Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server

Backing up your data on a regular basis is important, and turning a spare computer into a backup server is often the best way to make sure it gets done. But most methods require either a good deal of command-line learning or serve only one operating system. Not with Restore, a free, open-source backup system that can install or run from a live CD, work with any OS, and operate through a simple browser-based interface. Today I'll demonstrate backing up a Windows laptop to an older desktop, but you'll see how Restore can be easily molded to fit just about any home backup needs.

Link:
http://.../create-your-own-cross+platform-backup-server

Howto: Hack a web server using a Google Search

The "Cult of the Dead Cow" hacker group – cDc for short – has published a tool that searches for vulnerabilities and private information across the web. Using well-chosen Google search queries, Goolag Scan discovers links to vulnerable web applications, back doors, or documents inadvertently put on the internet that contain sensitive information.

This kind of "Google hacking" is already well known: a hacker using the pseudonym Johnny has already published quite a collection of these "Google Hacks" or "Google Dorks" on his web site ihackstuff. What cDc has done is create an automated tool that allows an unskilled hacker to use these same techniques.

Read about it:
http://.../Cult-of-the-Dead-Cow-Google-into-a-vulnerability-scanner

Some standalone hacks for Google (no application required):
http://johnny.ihackstuff.com/ghdb.php

10 trends that will define logo design in 2008

Logos are the ultimate mark of distinction and everyone loves them. We see logos everyday - on the highways, on consumer goods, on the Web and in the institutions and organizations we support. Read about the different types of logo designs here and learn what principles and techniques are used to create them. Discover what the future holds for logo design!

Link:
http://www.logoorange.com/logo-design-08.php

Google Sites released

Google Sites, a new offering from Google Apps, makes creating a team site as easy as editing a document. Use Google Sites to centralize all types of information -- from videos to presentations -- and share your site with just a few people, your entire organization, or the world.

Link:
http://sites.google.com/

Curious about what else Google has to offer then check out my Big Google List.

3 places to get answers

Askville

Yahoo! Answers

Live QnA

IDEA: Video cliff notes of famous movies

This is a very simple idea. Take a movie and reduce it down to a 5min movie cliff note where the plot and the best movie points (key lines, jokes or action scenes) are brought out.

This will let you watch any movie in 5min and be able to hold a conversation with someone about it.

Would be interesting to see if someone could do it.

The Gmail CAPTCHA has been cracked

The Gmail CAPTCHA has been cracked—albeit not easily—raising new concerns about spammers' ability to abuse Google's e-mail services. Websense Security Labs pointed out the security breach late last week, noting that spammers have a lot to gain by being able to use bots to automatically sign up for new accounts.

Link:
http://.../gotcha-captcha-gmail-bot-detector-system-cracked

All Gmail Users Are Given Two Separate Email Addresses

You probably know how to create multiple email aliases in Gmail by adding the plus symbol and dots to your Gmail username but there’s something more interesting.

When you create a Gmail account, you actually get two email addresses - one is the regular @gmail.com while the second email address has @googlemail.com in the domain.

Link:
http://.../gmail-email-alias-two-separate-gmail-address/

Inside Vista SP1 File Copy Improvements

One of the improvements highlighted in the document is the increased performance of file copying for multiple scenarios, including local copies on the same disk, copying files from remote non-Windows Vista systems, and copying files between SP1 systems. How were these gains achieved? The answer is a complex one and lies in the changes to the file copy engine between Windows XP and Vista and further changes in SP1.

Way more than any one person would really want to know.

Link:
http://.../markrussinovich/archive/2008/02/04/2826167.aspx

Slimbox, the ultimate lightweight Lightbox clone

Slimbox is a 7kb visual clone of the popular Lightbox JS v2.0 by Lokesh Dhakar, written using the ultra compact mootools framework. It was designed to be small, efficient, more convenient and 100% compatible with the original Lightbox v2

Link:
http://www.digitalia.be/software/slimbox

Lightbox v2:
http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox2/

Meet the fource

Nothing to say, except. Wow! (not sure if thats good or bad).

Link:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/events/aa570304.aspx

How Veign appears in Google now

Searching on the keyword Veign brings up a much better serp result now for Veign. Nice.

Link:
http://www.google.com/search?q=veign

Free newsletter manager for your website

phplist is an open-source newsletter manager. phplist is free to download, install and use, and is easy to integrate with any website.

Link:
http://www.phplist.com/

Webmaster tools from search engines gives valuable information

If you've never signed up for the various webmaster accounts at the major search engines (Google, Live Search, Yahoo!) then you're missing out on a lot of very valuable information on your website. These are great tools to help increase your position within the various search engines.

Where to find:

• Google Webmaster - Help you with your crawling and indexing questions, introduce you to offerings that can enhance and increase traffic to your site, and connect you with your visitors.
• Yahoo! Site Explorer - Allows you to explore all the web pages indexed by Yahoo! Search. View the most popular pages from any site, dive into a comprehensive site map, and find pages that link to that site or any page
• Live Search Webmaster - Use the Webmaster Tools to troubleshoot the crawling and indexing of your website, submit sitemaps and view

Microsoft to make big announcement

When: 8:30 a.m. PST (17:30 CET) to 9:15 a.m. PST (18:15 CET), Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Teleconference Information: Listen-only news conference U.S. dial-in: (888) 810-3138 (toll-free) or (630) 395-0279 (toll) - Verbal passcode: Microsoft

Said to not be about the Yahoo deal.

