You never really know who is behind some of the user names on Digg, I didn’t.  An old friend that I hadn’t spoke with in a long while called up and wanted some advice on a server configuration issue he was having.  During the conversation I had mentioned how I read some Linux articles on Digg.  Right away he yelled into the phone “you digg?”  I’m not very active and some people would call me a “front page digger” meaning I mostly digg stories that are on the front page.  We then got into a two hour conversation about Digg.  I asked him if he would do an interview for our blog and he said no.  Instead he came up with this confessions idea, as long as it was anonymous.  Diggers can be like that, they often want to keep their real identities private.

7) Mutual Friends

I will never add you as a friend on Digg unless you are a very active digger.  I don’t mean 25-50 diggs in 48 hours what I’m looking for is 100-300 diggs every 48 hours.  I submit a lot of articles and I need a core base of friends that will digg my submissions, everyday. BTW, if you add someone and they don’t make it mutual you can un-friend them and try it again at a later date.  Every time you add them as a friend they will receive an email alerting them of this.  If someone hasn’t made a friendship mutual within a few weeks the chances are they never will, so un-friend them and try it again.

6) Don’t Over Shout, Tweet or IM

If you shout at me more than 5 stories a day, I will un-friend you faster than cheetah hunting down a prairie dog.  I keep anywhere from 175-300 friends at any given time on Digg.  Everyone of them has stories they want me to look at and Digg.  If you are shouting more than 5 stories in a day it gives me no time to spend on my other 299 friends’ stories.

5) I’m Very Selfish

I’m selfish and this is why I’m a top digger!  I’m selfish because I get paid to submit content and help make it popular on Digg.  I have a handful of clients that are on contract for social media marketing.  Not every story goes popular but it doesn’t matter, I get paid on a monthly basis by helping promote their stories on websites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon and a few other websites.  Anywhere from 15% to 30% of the stories I submit go popular.  I often submit other news stories so it doesn’t look like I’m submitting from the same websites over and over again.

4) AIM & Twitter

I use AIM to get many of my submissions going.  I have a list with about 200+ active diggers on it and I will give them a shout-out on AIM so they can digg my submissions.  Many of these AIM digg buddies are not eve Mutual Friends on Digg.  However, we help each other out and send messages via AIM and Twitter to spread the word that we need diggs.

3) It Takes Time and Lots of It

I live on Digg.  I do not use any automated scripts and I spend anywhere from 4 hours to 8 hours per day on Digg.  If you want to be a power user than you need to put in the time it takes.  Sure you can take short cuts but Digg is getting better at catching people that use automated scripts.  I don’t want to risk it, it’s how I make a living.  I’m very careful that I stay within the TOS of Digg, and to do that, becoming a power user takes time.  Anyone can become a power user they just need to put in the time it takes.

2) Friend Maintenance

I constantly (3-5 times per month) maintain my Mutual Friends on Digg.  If you have not been active in the past three weeks or you are not digging my stories I will remove you as a mutual friend.  I constantly look for active diggers that are willing to reciprocate my diggs, this is how it works.  I often use websites that were created just to tell me who is digging my submissions and who hasn’t.  Why should I keep someone as an Mutual Friend if they do nothing for me?

1) I Don’t Actually Read Your Crappy Submissions

I don’t read every story that I have dugg.  If I did I would never get anything done!  I do read some stories but let’s be honest, at least half of the stories are total crap.  For example nobody including myself wants to read the score and summary of some game played in India in a sport I have no idea how to play.  I only digg it so you will digg my submissions.

Do you know what happens when you type a non-existent URL address.  You get an error message that probably looks like this:

Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. If you entered the URL manually please check your spelling and try again.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 404

Not very pretty, right?  What is worse is that your readers might get confused and just go elsewhere instead of going back one page in your site.  You cannot prevent this type of error from happening.   Nobody can stop anyone from typing non-existent web pages in the address bar.  Well actually a 404 error can be created in three ways

• A mis-typed URL (or a stale bookmark),
• A search-engine link that is not there anymore, or
• An internal broken link that escaped your notice

What we want to happen is to prevent the display of such types of error messages and replace it with something friendlier and easier to understand.  In other words, what we want to do is make our own html file that will become the generic page not found handler that deals with this kind of error gracefully.  What are the bare essentials of a custom 404 page handler?

• A link back to your home page
• Most web sites have search enabled, so if you have this feature, put this into your 404 handler
• A link to your site map, if available

So how do we go about making our generic 404 error handler?  First, create an actual HTML file that contains all this elements.  Save it somewhere below your document root.  If you want to save it in a separate folder, then feel free to do so.

