Have you ever wanted to put a world map on your site? Does your latest application require support for an interactive map? With almost 200 countries in the world, creating even a simple map of the world from scratch, even given the appropriate boundary information is a major undertaking.
Flash World Map Flash World Map provides a pre-made high quality and fully customizable world map in Adobe Flash. I’m currently using it right here on my site to show the countries in the world that I’ve travelled to as well as the cities that I have actually lived in for an extended period of time. This is similar to the “Where I’ve Been” Facebook app but hosted locally, fully customizable and without the ads.
As you can see from the above map, it first zooms in on a continent/region to more clearly show the countries, then hovering on a country will popup a custom tooltip with HTML markup. The zoom is helpful since what appears to be 2-3 points in Southern Ontario, Canada is actually 5 upon closer inspection. Individual points can also be labeled with longitude/latitude coordinates, with a description of each point. This lets me point out individual cities I’ve lived in, not just countries. Each country/location can also be hyperlinked to another page, although I have not opted to do this.
Customizing the Map
The map is customized by editing an .xml (eXtensible Markup Language) file to specify individual descriptions and links for each country. The layout and format of the file is logical as it is an XML file so it is not hard to figure out how to make the appropriate changes.
However, with so many countries on the list, I found that the best way to edit the .xml file was with simple Find and Replace commands in a text editor. Manually inputting unique descriptions for each country will be a very time consuming task although I see no way of getting around this if it is a feature you require. One might also consider using an XML editor to make sure you don’t mess up the format of the file.
Incorporating it into your Site
Adding the map to your site could not be simpler. Simply upload two files (the Flash and XML map data file) and add a small block of HTML code to your site. One important thing to note is that the map data file must be contained within the same directory as the page calling the HTML code. If your site structure is complicated (e.g. has directory rewrites), you may need to edit the source to point the Flash file to the map data directly.
Price/Cost
The cost of such a high quality map is $199 which I think is quite expensive but a trial version with limited features is available for non-commercial use. The trial version works indefinitely but is branded with the FlashWorldMap link which some people may be bothered by. You may find that the trial version is sufficient for your needs but if you want access to the source code to customize the flash app itself, then you’ll have to get a paid license. Keep in mind that location/country/style customization is still available in the free trial version.
Fully customizable through editing an easy-to-read XML file
Easily stylized via CSS
Easy to incorporate into the site (2 files and a block of code)
There are several things that I would like to see improved:
An incorrectly formatted XML file simply displays “Loading data…” It would be nice if it pointed out where the syntax error is to help debug the XML file.
There’s a little bug where a previously selected continent does not get deselected until you mouseover it again.
Perhaps a less expensive non-commercial license for those that just want a little unbranded widget to add to their blog
A more detailed flash map of the US is also available. A Canadian one would be nice to have too!
This is definitely the best implementation (Flash or HTML5) of an embedded world map I’ve seen thus far. If this is a feature you need on your site I would definitely recommend downloading the trail version to test it out!
If you’re anything like me, you love to get your hands on new gadgets even though the old one works perfectly fine. Take a very relevant example: the iPhone 4. I have a perfectly functional iPhone 2G, but the iPhone 4 looks so gorgeous (reception issue aside), that I’m definitely going to pick one up once it comes to Canada.
But what do I do with the 2G? For a phone that is no longer really in demand, it may not be easy to sell on eBay or craigslist — at least not for a price that can justify going through the trouble of dealing with buyers or even scammers.
What is Tech Twurl? Tech Twurl offers a service for those that have gadgets at home they want to get rid of to sell electronics. The concept is simple, you send them your old gadget, and they’ll send you cash as payment. Although prices are generally a bit lower than the best price you could get trying to sell the item yourself, the convenience is unparalleled.
The Prices Obviously, the newer and more in-demand your electronic is, the higher price Tech Twurl will offer. The price also depends on the quality of the product and the accessories (including things like original packaging). Take for example if you bought the latest 32gb iPhone 4 but you are annoyed by the reception issues and have lost your receipt so you can’t return it to an Apple store. Tech Twurl will offer you $585 for it (at the time of this posting). That’s about double the subsidized price you would’ve paid for it.
For an older phone that I’ve used like the Samsung SGH-U900, Tech Twurl’s offer is $68, just a few dollars under the current market value on auction sites. Again, that difference more than pays for the convenience.
