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Black Hat, Confusion & Integrity

 Blogging, Website Stuff  No Responses »
Oct 142012
 

Do you know what the term “black hat” means. Would you understand it if it were used in a footnote of an article you were reading? Most likely not.

Black Hat is a hacker term for someone who violates computer security.

I was recently appalled by an article about SEO tactics that were so incredibly WRONG it had me seeing red. The article in question is titled: How To Trick Bloggers Into Linking To You and it reads like a DIY kit to SEO via images, Even though the author states the article is a black hat situation (kind of off handed at the end of the article), the article itself would get any photographer angry.

Two things that the article tells people to do (THAT THEY SHOULD NEVER EVER DO) is…

1) use Google image search to post images to your website/blog (stealing images violates copyright laws and is, well, just plan WRONG).

2) use Google’s image search to find blogs using those images then go to the site and claim them as yours (holy crap that is just so wrong I cannot even put it into words).

The article in question reads like a How-To-Guide for folks looking to increase SEO via back linking. Back linking is good this article and all it suggests is not.

The guy that wrote it is the one who developed Triberr (a good tool for bloggers), but this article really undermines his integrity if you ask me.

So basically, just don’t trust anything you read over at DIYblogger.net.

Protect Your PC Against Kitty Mishaps

 Computers, Pets  No Responses »
Sep 222012
 

Abby on my PC

Ever come home to find your cat on your PC? I don’t know why but mine have always been draw to it. Abby here always had to be on my lap or in this case on my laptop, whenever I worked on my computer.

But cats walking across a keyboard can actually be dangerous.

Not for the cat, but for the files on the PC.

I don’t know how many times she turned off my wifi just by hitting the right combo of keys. She even closed programs making me lose the file I was working on.

In this photo you can see she has brought up the task screen. Who knows what could have been deleted or reset on my PC!

Thank goodness I never lost any vital files (like all my photos of my kitties) or I would have been heartbroken.

Surdoc has the solution (and not just for us cat owners either). Get 30 GB of free online backup & storage for all your important files. Just use the promo code: CATPROOF to get your fee 30GB of backup storage now.

Here is a handy infographic with tips on how to cat proof your PC.

Cat Proof Your Computer

 

People Pets and the Internet

 Blogging, Pets, Website Stuff, Writing  No Responses »
May 022009
 

Pets on the interwebs. Search any social network on the internet these days and you will most certainly find a bunch of pet lovers. Search MySpace, facebook or Twitter just a little harder and you will find the pets that belong to those very same pet lovers. Yes, there is a growing number of pets who blog or have their own web pages, and they connect with each other on these social networks.

Take my big boy Boris for example. I blog about him quite often, what is he does, his new toys, etc. When we first got him I even started a blog about his care and growth. Then we both got sick and the blog fell to the wayside. Recently I started dealing more with facebook and Twitter (as MySpace is yesterdays news) and found myself one night setting up accounts for Boris. So now you can follow the exploits of this kitty cat across the web via his blog (he took it over how), twitter and facebook.

I will continue to write about him here, as he is just too darn cote not too (besides he tends to ignore the fact that he has three older sisters who don’t play on the web — you know how it is for us older folks).

Old Writers Grant from the Speculative Literature Foundation

 Books, Writing  No Responses »
Mar 202009
 

Are you old and like to write sceince fiction stories? Then check this out.

“The Speculative Literature Foundation is offering a grant of $750 to any writer of speculative literature of 50 years or older at the time of application who is just beginning to work professionally in the field. There are no restrictions on the use of the grant money.”

Pretty sweet deal. Alas I have a few years to wait before applying. ;)

Apply here: SLF Older Writers Grant

thnx Boing Boing

I Want It Wednesday: Complete Control of MY Facebook Content

 Computers, I Want It Wednesdays, Rants, Website Stuff  No Responses »
Mar 042009
 

Last month (Feb 4th) Facebook changed their terms of service to state that users content would be stored, not unlike email, and, here’s the kicker, that Facebook had rights to your content. So by uploading images, videos, stories etc you were giving Facebook rights to use your content in any way they saw fit.

If I upload something for my friends (or even open to the public) I should have all rights and controls over that content. Facebook should have to come to me to use or profit from what I post before they use it.

I am not the only one that feels this way. Facebook has backed up their TOS to an older version and is now opening it up to discussion and voting (kind of) on Facebook via two groups you can join and post your thoughts about the new TOS. This forum is only open until March 29th so go give them a piece of your mind.

Will Real Levar Burton Please Stand Up

 Blogging, Website Stuff, Writing  No Responses »
Feb 032009
 

I recently signed up for Twitter after hearing about it for a rather long time from all my techno geek friends. (You’ll see whataslacker’s Tweets over there on the bottom of the right-hand column there.) Basically it is micro blogging at its best. You type a 140-character post, or tweet, and it goes out to [...]

Make Money Using Others Sites

 Blogging, Writing  1 Response »
Aug 202008
 

I just stumbled on this site that lets you make money simply by using their website. YouSayToo.com Sign up, write your blog posts and reap the benefits of their adds. The more popular your content the more money you make. Might be a nice side blogging opportnity for some. at least it is worth a [...]

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