Can a name change help a website?

Conventional webmaster wisdom holds that changing the name of a website leads to a drop in its popularity.

 "You are going to lose traffic," a SearchEngineLand blogger warned would-be name changers in 2009.

 "That is a fact. Even if you only perform a domain change and preserve the exact same site structure and content, you will lose some traffic.

" If that's true, it spells bad news for MSNBC.com, which on Monday changed its name and URL to NBCNews.com following a split from Microsoft, the technology giant that had partnered with the U.S. news network to produce the website.

 But maybe that assumption is outdated? NBC, for its part, said it doesn't expect the move to affect traffic.

 All existing URLs, including those linked on social media sites, will still work or will redirect to the new NBCNews.com URL, Vivian Schiller, NBC News chief digital officer, said in a conference call with reporters Monday.

 (The MSNBC cable channel will launch a new website in 2013 as an extension of its on-air brand, NBC News said.) If you take a look at a few of the sites that have changed their names -- it's really rare for a site to do so, by the way -- you see that many of them not only survive a name change but are able to thrive after it.

 Or maybe because of it.

 Here's a look at a few that have come out better on the other end of a URL switch: Facebook: If you're under 30, or if you saw "The Social Network," you probably know that Facebook used to be called thefacebook.com. The company officially dropped the "the" in August 2005.

 That's universally regarded as a good move, but it's worth pointing out that the switch occurred before Facebook was a household name.

 IMDB: The Internet Movie Database, now super popular and owned by Amazon, started in 1990 as a USENET group with the domain rec.arts.movies. The site then was hosted by Cardiff University before it migrated to IMDB.com, according to a feature in Total Film.

 PerezHilton: The pop culture and gay news blog started out as PageSixSixSix.com, a reference to the New York Post's gossip column.

 Now pretty much no one (except a friend from HLN's website, who sent this reference) remembers the previous blog. Overstock.com: The Internet retailer changed its name to O.co in 2011, but switched it back, as CNET reports, because of brand confusion.

 Consider this the warning for NBCNews.com, although NBC is already a recognizable brand in the United States. O.co, by the way, still redirects to Overstock's site. PayPal: Elon Musk founded a site called X.com in 1999.

 The next year, it would merge with Confinity to become PayPal, the well-known online payment system. According to PayPal's official blog, the "X" was a reference to that "universally recognized programming variable" -- a reference to innovation and creation.

 This may be the only example of a site's URL actually getting less cool because of a change.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Laser Scanner To Detect Bombs

A new laser system is being developed that can supposedly check people for traces of illegal drugs, firearms or incendiary devices - and can even tell what they had to eat.

The system being developed by Genia Photonics uses a technique called laser spectroscopy that looks for trace elements of chemical compounds and radiation.

FoxNews.com said the idea is to scan passengers at an airport checkpoint or border crossing, or even someone in a crowd at a sporting event.

However, a US government source said the laser detectors, while potentially useful, would not be available until 2016 at the earliest.

Genia announced late last year that it was working with security company In-Q-Tel, which was chartered in 1999 at the request of the CIA, to develop the laser technology.

"We offer a number of tunable laser systems which are great sources for many spectroscopic applications," said Genia vice president Joseph Salhany.

"They are fast-tuning fibre-based laser sources that can be coupled or integrated with appropriate detection systems to create the desired scanning solution."

But Mr Salhany declined to elaborate on specific plans for how the lasers would be used, and In-Q-Tel declined to comment about the technology or any specific plans to work with the Department Of Homeland Security.

Xicheng Zhang, a professor of lasers and optics at the University of Rochester, said the Genia system uses "terahertz" waveforms to detect explosives.

These signals cause a minor reaction in whatever they hit when passing through clothes or luggage. An explosive device would cause a specific reaction that the system could trace.

But security expert Mychal Wilson said the laser system could do much more than detect bombs.

"Laser-based molecular scanners will enable ... officials to identify explosives, dangerous chemicals and bioweapons on its passengers," he said.

"They can also detect drugs, alcohol - and your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even your adrenaline level will be available for government analysis.

"Everything about your body will be available to the government and logged into a database."

Friday, July 13, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Google AdSense Daily Earnings Declining Or Fluctuating? Here Is Why

There have been many complaints in the Google AdSense Help forums from publishers complaining their daily earnings are fluctuating and less than they should be.

The answer to why people are seeing huge differences in the past week or so is because Google AdSense changed how they manage the reporting pipeline.

Google AdSense engineer, Guillaume, said, "since May 14, earnings for the current day reported in the interface may now fluctuate, due to a change in the reporting pipeline."

Google has a document explaining the issues, saying that now they show gross click counts before they may discount those clicks due to invalid clicks. The document explains it well:

You might see fluctuations in earnings reflected in your Performance reports due to the lag between gross click counts and invalid click detection. Total clicks are reflected quickly and then adjusted downward for any invalid clicks, which take longer to process.

After clicks occur, estimated earnings are increased based on these recorded clicks. However, processing for invalid clicks is completed after this initial estimate, and the corresponding earnings might then be revised downward in your reports.

