General: January 2005 Archives

If you are bored with people being able to actually remember your web address and your email then do not despair! HugeURL as the name suggests is the complete opposite of tinyurl (et al). For example: http://www.mneylon.com/blog is transformed into: http://www.hugeurl.com/?YWI1NjcxMjcyM2IwZWU5NGZhMGZjMzRlOGQz NmQ3MGImMTImVm0wd2QyUXlVWGxXYTJoV1YwZG9WVll3Wkc5alJsWjBUVlpP V0Zac2JETlhhMUpUVmpGYWMySkVUbGhoTWsweFZqQmFTMk15U2tWVWJHaG9U VmhDVVZadGVGWmxSbGw1Vkd0c2FsSnRhRzlVVjNOM1pVWmFkR05GZEZSTlZU VkpWbTEwYTFkSFNrZGpTRUpYVFVad1NGUlVSbUZqVmtaMFVteFNUbUY2UlRG V1ZFb3dWakZhV0ZOcmJGSmlSMmhZV1d4b2IwMHhXbGRYYlVaclVsUkdXbGt3 WkRSVk1rcElaSHBHVjJFeVVYZFpWRVpyVTBaT2NscEhjRlJTVlhCWlZrWldh MVV5VW5OalJtUllZbFZhY1ZscldtRmxWbVJ5VjI1a1YwMUVSa1pWYkZKRFZq QXhkVlZ1V2xaaGExcFlXa1ZhVDJOdFNrZFRiV3hYVWpOb1dGWnRNSGRsUjBs NFUydGthVk5GV2xSWmJHaFRWMVpXY1ZKcmRGUldiRm93V2xWb2ExWXdNVVZT YTFwWFlrZG9jbFpxU2tabFZsWlpXa1prYUdFeGNGaFhiRnBoVkRKT2RGSnJh R2hTYXpWeldXeG9iMWRHV25STlNHaFBVbTE0VjFSVmFHOVhSMHBJVld4c1dt SkhhRlJXTUZwVFZqRmtkRkp0ZUZkaWEwcElWbXBKZUUxR1dsaFRhMlJxVWtW YVYxWnFUbTlsYkZweFUydGthbUpWVmpaWlZWcGhZVWRGZUdOR2JGaGhNVnBv VmtSS1QyUkdUbkphUmxKcFZqTm9kbFpHVm05Uk1XUnpWMWhvV0dKRk5WUlVW bVEwVjFaV2RHUkhkRmhTYlZKSldWVmFjMWR0U2tkWGJXaFhZa1p3V0ZreFdr dGtSa3B6Vld4a2FXRXdjRWxXYlhCTFRrWlJlRmRzYUZSaE1sSnhWVzE0ZDFk R2JITmhSazVyWWtad2VGVnRkREJWTWtwSVZXcENXbFpXY0ROWmEyUkdaVWRP U0dGR2FHbFNia0p2Vmxod1MxUXhXWGhqUld4VllrWmFjRlpxVG05a2JGcEhW bTA1VWsxWFVucFdNV2h2V1ZaS1JsTnRSbGRpV0U0MFZHdGFXbVZIUmtoUFYy aHBVbGhCZDFac1pEUmpNV1IwVTJ0b2FGSnNTbGhVVmxwM1YwWnJlRmRyZEd0 U2EzQjZWa2R6TVZZeVJYaGhNMlJYWWxoQ1MxcFZWWGhUUmtweVdrWm9hV0Y2 Vm5oV1ZFSnZVVEZzVjFWc1dsaGliVkp6V1d0YWQyVkdWblJOVldSV1RXdHdW MVp0Y0dGWGJGcFhZMGhLVjJGcldreFdha3BQVTBVNVYxcEdaRk5XV0VKMlZt MTBVMU14VlhoWFdHaFdZbXhhVlZsclZrdFhSbXh6V2tjNVYxWnNjREJhVldN MVZXc3hXRlZyYUZkTmFsWlVWa2Q0UzFKc1pIVlRiRlpYWWtad05sWkhkR0Za VmxsNVVtdG9VRlp0VW5CVmFrWkxVMnhrVjFadFJsWk5WbXcxVld4b2MxWnNX a1pUYkdoWFlXczFkbGxWV21GalZrcHpXa1pvVjJKclNrbFdWbVEwV1ZaWmVG TnJXbE5XUlZVNQ== Pure madness! As for email addresses.. Who really wants an email address that people can actually remember? You could always opt for a free email from ABCDE You too could have an email address that nobody can remember: someuser@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk.com Full details of the service are available here

Google seems to have made some significant updates to page rank for a lot of sites in the last few days. SEO experts were expecting updates to the search index, but nothing seems to have changes as yet. This site now has a PR of 4, which is quite respectable for a personal blog site. The company site has now got a PR of 6 on the main page, which is nice, but not as impressive as the PR of the inner pages, which have risen to 5 in most cases. Considering that the site is relatively new and that all page names changed when we updated this is very good news. Needless to say we are really waiting for the search index to update to see what is really happening. At the moment Blacknight's search results are pretty bad, but this seems to be in part due to "duplicate content". Who knows what will happen after the next update....

Former Doors manager Danny Sugerman, who wrote Jim Morrison's biography, has died aged 50. He died of cancer. Google News has more information

Measuring a page's Google PR is important if you are doing online marketing. Although PR is not the only element in a successful online marketing campaign it is a good indicator of how Google "views" your site. Unfortunately Google's toolbar only works with Internet Explorer on Windows, so measuring PR on any other platform is awkward. I came across a handy extension for Firefox today that deals with this issue: Google Pagerank Status Unlike the IE version this simply provides the page rank in the status bar (bottom right of screen) See below for examples: Example 1: Simple PR details. Example 2 : Advanced PR details with directory details A very handy extension if you don't use Internet Explorer as your main browser. The only concern I would have is if the Google side of things changes so much that the extension ceases to work.

My mother's travel guide seems to be doing well on Amazon. The feedback is very good, so I'm sure she's happy. The only thing is that the shops here don't seem to have it in stock, which is a pity.

The 6th Harry Potter book will be published on 16th July! Amazon is already accepting pre-orders at a reduced price....