7 Simple Steps to an Optimized Website
One of the priorities of any online business owner should be to look for resources that provide web site traffic help. Good ideas and good intentions aren't enough. Without targeted audience, nothing ...
End of the Line for PHP 4
CNET News: "The end is in sight for the 7-year-old but still popular version 4 of PHP, open-source software that lets servers create customized Web pages such as online catalog pages or a list of search results..."
Drupal As a Content Management System
Want to leave the mark of your talent in the virtual world of web? What is your calling? Is it the podcasting or maintaining an online image gallery? Is it your strong opinion about the wo...
Sabayon Linux: Something for everyone
The Sabayon Linux live DVD distribution, based on the unstable branch of Gentoo Linux, has been in development for several years and caters to a wide variety of users. Having started out with a beautiful but mainstream appearance, it now boasts one of the most unique looks in Linux and more usability options than most other distros. The distribution offers premium open source games, accelerated desktop effects, a large and varied software suite, and several variations. Besides the full release, Sabayon also comes in a Business Edition and usually a Mini edition. With all it has to offer, Sabayon has something for everyone.
How To Format A Career Change Resume Posted By : ann baehr
Are you ever stumped about which resume style or format to use when writing your resume? This article demystifies the complexities of how to approach this important decision. It will explain what each of the most popular formats are to help you decide which one is best for you.
How to Improve Keyword Density on Your Site
The search engines use a number of factors when ranking a page within their index. They use a series of on-page and off-page factors. Of the on-page factors, Keyword Density becomes a key component. A well optimized page will benefit both the user and the search engine spiders. Keyword density is one of the main contributors as to how users and ... (Read on Source)
Hamilton plays down title talk
Lewis Hamilton refused to contemplate the prospect of becoming the first rookie Formula One world champion despite a stunning victory in a thrilling Japanese Grand Prix.
Memo from Freesoftwareburg: How to Effectively Address the Free Software Community
Rudd-O: "Today, it's no longer fashionable to decry free software types as it was just a few years ago--the cool kids are all 'leveraging' and reaching out to free software communities..."
Colocation Hosting for Standard Pacific, Provided by InteleNet
Irvine, California - (The Hosting News) - July 8, 2008 - Managed data holdings, services, and on-demand company, InteleNet Communications, has been chosen to provide colocation and managed hosting services to Standard Pacific Corp.
Carlos Oliveira, General Manager of InteleNet noted, ''We are pleased to provide colocation and data center services to Standard Pacific. Standard Pacific is one of the preeminent home builders in the nation. We know their selection process was rigorous and involved review of other data centers in our region. Their decision to partner with InteleNet has strengthened our goal of ensuring that InteleNet will remain the premier data center in the area, offering multiple bandwidth carriers, redundant power and integrated security infrastructure. InteleNet has continually demonstrated a deep commitment to businesses such as Standard Pacific and their ever-increasing computing demands. InteleNet remains committed to business customers in the Orange County and Southern California Region in delivering next generation high density colocation space and advanced hosting services.''
Robert Lionetti, Director of Infrastructure Operations for Standard Pacific remarked, ''When choosing a data center partner, the Standard Pacific Infrastructure team researched many companies across the country. In the end, we found InteleNet to be the most forward thinking, accommodating partner anywhere in the country. InteleNet met all of our needs in a very cost-effective manner, always providing outstanding support to our team. We look forward to a long relationship.''
Standard Pacific Corp., one of the nation's largest homebuilders, has built homes for more than 100,000 families during its 42-year history. The Company constructs homes within a wide range of price and size, targeting a broad range of homebuyers. Standard Pacific operates in many of the largest housing markets in the country with operations in major metropolitan areas in California, Florida, Arizona, the Carolinas, Texas, Colorado and Nevada. The Company provides mortgage financing and title services to its homebuyers through its subsidiaries and joint ventures, Standard Pacific Mortgage, Inc., SPH Home Mortgage, Universal Land Title of South Florida and SPH Title.