This behavior is noticeable mostly for accounts with low traffic volume or a high proportion of invalid clicks.

Please be assured that after these initial fluctuations, earnings eventually stabilize, and earnings are computed in the same manner as they were prior to this change, which was effective beginning May 14, 2011. Note that finalized earnings, which are reported at the end of every month, might also reflect further adjustments.

Sunday, July 08, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

One of the greatest discoveries in the history of science

It’s being hailed as the discovery that will unlock the secrets of the universe.

Boffins at research centre CERN in Switzerland believe they have finally found the elusive “God particle” – after months of experiments with the vast underground Large Hadron Collider.

Sun Professor Brian Cox has been involved with the multi-million-pound project from the start.

Here, he explains why this scientific discovery is the most important of his lifetime:

Yesterday's announcement of the discovery at CERN of a new particle, which looks very much like a Higgs particle, is probably the greatest scientific moment in my lifetime, and one of the greatest discoveries in the history of science.

Let me explain why.

Back in the Sixties, Peter Higgs and others were involved in trying to make a theory, known as the Standard Model, make sense.

Invention: the Large Hadron Collider

The Standard Model is a mathematical description of nature.

It contains all the sub-atomic building blocks of the universe, and describes how they interact with each other through three of the four known forces.

Those forces are the electromagnetic force, the strong and weak nuclear forces that operate deep within the heart of matter, and gravity.

Only the force of gravity stands stubbornly outside of the Standard Model.

If you want to know how the molecules that make up your body stick together in the way they do; how the sun shines; why the sky is blue; why water is a liquid at the temperatures found on Earth or even why you don’t fall through the floor when your atoms are mostly empty space — the answers are contained within the equations of the Standard Model.

It is the most accurate and successful description of the natural world we have, and as such it is one of the great achievements of 20th Century science.

It does, however, make a very weird prediction that, until yesterday, was merely conjecture.

The Standard Model says that empty space is not empty. Instead, it is crammed full of Higgs particles.

Every little cube of space in front of your eyes now, every little cube of space inside your body and every little cube of space everywhere in the universe is literally full of them.

Nearly 90 countries came together at CERN, a laboratory in Geneva, to share their expertise, and the cost, to build the most complex machine ever assembled.

In doing so, they pioneered some of the most exciting and useful technologies in the world today, from the World Wide Web to medical imaging machines such as PET scanners and proton beam therapy treatments for cancer.

But what they really wanted to do was explore the universe, because they were curious.

So they built a tunnel, 16 miles in circumference, and placed inside it two beams of particles travelling at 99.999999 per cent the speed of light.

They arranged for these beams to collide together, recreating the conditions that were present less than a billionth of a second after the Big Bang, up to 600million times every second.

They built two giant detectors, called ATLAS and CMS, to photograph these collisions, collected the images on thousands of terabytes of computer disks, and built a whole new World Wide Web called The Grid to search through them.

And yesterday, after sifting through billions upon billions of pictures, they announced that they had found a few hundred collisions in which never-before-seen particles — almost certainly Higgs particles — were produced, proving a 50-year old theory based on mathematical elegance.

I am reminded of a quote from a hero of mine, Sir Humphry Davy. He was a scientist who lived and worked at the turn of the 19th Century, a time that has been called The Age Of Wonder.

Thursday, July 05, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Yahoo Finds Delicious Buyer

Yahoo is selling off its delicious social bookmarking site, after nearly five years of ownership.

Technology startup AVOS, founded by YouTube founders, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, is acquiring delicious for an undisclosed sum from Yahoo. Hurley and Chen sold YouTube to Google for $1.65 billion in October of 2006.

"We spoke with numerous parties interested in acquiring the site, and chose Chad and Steve based on their passion and unique vision for Delicious,” said John Matheny, SVP of Communications and Communities at Yahoo in a statement.

AVOS has pledged to help grow and expand delicious to enable users to, "discover the web's tastiest content."

Yahoo acquired delicious (originally known as del.icio.us) in December of 2005. In recent years, Yahoo has struggled with keeping delicious open and announced their intention to find a new owner for the site in late 2010.

Yahoo sent out notices to delicious users yesterday notifying them of the new ownership change."To continue using Delicious, you must agree to let Yahoo! transfer your bookmarks to AVOS," Yahoo stated in its email to users.

 "After a transition period and after your bookmarks are transferred, you will be subject to the AVOS terms of service and privacy policy."

Yahoo added that Delicious in its current form will be available until approximately July 2011. If a user does not transfer their bookmarks to AVOS before then, Yahoo warns that the users will no longer be able to use their existing Delicious accounts and will not have access to your existing bookmarks or account information.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Apple ditches Google Maps software in latest iOS

Apple has unveiled its latest mobile operating system, iOS6, at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

The operating system, which runs on its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, will no longer include Google Maps software.

Apple will instead run its own mapping app, which has a high-quality 3D mode, on the platform.

Google announced its own 3D mapping software last week on its competing mobile platform, Android.

