The different stages are:

• The Surge Diverter
• The Low Impedance Isolation Transformer
• The Power Line Filter
• The Voltage Regulator
• The Battery Backup
• The Frequency Regulator
• Ground Guard

You can read all about them in their concept document titled The ABCs of Power Conditioning. It describes every stage in a bit more detail and once you’ve read through it you’ll understand a bit more too.

Here’s the interesting thing about the PowerVar website. By sharing the information above, they are making their site more memorable to its visitors. They are providing value that people can share with one another and in this way creating conversational value that turns into thought leadership. This is the sort of value that people need to focus on when building a website. If the site just focused on the company and their products I probably would have never mentioned it here, and linked to it in the process. They actually have a whole section of their site dedicated to technical articles which make some really good reading.

So next time you’re looking for a UPM solution, Uninterruptable Power Supplies or Power Conditioners, check out the PowerVar website. There’s lots to learn there.

Here’s a great idea; a digital frame that sticks right to your fridge. You can load it up with a bunch of photos and get them to run a slideshow of your loved ones.

Or how about a Laser Cosmos, a projection unit that can display a magnificent stellar display in your room.

Both these items are in the Christmas gifts section on I Want One Of Those. Check them out, there’s a great collection of stuff.

Here’s an interesting service consisting of a company that will fix your camera; they fix any camera anywhere in the world. The claim to have the fastest possible camera repair at the best possible price. I’ve had a quick skeet of their website and they indeed seem to support a huge variety of cameras. The thing that I find fascinating is that they can deal with your problem if you’re based in the US; but they can also deal with your problem if you’re based in Germany, France or even Estonia. How’s that for worldwide coverage?

It’s fascinating how technology today has managed to make the world a smaller place. Offering a world-wide service is no longer impossible, global brands like McDonalds are pretty common place and people are quite happy to move from one country to the other for work, pleasure or even a change of lifestyle. Interesting times huh?

It’s easy to do some research about Internet Casinos by visiting an aggregator like Online Casino Topic, a site which provides an exhaustive review of some of the best online casinos around, with insight on how the games work, what sign-up bonuses they offer and their payout percentage. The great thing about a website like this is that a plethora of different online gaming sites online, so it’s always good to do some research. They also offer reviews on US online casinos who are not fully accepting US players.

It’s an interesting industry, which to tell you the truth I haven’t been exposed to much; but there’s lots to read if you want to learn more about casinos online. Don’t just focus on the technology though; that’s interesting, but not where all the innovation is happening. Look at the operational elements, the back office, the money trails and the people who actually make the site work. That’s where the interesting stories lie.

Here’s an interesting website for people looking to more to or from new York. It’s a website called City Move that aims to put people planning to make a move in touch with New York Movers and helps them get the best deal possible for their move. It’s all based around a reverse-auction process which is really quite interesting. Here’s how it works:

Let’s say you’re planning to move to New York and are looking for the cheapest moving company to help you out. You sign up to the website and fill in the details of the company you’re looking for. It’s a pretty simple process where you specify details of your move including:

• Your source and destination address
• The number, size and shapes of boxes and large items like furniture you want moving
• You have the option of specifying what kind of vehicle and how many people you want, if you wish; or you can just let the mover decide.
• Whether you want a total cost or an hourly cost

Once you’ve given all your details, the system works its magic and gets in touch with a number of movers who can help. These will provide quotes for their services which you can use, together with reviews other customers have left, to choose the company you would like to help you out.

Compare this to the traditional process you would follow; opening the yellow pages, get a list of likely companies, phone each one and explain your requirements and wait for a price from each one. Instead here, you type in your requirements once, and the companies bid against each other to provide you with the best price. I know which one I would choose if I needed this sort of service.

If you want to learn more, check out the video below:

CityMove.com – Intro Video from Philip Liu on Vimeo.

