The goal of every small business is to grow and improve. No business can afford to become complacent or stagnant in today’s competitive environment. Part of the growth that your company will need to stay relevant to customers relies heavily on a strong and flexible IT environment.

You have customers, employees and vendors that rely on your network and you need to make sure that it is robust and scalable to meet future needs. Information gets exchanged at a rapid pace and it is only going to get faster as the years progress. Your network has to be positioned to grow and change along with the changing demands of the market. If your business is ready to take the next step and build a true networked environment it helps to understand the basics of how to build a network.

Basic Network Components

When you begin to think about and map out plans for an IT network, it’s easy to get into some very deep waters in terms of technological jargon. There is a lot of new technology that has hit the market in recent years and if you’re not careful you can get distracted from the basics of a network and get needlessly bogged down with technological concerns. A network is a lot simpler in terms of getting started than most people think. The complicated aspects just need to be broken down into basic components. Here are the root level necessities for any network to get started.

Routers and Switches

If you are going to build an in-house network where your company owns or leases the equipment and maintains it on a day-to-day basis, you should consider routers and switches first. This piece of hardware helps to control and direct the reception of network information from your business ISP and distributes the information in the most efficient manner to all the servers and workstations that need that information.

Routers and switches help network information get to where it needs to be. You should be sure to get equipment that is powerful enough to handle your projected network growth for the next 5 years. That means you will probably be starting with a little more than you need, but it will save you a lot of hassles in the next few years if your company growth stays on track.

Servers

You will need to think about what type of information and applications your company will be using the most. The servers you purchase and configure will be contingent on your business model. Every network will need a domain server, at the very least. These servers act as the definitive source of information and network instructions on a network. Besides a domain server your company may need application servers, print servers, and file servers. Each of these types of servers provides unique services to all of the machines on your company’s network.

Besides servers, routers and switches, your network will also include network cabling and workstations to get up and running. When you combine all of these pieces you have the necessities, from a hardware aspect, to get your network up and running. There will be other considerations as you progress, but these basics should help you to get started.

Author Information

William Vicary writer for “The Caring Host,”  a green web hosting company that runs on 130% wind based renewable electricity – this means for every kilowatt of renewable energy they use they contribute 30% extra to the grid! On top of that they also give $1 to a local charity per client per month.

Photo Credit: Clix

WP 3.0 Looms

Being that this is release 2.9, this particular update brings us one step closer to a major overhaul of the platform which will introduce WordPress 3.0 to the world. No doubt, we’ll see several interim updates before then such as WP 2.9.1, 2.9.2, …, but when it does show up I’m sure that it’ll reflect the best of what WordPress has to offer.

Before you upgrade WordPress, you’ll want to back up your database first. Select Tools > Backup to accomplish that task, but if you’re not in the habit of regularly backing up WordPress, I suggest that you install the nifty WordPress Database Backup to automate the process. Why chance having your site crash and then discover your database (which contains all of your articles) is old and your most recent articles are no more? That’s a lot of work to lose because you failed to backup your database!

Four Significant Changes

Automattic, the company which developed and oversees WordPress, says that the following major changes have been included with WP 2.9:

1. Batch Plugin Update – I like this feature because every time that there is a significant update of WP, many of the plugins fail or don’t work quite as well as they could. That means WP plugin developers will respond by making quick changes to bring their plugins up to snuff, which also means that you may have scads of updates to handle. FYI, some of my sites have as many as 26 plugins installed, but thanks to the new batch update process, I can handle those changes at once and so can you.

2. Undo Feature – Have you ever accidentally deleted one of your posts? I can’t say that I have, but I know if I did I’d be bummed. WordPress has created a feature which will allow you to find and bring back your killed off posts, saving you a lot of grief and anxiety.

3. Image Editor – A built-in image editor makes it easier for you to crop, edit, rotate, flip, and scale your images without having to leave WP and use Photoshop, Gimp, or other image editing program to get this work done. I haven’t used it yet, but if it works according to plan, then this feature will save bloggers plenty of time and remove the excuse that you don’t have time to include a photo with your work.

4. Video Embeds – I don’t do all that many video embeds across my network of blogs, but that may change now that WP 2.9 has made this task easier to accomplish. All you have to do is paste the URL of the video in your post and WP automatically converts it to an embed code. Amazing! My personal recommendation for WP pros is to use videos sparingly as they tend to slow down the loading of your site. Too many videos on one page and your visitors may move on. Still, the updated feature sounds like a good one to me.