Managed Data Holdings (MDH) was founded by three highly experienced industry executives in conjunction with Great Hill Partners and Catalyst Investors. MDH's strategy is aimed at operating state-of-the-art data centers across Tier I and Tier II markets in the U.S. to meet the increasing demand for managed hosting, managed services, colocation space and disaster recovery services required by small and medium-sized business customers or divisions of large enterprises. Each of its data centers are SAS 70 Type II compliant and are designed to accommodate the changing power density and cooling needs of the colocation market while maintaining consistent high levels of customer service and support.
Founded in 1994, InteleNet is a leading provider of On-Demand Managed Hosting services and was acquired by Managed Data Holdings in October 2007. InteleNet's primary service center for its worldwide customer base is a state-of-the-art, 55,000-square-foot data center located in Irvine, Calif. Its premier data center features approximately 12,000 square feet of high density colocation space. With connectivity to multiple fiber carriers and diverse upstream providers, this carrier-neutral facility has the capability to deliver high volumes of bandwidth and to rapidly scale customers for future growth. In addition to its core customer base of small and medium-size enterprise customers, InteleNet has been the provider of choice for several Fortune 500 companies, managing worldwide networks, complex e-commerce platforms and financial/ERP systems while working with industry-leading vendors. Its world-class facility, staffed with IT experts and an on-site 24x7x365 Network Operations Center, provides a highly efficient and streamlined operation.
To learn more, please visit: www.intelenet.net.
Photos: Top 10 reviews of the week
Here are CNET Reviews' 10 favorite items from the past week, including the iPhone 3G, a portable hard drive from Iomega, and the Linksys Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router.
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Each scandal is represented by a colored circle that encompasses the people who are implicated. As it's easy to see, many of the players here are mixed up in two, three, or more of the alleged crimes. Hence all the overlapping circles (Venn-diagram heaven!). (Read on Source)
Ten SEO Mistakes Made on Database Driven Websites
Search engine friendly websites is one of those often heard phrases, both from web site development companies and from thei...
Nintendo Going After Japanese Firms
Nintendo has had a long standing feud with firms that play a role in providing a means for propogating original software the illegal method - through ROMs, and this time round, their hugely popular DS platform (both the Phat and Lite versions) are under fire by hardware that allows illegal ROMs to be played. Five Japanese firms will fall under this lawsuit, and they will be accompanied by 54 other Japanese software makers. Surely the M3 and R4 (read our review) will fall under the jurisdiction of this lawsuit. It takes great discipline not to download illegal ROMs if you happen to own any of either hardware, but how many people actually buy them for homebrew purposes?
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EB Promos Opens New Blog for Sports Memorabilia Aficionados
www.EBPromos.com augments its selection of sports memorabilia displays by opening an accompanying blog, allowing collectors and enthusiasts to interact and learn more about the industry. (PRWeb Jul 31, 2008)
Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/07/prweb1158314.htm
Is Radiohead Genius?
(photo Jeff Kravitz) I have to ask. After seeing them live, I have to wonder. They did rip my head off, as did Metallica at Bonnaroo. They have this way of being both ridiculously tight, as well as totally psychedelic. Not easy to pull off. What do you all... (Read on Source)
Americans Show Little Tolerance For Mental Illness Despite Growing Belief In Genetic Cause
While more Americans believe that mental illness has genetic causes, the nation is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than it was 10 years ago.
Leaked Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Footage Shows 'Intimate Brutality'
The first footage of THQ's action-heavy take on the Warhammer 40,000 property has begun floating around the internet, showing off over nine minutes of the combat game and what the development team refers to as "intimate brutality."
While publisher THQ has yet to officially announce Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, with some rumors claiming the title has yet to be approved for full production, the Gears of War-esque game is believed to be in the works for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. [videofeature]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbjbbzOrCIg [img]http://www.shacknews.com/extras/faylor/wh40k_preview.jpg[/img][/videofeature]
YouTube Fights Comment Idiocy With Audio Preview
Two things a person doesn’t always know: Who’s listening and how words are going to sound before they come out. The latter, if we want to get technical about it, is regulated by the orbitofrontal cortex of the amigdala, which unfortunately is switched off while a person uses the Internet—nonverbal communication is required for this to function properly—hence all the stupid comments loading down the Internet like a soiled diaper.