The next step is the tricky part and if done correctly should work in a Linux based server.  Try to look for the .htaccess file (please take note of the dot before htaccess).  If you have one, then we have to edit its contents, if not we have to create one. On a line of its own type something like this:

ErrorDocument 404 /404handler.html

This is all that is needed in order to create a custom 404 page.  The entry has 2 parts, first part tells us that if a 404 error happens, load the html file that is described in the second part of the line.  If a page not found error happens then load the file named 404handler.html. Simple eh?

Next, we will talk about a few tricks to make your 404 page really work.  If you type a link to your site map, make sure that you provide the absolute address.  While using HTML this link should look like this:

<a href=”http://www.yoursitename.com/sitemap.html”>Site Map</a>

When your visitors do something that leads them to a page not found error, they will see something they will understand, and that is one more visitor you keep in your site.

We all know that the content you see in your browser is made from HTML and can be viewed by just right clicking on a web page and choose “View page source”. If you understand what you are seeing, then good for you but if it is gobbledygook, then you might need to go to w3schools.com to know what HML is.

HTML has progressed and the current official version is HTML 4. Some of these tags have been deprecated while some are still very much in use. So let us discuss 25 of the most useful HTML tags and tag attributes.

<title> – Since all web pages must have a title, so this self-explanatory tag will put the title of the web page in the title bar of your browser. The closing pair of this tag is </title>.

Note: In the next 24 tags, I will not provide the closing pair, it is understood that one is required (or none for tags that are called empty tags).

<a> – Since the web is hypertext, the <a> tag makes all those links possible.

href – this tag is used inside the <a> tag and represents the url where the link will jump into.

<img> – Web pages are supposed to show images together with text. The <img> tag indicates that an image will be shown on the page

src – The src attribute is the file name of the image to be displayed

alt – The alt attribute is used to provide a short description to the image. This is useful for sight impaired users who use text to speech synthesizers. The alt text will tell these users what the image is all about.

<p> – Indicates that text enclosed by the <p> tag is paragraph text

<h1> … <h6> – Provides structure to your text. <h1> is the most important heading while <h6> is not.

<ol> - Another tag that provides structure and stands for ordered list.

<ul> - A tag that says that what follows is an unordered list, much like bullet points

<li> – an item that belongs to a list

<html> - serves as the container for the document and it marks the beginning and the end of markup

<head> – a section of html where header information such as title and links to stylesheets are found

<body> a section of html that contains content

<link rel> indicates that an external file is linked to the current html document and is commonly used to link an external stylesheet to format the contents of the document

<div>- A division or a section of a page. Used as an additional means to provide structure to HTML.

class – an attribute used in <div> used for formatting HTML when stylesheets are used. When class is used, it means that this type of styling can occur many times in the document

id – another attribute found in <div> and is for formatting HTML when stylesheets are used. A particular id tag can only be used once

<script> denotes that text inside this tag is script that will add dynamic and interactive capabilities to the page

type used inside the script tag to tell the browser what scripting language is used. The most common type of scripting language is text/javascript. Scripts of type text/vbscript fell out of favor.

<form> – denotes that the area enclosed by this tag is an HTML form that can accept user input

<input> used inside an HTML form and is used to accept user input or submit the input

type – used inside input and may either accept entry of data through text boxes, radio buttons or select boxes. Is also used to show a submit button if type is equal to “submit”

label – used in forms and will label HTML input elements

<!–>- comment tag. Used to add text to your document that will not be displayed in the browser and is useful to document the design of the page.

What are listed above are 25 of the most useful tags and attributes used in most modern HTML pages today. Most of the deprecated tags are those that used to provide formatting to HTML. Formatting has been moved to stylesheets so that HTML will just consist of content and the structure that describes the content.

Behind domain names such as www.google.com or www.yahoo.com are numbers called IP addresses. These numbers provide three important functions:

• Identification of all computers that are connected to the internet. Domain names such as google.com are translated by special servers called DNS (domain name servers) into numeric identifiers such as 74.125.45.100
• It is also an address, meaning it indicates the computer’s location on the internet
• Addresses are the information used by the bits of information (packets) flowing in the internet to move from one computer to another. This function is called routing.

The designers of the internet decided that IP addresses will be a 32 bit number or 232. This means that there are 4,294,967,296 unique addresses available. The current implementation of internet addressing is called IPv4 (IP version 4). However, due to various historical reasons, less than 4.3 billion addresses are actually available and the number of routable IP addresses is rapidly decreasing. It was already recognized in the 1980’s that address depletion will be a significant problem for the internet and was foreseen that by 2010, the effects of address depletion will be strongly felt.