Upgrade Now

How do you perform an update to WordPress 2.9? That’s easy. A drop down notice is sitting on the top of your screen in the administrative control panel. Click on it and choose either to “upgrade automatically” or “download 2.9” and do the latter yourself. I always select automatic updates once I know everything is backed up and I haven’t had a problem yet.

Biting Bit.ly

A case in point is Bit.ly, an odd sounding but amazingly resourceful URL shortener packed with all the amenities you can imagine. Not only are your web addresses shortened when you use this tool, but you can change the suffix to something that is uniquely yours.

For example, when I created an automatically shortened link for this lengthy URL: http://thearticlewriter.com/autowriter/no-mahindra-models-this-year/, Bit.ly rendered http://bit.ly/xWeBv instead.

But it gets even better than that.

Next, I adjusted the URL to read http://bit.ly/mahindra-trucks/ which allowed me to claim “Mahindra trucks” as my embedded word phrase. Why was this important to me? Well, Mahindra will be selling their all new pickup trucks in the United States beginning Spring 2010, therefore I wanted a recognizable and highly searchable web address to match my article. After all, if I’m to promote my authority as an automotive columnist, you should be able to find some of my cutting edge articles, right? You bet!

Certainly, I could have used an abbreviated URL on my blog post, but I don’t: I prefer to match my title with my URL which makes for some very long Twitter-unfriendly web addresses.

Customizing Bit.ly

Of course, what good is a URL shortener if all it does is whack your address and allow you to customize it? Certainly, having statistics to go along with your work would help.

Indeed, Bit.ly offers registered users the ability to track their links by seeing just how many people click on their links over a period of time as well as within the past hour, what sites are referring traffic to your URL, the countries from where clicks are coming from, and what Twitter conversations are mentioning your URL. Track buzz in real time or sort through that information days later. The choice is yours.

Bit.ly is, by the way, the default URL shortener for TweetDeck and was recently incorporated into Twitter itself. This is good news, because a number of web shortener applications have closed down or will close down eventually including Tr.im. This means that if your web shortener dies, then your links will perish too – not a good prospect, especially if you’ve put so much time into working your links.

Influencing Bit.ly

In just a few days I entered 75 links into Bit.ly from across my site network in a bid to gauge effectiveness. I mixed new articles with old ones including some I had tweeted in the past. A handful completely bombed because they ran out of tweeter juice ages ago. Still, the related statistical information comes in handy, something I will be using along with Google Analytics to help me monitor traffic, referrals, locations and more.

Are you using Twitter? Lots of people are and, according to Danny Sullivan, it ranks up there with Tiny URL which is the grand-daddy of all address shorteners on the market.

Libya Bit.ly

Lastly, the .ly extension for Bit.ly stands for Libya. That country has had its ups and downs over the years, which may cause some people to worry that Libya could one day whack Bit.ly, Owl.ly and others who are using this domain extension. But, with two million dollars in recently funding, the investors in Bit.ly don’t seem to be worrying about this URL shortener’s long term survival, thus I won’t either.

I must admit that I haven’t embraced Bing yet, the new search engine from Microsoft. Then again, I haven’t forgotten about it, making the occasional foray over there to see what is new or different. I’m still finding that some results served are off, including photos attributed to me that really aren’t mine. No matter, I was intrigued when I discovered that Long Zheng had developed an API (application programming interface) that puts Bing on steroids, one of the niftiest I’ve seen to date.

The Real Live Search

Dubbed, “The Real Live Search” by Zheng, this API delivers search results almost as fast as you can type them. For example, as I was typing in “New York Giants” the results quickly narrowed to the city and finally to the team. I should say “lastly” as there wasn’t anything slow about how the results were “finally” served – the moment I was done I received a list of links, several photographs and additional links to related searches including “New York Giants Logo” and “New York Giants schedule” among others.

Zheng must be some sort of wonder kid as I have at least two pairs of shoes that have been around longer than he has. At the ripe young age of 21, Zheng runs the istartedsomething.com website which is is where he demonstrates his technological prowess.

Born in mainland China, Zheng moved to Australia when he was nine and is currently majoring in Marketing Communications and Multimedia Systems Enterprise at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to his studies, Zheng works for a software development firm in Sydney and takes on other “obscure” projects with friends.

Up & Running Fast

In his blog post describing The Real Live Search, Zheng mentions that the tool took him just a few hours to build which also means that it could prove buggy. Moreover, with tech sites picking up the news about Zheng’s project, there is a good chance that the site will crash by the time that you look it over.