How to sell your electronics The steps to selling your electronics on TechTwurl is easy. First, look up the electronic in question (as well as answer a few questions about the physical and working condition) and they’ll give you a price. No bargaining required.
Next, if you agree to the price, Tech Twurl will send you the necessary shipping equipment, entirely prepaid. Print out the shipping information, package it up in the provided box and drop it in the mail. Immediately once they receive your package, you’ll see the payment in your Paypal or a check in the mail. Easy as pie.
Types of Electronics Currently, Tech Twurl takes the following categories:
Cellphones
Cameras
MP3 Players
PDAs
GPS
Camcorders
and even calculators.
If you don’t find your item on their site, don’t worry, they’re constantly adding more listings.
And coming soon… Textbooks! For all those University books you kept as reference but end up just sitting on your shelf collecting dust.
Conclusion Definitely check it out, it doesn’t cost anything or even a sign-up to look up your old electronics. There’s really no easy way of getting rid of your old stuff for cash!
On multiple occasions, I’ve stressed the importance of backing up your files and documents. I’ve also reviewed Mozy as an online backup solution. However, there’s a new competitor in town called Dmailer backup and it gives Mozy a good run for its money. Well, it’s not exactly new as the company has been around since 2001 but I’ve just recently found out about it.
What is Dmailer Backup? Dmailer Backup is a piece of software that lets users automate the backup process, providing continuous incremental backups for specified files. Incremental backups means that you can ‘go back in time’ to previous versions of a file, not just the latest one. This is especially useful for anyone that does any sort of programming as debugging is made tons easier by comparing old versions of files to current ones. Now Dmailer Backup itself is used to manage backups, but you still need to provide a destination to backup to — for example, an external hard drive or usb key.
A handy feature is to select only specific types of files to backup. For example, for most people, the important files that require backing up are .doc and .txt files. For a web developer, one could simply add .php, .html, .css to the mix. This avoids wasting valuable backup space on those large HD movies (unless you wanted to of course).
Also, Dmailer Backup is a single executable file that does not require installation and works perfectly with U3 usb devices, perfect for that portable web development usb key.
What is Dmailer Online? Dmailer Online is essentially an online storage space that can be utilized by Dmailer Backup. Upon sign-up, you are provided with 2GB of online storage. Rest assured, the storage is both password protected and encrypted with one of the strongest encryption algorithms available, 448-bit Blowfish. Like some other backup services, the first 2GB is free. In fact, Dmailer were the first ones to offer 2GB for free, setting the benchmark for backup services everywhere. Although this is enough for most people, those that have a lot of multimedia to back up may prefer to pay $35 per year for 30GB or $70 per year for unlimited storage. That works out to less than $3 and $6 per month respectively!
The great feature about Dmailer Online is that the files can be accessed simply from a web browser, so you can access your backups from any computer without having to install any software first. The web user interface for file access is a search engine that’s intuitive, fast, and easy to use.
Mac Compatibility
There aren’t many online backup solutions out there that support platforms other than Windows. Cross-platform support is greatly appreciated by myself and other Mac users. There’s no Linux support yet, but I’ve been told this is a feature in the works, so Linux users can feel included soon.
Mozy vs Dmailer There are a few similarities between Mozy and Dmailer. Both offer 2GB of online backup storage for free, both are automated and encrypted, and both run on Mac. Unlike Mozy, Dmailer are the pioneers of “‘dual backup”, which can provide you with an offline backup solution in addition to an online one, all from a single interface. Online backups are safe from things like break-ins and local disasters, but offline backups are easier to access and quicker. If you accidentally deleted a large file that you want to recover, it may take a while to download the backup from an online server, so it is always handy to have an offline backup as well. So I think Dmailer provides a good integration of both types for maximum ease of mind.
The latest edition of the book, released just earlier this year, has been revised and expanded to address some new features of Vim 7.2. The good thing about buying such a book is that Vim releases are infrequent and always backwards compatible. There’s very little chance of this book becoming redundant and outdated, unlike that Visual Basic 4 bible you have sitting on your shelf.
What is Vim?
For the uninitiated, Vim is an open source editor that has been used by programmers and developers for many years. Although it doesn’t look fancy, it is actually one of the most powerful pieces of software out there in terms of customizability and flexibility. However, unlike your basic text editor, it is difficulty to just jump in and start using it as there is a bit of a learning curve. This book is not for beginners, as it assumes an understanding of the basic editing modes of Vim. If you’ve never used Vim before, the book has a few suggestions on getting up to speed — most noticeably, by going through the vimtutor program that comes with most installations of Vim.