Link:
http://.../microsoft-announcement-feb-21

Manage SQL Server 2005 online with myLittleAdmin

myLittleAdmin for SQL Server 2005 is the first web-based management tool specially designed for MS SQL Server 2005.

It lets you manage most objects of your databases and servers, including new objects such as snapshots, schemas, and credentials, etc. through a web browser. Faster than SQL Server Management Studio, its intuitive interface will seduce all users, from the DBAs to the webmasters, including the web-hosts.

Link:
http://www.mylittleadmin.com/en

Computer simulation of shooting down the satellite

Link:
http://www.space.com/php/video/...

Find out what a system log event id means

The Event ID database contains 9,666 event IDs and 455 event sources, with 15,226 comments provided by 3,322 contributors, 1,732 submitted events or comments pending validation.

Great source to find out what those sometime cryptic events ids mean or what other users have found out about them.

Link:
http://www.eventid.net

Toshiba quits HD DVD business

Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video.

"We concluded that a swift decision would be best," Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company's Tokyo offices.

It's over. All you Playstation 3 owners rejoice.

Link:
http://money.cnn.com/...

Top 10 Free Programs to make the most out of your MP3 Collection

Here comes a carefully chosen list of free programs that might help you squeeze the best out of your MP3 collection.

My List:

• Player: Winamp
• Manager: MediaMonkey
• Ripper: CDEx

Link:
http://www.killertechtips.com/...

Mysteries of computer from 65BC are solved

A 2,000-year-old mechanical computer salvaged from a Roman shipwreck has astounded scientists who have finally unravelled the secrets of how the sophisticated device works.

Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/nov/30/uknews

Convert a document to PDF through email

Koolwire makes it very easy to convert documents to PDF by following these basic steps:

• 1. Create an email and attach your document to convert
• 2. Send the email to pdf@koolwire.com
• 3. Wait for the return email with a PDF attachment

In my test I sent a Word document containing a high-res image and some text. Within 2min I received an email back with the PDF attached (named the same as the Word doc). Quality was great.

Link:
http://www.koolwire.com/Default.aspx

Masked Input plugin for jQuery

This is a masked input plugin for the jQuery javascript library. It allows a user to more easily enter fixed width input where you would like them to enter the data in a certain format (dates,phone numbers, etc). It has been tested on Internet Explorer 6/7, Firefox 1.5/2, Safari, and Opera.

A mask is defined by a format made up of mask and placeholder characters. Any character not in the placeholder character list below is considered a mask character. Mask characters will be automatically entered for the user as they type and will not be able to be removed by the user.

Had it working in less than 5min and it works like a charm. jQuery just keeps getting better for me and has a promising future for Veign's Web Development.

Link:

What Should SEO's Focus in 2008 - Matt Cutts Answers

Google Local (as discussed in the video):
http://.../is-your-business-on-google.html

Regular Expressions tutorial

Regular expressions are very useful. If you have to deal with text at all, you will find them indispensable. In programming, they can be used to verify user input (e.g check an email is valid), sanitize input (make sure the user only used allowed characters), remove sections of the string (remove all non-alpha-numeric characters) and . And not just for programming! You can use regular expressions in many text editors to edit the current file. You can use them in the grep command to find very specific lines, or in the sed "stream editor" to edit out bits of a file..

Link:
http://.../Regex_tutorial_for_people_who_should_know_Regex

Give your laptop a custom look with Schtickers

Establish Retrofitted Designs as a sustainable high-design decor and organization products manufacturer that balances its commitment to profitable growth and community focus.

What a cool and innovative idea. Seems like more and more companies are offering means to make your electronic devices a bit more personal (check out ColorwarePc.com). Schtickers goes beyond the custom look by allowing a bit more 'feel' to your laptop with suede products available.

I would use a black one with my tribal logo on it .

Link:
http://www.schtickers.com/

Can code this simple cause an IE script error?

I have some code that when run on a webpage and the user attempts to print will cause a script error. The page has no scripting and only a DIV tag with a class name of tags

Test page with only enough code to be a valid page:
http://www.veign.com/sandbox/tag/

Does this cause a script error when you choose File -> Print in IE6?

Its be confirmed on by a fellow MS MVP. IE6 can't handle a class name called tags - causes a script error when printing.

How Google Ended Up with Their Logo

Ever wonder how Google ended up with the logo that they did? The designer of the logo, Ruth Kedar recently talked about what went into the process and even shared some of her early ideas. Surprisingly it started out more complicated and ended up as the more simple logo that is known around the World today.

Link:
http://.../how-google-ended-up-with-their-logo/

jQuery API

A compact and well presented site of the jQuery API. Not only do they provide the function description, but offer more samples of usage over the jQuery website.

