E-Commerce: Everybody's darling full of opportunities

Rating: 5 / 5

Blogs, RSS, Twitter, Cloud Computing, Social Networks... Today's online business is moving faster than ever. How can small and medium enterprises keep in step with ever changing technologies and marketing opportunities in order to increase turnover at minimum cost - especially in these financially troubled times?

Two IT trends have proven to bear great opportunities for companies of all sizes: Cloud Computing and Social Commerce. While Cloud Computing stands for flexible resource utilization and a highly technological concept, Social Commerce tools enable customers to experience much more transparent and effective information about products or services.

Cloud Computing: Flexibility and scalability at its best

Cloud Computing is more than just Software as a Service - and it has much more to it than a server that is not any longer in one's own basement: It is the combination of on-demand infrastructure and on-demand software. This concept does not only offer enormous flexibility but has also cost-saving potential.

Local resources like for example hardware are not needed any longer as companies may now store their data externally on virtual servers and use their software via web access. Generally, all essential features for a professional e-business such as CRM solutions, ERP systems and e-commerce software are available. In times of higher traffic, for instance before Christmas or Easter, additional server capacity can be ordered temporarily.

Companies pay only for their individual set of services - and hosting providers will take care of updates and bug fixes. There will be no more worrying whether the last update for example by eBay has been missed.

More than just e-business

It is essential for all online and offline businesses to inform their customers about products, opening hours or news from the company. Recent studies confirm that almost all customers have informed themselves online before actually buying a product. Would it not make sense to offer customers an appointment right away while they are on the website? An active community recommending and commenting your products is not only a much more reliable source than any marketing material but also offers valid feedback about your products.

A professional website can thus play a decisive role in being ahead of competitors. With ePages 6, both the website and the online shop can be combined on one platform, with the same design. Without special programming knowledge, installing and updating an online store and business website is done much easier than before. All that is needed is a computer with Internet access.

Extended by an appointment management and booking function ePages 6 widens the scope of e-commerce beyond the more traditional sales model.

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Recycling for Future Data Centers - DC Powering & Dell

Rating: 4 / 5

More efficient and low-powered data centers are to set the future of an industry burdened by a past of little to no recycling and environment awareness. Led by a new technology referred to as DC powering, developed and tested by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a market leading computer manufacturer Dell, the concept of a more environmental and financially friendly data center is taking form. How? - by optimizing rather than expanding.

In March 2008 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released their final report concerning DC Power for Data Center Efficiency. In the report the project was documented as successful in reducing power costs, increase/maintain data center efficiency and more consciously preserving power supplies. Thus indicating the potential future role of DC (direct current) powering as a greener and environment protective alternative to standard AC (alternating current) power solutions.

And though recommended by many environment organizations and agencies such as EPA (U.S Environmental Protection Agency) it is not the proper recycling of computers and electronics that are to make this industry more climate conscious. Why build a new data center when the limit is reached if the size actually can be optimized?

Computer manufacturer and IT giant Dell experienced this conundrum in 2006 when their two data centers in Austin Texas reached capacity limits. But instead of throwing out the old and expanding to a bigger data center, Dell chose a different approach. By optimizing existing instruments and technology in data storage and power supply Dell managed to reduce costs by more than $29 million on power and efficiency.

"When we optimised our own data centers, we learnt a lot of lessons," states Rick Becker, VP of Dell's Software and Solutions Enterprise Product Group, in an interview with TechWorld. "And now we want to share these lessons with our customers"

With the launch of "Green IT" data center solutions for their customers Dell is spreading the message of a more energy-efficient, high performing data center on its website. Promising to slash energy consumption with up to 45 % and increase data center performance with up 97 % Dell seems to have created their own definition of an environmental protective data center.

LBNL's DC powering technology and Dell's own data center recycle solution is perhaps to be considered two prime instances of an industry in change. Optimizing data center power systems indicates not only a reduction in energy-costs for companies like Dell but also candidates as a greener and more environmental friendly powering solution. A seemingly optimal two-in-one solution for the data center industry.