Topics Covered
The first part of the book gives a fairly complete history of the Vim lineage, from the original UNIX based ed editor to Vi, to it’s derivatives, and finally to the Vim we now know and love. Then the book dives right into basic personalization tweaks with an overview of the different configuration files — what they do and where they go. I consider these simple tweaks essential for any semi-serious user of Vim to create their own personalized .vimrc file.
For a lot of readers, the first two chapters may already been enough of a customization but the real meat of the book lies in the latter chapters, to help moderate users become power users with navigation tweaks, recipes to help with code completion and project management. If one follows all of these suggestions, Vim can turn into a full-fledged IDE.
With the sheer number of recipes and scripts, I would suggest implementing them a little at a time in order to get used to using them. Going through all the changes at once may be a bit overwhelming.
The last few chapters of the book teach take Vim customization to the next level by giving a tutorial on how to write your own scripts and configuration files. Most may not need to go into this much detail but if there is functionality that you can’t find a script for, then writing your own may be the only choice. The good news is Vim scripting is not too difficult, especially with the tutorial provided in this book, which is one of the reasons there is such a large community supporting it.
Recommendation
If you’re a user of Vim and would like to work more effectively and become a Vim guru, this book is definitely for you. If you’re already a Vim poweruser but feel there is some functionality lacking, this book is a great place to learn how to write your own Vim scripts to contribute to the Vim community.
If you’ve never used Vim before but would like to start using it, this book may not be your first choice; you may wish to try out Vim for a bit first to see if you actually enjoy the style of editing, and if so then pick up this book to go to the next level.
As all web developers know, the best source of traffic is from search engines such as Google. But just getting listed on Google isn’t good enough, you also need to be listed as one of the top results (ideally the very first result). This is because the vast majority of users will not click past the first page of search results. In fact, most of them won’t look past the first couple links.
In order to increase your search engine rankings, the best way is by building what is known as “organic” or natural backlinks. An example of an organic backlink is when a blog links back to your site because of your interesting content or relevance to their content. Typically, these are done without asking or any sort of trade, hence the term organic or natural.
Trading links used to be a common tactic amongst website owners and I still often get e-mails along the lines of “If you’ll put a link to my website from yours then I will do the same.” While this has the advantage of potentially increasing exposure to new users, this type of trade is typically very one sided with one site being more popular than the other. Also, trading links does not increase search engine rankings as the links can be seen as “cancelling” each other out.
Ideally what you want are one-way organic backlinks and LinkWheeler.com is a service that looks to address this issue through the creation of link wheels.
What is a link wheel? A link wheel, simply explained, is when sites link to one another in a cyclical pattern. For example, site A links to site B, site B links to site C, and site C links back to site A. This example is a small link wheel and generally does not work as their short cycle is easily detected by search engines. LinkWheeler.com offers link wheel packages that are much bigger and more sophisticated with links coming from different types of sites.
Their link wheels are also not cyclical, meaning the last node does not link back to the first node. This “open wheel” is more effective and more attractive to search engines compared to traditional closed wheels.
Web 2.0 and Social Media Perhaps the biggest advantage of LinkWheeler is their usage of social media websites and other web 2.0 outlets in addition to traditional article submission strategies.
I’ve seen other backlinking services, all of which make big promises, but their methodology is pretty primitive compared to what LinkWheeler is doing. Simple directory submissions and article farms just don’t cut it anymore in this day and age.
Pricing and Features
There are three possible packages to choose from ranging from $149 for 27 backlinks to $359 for 89 backlinks. Not everyone will consider this cheap, but you do get what you pay for and results can speak for themselves. The lowest package includes linking to two URLs with two different keywords whereas the top package links to eight URLs with eight different keywords.
In terms of value, the top premium package is definitely the way to go in my opinion. With eight keywords and 89 backlinks, you can be sure you’ll get to the first page of search results at least for low-medium competition keywords. For those highly competitive keywords, it may not boost you to the top but it will certainly go a long way to help getting you there.
Conclusion
The field of search engine optimization (SEO) is a highly competitive one so it’s nice to have a service like LinkWheeler who are experienced and clearly know what they are doing. The money invested in building links will show returns within a couple weeks once search engine traffic starts funnelling its way onto your site. In my opinion, link wheels are a great way to increase exposure of your site or blog, and LinkWheeler is an effective and easy way of creating these link wheels.
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