All About Computers: Websites, Programming, Monetizing, Security etc...

Internet Connectivity Outages - Fight back!

2009-06-16T22:11:00.012-04:00

Recently my Internet connectivity has been shotty at best. I use Comcast for an ISP and normally I would assume their service is fine. But Murphy's Law rears it head once again...

For the past few months I have noticed that my internet access/connectivity has been going down for a few hours each day. The times vary, sometimes I am in the middle of something and it goes out, sometimes I am sleeping or out and don't know when it went out. When I wake up and my internet is out I have no way of knowing when it went out so I can't calculate the actual outage time.

Remember folks, I PAY FOR AN ENTIRE MONTHS ACCESS, I should receive the service I pay for!

At anyrate, I needed a way of calculating how much time their service was out so I could begin calculating how much I should deduct from my monthly payment. My solution was a quick script I wrote that:

1) Pings both Google and Yahoo
2) If one of those can be found it writes a 1 to a results file
3) If neither can be reached then we assume no internet connectivity and writes a 0 to the results file.
4) It runs this check once a minute
5) The results file is date stamped for reference

Example: You open the results file and count 120 0's. This means that for 120 minutes there was no connectivity.

Notice in the below screenshot of the results file, I can tell exactly what minute I lost connectivity. In this case it was the 767th minute of the day.

I) This code could easily check more remote sources before deciding on outage.
II) One could easily add a function that automatically counts the 0's in the desired file and display/log the output in easy to read format.
III) This code was written in Perl on Linux. Windows users may need to comment/un-comment some of the code...read the code.

I may write a real windows version, maybe even a GUI program if there is a demand for such...


#!/usr/bin/perl
                                             
# ICMv2 - Internet Connection Monitor v2                                                                
# For testing connectivity outages  
# Published by Tropical PC Solutions

use strict;
use POSIX;

# Verify results directory, if it is not found then create one
check_dir();

# Run in a continuous loop...
while(1){

 # Attempt connection to both Google and Yahoo, write the results 
 # to 'check' files. If you run linux this section can be edited 
 # out to avoid writing data to disk. Windows users still may
 # need to edit the below system call ? ping and grep args
 #system('ping yahoo.com -c1 > yahoo.results; grep "received" yahoo.results > check.yahoo');
 #system('ping google.com -c1 > google.results; grep "received" google.results > check.google');
 # Grab the size of the 'check' files. 0 size = no connection
 #my $google = -s "check.google"; my $yahoo = -s "check.yahoo";

 # The above system call and file operations can be edited out and 
 # the below code can be used if you are running most linux pc's
 # Windows does not support `backticks` :(  try system()
 my $google = `ping google.com -c1 | grep "received"`; 
 my $yahoo = `ping yahoo.com -c1 | grep "received"`;

 # Write the results to a date-stamped text file
   my $datestamp = strftime("%Y-%m-%d",localtime) ;
 my $results = "results/".$datestamp.".txt\n";

 # If connection was possible with either Google or Yahoo then Internet is active
 if ($yahoo != 0 || $google != 0){
  open (FILE, ">>$results");
  print FILE "1\n";
  close (FILE); 
 }
 # If Both 'check' files (or $variables) contained zero data 
 # neither site was available i.e. No Internet
 else {
  open (FILE, ">>$results");
  print FILE "0\n";
  close (FILE); 
 }
 # Repeat in 60 seconds. Run checks once a minute
 sleep(60);
}

sub check_dir(){
 my $dir = 'results/';
 unless(-d $dir){
  mkdir $dir or die;
 }
}

New Widgets Domain Launched - NoBull Widgets

2009-06-13T16:56:00.005-04:00

We have launched a new widgets site called NoBull Widgets. We hope you make use of this new project and we welcome your input as always.

NoBull widgets is our latest project. All new widgets we make or host will be via this domain. We have some pretty good ideas we plan on rolling out within a month or two and a members area. The members area is currently a work in progress.

Live Weather Map Widget (iGoogle gadget)

2009-06-12T20:54:00.011-04:00

Today we released a new widget that displays a live weather map and an option to view a larger map. To get this widget click here.

