors and they release it in a smoother way to normal without the spikes. The systems also automatically remove carbon from the circuit which also encourages a smoother electrical flow. This means that you will have less power spikes. More of the electricity flowing around your circuit can be used to power your appliances than before.

There are many factors which do affect the efficiency of your Power Saver. The device works immediately after plugging it in although it can take as long as 8 days before it has adjusted itself for peak performance. The rate of savings will depend on what kind of appliances you have connected. All appliances are different but expect savings of up to 25% on lights, 30% on air-conditioning units and up to 35% on other appliances.

The highest savings will be in areas where voltage supply is less stable. Locations close to shops, restaurants and light industries tend to gain additional savings from Power Saver devices.

So how can you be sure that your Power Saver is working correctly?

Most often Power Savers come fitted with a light to indicate that it is working. If you have access to an electricity meter then you should see it immediately slowing down. Assuming that the light is on and that you leave the device unattended you can expect savings immediately. Be aware that often electricity companies will not take meter readings each month. Often bills are calculated on monthly averages which self-correct over time so please be aware of that in using your bill as a guide.

Finally, it is highly recommended to order your Power Savers from companies offering 100% guarantees for longer than 30 days. Remember that 30 days may not be sufficient time to truly know if the device is working as effectively as you expect. Try to work with companies that extend their guarantee dates to at least 60 day which gives you a much longer period to assess the benefits.

Niche Swanky House of Wilkinson Residence in Portland

2010-01-21T06:11:00.000-08:00

Evoking the feeling of being in a tree house is exactly what the beautiful Wilkinson Residence in Portland does. Located on a flag lot, the extraordinary house is brilliantly designed to perfectly blend with the natural landscape. A steep sloping grade provided the opportunity to bring the main level of the house into the tree canopy.

Catering to the desire of the client, Wilkinson Residence designed a dwelling that not only became part of the natural landscape but also addressed the flow of music. It has a natural wood ceiling that wonderfully floats on curved laminated wood beams, passing through a generous glass wall, which wraps around the main living room. The interior space of this amazing house flows seamlessly through to the exterior. Taking a walk through the house will help you see its complexities and its connection to the exterior.

Squid Proxy: How To Make a Transparent Squid Proxy Server on Ubuntu

2010-01-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

Squid is a fully-featured HTTP/1.0 proxy which is almost HTTP/1.1 compliant. Squid offers a rich access control, authorization and logging environment to develop web proxy and content serving applications.

This is a short guide on how to set up a transparent squid proxy server on an Ubuntu Distro. Squid is a caching proxy for the Web supporting HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, and more. It reduces bandwidth and improves response times by caching and reusing frequently-requested web pages. Squid has extensive access controls and makes a great server accelerator.

So Let's Install Squid!

The first step is to install squid 3

apt-get install squid3

Edit the squid 3 configuration file in your favorite editor

sudo vi /etc/squid3/squid.conf

And set the transparency and the allowed hosts

http_port 3128 transparent
acl our_networks src 192.168.0.0/24
acl localnet src 127.0.0.1/255.255.255.255
http_access allow our_networks
http_access allow localnet

where 192.168.0.0/24 is the IP range of local network. Probably you need adjust the swap size

cache_dir ufs /var/spool/squid3 7000 16 256

where the first number denotes the size of cache in megabytes. Save you changes and restart the squid proxy by

sudo /etc/init.d/squid3 restart

For more detailed configuration read the manual of Squid or check the configuration examples on Squid wiki page.
Remember, the memory and processor usage of squid is a function of swap size.
Last but not the least we need to redirect the HTTP traffic to your new shiny proxy

iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth1 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 80 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.0.1:3128
iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 3128

where eth1, eth0 are the LAN, WAN devices and 192.168.0.1 is the IP address of your LAN device.

