Computing (2010)

Qwiki goes trigger-happy with email

30 Dec 2010

Qwiki is such a promising concept in making search results more 'user friendly' that it will be quickly forgiven for sending out its "Qwiki of ...

Google In-Page Analytics: analyse as you browse!

Web Hosting 16 Oct 2010

Google Analytics has been at the forefront of website analytics, ever since it acquired Urchin Stats and made it free of charge. There have ...

Geo-targetting your website

Web Hosting 16 Oct 2010

Does your company have a local presence in many different countries, or do you run a site where it makes sense to keep visitors from different ...

Google Homepage: John Lennon Video

08 Oct 2010

For the first time ever, Google has incorporated a video into its homepage logo. The video is an animation, with John Lennon's 'Imagine' playing ...

Linux Kernel Vulnerability: know your version!

Linux Solutions 04 Oct 2010

An exceptional vulnerability has been detected in the Linux kernel, which allows any non-root user to gain super-user privileges. One would ...

Media Temple: no more FOLLOW_LOCATION

Web Programming 26 Sep 2010

It's not unusual for web hosts to make changes to their platform, for security reasons or whatever, but this one on Media Temple's (gs) platform ...

The Power of Cloud Computing

26 Sep 2010

Cloud computing promises much for the budget-conscious web publisher. It should allow - within reason - a flexibility of resource availability ...

Twitter Javascript vulnerability: t.co links?

21 Sep 2010

The twitter.com website was allowing naughty Javascript to be presented to users for a short while, and it looks like the t.co url shortener ...

Like Driving a Car

Web Hosting 26 Aug 2010

When trying to work out what to expect from the various web hosting platforms, consider an analogy with car ownership. Cloud Computing is ...

Google Street View Convoy

15 Aug 2010

Google streetview cars occasionally get snapped by other streetview cars as they appear to drive in convoy for odd stretches. I found this one ...

Windows 7 64-bit and the Hauppauge Nova-T-500

Upgrading to 64-bit 14 Aug 2010

COMPATIBILITY CONFIRMATION: On upgrading from 64-bit Vista to 64-bit Windows 7, the upgrade advisor and the upgrade itself both complained that ...

Full Elitebook System Information

HP Elitebook 14 Aug 2010

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The Full 4GB

HP Elitebook 06 Aug 2010

This lovely laptop came with 4GB RAM and the OS ready to go, save for a few configuration screens. Unfortunately I quickly found out that the ...

Windows Experience Index

HP Elitebook 06 Aug 2010

The Elitebook, being built around a Core I7 processor and laden with 4GB RAM, fared well in the Performance Information tests. It came out worst ...

Range of mid-range Laptops

Laptops 03 Aug 2010

Here is a list of mid-range notebook computers with 14" to 15" screens, and a few prices for comparison: Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820T Core ...

Government will continue to use IE6

30 Jul 2010

In response to a petition, submitted in June with over 6000 signatures and calling for an end to IE6 use within Government departments, the Government ...

three-letter .co domains

27 Jul 2010

The .CO era is here! These new domains for company registrations are going like hot cakes, and the prized 3-letter domains (none of which are ...

dot-co domains now registered

27 Jul 2010

To complement the available short domain list, here is a list of .co domains that are now registered. Note that we haven't included numbers ...

Frame-busting

Web Programming 26 Jul 2010

Here's some code you may find useful if your website is stuck in an iframe inside someone else's site: if(top.location != location) { ...

How to Flatten a PHP POST Array

Web Programming 19 Jul 2010

The situation is this: You have a PHP script that takes POST data, and you need to pass that data on to a remote server. How do you do it? ...

Show Bots the Content to Index

Web Programming 17 Jul 2010

There are a few ways to tell bots whereabouts the content is on your web page: Google ad section targeting: What is section targeting and ...

Facebook Bot User-Agent

Web Programming 17 Jul 2010

Here's a user-agent you'll need to add to your list of robots: facebookexternalhit/1.1 (+http://www.facebook.com/externalhit_uatext.php) I ...

Sending Emails: How to Remove the X-Authentication Warning

14 Jul 2010

Here is the header that appears in emails that your web server has sent through sendmail or postfix: X-Authentication-Warning: serverx.mysite ...

Efficiently decode a short url

Web Programming 11 Jul 2010

I am building a reference of short urls, and for each one need to record its final destination url, server software and page title. Curl almost ...

Behind the bit.ly url

Web Programming 08 Jul 2010

If you want to know more about what a bit.ly url refers to, here is a PHP function that may be of use to you. It first checks what the destination ...

Implementing Facebook OpenGraph

Web Programming 25 Jun 2010

Facebook makes its new Graph interface sound so simple, but what about Facebook OpenGraph? This is where third-party web sites specify extra ...

Effect of Sponsored Trending Topics

23 Jun 2010

Here are a couple of follower graphs (courtesy of TwitterCounter.com) for Disney-Pixar and Coca-Cola, both of whom have been sponsoring trending ...

Sitemaps in robots.txt File

Web Programming 08 Jun 2010

Give your carefully created sitemap a mention in your robots.txt file. You simply use this format: Sitemap: http://www.mysite.com/sitemap ...

GIMP: Removing Background From Photo

Web Programming 06 Jun 2010

You can use the GIMP image manipulation program (with some dexterity and a lot of staring) to remove the background from a photo. The best guide ...

Dell Inspiron Views

Laptops 23 May 2010

Bought for my Mum, a Dell Inspiron laptop with a 15" screen and 3 years onsite warranty, for £400.

The Google Wonder Wheel

22 May 2010

Google is really playing around with different interfaces to help you fine-tune your search results. For a pretty broad phrase like 'cycling ...

My Buzz Feed

10 Feb 2010

This is produced from the URL http://buzz.googleapis.com/feeds/john.swindells/public/posted

All the Buzz about Google

10 Feb 2010

Everybody in the computing world is talking about it, and most are playing with it... but what about the general public? Google Buzz is integrated ...

Windows 7 Upgrade from XP

06 Feb 2010

I have just completed my upgrade from Windows XP (tablet edition) to Windows 7, having bought the boxed product for £65 from Amazon [

Death Knell For IE6

02 Feb 2010

The Microsoft web browser loathed by web developers everywhere, Internet Explorer 6, is now going to lose Google's support. Here is a quote ...

Media Temple Proactive Against DoS

Web Programming 22 Jan 2010

I have some mixed opinions of Media Temple tonight. On the one hand, I was completely unable to access swinny.net (IMAP/SSH/HTTP) or domains ...

Dell's 1.3kg Netbook

18 Jan 2010

This is an interesting little number - the DELL Inspiron Mini 10v Black Netbook being sold by Maplin for £230 (while stocks last). Product ...

Microsoft Security Essentials Problems

18 Jan 2010

I haven't heard much in the way of praise or criticism of Microsoft's security essential pack. It claims to provide "real-time protection for ...

Official: Worst Short URL Ever

16 Jan 2010

Whilst thinking about short URLs for work projects today, my brain managed to stumble on one for swinny.net which I thought was really neat at ...

Wireless Headset (Stereo)

11 Jan 2010

I've just ordered a Plantronics .Audio 995 Digital Wireless Stereo Headset from Amazon UK, although the Creative Labs HS-1200 Digital Wireless ...

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