Me thinks that this kid has a bright future ahead of him. I’m checking out some of his other blog posts to see what he is discussing.

Bing Still Bouncing

Speaking of Bing, the new search engine’s share of the marketplace is now up to 8.9 percent, in the US market. Bing still trails Google who controls 64.7 percent of the market and Yahoo which has 19.3 percent of all searches, which means that if Bing and Yahoo were one right now, the Bing would control just over 28 percent of the search engine market.

Microsoft may want to consider hiring Zheng; his Bing API truly rocks!

See Also – Bing, Bong Yahoo Search Is Dead!

Microsoft Wins Big

Microsoft clearly comes out ahead in this ten year business agreement as the technology company doesn’t have to fork over any cash to complete the deal as Yahoo once hoped would happen. Even though it has only been in operation for two months, Bing has received high marks as a search engine and is considered to be better than Yahoo Search which currently controls 20% of the US search market, well behind first place Google Search who has 65%. By replacing Yahoo Search, Bing will suddenly have 28% of the market, positioning itself to chip away at Google market share.

Since it got started, Bing has been grabbing market share from Yahoo, not Google. At the same time, Google’s share has been increasing at the expense of Yahoo, not Bing. Getting squeezed from both sides, Yahoo probably figured that Bing would one day eventually pass Yahoo Search so why not monetize the situation in exchange for getting out?

Surrender, Yahoo Search!

In exchange for surrendering to Microsoft, Yahoo will get to keep 88% of revenue generated from all ads that run alongside search requests on its website for the first five years of the deal. In addition, Yahoo will have the right to sell search ads on as yet to be determined Microsoft sites. If Microsoft is smart, they’ll turn over the ad space for the unpopular Windows Vista microsite to Yahoo, the worst operating system in the world! Just kidding.

Yahoo has been rocked by bad management decisions and an unfortunate economy, turning down a bid a few years back to sell itself to Microsoft for $47.5 billion. With a current value of $22 billion, Yahoo is struggling to find its place on the internet, steadily falling behind Google and struggling with its stock which is trading at just over $15 a share. You have to wonder if some Yahoo heads will roll over the deal too as Bing absorbs what was once the number two search engine.

Sources: TechCrunch, Microsoft, Yahoo

See Also — Bada BING, Bada Boom: Microsoft’s New Search Engine Emerges

Say that again?

Gmail has long past AOL mail in the number of worldwide users and should soon overtake AOL in the US market alone. Hotmail and Yahoo mail are still out of reach, but Hotmail’s numbers are declining at least in the US. Yahoo seems to have its top position secured for right now, but as we all know Google will do whatever it can to increase its market share at the expense of everyone else.

Bye, Bye Microsoft Office

I long ago quit using Microsoft Office products, having embraced OpenOffice a few years back. Along with Gmail, the suite of Google apps being touted make Google a worthy Microsoft competitor especially if you like to share files and documents. Currently, Google’s apps include Google Docs, Google Talk, Google Calendar and other stuff, something Google charges businesses just $50 per year per user which is about one-third the price of Microsoft.

Lots of businesses have gotten rid of in-house email, choosing to sign up their employees to Gmail which means that they can outsource some of their Information Technology needs. I once used Hotmail (got banned for spamming so they locked down my account….grrr) and I still used Yahoo Mail for one or two back up email addresses. Honestly, I think Gmail is the best email product hands down especially since I can use it as an email aggregation where I can pull in mail from various accounts. Oh, by the way, Outlook has failed me miserably too on several occasions.

A Beta Label Freaks Some People Out

Tech Crunch reported that Google removed the beta label for its customers who may have viewed it as a stumbling block to Google Apps. Some business folks freak out when they see the word “beta” used, thinking that they’re getting a test product that is flawed and certain to crash. Believe me, I can relate to this as I have customers who aren’t particularly web savvy, but see beta as an obstacle worth avoiding.

Of course, if you miss seeing the beta label with Gmail you can get it back by visiting Google Labs, click on settings where you can enable the beta label.

Photo Credit:  Svilen Mushkatov

Yesterday morning my plans were altered somewhat as I realized that WordPress had issued an important upgrade, version 2.8, with my admin panel alerting me to make that update now. With ten blogs to keep up and running, I would have dreaded this practice a few years back when the process involved turning off my plugins one by one, backing up my databases and ftping the files for each site.

Press Button Updating

These days, WordPress has made updating a snap which allows administrators to press just one button and wait for the update to complete itself. You still need to make sure you have your database backed up, but if you’re like me you already use a plug-in to routinely send backups to your email account or download to your computer.