Obama Raised Record $150 Million in September
The Obama campaign announced this morning that it had raised a record $150 million last month, and had added 632,000 new donors to its total. The amount shattered the campaign’s previous record from August. The McCain campaign also had a record-breaking month in August, but is now operating with the $84 million provided by public financing ... (Read on Source)
A Few Extra Virtual Maps Isn't A Real Reason To Buy A Video Game
There's definitely been an ongoing battle in the video game world from some executives complaining about used game sales for console games (there's been a bit of confusion in the past tying this to video game DRM -- which is more focused on PC games). We noted that EA was among those concerned, but was hoping to give people more reasons to buy new, rather than second hand. However, some folks in the comments complained about the methods EA was using, and that's worth a further discussion, especially as other examples are being shown. Reader DEF points out that another video game company, Epic, is trying to encourage original purchases by giving buyers a free voucher for certain in-game items, such as special maps. Such vouchers would only work for the initial buyer, thus, in theory increasing the value of the initial purchase.
There are a couple of problems with this approach. While I do think it's better to come up with "reasons to buy" rather than trying to sue people or pass laws requiring a cut of the secondhand market, this approach may get it backwards. Effectively, they're selling "infinite goods" rather than scarce goods, and that seems likely to backfire, for a few reasons. First, it actually diminishes the value of the game. One aspect that buyers take into account is the resale market. An active second hand market increases how much people are willing to pay for the original product, because they recognize that they can sell it later.
Second, when the focus is on charging for infinite goods (or only promising them to those who buy first hand copies), the incentives get risky. Suddenly, gaming companies are put in a position of choosing what "virtual" items are allowed in the game for first hand buyers vs. second hand buyers, and that leads them to make bad decisions in locking up important aspects of a game, frustrating potential buyers.
Plenty of games have shown that money can be made in charging for the service (a scarce good) of connecting and accessing an online world or community. If video game makers focused on that, then the entire issue of the second hand market wouldn't be such an issue. In that case, they'd want to get the actual games distributed as widely as possible, with as many features enabled as possible, to make the idea of playing in the online environment even more appealing.
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How to switch to a Mac and live to tell about it
You will love your Mac even more once you get used to the way things operate.
America's Next Top Hash Function Begins
You might not have realized it, but the next great battle of cryptography began this month. It's not a political battle over export laws or key escrow or NSA eavesdropping, but an academic battle over who gets to be the creator of the next hash standard.
Hash functions are the most commonly used cryptographic primitive, and the most poorly understood. You can think of them as fingerprint functions: They take an arbitrary long data stream and return a fixed length, and effectively unique, string. The security comes from the fact that while it's easy to generate the fingerprint from a file, it's infeasible to go the other way and generate a file given a fingerprint.
Originally created to make digital signatures more efficient, hashes are now used to secure the very fundamentals of our information infrastructure: in password logins, secure web connections, encryption key management, virus and malware scanning, and almost every cryptographic protocol in current use. Without cryptographic hash functions, the internet would simply not work. At the same time, there isn't a good theory of hash functions. Unlike encryption algorithms, there are no secret keys involved; this makes it harder to mathematically define exactly what hash functions are.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, is holding a competition to replace the SHA family of hash functions. "SHA" stands for "Secure Hash Algorithm." It was developed by the NSA in 1993 to replace the commercial MD4 and MD5 algorithms, and has been updated several times since then. All the SHA algorithms are very similar, and have been increasingly under attack, so NIST wants to replace them.
The competition is important because, unlike other technological standards, committee design — balancing the interests of diverse constituents — isn't conducive to good security. Security is best when it's designed by expert teams and then subjected to public review. And cryptography is best when it's chosen by competition.
