Daily Internet Digest

The boom of Wikipedia as an online research tool has been proven by the number of times it has ranked first whenever you search for a certain subject or topic using the different search engines (it means that it has been deemed as relevant to your search by search engines).

Again, the problem with Wikipedia is almost always the same as any other website that offers “free membership”: anyone can log in and contribute an article or two. Hence, the issue of credibility in the part of the contributor arise. Another is that, some internet users have the tendency (and I say tendency!) to believe in everything they see on the internet. If the article on Wikipedia looks like it is properly referenced, then kids (and the elders too) might believe every single word written on the page.

However, some argue that Wikipedia has its own advantages compared to other encyclopedias: it is said to be “self-correcting”. Each page has a discussion page, thus, users who are knowledgeable about the topic, have the chance to “discuss” the article itself. Also, it can be updated almost every second if some new finding (in science for example) has been discovered.

Photo taken from http://www.fareastgizmos.com

So, you’re concerned about your privacy? You wouldn’t want your site to be a “view-for-all” page and be stored in Google’s cache? Then here’s the trick:

1. If you are familiar with HTML tags, insert < META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOARCHIVE" > in the
< head > part of your website.
2. If you are NOT familiar with HTML tags, either you let somebody (who has knowledge about HTML tagging) do it for you or edit it using some ready-made programs like Microsoft Front Page and do the same thing as number 1.
3. You’re done.

With this, your site will never be stored on Google servers anymore.

Photo taken from http://www.nerdystuff.com

The “cache” (pronounced as /cash/), is a technical term for the temporary storage of online files. A layman’s example would be this: If you search for a certain photo in Google, you will sometimes end up with an error page, saying that the photo does not exist. This means that the photo was already deleted in the main website server. Now you ask, “how come I was able to take a glimpse of the picture in thumbnail (small versions of the photo)?” That is because Google, and other search engines, take a “snapshot” at your website for faster access the next time you visit the site.

With this feature, Google has been accused of violating certain copyrights. The New York Times has a “members only” page but through Google’s cache, some non-members were able to infiltrate the paid section of the online broadsheet.

Photo taken from http://ralphlosey.wordpress.com

First, you need to establish a connection. Establishing a connection may require two to three exchanges (of conversation) over instant messaging programs (or IMs for short) such as Yahoo! messenger, MSN, ICQ, AOL, etc.

Conversation could go like this:
Person A: hi!
Person B: hey!
Person A: what’s up?
Person B: nothin’s boilin’ here. bout you?

After you have established the connection, you have to do this:
1. Click Start.
2. Click Run. You will now see a small dialog box.
3. Type in “cmd” (without the quotations) and press enter.
4. You will now get a black MS-DOS box. Type in “netstat –n” (again without the quotations) and press enter once again.
5. You will now get the different IP addresses you have established a connection with.

Photo taken from http://www.microsoft.com

Wonder if you could get a “.com” or a “.org” of your own? There are millions of websites offering domain hostings for a small fee (as low as $5.00 per month more or less) and these web services offer an assortment of perks and privileges included in their packages like free email hosting (if your website is www.domain.com, you could have you@domain.com as your email), large hosting space, free site promotion and the like. Example of these websites are BlueHost, Host Monster and Omnis.

However, if you wish to have a FREE domain, then worry not. You can avail of some of the free domain hosting websites such as Bravenet. It should be noted though that their services are limited (or incomparable to those paid domain sites) but then, best things in life are free, right?

Photo taken from http://www.microtech.co.gg