Technology

Read this article:

http://www.dougma.com/archives/81

Doug does a terrific technical analysis.

Google recently launched their Google App Engine, a Python-based web application development framework you can use to easily create your own web application and, most importantly, deploy to Google's own scalable infrastructure. For free, you get 500MB of persistent storage space and enough bandwidth and CPU power to support about 5 million page views per month. This is a terrific initiative from Google which could easily extend their advertisement space, but could also enable developers to potentially earn revenue as well from simple web applications they develop and deploy by leveraging on the readily available infrastructure.

What's also interesting is that the environment has native support to interact with Google accounts, meaning that developers can leverage from the Google account infrastructure to manage the users registration, login, logout, security, etc., but also to profit from the huge, established user base. On the other hand, Google gets new users as applications become popular and new users which did not have a Google account before register for using the application. This is clearly a very smart move from Google and, depending on implementation details, could work as a great viral marketing strategy, besides the data collection / analysis and advertising potential behind the applications and users.

There is also a web app gallery. This new platform, combined with other google services such as gmail and the Open Social initiative seem to align into a plan where Google gets to play more strongly on the social networking space, probably competing more closely with Facebook. We have seen this game before: provide the infrastructure, the environment, the buzz, the documentation, the goodies, the networking, then enable third-parties to develop things on top, then benefit from the power of the whole network. See, for example, the Java Card Technology.

Maybe this is pushing it a bit too much, but I also think it is interesting to think about all this having in mind that also more and more PC desktop applications are moving to the web (see, for example, Adobe's photoshop express). Thinking of it that way, Google seems to be positioning itself as the Microsoft of the future online "OS", which turns out to be a web app framework with social networking capabilities and a terrific scalable platform behind it...

Clients and friends have asked me, on different occasions: Can I / How do I perform a reverse look-up from an IP address. In other words, Can I know who's behind an IP address? Sometimes this comes from curiosity (e.g.: analysing a web server log file), or sometimes from attempting to control abuse / spam on other systems. Since this seems to be a common question, here go my two googable cents...

The short answer is, yes, you can. One of the simplest ways to do a reverse look-up on an IP address is by using the whois service from ARIN (American Registry for Internet Addresses). Go to:

http://ws.arin.net/whois/

Enter the IP address and hit the Submit Query button. Depending on the IP address you have entered, you will get a more precise or less precise answer. Sometimes you might get, for example, a company name (meaning that IP address belongs to the company network), or an university name (meaning the IP address belongs to the university network), or an internet provider which provides access to several consumers (less detail). In any case, this is the starting point to figure out a first contact, then if you need so, you could try figuring out some more information by contacting the listed entity.

I usually don't read SPAM, but this one was truly funny so I thought I should share it. I wonder if unsolicited e-mailing is among one of their so-called "valuable closely held trade secrets"! Funniest thing is that they even have the courage to try positioning themselves as an elite service by talking about how other firms may use "link farms" and other "black hat" methods, when they are spamming to start with!

Oh ... and .. yes, I was almost forgetting, they offer SEO services but they don't have a website? And they are using gmail for that?? Ha ha ha!

BTW, feel free to contact me if you would like to talk about my non-BS SEO services --I wont claim to have "valuable closely held trade secrets"!.

++ quote (like the ol' fax days ha!):

Dear Website Owner,

 

If I could get you five times the RELEVANT traffic at a
substantially reduced cost would you be interested? National Positions
can place your website on top of the Natural Listings on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Our Search Engine Optimization team delivers more top rankings than anyone else
and we can prove it. We do not use "link farms" or "black hat" methods that
Google and the other search engines frown upon and can use to de-list or ban
your site.  The techniques are proprietary, involving some valuable closely
held trade secrets. Our prices are less than half of what other companies
charge.

 

I would be happy to send you a proposal using the top search phrases
for your area of expertise. Please contact me at your convenience so I can start
saving you some money. Please do not hesitate to email or call me if you would
like further information.

 

Sincerely,
Patrick Negron
Director Sales

 

National Positions
26500 W. Agoura Road
Suite
102-547
Calabasas, California 91302

 

Phone – 866-669-8789 x108

Toll Free - 866.446.2885
patricknegron1@gmail.com
Profitable
Internet Marketing

As described by the Urban Dictionary:

"Wilfing" - or surfing the web without any real purpose

"The tendency to wilf is more prevalent among men than women, the poll found. Gazing at a succession of pointless web pages also appeared to be the preserve of the young, with people aged 55 or over being three times less likely to browse absent-mindedly than those under 25.

"The time-consuming practice appears to have destructive effects too: a third of males admitted that wilfing has a damaging effect on their relationship with a partner." Guardian.co.uk