That’s where websites like Web Hosting Geeks, a website that specialises in web site hosting, can help. They run reviews on a number of different services and compare different aspects of their services. They can help you identify what are the attributes you are interested in and how a variety of hosts compare on these attributes. And, if you’re not quite sure what you’re after, the website includes a number of articles on different topics related to hosting. Here are some that caught my attention:

• Dedicated Servers: Do you need a dedicated server? This is a complete server where you have access to all the resources. If you’re running a bit site and need lots of reliability that’s the way to go.
• How to make money from Web Hosting: If you’re going into Web Hosting with a vengeance, you may want to generate revenue from your hosting facility. This article talks about the different options and how you can make it happen.

So, whether you’re interested in domain hosting, dedicated hosting or reseller hosting, check out Web Hosting Geeks and make sure you know what you’re getting into. It’s easy to do your homework with a website that collects all the information you need in one place. Check it out.

If you’re into development in any shape or form, you’ll see a number of security issues Three has with their website, including but not limited to:

1. Password stored in plain text in a connection string
2. Trivial password that could be cracked without thinking too hard
3. And of course: not trapping errors so the whole world gets to see them.

I’ve omitted the name of the website, to protect the guilty, but there wasn’t much point, based on what the error was returning. There’s a lot that a potential hacker could learn from that lapse, and it essentially highlights the need of having a security professional involved in your development and release processes. These are basic errors that can be prevented, so why risk you site .. and your reputation!

It’s that time of year again, when fireworks light up the sky and kids sit around street corners collecting money for fireworks. I’m not actively taking part in Kempton Fireworks this year, but I’ve helped them put their website up and tickets are now available for sale. It’s on the 7th of November and promises to be one of the most spectacular fireworks displays around London. One day, I’ll get someone to deploy one of those live video casting solutions so I can watch them from all the way from the Isle of Man.

I don’t think we’ll be going to any public displays this year. Navigating around with 2 newborns is a bit tricky and we may just opt for an evening with friends. After all, lighting your own fireworks is more fun than watching someone else doing it for you; I’m sure Arthur will love the experience.

1. Update your applications and scripts: Most hacks out there make use of a vulnerability that has been discovered in software you’re running on your web server. Suppliers and development communities are quick to release patches that solve these vulnerabilities, but if you don’t update your software, you’re going to remain exposed.
2. Create strong passwords: Another common route to gaining access to your site is guessing one of your passwords. Make sure you always use a strong password, and for heaven’s sake, don’t use the default password that ships with any product you’re installing.
3. Mask your folders: Most webservers are configured in such a way that if they don’t find a “default document” in a folder, they’ll just show the list of files in that folder. Make sure each folder on your server has an “index.html” file or whatever default document your server uses, to help you mask the contents.

I got the tips from Web Hosting Geeks blog, a website that reviews hosting companies and helps you find the best web hosting in the category you’re looking. Now, I’m not saying that if you follow the steps above you’ll never get hacked, but you’re significantly reducing the odds by making sure the more common entry points are secured.

Here’s an interesting hosting company I came across today. It’s called NearlyFreeSpeech and is and came to my attention when I was researching a host for a friend who wanted to host a controversial website. They seem to be pretty unusual in that they have a very libertarian attitude to hosting and won’t take down a client’s site unless the accuser can prove that some wrong-doing has been perpetrated. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Due to our libertarian Terms & Conditions of Service we allow many things that other hosting companies do not. Consequently, we receive a large number of abuse complaints. Unfortunately, most of them are spurious or non-actionable….

In other words, if it’s not illegal, your content will not be compromised and your identity will be protected. I find this pretty commendable, and the threads on their forum show a passionate and vibrant community behind the website.

They have an interesting charging model too. Clients are charged by usage, not by monthly subscription. So, if you have a website about your mum’s collection of golf equipment, you probably won’t pay more than a few cents per month. If you decide to run an adult site and get thousands of hits, then your charges increase as your popularity does. I was pretty impressed with the service, so I thought I’d blog about it for posterity.