Green web hosting 2.0 - DC power in Data Centers

Rating: 5 / 5

In March 2008 California-based science research center Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory released their final report describing recent work, tests and demonstrations done concerning DC Power Supply for Data Center Efficiency.

Based on industry indications that the powering of many existing data centers is done so in an inefficient and power-wasting manner, the "Demonstration" project's objectives were to demonstrate the reliability and energy-efficiency of an alternative power delivery system using direct-current server rack powering in comparison to standard AC power distribution.

From the results following conclusions could be drawn:

• Efficiency - By eliminating conventional conversion steps, normally a common source for power loss, tested DC-power solutions showed a minimum 5% to 7% efficiency gain. These gains did not include power reductions in cooling loads.
• Availability - The project showed the availability of DC-powered servers, how they can be easily applied and adapted to data centers currently using standard AC powering solutions.
• Functionality - DC-powered servers showed no indication of constrains in performance when compared to AC powered servers.

In final conclusion the report listed identified areas for follow up investigations. This to help establish industry discussions and engagement concerning the future of DC powering. One included area was the Integration of Other Sources, such as renewable energy sources.

Renewable energy sources to supply web hosting data centers? Is DC powering to be considered the future of green web hosting?

William Tschudi, project contact at LBNL states in an email correspondence; "We'll have to see. There is growing interest in the concept and some early adopters are moving ahead. There are some DC centers in Europe and Japan and through our collaboration we now have an opportunity to create a world wide standard for voltage and connectors which would enable the same type of equipment to be delivered anywhere in the world."

Tschudi continues "The reason that the industry is beginning to look at the use of DC directly is that some of the power that is normally lost in the conversion process can be saved resulting in substantial energy savings since these facilities operate continuously."

"The power lost in the conversion process also generates heat which must be removed through the HVAC system. So saving this power has a multiplier effect in the building. There are also non-energy benefits in directly using DC. First of all there is less equipment in the chain so in the long run the capital cost will be less and there will be fewer points of failure so the system will be more reliable. The phone companies have always operated with DC power and their reliability is unmatched."

21 Scripts and Tips to Decrease Website Server Load

Rating: 4 / 5

Once you have your website established and running properly it may be time to take a look at your server load and loading times. Over time, websites can start to get bogged down with large images, multiple pieces of Javascript, and hefty CSS files. All of these can contribute to a website that is less than optimized and may run slower and become irritating to the end user. Today, we will have a look at 21 great scripts, tips, and tools you can use to decrease your website's server load.

1. Use YSlow for Firebug

YSlow is a Firefox add-on that integrates into the firebug web development tool. YSlow grades website performance and download speeds based on a set of rules set by Yahoo Developer team for optimized web sites. YSlow can show you exactly how many resources and downloading times are required for your site, as well as providing tips on how to improve this.

2. Use Smush.it for your images

Smushit.com is a service that goes beyond the limitations of Photoshop, Fireworks & Co. It uses image format specific non-lossy image optimization tools to squeeze the last bytes out of your images - without changing their look or visual quality. You'll get a report of how many bytes you can save by optimizing your images and all the changed images as a single zip for download.

You can use Smush.it as a Firefox add-on, or you can simply go to their site and use the uploader that is provided. Smush.it is a must have plugin if you are a blogger or frequently use images on your website. Rest assured, no quality is lost when decreasing the size.

3. Move your Javascript files to the bottom of your page

Though this isn't always possible to do, it is a good idea to do so if you can. When a browser goes to download CSS, scripts, and images from your site, it usually has a maximum amount of information it can stream at once. By placing the scripts at the bottom of our page, we can allow the essentials to load first and then load the scripts at the end.

4. Compress your Javascript

Six Easy Steps DIY: Move Your Wordpress.com Blog

Rating: 5 / 5

Wordpress.com currently hosts millions of blogs (and counting), most of them content with WordPress as the hosting provider. But every year thousands of bloggers still make the journey to the other side - the world of web hosting. To make this voyage shorter, sweeter and easier for the traveler we have written a step-by-step guide including all the steps you need to take in order to successfully move your blog from Wordpress.com.

