tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51468702448422656302009-10-18T05:49:32.972+02:00Random Tech opinions, tips and rants from the Blog from Italy bloke, Alex.Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-45020038747627797442009-02-15T13:49:00.007+01:002009-02-15T14:12:28.714+01:00

I used to use a great Wordpress plugin called Wordpress Automatic Upgrade, or WPAU to its, many, fans. A plugin whiich used to be recommened by the Wordpress site itself becuase it did what it did so well.It really was a great plugin and meant you could upgrade your Wordpress blogging platform in about 10 minutes flat, with minimal site downtime. This plugin also backed up your database and all

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-50886606741392188502009-02-06T18:22:00.002+01:002009-02-07T00:29:14.937+01:00

I've been using Google Analytics for quite some time now, and it provides some very interesting data.The trouble is, I'm not too happy with the results I'm seeing. The bounce rate for my Blog from Italy site is generally too high. I suspect this is partially down to my attempts at SEO, in that Blog from Italy appears quite high in search engine results for certain Italy related subjects -

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-29563797155923058822009-01-23T13:59:00.003+01:002009-01-23T14:10:13.953+01:00

Well, the images have been uploaded and things look a wee bit more presentable now.Now I can write a few more thoughts, such as why can't someone invent a universal system which would allow all of us to have event dates included in emails directly added to calendar software?Apple's OS can do this, but bindows cannot. Sounds like a killer feature for Windows 7. And why the heck is it Windows 7??

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-34640814236141665032009-01-18T00:38:00.002+01:002009-01-18T00:42:09.480+01:00

Well, it will be once I get all the images to play ball! Tinkering in progress.Should look like the backend of Wordpress, albeit not the lastest and greatest version.This is just as well - otherwise I end up confusing myself.This will look prettier, eventually!It's a long time since I tinkered with Blogger, and I'm a little rusty.Still, for free, Blogger is a great platform for those wishing to

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-34585942494952558732009-01-16T00:14:00.004+01:002009-01-18T00:02:31.658+01:00

Until I saw my main Blog from Italy site being featured, via an RSS feed, on the GlobalPost site, I did not really know that it was possible to style feeds.Now I know that it can be done - as long as you know css and, use a plugin for Wordpress which can help you add the style information - just Google 'Feedstyler'.Now my feed looks better, but not perfect. Need to develop my css skills!Actually,

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-86140570781870224012009-01-16T00:09:00.002+01:002009-01-16T00:12:03.316+01:00

Don't know why, but I cannot access the admin area of my Wordpress powered site when using the Chrome browser.Very strange. In Firefox, I can do what I want to do.I've tweaked Chrome's settings, but to no avail. Strange.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-71841029089657581992008-12-26T15:36:00.003+01:002008-12-26T15:48:31.108+01:00

By gum, Nintendo have cooked up a neat box of tricks in the Wii, which, I understand was the top Christmas present in Italy this year.The Wii was quite easy to install, and the instruction manual is not all that necessary. Aside from the innovative system used to play games with its hi-tech motion sensor, hooking up to the www was pretty straightforward too.Apparently for 500 points you can buy

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-11175396228073233022008-12-26T15:22:00.004+01:002008-12-26T15:49:13.821+01:00

Yesterday whilst preparing Christmas lunch there was the oven, the water heater and the final straw, the microwave. Net result - the power cut itself off twice.A side effect of these user provoked power cuts was that my wifi router stopped doing its thing.This meant I had to dig out the manual and work out how to set the thing up again. Well, my D-Link DIR 635 is a clever, full functioned, but

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-32077435211282412172008-11-23T22:21:00.003+01:002008-11-23T22:27:02.277+01:00

Not sure what was up but my Dell 6400's sound card lost its voice. Must have been an attack of Auzzie flu or something.Windows seemed to think that two driver files were missing, and asked me for a Windows XP pro CD Rom so they could be put back in the right place. Odd, my humble PC is merely XP Home, and the Win XP Home CD ROM was not good enough. Poobar.Found the missing files on the WWW,

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-62939553391476931632008-11-20T15:16:00.002+01:002008-11-20T15:20:45.668+01:00

I detest computer mice. They make me scroll off the mouse pad all the time, or scroll off my desk!That's why my love affair with my cuddly Logitech Trackman Wheel will continue. In fact I got another of these fabulous devices today, after my previous one collapsed after several years of heavy usage. Poor beast!I do not understand why they are not loads more popular.One of the computing

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-78377757200003120712008-11-17T22:16:00.002+01:002008-11-17T22:19:25.121+01:00

What have I got in common with Windows?Simple, like Windows I've been getting fatter as time passes!Windows Vista is huge. It needs bigger and bigger hard disks, I need bigger and bigger trousers.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-59867198214510817462008-11-17T21:56:00.003+01:002008-11-17T22:11:09.045+01:00