Get this widget at NoBull: Click here

Get this widget for iGoogle:

NoBull widgets is our new sister site we plan to use to host our widgets and iGoogle gadgets. To visit our main domain click here. We will not be moving our TPCS widgets to NoBull, we will simply host all new widgets on the new domain.

Google asks Adsense publishers to go to Washington and speak to congress...

2009-05-07T10:46:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I received the below email from Google. I was curious if any other Adsense publishers received this letter, and if so, do you plan on attending?

Hi,

As an AdSense publisher, you've been part of a media revolution that has allowed tens of thousands of online publishers to create businesses powered by interactive advertising.

Together with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), we'd like to invite you share your AdSense experience and story at a special national event on June 9th and 10th. Political campaigns have been launched at the federal and state levels to seek government regulation of many of the core processes and technologies that support interactive advertising. We believe this regulation will have a disproportionately negative impact on publishers like you.

As a result, the IAB is organizing a Small Publisher Fly-in in Washington D.C. to give you an opportunity to advocate for your business and the industry at large in front of Congress. During this two-day event, you'll meet with industry leaders, Congressmen, and members of the press to share your personal experience of how online advertising has impacted your life and sustained your business. We believe it's important to demonstrate that ad-supported publishers like you exist everywhere in the U.S., and your presence in Washington will be critical in conveying the deep economic value and impact of interactive advertising.

To show our appreciation for your time, those who join us in Washington will also receive a one-year small publisher membership to the IAB, a potentially valuable tool in growing your business.

If you'd like to be part of this special event or want more information, please visit http://www.iab.net/flyin or contact Chris Glushko of the IAB at chris@iab.net or 212-380-4722. We appreciate your time, and hope to see you in June.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Email Preferences: We sent you this email because you have indicated that you are willing to receive occasional AdSense special offers. If you do not wish to receive such emails in the future, please visit your AdSense Account settings page under the 'My Account' tab (https://www.google.com/adsense/lang-change - AdSense login required), edit your 'Email Preference' by removing the check next to 'Google market research', and click 'Save Changes.'

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Looking for 125x125 ads? ClixGalore has you covered!

2009-02-27T16:42:00.016-05:00

These days those 125X125 ads are very popular with bloggers from all niches. I don't understand why Google and other larger ad networks don't make obtaining and placing these ad units easier. For instance, If you have an Adsense account you can use Google's Ad manager to build a large square ad which contains 4 125X125 units. This is a great feature, but a bit too involved for those new to online advertising. This is where ClixGalore can help...

If you are looking to set up those 125X125 ad units on your blog and are having trouble locating a good network to obtain them from, then I would recommend Clix Galore. They have just what you need!

You have the option to choose to promote service/products based on a sales or leads option (see below image)

If you look around you can really find some great deals to promote and make some decent money while doing it! So, if you are looking for those 125X125 ad units then check out Clix Galore.

Book Review: Is God a Mathematician

2009-02-26T03:26:00.003-05:00

From time to time we run across a book that we feel needs to be read! This is most certainly one of those books...

The Tropical PC Solutions Featured book:
Is God a Mathematician

If you have ever wondered at the marvelous order of the heavens, the overall complexity of life and the physical laws which govern the world, then this book is a must read. I found Is God a Mathematician to be a read that was hard to put down. A powerful perspective into the realm of science (or at least scientifically based logic) meets a spiritual awareness.

Adengage: The ads are out and the review is in.

2009-02-17T18:45:00.012-05:00

Over the years we have dealt with many advertising networks. Some with great success and others with little to none. In our dealings with Adengage we have found their product to be less than desirable in many ways. How so???

Any old ads will do...

Many ad networks such as Google and Chitika make an effort to deliver targeted ads to your visitors. This is very useful to both the visitor and advertiser. On the other hand, Adengage will display just about anything! It's true they have an area where the publisher can ask that certain topics NOT be included into their ad pool, but we found this feature to be quite buggy. For instance, we chose NOT to show ads related to health/pharmaceuticals yet we were constantly served "Colon cleansing" ads. Is this the ad service you want to deliver to your visitors?