Now, I don’t automatically do updates as soon as they are available for the simple reason that I know updates still take time to successfully complete. Usually, when there is any sort of update, a number of plugins routinely fail which means that they’ll need to be updated too. In most cases that’s a “push button” update too as the latest copy is available and ready to go.

Starting With The Smaller Sites First

To make things easier for me, I routinely start updating a smaller site, one with the least amount of articles/pages on it. On Thursday, those updates went lightening fast and were done before I realized it.

Several plugins had to be updated, but I did notice that SEM Google Analytics, a plugin for tracking stats failed and there was no replacement for it. So, I deleted the plugin and then checked the footer to make sure my analytics coding was in place — either method tracks stats and I certainly don’t want to miss a moment of keeping tabs on my traffic.

Matt’s Musings Goes Buggy

The first three or four blogs updated quickly and without problems, but when I attempted to update this site, which is my second largest blog, the update failed. Big time. Turns out that the SEM Google Analytics plugin was a bust, so I had to remove it, but when the file transfer protocol (FTP) ended, I could see the blog, but I couldn’t access the admin panel. Something was blocking my wp-admin files and, darn it, I could not figure out what that problem was.

Though I didn’t have a pressing work deadline on Thursday, I decided to quit while I was behind and move on to do my work. Matt’s Musings was still accessible to my dear beloved readers (that’s you!) but accessing the all important admin panel was beyond me. Literally!

Writing About WordPress

This morning I decided to return to this blog especially since I knew I would be writing something fresh today. Turns out that my original was story was to be shelved as this whole WP upgrade fiasco was my top news of the day.

To shorten what has already become a fairly lengthy story I’ll tell you what I did to gain access to the admin panel — I ended up going back and downloading version 2.7.1, the most recent update and uploading those files to this site. Bingo! Problem solved — I obviously have control over the blog again which is good news.

What I don’t have is the latest version of WordPress installed, at least for this site. And, I’m leery of updating three other large blogs including my flagship The Auto Writer site which has more than 1200 articles and pages on it. Sure, I’ll back everything up before I make that attempt, but the hassle of swapping out WP versions in the event that something breaks makes me want to drag this process out over a week’s time instead of the customary one or two days.

Sticking With, Not To WordPress

I’m not any less committed to WordPress because a few problems crop up from time to time, but I have been reading that some people are angry and planning to switch to Drupal or to some other blog or CMS platform. I’m sure my issue will be addressed by someone, somewhere but in the meantime I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and will simply punt this problem into the middle of next week.

See Also — WordPress Woes? Check Your Theme!

General Motors and Chrysler find themselves bankrupt, Microsoft offers up a new search engine and Amazon is about to roll out yet another Kindle ebook reader. Economic considerations aside, the development of new products and the selling of the same continue almost unabated, although having your day in bankruptcy court tends to slow things down a wee bit.

Hats Off To Tesla Motors

One “tech” company getting a lot of press, far more than what it probably should receive given the size of the company, is Tesla Motors. Tesla, in case you aren’t aware of it, builds a beautiful pure electric roadster that retails for about $108,000 or twice what you would pay for a Corvette. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, the car can go from zero to sixty in about four seconds flat and travel as far as 244 miles on a single charge. But, so far all we have seen are 500 Tesla Roadsters because these cars take an awfully long time to build.

No matter, Tesla isn’t letting its limited production schedule keep it on the sidelines, bad economy or not.  In March, Tesla announced a new model, the “S” which will be a four door sedan with seating for as many as seven people. This car won’t be nearly as pricey as the Roadster as Tesla hopes to build many more copies and aim the car down market, but only somewhat. With a $7500 federal tax credit, the Tesla S could cost buyers just a few dollars under $50,000 when it hits the market around January 1, 2012.

Tesla Expands Their Retail Network

Perhaps the most significant news about Tesla is that the company is finally expanding its retail network (showrooms) beyond its California base.  Until now, if you bought a Roadster and lived elsewhere, then the only hands on service you’d get would be from a handful of California shops. Beginning this summer Tesla will be opening new sales and service centers in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, London, Monaco and Munich.

I haven’t been in a Tesla showroom yet, but from what I’ve read it is similar to what customers would find in a Starbucks or Apple store, which means you can surf the ‘net in addition to test driving a Roadster or hanging out to learn more about Tesla and their business philosophy.

A Tech Company First

As I mentioned earlier, I called Tesla Motors a “tech” company because the automaker’s emphasis seems to be more on technology than on car building, which may explain why the company had so many problems getting the Roadster on the road in the first place (the original transmission was insufficient and had to be replaced).

