Ash K. Gilpin

In the first joint and open initiative to improve the Web crawl process for search engines, Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced support for Sitemaps 0.90 (www.sitemaps.org), a free and easy way for webmasters to notify search engines about their web pages in their web sites and be indexed more comprehensively and efficiently, resulting in better representation in search indices. For users, Sitemaps enables higher quality, fresher search results. An initiative initially driven by Yahoo! and Google, Sitemaps builds upon the pioneering Sitemaps 0.84, released by Google in June of 2005, which is now being adopted by Yahoo! and Microsoft to offer a single protocol to enhance Web crawling efforts.

The great thing about Sitemaps is that you don’t have to manually submit your web pages, page-by-page. Think of a sitemap as more of a “feed.” You have one file, such as an XML or TXT file, that consists of paths to all of the pages listed on your site that you wish to have indexed by the search engines. Instead of hoping for search engines to find all of the pages of your site - this sitemap makes their job easier and also results, as stated above, in more comprehensive and efficient representation in search indices.

Together, the sponsoring companies will continue to collaborate on the Sitemaps protocol and publish enhancements on a jointly maintained website www.sitemaps.org, which provides all of the details about the Sitemaps protocol.

Google has a new calling feature available on their map system where you never have to lift a finger to dial.

Here’s how it works: Search for a business, like a restaurant, on Google Maps, and click on the ‘call‘ link next to its phone number. Then, enter your phone number and click ‘Connect For free.’ Google calls your phone number and automatically connects you to the restaurant.

Two really cool features about this: The business’s phone number is automatically stored in your phone’s caller ID so you can easily call back in the future. And by checking the box to remember your phone number, you can make future calls from Google Maps with just two mouse clicks (and picking up your phone, of course).

Google provides the ‘call’ link as a free service to all businesses. These aren’t ads and don’t influence the ranking of businesses in the search results. They foot the bill for calls (local and long distance), but airtime fees or other mobile fees will still apply if you use a mobile phone number. Currently, the calling feature works if you live in the U.S. and are looking for a business located in the U.S.

It was discovered in a recent testing by IGN that Playstation 3 doesn’t have support for 1080i, a common High-Definition format used by HDTV’s. Despite 1080p being “the true definition of HD“, most of the titles available are rendered internally at 1280 x 720 and scaled up accordingly. However, on many older CRT HDTVs that only support 1080i input and not 720p, instead of scaling to the appropriate HD resolution, the PS3 goes back down to the EDTV standard of 480p. Just something to consider if you have already gone out and spent some serious dollars on a new high definition television set that you plan to use with your Sony Playstation 3 in hopes of acheiving your HD quality picture.

Wikipedia is once again accessible in China after being blocked since October 2005. Apparently, China routinely blocks access to web sites that it deems subversive and filters Internet pages for sensitive words. It was not only the encyclopedia’s content that worried the Chinese government, but Wikipedia’s open editorial process, which they say has a community-building effect among armchair editors who can quickly mobilize to create content. Despite the ban on Wikipedia, which anyone can edit, a small community of Chinese users had used proxy servers and other tricks to gain access to the site.

Cool Home Pages is a web site that is more or less a repository of unique web designs. It’s a place where designers can go to get inspiration from their fellow designers. If you are so inclined, you can also submit sites to Cool Home Pages that you think are “cool.” According to Cool Home Pages, cool can be a lot of things. Almost the only thing it can’t be is something they’ve already seen over and over again. Their watchword is ‘REMARKABLE’ - there must be something remarkable about the homepage design that others may be interested in seeing. It could be a layout, a cool way to embed a Flash movie, maybe just the navigation scheme. Almost anything they haven’t already seen before, and is clever and usable, could qualify.

Considering as how there are so many web sites and so many different designs on the web, today - creating something so unique that really hasn’t been seen elsewhere may seem like quite the daunting task. However, it’s definitely worth a shot of submitting your site. With the ranking they have on Alexa, they certainly get some traffic. Being listed would not only be a compliment to you as a designer, but a great way to help generate more exposure and traffic to your site.

The Microsoft Zune has very good playback performance of audio, video, and photos; intuitive and colorful interface; good FM radio with RDS; works well with Zune Marketplace software; integrated wireless allows sharing of songs (limited) and photos; many accessories available at launch. 

Overall, The Microsoft Zune with its intuitive interface and solid playback performance will please most users. However, lukewarm format support and the cool but limited Wi-Fi capability will have advanced users seeking just a little more. The Zune is a very good start, though.

An iPod killer? I think not.

 

HRDating.com, a local dating site based in Hampton Roads, VA that was started back in April of 2003 by owner, Ash Gilpin. It has since grown to about 2,500 members. We all know, from articles we have read in the media, that online dating is becoming more and more mainstream in this day and age. People are busy. They are on the go. Online dating sites like HRDating and speed dating services such as Extraordinary Encounters Dating make it easy for the busy professionals that don’t have the time for bars or social scenes where it is common for people to typically meet.

I am relatively new to this new world of blogging. One of my first major concerns; however, was “how I am going to spread the word about my blog and start getting traffic to my site?” In my searches, I have found several programs that help automate the process of submitting blogs and/or rss feeds to online blog / rss directories. The tool that I came across, that seems to work like a charm, is called RSS Submit. It’s developed by a company called KSoft. For anyone out there trying to spread the word about their web blog, give this software a shot. I’ve found it really easy and straight forward to use. 

New Pay-Per-Post system, ReviewMe, launched the other week. It offers advertisers a way to get their service or Web site reviewed by bloggers, gaining your site traffic, invaluable feedback, and word of mouth buzz. It also offers bloggers a way to get paid to review services and Web sites that are of interest to advertiser’s readers.

Their launch started with an initial offering of $25,000, overall, for bloggers to review their service. However, the launch went better than expected and they have extended their offer until $100,000 has been paid out. So, if you missed your first shot at a piece of the $25,000 - here is your second chance.

This is an interesting site. It’s relatively new due to the current lack of license plate’s submitted. Anyhow, it seems like a pretty cool idea. Here’s how it goes, typically when you are on the road you will see other vehicles around you that have vanity plates. Well, have you ever wondered what that vanity plate meant? For vanity plate owners, Explain Your Plate is where you go to submit the meaning or story behind your plate. For curious minds, Explain Your Plate is where you go to read the meaning or story behind a plate. I think this could probably be quite the popular site if it catches on and word spreads to the masses.