Your WordPress site is slow, and you’re losing page views and revenue because of it. But you’re also busy – I get it. Here’s seven speed tips you could have a crack at on your lunch break – they’re so simple and easy. Optimize Images This is a two-parter. The first thing is to equip yourself with the knowledge of using the best format for the job. When we talk about images used on the web, it’s generally restricted to either a JPG or PNG. PNG is a lossless format, best suited to simple images and illustrations, or screenshots. JPG...
Read the full article: WordPress Blog Too Slow? 7 Ways You Can Speed It Up Again In Minutes
Microsoft threw its hat in the anti-virus arena in 2009 with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a tool that runs on Windows XP, 7 and 8. The move received early praise, as it seemed strange that the company had gone so long without providing even the most basic anti-virus protection, and early tests showed MSE to be nearly as effective as paid competitors. The honeymoon didn’t last, however. More recent tests have shown that MSE doesn’t provide the features users should look for in an effective anti-virus. Here’s where it falls short – and what you should look for in a...
Read the full article: Why You Should Replace Microsoft Security Essentials With A Proper Antivirus
Today in Tech News Digest, an Amazon Prime Air progress report, OpenSSL Heartbleed culprit speaks, Google Glass for everyone, gamers get frustrated, Amazon buys ComiXology, Skype TX arrives, and S.E.L.F.I.E. automates the selfie-taking process. Amazon Prime Air Drones In Flight Testing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has issued his annual letter to shareholders detailing how the company is doing and where it’s going. The most interesting part of which concerns Amazon Prime Air, the delivery by drones initiative first revealed in December 2013. Bezos reveals, “The Prime Air team is already flight testing our 5th and 6th generation aerial vehicles, and...
Read the full article: Amazon Prime Air Update, OpenSSL Author Speaks, Google Glass For All [Tech News Digest]
Just when you thought there were no new ways to introduce ad space into a website, a brand new approach to earning more income with your website comes along. On April 7th, the popular commenting platform Disqus announced that it is actively testing a new and innovative ad revenue stream called Sponsored Comments. It was only a month ago that the company introduced the Featured Comments feature, where website owners could choose select comments to “feature” at the top of a comment thread. In this case, the company is taking the same approach, but placing advertisers at the top of...
Read the full article: Disqus Commenting Platform Introduces Sponsored Comments
There are no bad ideas. Okay, I stole that line from a favorite TV show, and it goes like this… There are no bad ideas Lemon, only great ideas that go horribly wrong… – Jack Donaghy, ’30 Rock’ Ideas are little sparks. Miss them and they are vapor. Catch them. Fan them. They turn into flames. Of course, like the soap quote above, bad ideas can burn. But why be so pessimistic. We have seen that ideas are basic to any creative process, and when you are brainstorming alone or in a team, all ideas are welcome. Think of this...
Read the full article: 6 Of The Simplest Ways To Spark Your Passion With Creative Ideas
You’re building a web application, and you need some realistic information to shove into it. You need to check that your validation functions work perfectly, and see that your product actually works. The only problem is, you can’t really use real-world data. There are just far too many legal and ethical considerations you need to make. Indeed, in some jurisdictions, there are specific legal obstacles to using real-world data in development environments. Take, for instance, the UK. Here, there’s something called the Data Protection Act, 1998. It’s quite unambiguous with how companies are allowed to handle the data it retains:...
Read the full article: How To Generate Dummy Data in Ruby, Perl and Python
Email has quite a reputation as a productivity killer. Managing email well can help you keep your inbox clean, but wouldn’t it be great if you got less of it to begin with? Methods that help you organize your emails are often designed to work on emails that have already arrived in your inbox. To minimize the amount of time you spend sifting through email, you need to stop it at its source i.e. before it hits your account. The following simple hacks can help ensure that there are fewer incoming messages for you to deal with. Move Your Conversations...
Read the full article: 3 Easy Ways To Stop Email Overload From Hitting Your Inbox
We tend to be trusting of official-looking websites, but not everyone out there is as honest as we’d like to believe. Even if you’re a scrupulous person, it can be easy to get tricked by an official-looking site. Here are four examples. These four have caught a lot of people off-guard: make sure you’re not one of them! These aren’t “scam” websites (though it’s important to watch out for scams, too), as they do actually state what they offer and, if you’re paying attention, you’ll see that you’re going to pay more than is required for what you’re looking for....