One way of alleviating network address depletion is to use shared web hosting. Web sites on shared hosts use the same server along with hundreds of other sites. These site all have the same IP address. Some important internet services are not available to sites that are running on shared hosts such as SSL (secure sockets layer)

Web host providers also provide dedicated web hosting where only one website sits on the server. The IP address of the server is not shared by other sites and this makes it possible to implement SSL on this kind of site.

When you are operating an e-commerce site, you must be able to process credit card transactions in a secured manner. This is where SSL is useful but this option is only available to dedicated web hosting. SSL uses some form of cryptography. Important information such as credit card numbers are encrypted using implementations of well-known and very secure encryption algorithms such as the Blowfish as well as its successor called the Advanced Encryption Standard.

Merchant accounts use SSL to process credit card transactions. If you operate a site that is shared by hundreds of other sites, the owner of an e-commerce site may opt to use an electronic shopping service that is hosted on some other site like PayPal. This is something that most on-line shoppers avoid because they do not want to be taken to another site just to close the deal.

When a website gets notorious for hosting malware, pornography or other offensive content, the IP address of that site is banned or red-flagged by search engines. When the offensive site is located on a shared server, it will be unfortunate for the other sites sharing the server because their content will become red-flagged as well. Dedicated sites will never have this problem

A great advantage of dedicated sites is greater control of the server which goes all the way to complete access to the operating system of the server.

Another important service available only to sites on dedicated web hosts is VPN or virtual private networking. Implementing VPN requires SSL to operate properly. VPN is a great feature for companies who need a geographically widespread, secure environment for a shared, read and write access to documents and folders over the internet.

When the successor of IPv4 called IPv6 starts to become the dominant addressing scheme, network address depletion won’t be problem anymore. IPv6 is a very, very big number (2128), it has been estimated that up to 296 addresses are available to entire human population (6.5 billion) living 1996. IPv6 has been designed to address several shortcomings of IPv4 of which mandatory network security has been seen to have the most impact for e-commerce sites. Whether this will impact e-commerce on shared servers still remains to be seen.

When you start a new website there are two major things that you would want to think about before choosing a web host, bandwidth and storage space. The bandwidth is basically a representation of how fast your website will load and the amount of information that is loaded with it. The storage space is the amount of space you will avail of when getting a web host to accommodate all your web page information.

Usually when you look for a web host, the most attractive option is to get one with the most storage space. There are many web hosts out there that offer unlimited space for your website.  However, you must be careful in taking these offers and read the fine print that is involved in their service.  More often than not, the monthly fees that you will pay your web hosting company may come with extra charges for your unlimited space or even get your website suspended for using too many resources.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to getting unlimited web hosting. Some of the advantages of unlimited web hosting are:

• In terms of storage space, you will never again have problems in thinking about what to put in the web host server because there is unlimited space!  So whether you want 100MB pictures to load, or huge databases to put online, this should fit in the unlimited storage space that your web host will provide for you.  What you may not realize is that 99% of the websites in the world will never use nearly enough storage to even have to think about storage space.
• You can test out all the different applications, content server managers, database programs, and other cool and useful engines and applications that you can use in your website without having to worry about removing stuff whenever you update your site. You can simply store everything there and not worry about the space it will take up.

There are also disadvantages to the ‘too-good-to-be-true’ offer of unlimited web hosting and these are:

• The offer may just be too good to be true.  Web hosts may offer these great perks of using unlimited space, but eventually the space will run out at some point.  Technically, unlimited storage space is impossible to have on any given server.  Web hosts just offer it because they don’t expect you to use up more than the expected utilized space that is assigned to you.
• Bandwidth may not be too fantastic on a website with unlimited space.  Remember, you usually have to pay for bandwidth depending on speed.  When they offer unlimited web hosting, it doesn’t necessarily mean unlimited bandwidth where your webpage would load in less than 2 seconds!  There is a limit to bandwidth just as there is to storage space.

So, when shopping for your next web host, don’t be taken in too easily by the unlimited web hosting services offers.  Inquire about what the word “unlimited” covers and what exactly their in-house services, technical expertise, and standard procedures are that would cater to the security, back-up, and proper maintenance of your webpage space.  It is better to pay for good technical services and proper processes than to pay for unlimited web hosting that only offers lost of space but little of anything else.

A zombie computer usually is part of a computer network (or botnet) that has already been compromised by hackers with their malware. Because of such an intrusion into the system, hackers can initiate attacks from the zombie computers onto any website of their choice. By doing this, the zombie computers attack the targeted website making the traffic on it so extreme that the website itself becomes inaccessible.

LiveJournal, Twitter and Facebook have been victim websites of such attacks. One such example is when the malware “Koobface” was launched by a cyber-hacker which initiated attacks on Facebook and started to spread to other social networks. The way Koobface works is that false messages are sent over the network through compromised user accounts which encourage other users to click on links that lead them to sites where malware will attack their accounts.