Don't forget to check out the jQuery plugins website for some very cool things:
http://plugins.jquery.com/

API:
http://remysharp.com/jquery-api/

7 must-read Webmaster Central blog posts

Our search quality and Webmaster Central teams love helping webmasters solve problems. But since we can't be in all places at all times answering all questions, we also try hard to show you how to help yourself. We put a lot of work into providing documentation and blog posts to answer your questions and guide you through the data and tools we provide, and we're constantly looking for ways to improve the visibility of that information.

Topics:

• Googlebot can't access my website
• URL blocked by robots.txt
• Why was my URL removal request denied?
• Flash best practices
• The supplemental index
• Duplicate content
• Sitemaps FAQs

Link:
http://.../7-must-read-webmaster-central-blog.html

Amazing cloth simulator

Link:
http://www.custom-logic.com/exp/cloth/cloth.html

Big list of CSS Menus

12 CSS menus

Advanced CSS Menu Trick

ADxMenu

Bulletproof Slants

CSS Dock Menu

Menus at CSS Play

Tree Frog slide and fly menu

Creating Liquid CSS Tabs for Menus

Drop Down Tabs (5 styles)

CSS: Menu Descriptions

Deluxe CSS Dropdowns and Flyouts

8 web menus you just can't miss

Son of suckerfish (great multi-level menu)

14 Free Vertical CSS Menus

Advanced CSS Menu

Inline Mini Tabs

How to recognise a good programmer

I believe that good developers are always passionate about programming. Good developers would do some programming even if they weren’t being paid for it. Good programmers will have a tendency to talk your ear off about some technical detail of what they’re working on (but while clearly believing, sincerely, that what they’re talking about is really worth talking about).

Too true.

Link:
http://.../how-to-recognise-a-good-programmer/

Google introduces an Apps tool for sending forms via e-mail

This morning, Google unveiled an intriguing new collaboration feature that lets users embed forms in their e-mails. It involves the company's existing Spreadsheet platform, and it could be a new tool to expand its online apps' user base.

Link:
http://.../Google_introduces_an_Apps_tool_for_sending_forms_via_email

How to fix PNG opacity in IE6 (IE PNG FIX)

You know that one browser that has only a vague association with modern web standards? Yeah, Internet Explorer. Wouldn't it be great if it supported stuff like translucent PNGs?

Well, now you can add decent PNG support to IE5.5+ on Windows with no changes to your website HTML source code. This script will add near-native PNG support with full alpha opacity, with only one line in your CSS file, that applies to all tags and also background images!

This was just implemented in a project or mine that uses lots of high quality, transparent background, PNG files. Added it in about 2min and it works like a charm.

Link:
http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/

In case you want another option check out this IE PNG Fix. Implemented just as easy but seemed to cause issues with img tags that use the vertical-align css property.

Who's hosting a domain

Who Is Hosting This is a tool that enables you to find out who is hosting any web site. Simply type in any domain name, and you'll get a link to the company that's hosting this particular domain.

Its a little fun and a whole lot of geeky. I actually quite like tools like this since it gives me, at times, valuable information in a simple and easy to use interface.

Page Headers is very similar to the tool above. It gives the header information from any domain. This can be used to see what type a server a domain is hosted on (why I created it).

Link:
http://www.whoishostingthis.com

Get help coming up with a domain name

• Domain Twister - Find different domain combinations with this tool.
• DomainsBot - Provides domain suggestion to GoDaddy, Tucows and BulkRegister. Thanks to their semantic search engine you can find hundreds of meaning related suggestions for available, expiring, expired and on auction domains. Try their LiveBot to customize your semantic search.
• EyeOnDomain - Combines domains from user keywords and checks them for availability.
• 123Finder.com - Finds domain names by generating keywords and making up name variations.
• Pdom.com - Searches for personal names to register as domains.
• VeriSign Domain Name Suggestion Service
• Domain Name Suggestion - Domain Name Suggestion tool to help you find domain names that are available.
• Keyword-Rich Domain Suggestion Tool - This tools will suggest keyword rich domain names.

If you find something you like make sure you go over to GoDaddy to pick up the domain. I really don't trust small time registrars.

Burnaware free CD/DVD burning software

BurnAware Free Edition allows you to easily perform the most common disc burning tasks: write to all CD/DVD media types, including Blu-Ray; write Audio CDs and DVD-Video files; create and burn disc images; write multi-session discs and much more.

BurnAware Free Edition has a modern interface and supports Windows 98/NT/2000/XP and Vista (32 and 64 bit). The application is free and contains absolutely no adware or annoying banners.

Link:
http://www.glorylogic.com/index.html

Google answers questions about duplicate content

I asked Matt Cutts (Google Engineer):

Yahoo provides a robots-nocontent class tag that can be used to remove content from the page flow from being indexed (or used in determining a pages weight). Does Google support this tag? If not, are there are plans to support such a tag?.

He answered:

"We don’t current [sic] support that tag, for a couple reason. We think we do pretty well on detecting boilerplate (e.g. you’re not likely to run into any issues of duplicate content for header/footer type stuff). The other reason is that we haven’t seen a lot of sites using the tag after Yahoo mentioned it. Given the choice on where to put engineering resources, not a ton of people have asked for this feature."

Good to know