After all, probably you feel the need to monitor the performance of your proxy. Unfortunately, most of the squid log parsers in the Ubuntu repository are configured for Squid 2.x. Nevertheless, squid 3 uses the same log format, so you can change the log file path in your parser config file (sarg, calamaris, etd.) or simply link the log directory of squid 3 to the correct path

ln -s /var/log/squid3 /var/log/squid

Useful Tips for Buying Used Computers

2009-11-08T23:15:00.000-08:00

In this modern era, high tech devices that are very expensive like the computers can be replaced with cheaper ones. Such cheap computers mostly come in the form of used computers. Used computers can be found in abundance in the used computer warehouses in various places, even in the local area of the prospective buyer’s residence. However there is no guarantee of quality when buying a used computer.

The buyer has to take his own personal risk in doing so. But, if the buyer is ready to spend some money in upgrading the level of the used computer and also some time checking the quality of the used computer before purchase, it will save him from loss. Used computers can save a lot of money for the buyer when compared to buying a new computer. There are many who cannot afford to buy a new computer like the students who do not have any source of income but definitely require computers. For such people, used computers come as a boon.

Also, used computers need not always be second hand computers. They can also be recertified or refurbished computers. Refurbished or recertified computers are those, which are checked for any faults, if any corrected and sold with a warranty ensuring the working condition of the computer to be perfect. Hence, such computers are considered to be the safest form of buying a used computer. Refurbished computers can be bought from many of the online stores at very less prices. Quality computer manufacturers also sell such kind of recertified or refurbished computers. However, certain measures need to be taken while buying such kind of computers.

The prime aspect to be considered while purchasing a used or refurbished computer is to look for a good branded one. There are various companies who sell used computers or refurbished computers. The main reasons for opting for a branded one is that it comes with a warranty and also the buyer can be sure that the parts used are of good quality.

While buying used or refurbished computers related software documents, licenses and paperwork have to be got from the seller as this will avoid stolen computers being passed off as used computers to the buyer. If possible working for some time on the used computer will determine its efficiency. Most of the reputed dealers would allow the purchaser to use the computer for a shorter period to check the quality before purchase.

While checking for the efficiency of the used computer, it is good to check if the booting process is smooth, as most of the problems occur during booting and also to check all the sound drivers, video, graphics, monitor, mouse, keyboard etc. CD drives and hard disks also need to be checked. Another aspect is the support system offered for the used computer whether technical or non-technical, support staff capabilities and the number of support staff which determine the quality of service offered. If the purchaser is not satisfied, he can very well think of another choice.

Mission: CHANGE

2009-11-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

It’s the second day of classes and I’m still stuck in my vacation moments. I’d still like to travel almost anywhere without thought of school projects left undone and without though of school obligations which leads to stress at some point.

As I sat sluggishly in one of my minor subjects, the teacher wrote something on the board that made me follow it until the last stroke was finished. It was one word that puts me in a dilemma most of the time- MISSION.

It was a flat piece of written art on the board but it struck me and left the biggest question that might change me forever once I find the answer. “What is my ultimate mission?” Most people wait for signs and others just don’t care. But there are those who would do everything to find their mission. What’s the fuss all about? Why do we have to know and find out if we will still turn to ashes someday?

Our ultimate purpose in this world is to find our mission, or purpose and our direction. As the juvenile members of the society, we have a mission of being heard and of making a CHANGE. We have the mission to be able to have a voice in every issue and discussion when it comes to both national and international concerns.

To create CHANGE amidst the turmoil and disasters.

To CHANGE ourselves to become better.

These changes are easy to say but it’s a work as big as the galaxies and we need battalions of people to be one to make change happen. That’s where the youth comes in!!!

On November 16-17 2009, YES2009 or the YOUTH ENGAGEMENT SUMMIT 2009 will be held and the CHANGE experience begins!

Sign up and join! You might win a FREE TRIP to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. You will be joining 500 South East Asian Youth and meet icons of change.

TO JOIN Click the link below and ask others to join you too…
http://philippines.youthsays.com/seachange/go/s14

TO CHECK OUT THE YES2009 TRIP DETAILS Click the link:
http://blog.youthsays.com/seachange/yes2009-trip/

Deadline is extended until this Sunday. This is YOUR time to be heard. YOUR time and chance to make a change!!!

Join Now!

By: Widowed Patch, join her with her mission to change