Test new ad services on newer unestablished projects!

Considering the unpredictability of how well an ad service will perform I would recommend you test newer networks on unestablished projects. You can't be sure they will deliver what they say they will and I wouldn't test ANY new product on an established commercial site!

I would NOT run any Adengage product on ANY established commercial site. What constitutes an established commercial site? Well, if you have a site that is older than 2 years, gets millions of visits a month and generates $1000's of dollars in monthly revenue, DO NOT even think about using Adengage on that site/project!

Adengage will probably penalize you for this but I would stick to my guns! Don't ruin the credibility of a well established site to run unrelated, buggy ads!

Our Adengage test...

We placed Adengage ads (both text and image) on a few of our lesser/newer projects (including this little blog) and we were not impressed.

Adengage ads were completely unrelated to our content even though we carefully checked the correct options in our account settings.

Adengage gave us the lowest CPC we have seen with ANY ad network. We can't explain it, nor can we say that everyone has the same experiences, but the clicks we received while running Adengage ads were not even half of what we would receive from Google, AdBrite or Chitika etc...

A few times that we were running the ads we noticed the arrow images that come with their text ads were dead. When I went to go to their website, the whole site was down. This happened more than once and although the ads were still being served, the images were "broken". Although this is easy to work around (download image and store on your own server), it shows the level of unprofessionalism found with Adengage.

Bottom line...Adengage rates at the bottom

We certainly can't speak for everyone, as we are sure some publishers have had a measure of success using this product and we don't want to take that away from Adengage. But in the end the facts remain:

Adengage is an inferior ad network, and a waste of time to the majority of publishers who bother to set up their ads.

Giving your blog an audio/listen option using FeedBlitz

2009-02-13T20:48:00.010-05:00

You can offer your readers and visitors the option to listen to your blog using the FeedBlitz newsletter service. We have set this up here on this blog so we will show you an example from here.

How to create an audio option for your blog so your readers can listen to your rants!

On the top right corner of this blog, just above the search box, you will see our audio option.

Click the audio icon to be directed to our newsletter:

Find the article you want to listen to and click the audio icon once more. Now you are ready to go!

So how do I set up the blogger audio/listen option so my readers can listen to my blog?

You will need an account at FeedBlitz.com. Once you have an account at FeedBlitz you can set up an email newsletter. This email newsletter reads your blogs RSS feeds to create its content. Now, once you have a newsletter working FeedBlitz will give you a "preview" link. Use this link to give your readers an audio option. This is a free service from Feedblitz that I am sure your readers will appreciate.

New weekly schedule for email newsletters...

2009-02-13T16:51:00.004-05:00

Starting Feb 14, 2009 we will only be sending out newsletters once a week. The blog posts and standard RSS service will be in real time but the newsletter itself will be sent out on Sat.

The weekly newsletter will contain all posts made throughout the week. We hope you find the new scheduling more convenient and easier to manage. This way you can read the weeks updates casually on a Sunday afternoon, or you can get to them Monday when you get to work and are trying to find something other than work to do ;)

Chitika ads serve up unique style and payouts

2009-02-12T22:05:00.014-05:00

When monetizing your content it is vital to diversify your networks. You want to display ads that are interesting and appealing to your visitors...something that stands out from the every day Google Adsense ad.

Chitika is a GREAT Adsense alternative!

So what makes Chitika different. Quite a few things, for instance, they only appear to your search engine visitors. So if someone found your site by searching Google with the keywords "adsense" then when they get to your site the Chitika ads will display ads about adsense. This is great in terms of your eCpm. In addition, Chitika ads have a built in search feature which visitors seem to find very useful. See the below screenshot of Chitika ads running on this site.

Example: Click here to see Chitika ads running on this site.

How can you start serving Chitika ads on your site or blog?

It's pretty simple. First, click here and sign up for a publishers account. They will provide you with the necessary code and instructions on how to install it. It's quick, easy and you might even make a few bucks!