Read the full article: 4 Websites That Look Official But Will Take Your Money
Hard drives spend most of their time in the computer they were originally shipped with, but as computers age and user needs change they may eventually be replaced by a better drive, placed in storage, or moved to a new PC. This may, in turn, leave you with a need to free up disk space without booting into the Windows on the computer a drive was originally used with. Taking care of this is easy if you have the correct tools. The Hardware Path Failure of a computer, or corruption of Windows, can be one reason why you need to...
Read the full article: How To Free Up Disk Space Without Booting Into Windows
Today in Tech News Digest, switching from Windows XP to Chrome OS, forcing Facebook Messenger, Project Ara developers, Comcast named “worst company in America,” Apple iWatch rumors, and an Easter PSA from Goldieblox. Google Urges XP Users To Try Chrome OS With Microsoft having ended support for Windows XP, those people still using the aged operating system need to jump ship or risk becoming a target for cybercriminals and digital ne’er-do-wells. Google is offering a solution: switch to Chrome OS. In order to persuade XP orphans that Chrome OS is the way to go, Google is offering sizeable discounts for...
Read the full article: Windows XP To Chrome OS, Comcast Worst Company, iWatch Rumors [Tech News Digest]
Today in Tech News Digest, switching from Windows XP to Chrome OS, forcing Facebook Messenger, Project Ara developers, Comcast named “worst company in America,” Apple iWatch rumors, and an Easter PSA from Goldieblox. Google Urges XP Users To Try Chrome OS With Microsoft having ended support for Windows XP, those people still using the aged operating system need to jump ship or risk becoming a target for cybercriminals and digital ne’er-do-wells. Google is offering a solution: switch to Chrome OS. In order to persuade XP orphans that Chrome OS is the way to go, Google is offering sizeable discounts for...
Read the full article: Windows XP To Chrome OS, Comcast Worst Company, iWatch Rumors [Tech News Digest]
Windows XP is no more. It’s dead, done, dusted. Sure, it still exists and may even be sitting on your computer beavering away in the background. But with Microsoft having ended support for the aged operating system it’s time we all moved on. But move on to what? That is the question. eXPired We want to know, Microsoft Has Killed Windows XP… Now What? We simply want you to tell us how Microsoft ending support for Windows XP is going to affect you personally. Or, if you’re not still using Windows XP, how it will affect someone you know who...
Read the full article: Microsoft Has Killed Windows XP… Now What? [We Ask You]
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” — Karen Lamb If you want to set up an online business, now is a great time to start. Don’t let a lack of confidence stop you. Your experience with entrepreneurship is likely to be as unique as you are. Once you take the plunge, you’ll be determined to do whatever it takes to make things work. But the fear of putting that first step into the unknown might be holding you back. We have given you various resources to guide you into online entrepreneurship, such as this free...
Read the full article: 5 Tips To Build Your Confidence When Founding An Online Business
Solid state drives have dropped in price and the performance benefits to desktop users are immediately obvious to anyone who owns one: your computer will fly. But does this translate into benefits to a website when utilising SSD hosting? Of course it does, and here’s why you should be looking at SSD hosting from your provider. Check out SSD web hosting by Doteasy, starting at just $4.95 a month for the first year. What are SSDs? Solid State Disk drives use non-volatile memory to store information. Unlike regular volatile memory (RAM), this means that the data isn’t lost when power...
Read the full article: 3 Benefits of SSD Web Hosting
Do you like editing and tweaking images but find the Chromebook’s default editor too limited? Here are some alternatives. The default editor on a Chromebook is extremely basic. It is opened by running the image viewer and clicking on the pencil icon, but beyond auto-enhance, crop, brightness, and contrast there are no further options available. Luckily, there are both cloud-based editors and offline editors available through the Chrome Web Store. Here we have a look at some of the leading candidates to become your go-to image editor on a Chromebook. 1. Pixlr Editor Pixlr Editor is currently the most powerful...
Read the full article: Four Excellent Image Editors For Your Chromebook