In 1997, NIST held a competition for a block cipher to replace DES. Fifteen candidates and three-and-a-half years later, Rijndael became the new Advanced Encryption Standard — AES. NIST is doing the same thing for what it's calling SHA-3 (not, for some unexplained reason, the Advanced Hash Standard or AHS).
The deadline was October 31, and NIST received 64 submissions. This isn't surprising — I predicted 80 — as most of the 15 AES submitters were professors, whose students at the time have become professors themselves, with their own students. (If NIST does a stream cipher competition in another ten years, they should expect about 256 submissions.) These submissions came from academia, from industry, and from hobbyists. CIO magazine recently interviewed one of the submitters, who is 15. Twenty-eight submissions have been made public by the submitters, and six of those have been broken.
NIST is going through all the submissions right now, making sure they are complete and proper. Their goal is to publish all accepted submissions by the end of November, in advance of the First Hash Function Candidate Conference, to be held in Belgium right after the Fast Software Encryption workshop in February.
The group expects to quickly make a first cut of algorithms — hopefully to about a dozen — and give the community a year of cryptanalysis before making a second cut in 2010. After another year of cryptanalysis, NIST will choose a winner in 2011. Expect a final standard by 2012.
My advice for software developers is to let the process run its course. While it's tempting to use the new cool algorithms in your designs, it's far too soon to trust any of them. This process is likely to result in all sorts of new research results in hash function security, and some real cryptanalytic surprises. Give the community a few years to figure out which ones are good and which aren't.
I've previously called this sort of thing a cryptographic demolition derby: The last one left standing wins. But that's only partially true. Certainly all the groups will spend the next few years trying to cryptanalyze each other, but in the end there will be a bunch of unbroken algorithms. NIST will select one based on performance and features.
NIST has stated that the goal of this process is not to choose the best standard but to choose a good standard. I think that's smart; in this process, the best is the enemy of the good. While there's no rush to choose a new standard — the SHA-2 algorithms will remain secure for the foreseeable future — we don't want to analyze the candidates forever.
Personally, I was part of a group of eight cryptographers that submitted Skein to the competition. A decade ago, writing Twofish and participating in the AES process was the most fun I had ever had in cryptography. These next few years promise to be even more fun.
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Bruce Schneier is chief security technology officer of BT. His new book is Schneier on Security.
K-Rod looking cozy with Mets
It seems that the lobby of the Bellagio is no longer the place to be for stakeout duty here. Now the crush of reporters, as well as curious passersby, are clogging the area around the elevator banks on the fringe of the casino. Moving through that wall of humanity minutes ago was Francisco Rodriguez, his family in tow, holding a large stuffed ... (Read on Source)
Red Hat extends RHEL release support
... Commercial Linux distributors have an advantage over proprietary operating ... runtime environment, the area where the Linux kernel interacts with applications. So even if there ...
Google, Salesforce.com vs. Microsoft Headlines Cloud Computing Battle for 2009
Fortunately, SAAS service firm Appirio, which does useful things such as synchronize cloud platforms from Salesforce.com and Google, gets a little more candid in its top 10 predictions for the evolution of cloud computing in 2009. These conclusions are "loosely based on what Appirio is hearing and seeing first hand from industry insiders ... (Read on Source)
The Top Ten Search Articles of 2008
As we near the end of 2008, let's take a look at some of the most popular articles at About Web Search. Everything from finding public records to free movie... (Read on Source)
Proposed Stay Of Liquidation Plan Pending Appeal Rejected By Judge
SAN DIEGO - The bankruptcy judge overseeing the Metabolife International Inc. settlement on Dec. 12 denied a motion to stay liquidation pending appeal brought by a former putative class action representative whose claims were denied in two courts, stating that he has not shown a likelihood that he will succeed on his appeal or the likelihood that he will suffer injury if a stay is not granted (In re: MII Liquidation, Inc., et al., No. 05-06040-H11, S.D. Calif. Bkcy.; See December 2007, Page 4). Full story on lexis.com
name: MAGPIE