Not everyone can be a victim with the right advice. So if you don’t want to be the next one, you can heed some words of advice to keep you away from such hacker attacks. First, always practice caution. Don’t click on any links that look suspicious when you are logged into your social networking account. No matter how tempting the banner offer, restrain from clicking and just do your usual safe activities that you are sure of on your webpage.

Second, make sure your personal information is well guarded and that your settings on your social networking account provides you with the maximum security. Try not to post personal information on your profile to prevent identity fraud.

Third, your password on your account should ensure maximum security for your account. Pick a password that also contains numbers so that the password strength is high. Avoid using the same password for more than one site where you are a registered user.

Fourth, always update your antivirus software and make sure the signatures are up-to-date. Make sure your PC is equipped with an internet security program that can detect in-the-cloud threats before they can even enter you local system. Also install appropriate software updates on your system to keep your system well protected against the most recently released malware online.

Fifth, keep yourself updated on the most recent malicious software that is attacking computer systems. Read the online news like PC World and other sites and forums that can give you a clearer idea of what to look out for in threats and how to handle them.

Print Screen key

The Print Screen key is often abbreviated to prt sc. For MS Windows computers, pressing the print screen key copies the entire screen to the keyboard. The alt-print screen combination copies only the selected window to the clipboard.

Command-shift-3, Command-shift-4

There is no print screen key on a Mac, instead users can use the command-shift-3 combination to save copy of the screen to a file. The command-shift-4 combination enables a user to save a portion of the screen to a file

Jing Project

Created by TechSmith, Jing Project is freeware and works for both Mac and Windows. With this nifty piece of software you can even make a record video of onscreen action aside from snapping a picture of your computer screen.

Jing Project URL

Grab

This application is created by Apple for the Mac OSX. This application can be located in the Mac Utilities folder which is under Applications.

Grab URL

Skitch Beta

Made for Macs, this app can capture a chat moment on your screen, snap a website, and share the image with your network friends. Record your everyday onscreen activities for quick filing and documentation.

Skitch Beta URL

Little Snapper

This is a paid application which lets you snap, collect and share your onscreen images. Created and distributed by RealMac Software.

Little Snapper URL

iGrabIt

Made by Hidden Valley Software, this screenshot tool was made for Macs wherein you can capture whatever is displayed on your PC screen and save it as an MOV file.

iGrablt URL

Fireshot

This is a Firefox extension created by the Mozilla Company. This can take entire screenshots of both the visible and non-visible part of the webpage.

Fireshot URL

iShowU

This is a real time capture made for Mac by ShinyWhiteBox. It can instantly record movies and has USB camera support.

iShowU URL

SnagIt

Probably the best screen capture software for Windows computers. It is available as a 30-day trial download. It is easy and very intuitive to use.

SnagIt URL

CaptureWizPro

Another screen capture utility for Windows computers available as a 30-day trial download. It is capable of capturing the entire contents of scrolling areas, drop-down lists, tool tips, mouse pointers and screen savers.

CaptureWizPro URL

XnView

XnView is freeware that is a fast multiple format image browser and converter. It is capable of reading more than 400 graphic formats. Aside from screen capture, it also does slide shows and supports WIA and TWAIN devices.

XnView URL

ScreenHunter

Another well regarded and free screen capture software for Windows computers. The application is able to capture a full screen, an active window, the client window, or a rectangular area. User can set any function key (F1 to F10) for hot-key or delayed capture.

ScreenHunter URL

IrfanView

IrfanView is a simple, fast and free software that is capable of doing multiple image editing tasks like cropping, batch conversions, create panoramas and of course, screen capture.

IrfanView URL

PhotoScape

This is often downloaded free software for various image editing tasks. According to its maker, PhotoScape is a capable image viewer, editor, batch editor, animated GIF creator, file print, file splitter and screen capture.

PhotoScape URL

Gmail is currently offline, for some reason or another and tons of people use it for business and personal.  Try and remain calm as I’m sure Google is working on getting it up as I type this.  It’s amazing to see how people on Twitter and Facebook freak out about Gmail being down.

Most common statement; “I thought it was just my account”

When this happens people panic and feel like something is wrong on their end.  It’s not! Gmail is really down.

Here are some screen shots of some of the Tweets we found.

Here is some great advice from a tweeter that if everyone is so worried then they should invest into their own domain names.  If you have your own domain name and hosting you can set-up your emails to go through your hosting account.

Update:  People have tweeted that Gmail going down *could* overload other services like Twitter and Facebook.

It didn’t take long and Twitter is “Over Capacity”

Update from the Google Blog: (link)