If you would like to advertise your product or service on the Chitika network (highly recommended) click here to get started.

Advertise YOUR product or service on Tropical PC Solutions...

2009-02-10T23:54:00.034-05:00

You can now advertise your product or service on Tropical PC Solutions. In fact, you can advertise your product or service across the TPCS network.

Our current available advertising network:

Tropical PC Solutions	You can advertise your services here on the TPCS Blog. Look for the "Helpful Links" section to see where your ad will be placed. If you choose the 125x125 ad your link will be placed above the fold.
Beyond Astronomy	You can advertise your services on Beyond Astronomy. Look for the "Helpful Links" section to see where your ad will be placed. On this site your link will be placed above the fold.
Best Florida Beaches	You can advertise your services on Florida's Best Beaches. Look for the "Helpful Links" section to see where your ad will be placed. On this site your link will be placed above the fold.
Widget/Gadget Directory	You can advertise your services on our Widget/Gadget domain. Look for the "Helpful Links" section to see where your ad will be placed. On this site your link will be placed above the fold.

We will add more topic oriented websites and blogs to our advertising network as time permits. We can also place your 125X125 or any other image ad too.

Update: We have added more sites to our advertising network.

I. Programming, PHP & Javascript
II. Keep On Seeking - Bible Based Blog
III. Learn Guitar - Guitar beginners blog
IV. Essential Reader - Online eStore
V. NoBull Widgets - Web widgets and iGoogle gadgets

How can I get my link on the TPCS advertising network?

If you would like to quickly and easily get started advertising on our network then contact me for further info.

Another option to advertise with us is to click here and sign up for an account. Once your account is established you tell them you would like to advertise with us and which site you want your ads to be placed on. That's it!

Visit the Essential Reader for the best deals found at Amazon.com

2009-02-10T21:43:00.006-05:00

Tropical PC Solutions would like to remind our visitors and clients that you can find great deals on just about anything at Amazon.com

Official Amazon Affiliate
Tropical PC Solutions and the Essential Reader are official Amazon.com affiliates. All sales through the Essential Reader are handled securely by Amazons secure server.

Helpful tips for online auctions...

2009-02-10T20:38:00.006-05:00

A great way to make some extra cash and get rid of unused items is to auction them online. There are many places to auction off goods but Ebay is by far the most popular. Being that Ebay is so popluar there are many places that offer special services that help you to maximize your online auction potential.

If you are an Ebayer or plan to be one you must check out the below two resources.

Should I blog or build a website...or both?

2009-02-10T19:58:00.008-05:00

This is a VERY popular question these days. It seems like everyone is trying to etch out their little place on the web. With seemingly endless mediums available in which to make your mark, knowing just which is right for you can be a tough decision in itself.

Should I blog or build a website...or both?
To blog or build, that IS the question. The answer depends entirely on you and your plans. It can be a tough choice and in the end you very well could end up doing both as we have.

Websites offer way more in the terms of functionality but are more involved and coding is often required. Blogs on the other hand are quick and easy mediums in which to publish online content, but blogs (both Blogger and Wordpress) are very limited. Often times most people will start out with a blog. Once they are more familiar with what they are doing they will often move into full web design.

So why would I need both?
Let's imagine your site is getting popular and you are regularly updating it. Your customers/readers might like to know when you have updated your content without having to visit your site. So, you set up your old blog and now you point the RSS feed address to your email newsletter provider. This way your readers can get email updates when you add more content to your site.

This is just one simple reason one might chose to build and blog. If you would like some more info on this subject click here.

HostGator is offering a great offer for WordPress users! If you are looking for a place to host your WordPress blog you have to see the offer from HostGator!

Main Category RSS Feeds

2009-02-09T17:55:00.006-05:00

We have set up the option to allow you guys to easily subscribe to a particular topic without subscribing to the entire blog feed.

How do I subscribe to the [insert topic here] feed?

Scroll down the blog and look at the sidebar...You will see the option at the bottom of the Categories list:

Simply find the main topic you want to subscribe to and click the appropriate link; your reader will then only show updates for that category.