Both companies have used fleets of planes to capture the imagery, drawing concerns from some privacy campaigners.

Apple's updated iOS software is being released in beta on Tuesday, and will be available for general consumers by the autumn, chief executive Tim Cook said.

It will be a free update for owners of either an iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS - as well as users of the latest iPad, the iPad 2 and fourth generation iPod touch.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Facebook launches App Center, makes app discovery a social experience

Today Facebook started rolling out the App Center: A mobile app portal within the social networking site. With 600 titles available at launch, App Center collects the apps that can post to Facebook as well as the ones that use the site for login authentication. The list of titles includes many familiar hits like Draw Something, Instagram, Foursquare, and Words with Friends.

Facebook App Center will recommend you not only apps your friends use, but also those that have exceptionally high ratings. And if you click on a title that you have to download on your phone or tablet (some titles are Facebook web apps), you'll be redirected to the Apple App Store or Google Play where you can get it.

We reached out to Facebook to ask if the new app hub is intended to be a competitor to existing app ecosystems like Apple's App Store or to Google Play. According to a spokesperson from the company, "Actually, it's quite the opposite. The App Center will drive growth for social apps whether they're built on iOS, Android, mobile web, or on Facebook."  In May alone, Facebook sent people to Apple's own App Store 83 million times.

You can now access the Facebook App Center on the full version or the mobile version of the site, as well as on both iOS and Android apps.

Friday, June 08, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Apple moves to block Samsung Galaxy S3 sales in US market

Apple has filed law suit to have sales of Samsung's flagship Galaxy S3 Android smartphone banned in the US in the latest escalation of the two firm's long-running legal battles.

The South Korean giant is set to begin selling the device on 21 June but Apple has filed a suit claiming that the device infringes on several of its patents.

TG-Tech contacted Apple for comment on the latest lawsuit but had received no reply at time of publication.

Samsung said it would proceed with its launch regardless of the complaint filed by its rival.

"Samsung believes Apple's request is without merit. We will vigorously oppose the request and demonstrate to the court that the Galaxy S3 is innovative and distinctive," it said.

"We would also like to assure consumers that the US launch and sales of the Galaxy S3 will proceed as planned. We believe that Apple's actions would only serve to disrupt consumers' access to the latest innovative mobile technology."

The clash is just the latest in a long-line of legal battles between the two firms, with both attempting to have numerous products banned from sales, and accusing one another of numerous patent and design infringements.

The firm's two chief executives were forced to meet at the behest of US judges in May but no resolution to the conflict was reached.

Friday, June 08, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Mark Zuckerberg gets married but forgets to invite 900 million friends

What a week it was for Mark Zuckerberg. It started with him a penniless, hoody-wearing geek running a start-up and ended with him a multi-billionaire, chief executive of a public company and a married man. Yes, he got married and didn't invite us! 

TG-Tech had thought that when the Zuck and his long-time partner Priscilla Chan got married, he'd set up an event on Facebook and invite all his friends, all 900+ million of us, to the big day, so we could celebrate together. Think of all the poking and tagging and checking-in that could have taken place. 

It wasn't to be, though, with the happy couple having a small, private ceremony with friends and family, many of whom didn't even realise was a wedding reception. They had been told it was just a ‘party', according to numerous (probably drunk) sources. One could ask Chan, "so what first attracted you to multi-billionaire Mark Zuckerberg," but the 27-year-old has been dating the Facebook founder for several years, so could probably never have known she'd enter a union blessed by untold wealth. 

There was no word on a pre-nup, though, so whether Zuckerberg comes to regret the union years down the line remains to be seen. But TG-Tech would like to wish these two kids all the best in the big, fun, exciting adventure that is marriage...he imagines. Still, one shocking revelation did come from the big day - Zuckerberg does own a suit!

Friday, June 01, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More

Sony unveils rugged Xperia Go Android smartphone

Sony has unveiled the Xperia Go smartphone, yet another budget Android device aimed at the mid and lower-end markets that features rugged capabilities to help it withstand everyday life. Despite not announcing pricing for the device its specifications strongly suggest it will retail at the lower end of the market, particularly as it will only run Android Gingerbread 2.3 on release.

 It will be upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich in the future. The device has a 3.5in screen and a 5MP camera that can record HD video at 720p and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor. To make it rugged Sony has used scratch resistant mineral glass to meet International Protection 67 ratings for dust and water immersion. 

The device will come with 8GB internal storage with an expansion slot for a further possible 32GB as well as RAM of 512MB. The device is likely to find itself up against phones such as the Lumia 610 which went on sale in the UK on Wednesday, priced at around £150 SIM-free. That device boasts similar functions to the Xperia Go such as a 5MP camera, but runs the Windows Phone Tango operating system.

 TG-tech reviewed the 610 earlier this week and was impressed by the capabilities of the device, particularly as it only houses 256MB of RAM and has a single-core processor, but was disappointed that many key applications such as Angry Birds cannot run on these low specifications

Thursday, May 31, 2012 | 0 comments | Read More