If you are asking yourself, "What on earth? There is a Wordpress.COM and a Wordpress.ORG?!" Here is a description of each:

Wordpress.COM

• Everything is taken care of: from setup, to upgrades, backups, and security, etc
• Downtime is unlikely because the blog is located on several servers
• Posts are backed up automatically
• Easy to find like-minded bloggers through tag and friend surfer
• Your login is secure (SSL)
• No custom themes or tweaking of existing theme (unless you pay 'credits')
• Cannot change the PHP code
• The domain is actually a sub-domain of WordPress.com, therefore you cannot create a custom URL structure

Wordpress.ORG

• Own your domain name; especially useful if you are creating a brand or company
• Have the ability to upload themes and plug-ins
• Complete control to change code (if you are so inclined)
• A good web host is needed. This runs about $4-10 per month (on a shared plan)
• You are responsible for killing spam; using the API key plugin is one way
• Backups of the database are dependent on the user

Because migrating your blog away from a great hosting program such as Wordpress is not something to be considered lightly, we suggest you ask yourself the following questions first:

Do you want to advertise on the blog?

When you sign up for a Wordpress.com blog account, you basically agree to not advertise on it. The Wordpress.com codex clearly says: "Adsense, Yahoo, Chitika, TextLinkAds and other ads are not permitted to be added by users." If you want to start making money on your blog with ads, migration is required.

Have you found a theme and realized you cannot use it?

Having your blog on its own host means that you can upload any theme you want and tweak the CSS and PHP as you please.

Do you love your theme, but want to tweak the CSS?

If yes, you could buy 'credits' and activate the 'Edit CSS' in the WP.com control panel. You will be able to change the CSS but are limited by not being able to install an entire new theme.

These questions were designed to give you an idea of why moving a wp.com blog can be a good idea. But as you can see, there are still many things you can do with a wp.com blog. Bottom line is that if you want full control of your blog, changing to your own hosting provider is an idea worth considering.

So, now that you have fully thought out the pluses and minuses of migrating your blog and wish to proceed, here are the steps you need to take. For this tutorial we are migrating the blog noddledout.wordpress.com to the domain noodledout.com. This to give you an live example.

Funny and Crazy Domain Names

Rating: 4 / 5

There are millions of educational and entertaining websites on the Internet today and then there are those that just don't make any sense. Or some might make sense but when you look at the domain name you are once again finding yourself puzzled. As we have way too much spare time on our hands we have listed some of these websites that makes you go huh?! If you own a crazy domain name, be sure to post it down in the comments.

What were they thinking?

gotahoe.com

We are sorry but we just had to mention this crazy domain name. This is one of those examples when people really have not thought things through properly. The website obviously has nothing to do with prostitution, as it is the great ski resort of North Lake Tahoe, but when you look at it quick you might get the wrong idea. Remember, always hire a seventeen year old boy to look at any advertising, marketing, or website campaign.

Religious perverts?

firstbaptistcumming.org

Baptists obviously are not that fussy when it comes to domain names. What should be a website dedicated to the good lord has instead become a big joke of the Internet. Are we laughing? My God yes!

Oh, so bad…

therapistfinder.com

This is yet another example where something good just ends up sounding so good. This site's name is so wrong on so many levels but you have to heckle at mistakes like this. And it begs to any therapist, could some become traumatized from the title of the site?

If you wish to do a goooooooooooooooooooooooooogle search

gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogle.com

Who would have thought that Google had a much longer and funny step-brother? Add a couple of o's (the domain consists of 63 characters) to the address and you will come to a site with many similarities to the most well-known search engine today (not the same owners we might add). Do a Goooooooooooooooooooo……gle.com Search or click the "I'm Feee€ëëëeeeling Luuuuüüucky" button if you are…. Well if you are feeling lucky I guess.

Those crazy Japanese

eeeeeee.jp

This domain name shows that there are way too many lazy online entrepreneurs. How hard can it to come up with a name that in some way indicates what you are going to find? The website itself is dental clinic. If you are easily disgusted by brown teeth you are better off not visiting this site.