Tropical PC Solutions Current Projects

2009-02-09T17:39:00.032-05:00

Tropical PC Solutions has many ongoing projects at any given time. I have my main fields I work in, but I often dabble in other areas.
Some of our current projects are listed below.

An Unbiased Review: SiteSell and SiteBuildIt (SBI)

2009-02-09T16:46:00.022-05:00

"Can I do this myself?"

A client came to me the other day and asked a question that is becoming quite popular, "How do I build and maintain my own business website?" Now, of course my business instincts kick in and I feel like I should push our web services, but this isn't always what's best for the customer! In this case I recommended SiteBuildIt to him. They will walk him through the entire process step by step and leave him in control of his content.

So just what is 'Site Build It' and SiteSell?

There seems to be some confusion as to just what SiteSell is and provides. SiteSell is a company that offers various programs on how to build (and generate revenue off of) web content. With the economy in a current down-slide and many people losing their jobs, a lot of people are looking to make a few extra bucks online. But how!?! SiteSell offers a program called Site Build It. This program contains all you need to have your own business site up and running in no time! If you want to make money off of a hobby site they have an affiliate program for that too.

Site Build It isn't for everyone!

This is certainly true of all things in life (short of a few absolutes like food and oxygen). One of the strongest objections I have read against SiteSell and it's partner program Site Build It (or often called SBI) is that, "all this information is available on the web for free." Now, this is true, but it is also true that all the information necessary to build a really powerful bomb is available online, but that fact in itself isn't going to help anyone build one. Much less the average Joe!

The web is a dynamic environment that is changing all the time. It is therefore full of outdated information on all kinds of topics. How does a beginner sort through it all? How does someone know that the article they spend all night reading is 'old news'? It is true that you can often find many helpful people in various web forums (www.digitalpoint.com being a good one) but some people just need a little hand holding. They need someone to sit down and say HERE is what you do and how you do it. Go HERE and do THIS or THAT....This is where SiteSell comes in.

SiteSell and SitebuildIt is perfect for newbies.

If you are new to the web and are looking for someone to sit down and walk over everything with you point by point then you should check SiteSell. Maybe the SitebuildIt program is right for you. Many folks have used SiteSell products, including ourselves. Below is a list of various SiteBuildIt sites:

http://www.flower-gardening-made-easy.com
http://www.swing-trade-stocks.com
http://www.wildlife-pictures-online.com
http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com
http://www.laser-eye-surgery-review.com

You want to see more examples of SBI Sites?

If you would like to see more examples of SiteBuildIt sites the click here and the click on the "Client Sites" icon (see below image):

Site Build it is perfect for you if...you are serious about starting an online business or if you simply want to learn to build a website for profit. To help find your way around SiteSell use the below menu:

SiteSell is more that a product...it is a 24 hour helpline!

In fact, you can even contact the owner/founder himself. If for any reasons you have any questions about SiteSell or SiteBuildIt you can ask the company founder by clicking here. Also be sure to visit and subscribe to their blog for updates and news.

Do we personally use any SitebuildIt products or services?

Yes we do...In fact our widgets domain was built using a basic SBI template.

HotScripts.com is one of the best script archives around!

2009-02-08T02:34:00.009-05:00

Before I started blogging and developing widgets I was learning to write code. I spent a few years learning to write basic code in PHP, JavaScript, C and Perl. During all this time one great resource kept coming up...HotScripts!

The best darn scripting resource around...PERIOD!

Hotscripts.com is the most comprehensive directory of Javascripts, PHP and anything else you might need! If you are a web designer or blogger looking for little nifty scripts for your content then you have to check out HotScripts...if you haven't already!

Find hidden links within your blog (hidden DIV tags)

2009-02-06T21:39:00.014-05:00

Find hidden links within your blog...

Sometimes crackers/kiddies (I wont bestow upon them the title of hacker) get their hands on some exploit code and go around and use this exploit to secretly hide bad links within hidden DIV tags on your blog. Recently some big players in the WordPress world got hit by spammers placing hidden links within their source.