What's your bounce rate?Eh? Wot's a 'bounce rate'? Good question. Bounce rate, which is also known as stickiness factor, is a measure of how interesting site visitors find the information on your web site, be it a blog or whatever.High bounce rates - like over 60% - are not good. Ideally, and you can see this in Google Analytics, your bounce rate should be less than 40%. This is not easy to

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-30453597815737922782008-11-17T21:52:00.004+01:002008-11-18T09:42:56.504+01:00

Yep, that's right, no slow queries on the MySql database sitting behind Blog from Italy!I'm a happy bunny! Installing another related posts plugin and losing Simple Tags has spiced up my database.Must get my plugin fever under control.Chopping out some gadgets and widgets has worked wonders too. Now the pages load a wee bit faster.Blog from Italy's readers are happier too. More seem to be

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-72575197243987404002008-11-17T21:45:00.004+01:002008-12-26T15:53:13.792+01:00

I have a 'my programs' folder on my Windows XP box, but some of the names of the apps I've downloaded over the years are so obscure that I can't remember what the heck they are.Content Management systems often let you categorise and tag things. Why not computer operating systems?One of the mysteries of the computing universe for me.I want a desktop that functions a little like a CMS. Windows 95

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-9387815323442622612008-11-17T21:36:00.001+01:002008-11-17T21:38:37.874+01:00

Really useful for discovering the code for that interesting colour shade you find lurking on a site on the WWW.I use this, and it's excellent when you need to tweak the colours in a .css file.It lurks here.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-89511969619545776592008-11-17T21:31:00.002+01:002008-11-17T21:34:30.144+01:00

This is very handy if you want to copy chunks of text from the web without getting all the associated formatting. Really useful for pasting quotations into Wordpress and other blogging systems, like Blogger!Find it here.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-74183089242738114352008-11-17T21:26:00.003+01:002008-11-17T21:31:04.988+01:00

An excellent plugin for Firefox which tells you what time it is in a series of locations around the world which you can choose.Very useful if you sometimes need to ring people in another country, read the USA, without getting them out of bed.I use it, and I like it.It's here.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-32405126643566256402008-11-17T21:18:00.002+01:002008-11-17T21:24:03.935+01:00

Firefox is a reminder and to do list plugin which works and synchronises with the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client.It's very good and well worth trying.Get it here.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-19493744238115509562008-11-17T15:14:00.004+01:002008-11-17T15:22:52.240+01:00

Wordpress is great. Blogger is good too. However there is a world of difference between using Blogger and Wordpress.com.Running a database driven site takes time and effort. With a stand alone Wordpress site, aside from producing content you need to keep an eye on the database, make sure pages load quickly, try not to get carried away with too many plugins, like me.Then there is security. The

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-84172673787347371682008-11-17T12:21:00.003+01:002008-11-17T12:26:36.788+01:00

I'm thinking about moving my bank accounts.I have two, one for me person and the other for me business.Thus at some point in the nearish future, I'll be wandering over to Barclay's, which has just opened a branch near me, and has just started doing business accounts.I want a more usable home banking service. The current service I use is confusing and whoever put it together does not know the

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-19011492644234735212008-11-17T01:49:00.000+01:002008-11-17T01:45:16.473+01:00

I want an online banking system which creates invoices and manages all my VAT and tax payments, virtually automatically.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-85426041342654182232008-11-17T00:31:00.001+01:002008-11-17T00:33:04.864+01:00

I want GPS systems to tell me where there the nearest parking space is, and for the system to reserve it for me.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-37868257465273061682008-11-17T00:30:00.001+01:002008-11-17T00:31:51.654+01:00

I want cameras which are linked to the GPS system which tell me where I was when I took a photo.Then I want to be able to add this photo to Google Maps or some other service.

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-71153261510921128952008-11-16T23:40:00.000+01:002008-11-16T23:46:57.146+01:00

Why can't we have little wireless devices which we can plug into out mega digicams, and which will let us send our latest snaps to our computers without pulling out memory cards, plugging in card readers into our USB ports, and then waiting while our hugh photos download?I want wifi cameras, or at least a plugin Bluetooth or WiFi or WiFiMAX gadget.Actually, I want to be able to take a shot and

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5146870244842265630.post-34190103162023091272008-11-16T23:16:00.000+01:002008-11-16T23:45:27.881+01:00

It's true. We have mega powerful processors, which consume enough power to cook your lap.They can run mega powerful programs, jump though hoops and do all sorts of clever stuff. Yep, modern PCs can do just about everything, except that is, organise all the stuff you end up collecting on your hard disk.Oh, Google Search can help you pin things down, but it ain't enough.Recently I've been trying

Alex Roehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02489491982622975469noreply@blogger.com0