Are you doing your part?

This week Telecom came up with some interesting estimates. Here's what they said...

Around the world, there is an explosive growth in demand for data, anywhere, anytime. Consider the following estimates:

More than 90% of the world’s data ever in existence has been created in just the past two years.

By 2015 there are likely to be more than 1 trillion connected devices in the world.

Every day, more than 500 million photos are uploaded and shared online.

More than 30 billion pieces of data are added to Facebook every month.

New Zealand mobile data traffic is expected to grow eight-fold by 2017 to over 11,000 terabytes per month – or the equivalent of 32 million texts each second.

More than 2.5 million New Zealanders now have smartphones.

Nearly 80% of New Zealand homes are connected to the internet.

Over the last year, the average Telecom customer household has doubled its monthly broadband data use from around 12GB to 24GB.

The average smartphone user reaches for their phone 150 times a day.

So, are you doing your part to help drive the internet explosion?

Run old software in a time machine

When our IT professionals (Geeks on Wheels) told us that the computer had had it's day and it was time to look for a new one, we migrated from Windows XP to Windows 7. Most programs that we use worked fine and some popped up some strange messages that we ignored. But one program wouldn't run at all and we ended up replacing it with something else that wasn't nearly as good.

Since then I have come across this article about running old programs on new machines. I tried it and our old program runs perfectly once again.

"Need to run a program like it's 1999? You can tweak Windows to deceive crotchety applications into thinking that they're running on Windows XP, Windows 2000 or even Windows 95.

"If you have an outdated program that doesn't play well with Windows 7 or 8, simply right click it and select Troubleshoot compatibility from the menu. Next, choose Troubleshoot program and skip through the troubleshooter by clicking I don't see my problem listed.

"On the next screen, you can pick an older version of Windows to emulate while running the application - use the Start the program button to test whether your application will run in an older version of Windows.

"If everything works, make the arrangement permanent by clicking Yes, save these settings for this program, and you're ready to rock with classic style."

.kiwi domain name soon available

For the first time millions of New Zealanders will have access to new email addresses and websites ending in .kiwi, following official approval over the weekend.

.kiwi is the first New Zealand-based generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) approved by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) in its new gTLD programme, which ushers in a host of new domains such as .london and .microsoft.

Kiwis the world over will be able to choose email addresses and websites ending in .kiwi which should have great appeal.

New Zealand’s new domain name is expected to be available for individuals and organisations to purchase as early as mid-August for trademark holders and October/November for the general public.

September will mark the beginning of what is known as a “Sunrise” period, in which trademark owners can register their marks as .kiwi domain names before the general public gets an opportunity to.

Sunrise is a tool to protect brands, help avoid cybersquatting and increase consumer security on the Internet in New Zealand, with Trademark holders advised to contact their IP lawyers regarding the Sunrise period.

Google Trends helps your Title and Description word selection

Use Google Trends (www.google.com/trends) to study any search term and see how it measures up to other keywords.

The tool allows for the tracking of various words and phrases that are typed into Google’s search-box.  You can restrict to specific time periods and/or in specified geographic regions.

It’s important to note that you won’t learn how many individuals are searching for your selected keywords, but instead be able to gauge the popularity of a term over time.

Use the tool to see how well your competitors are trending as well. Additionally, you can analyze the results to see which keywords they may be using with more success, and adapt your strategy accordingly. Likewise, look for search terms that directly relate to your industry; see which are currently popular, which have maintained popularity over time, and which are simply not used much at all.

Evidence is provided that Google Trends data can be used to track influenza-like illness in a population. Because the relative frequency of certain queries is highly correlated with the percentage of doctor’s visits in which a patient presents with influenza-like symptoms, an estimate of weekly influenza activity can be reported.

New software to replace Form Mail

Form Mail is the software used to translate a website enquiry form into an email that is then sent to the website owner. The software is supplied as part of the website hosting.

Just before Xmas they upgraded the software and this caused random errors to occur when a website visitor clicked on the Submit button.

Because of the uncertainty of the software I got a contractor to write a new software product (thanks Jamie) and this has now been installed on most  websites.

Bonus 1 – configuration details including  your email are now hidden.

Bonus 2 - a Captcha code can quickly be installed to reduce the amount of spam. For more on Captcha codes go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAPTCHA. If you are having problems with spam and don’t have a Captcha code installed on your enquiry form, please let me know.