A couple of ways to help find hidden links located in your blog:

I. Use a text browser (such as lynx *) to visit blog.
II. Turn off Javascript in your browser and visit blog.
III. Change your User-Agent to the below code and visit blog:

Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)

By switching your user-agent to spoof GoogleBot you are hoping to trick the hacked code to show you the links. You see, the cracker will try to hide his links from regular web visitors, after all he doesn't want to get found out, so he will write some code that will display the links to a request made via the Google user agent. By doing this the cracker is trying to get GoogleBot to find all these links and rank his page higher in the search engine results.

So, as a blogger you need to keep up with what out-bound links your blog contains! Not only does this abuse your hard earned PR it can potentially effect the ad quality you receive from Google Adsense etc...

* Screenshot of this blog as viewed in Lynx:

Monetize your site or blog with real versatility.

2009-02-05T19:08:00.009-05:00

These days, with one new blog started every second, there is certainly no shortage of companies looking to cater to your advertising and publishing needs...So why just deal with Google?

Google Adsense is by far the first and foremost ad provider out there for publishers, but there are many alternatives to Adsense. One of the best, in terms of payouts, is Text Link Ads. TLA has pretty high payouts for referrals. I know some people who earn a good deal of revenue referring others to TLA.

TLA is more than just an affiliate program, they are also, well, just that, text link providers. But these aren't you're standard Google ads. TLA ads integrate well and do quite well in regards to eCPM.

Text Link Ads is a company you should seriously consider if making money online is a prime objective for your online ventures.

To get started running ads or referring customers click here.

Contact Tropical PC Solutions

2009-02-05T12:56:00.010-05:00

The web can be a confusing place for newcomers. There is no end of things to dilute your senses and scramble your brain.

Feel free to contact me using the form below.

A Blogger hack to add a custom favicon to your Blogger blog.

2009-02-03T16:44:00.011-05:00

If you would like to add a custom favicon to your Blogger blog then insert the below code into your blogs head section (code found online, original author unknown):

<link href='http://www.yourserverspace/favicon.ico' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/x-icon'/>

How do you do this? OK, Open your blogger dashboard and click the "layout" link on the blog you want to change. Once you have the layout page open click the HTML tab.

By this point you should be looking at the template code. Scroll down until you see the </head> tag and place the above code right before the closing head tag. See below

Once you have added this code, press the save button and that's all there is to it :)

Blogger Hacks to remove Blogger Navbar and 'Feed Links'

2009-02-03T16:40:00.012-05:00

Blogger Hacks to remove Blogger Navbar and 'Feed Links'...

When setting up your Blogger blog you may first be put off by that navbar Blogger puts across the top of your blog...well don't be just use a simple CSS code and remove it!

Place the below code (code found online, original author unknown) just after the <head> tag or just before the </head> tag:

#navbar-iframe { height:0px; visibility:hidden; display:none; }

If you want to get rid of that pesky 'Feed Links' on your posts then insert the below code as mentioned above:

.feed-links {visibility:hidden; display: none; }

HostGator has unlimited plans on GREEN HOSTING for cheap!

2009-02-03T16:33:00.009-05:00

HostGator has unlimited plans on GREEN HOSTING for cheap!

If you are new to the web world and are looking to set up a blog or website you're going to need hosting. But with all the choices out there it's easy to get a bit overwhelmed.

We recommend Host Gator for your hosting needs. They have great unlimited plans for all your domain and blog needs...Not to mention the great Wordpress offers they run. If you are looking around for cheap, reliable web hosting be sure to check out Host Gator.

Another great reason to choose HostGator is their effort to go green! Host Gator is setting the standard for eco-friendly hosting...check them out!

New Nasa Astronomy Photo widgets

2009-02-01T02:25:00.005-05:00

Today we released new Astronomy widgets. These new widgets show a larger daily image and you have the choice between a white or black background.

Nasa Astronomy widget : White
Nasa Astronomy widget : Black

We hope you enjoy these new widgets and as always, keep your suggestions coming!