Nonetheless, even if Tesla Motors remains a “bit player” in the world of automobiles the company has found its niche and continues to exploit it. Beyond a two seater sports car and with a sleeky four door sedan next up, Tesla Motors probably has a thing or two it can teach General Motors, a company who builds more cars in an hour than what Tesla Motors can build in a year.

After all, GM is bankrupt while Tesla Motors is humming along, proving to the world that a California tech company has what it takes to produce automobiles that customers want.

See Also — Tesla S Unveiled!

KIDO'Z is a web browser that has been designed with children in mind. Easy to use and safe with parental controls to help families get the most out of their web browsing.

Mixed Feelings About The Internet

I hate the internet. I love the internet. There are times I feel like the Greek mythological god, Janus, with two faces looking in opposite directions.

Yet, that’s exactly how I view surfing the internet: it can be a wonderful tool to bring together people from all over the world as well as offering a much more level playing field for participants seeking to add their voices to the discussion. But, the internet has a darker, unseemly side, one which can be challenging enough for unsuspecting adults and downright dangerous for youngsters.

Downloading A Children’s Web Browser

For the past several weeks I have been following some of the blog comments and reviews related to a new children’s web browser, KIDO’Z, and decided to download it (along with the required and free Adobe Air that powers the browser) to test for myself.

My wife and I have two young boys and have been supervising their web activity very closely. Lately, as our sons have been doing more school-related research, we realized that we were nearing a crossroads: add annoying and constraining web filters or come up with another plan. I’m happy to report that KIDO’Z (pronounced kiddos) successfully meets the latter.

Operating under the tagline, “Safe, easy and fun internet for kids,” KIDO’Z is proving to be all that and more. I must admit that I didn’t do much of the initial testing myself because no sooner had I downloaded the web browser and set up the account, my oldest son got on our family computer and my wife took over to observe what he was doing.

So Very Easy To Use

Both of my sons and my wife were immediately impressed by KIDO’Z starting with its big and colorful welcome screen to its easy to use interface with big button pictures of sites they like (such as Thomas the Tank Engine) and on to more games than they could have ever imagined. Even some of their favorite shows such as Tom ‘n Jerry are included allowing them to safely view family friendly cartoons too.

No typing is necessary for children to access what they want through KIDO’Z. Pointing and clicking a mouse works just fine and, if you have touch screen technology, you can find your way around with that set up too.

Free To Use And Free Of Ads

KIDO’Z is absolutely free with no annoying ads popping up and getting in the way. A premium feature is in the works and will roll out within the next few months, but with full parental control over KIDO’Z and lots of nifty features included, the standard package is very impressive.

Yes, you can add your own sites to KIDO’Z which can be ideal if your children need access to sites not yet vetted by the moderators who work to ensure that all content items are safe for children. You can even share your finds with other KIDO’Z users which is a great way to make sure that fresh content is regularly added.

KIDO’Z was designed for children ages 3-7, but our boys are slightly older and still like what it has to offer.  Eventually, they’ll be using something like Quintura when their researching needs change, but for now the younger members of our household are satisfied with KIDO’Z and all that it has to offer them.

See Also — Wolfram Alpha: The Only Search Engine You Need?

Photo courtesy of KIDO’Z.

I first heard of the search engine this past January and immediately became intrigued by what it promised to do. However, given the previous great Cuil failure, I approached Wolfram Alpha’s release with a bit of trepidation, fearing that the hype would lead to a major disappointment. I’m happy to report that Wolfram doesn’t disappoint, in fact I think it’ll supplement Google search in the minds of many web users.

My Review, Just A Preview

Just to let you know, I have yet to spend endless hours on Wolfram so my review is from a “first look” perspective. Over an extended period of time I’ll gradually examine what Wolfram has to offer before offering up a full review, meanwhile I’m sure you’ll be reading a lot about this search engine elsewhere over the coming days.

For hardcore search engine geeks — that would be anyone who long ago embraced Google search as their default search engine of choice — the question that comes up with Wolfram is why do we need a new search engine? Well, we don’t but I’m a firm believer in competition and I also think  that there is room for improvement/refinement with all of our favorite online tools including Google search.  Google Squared was just released which, from what I’ve heard, will provide similar results as Wolfram.

Your Computational Search Engine

Wolfram approaches search differently from basic Google search in that if you enter a term you aren’t going to be served up an endless number of pages which may or may or may not have anything to do with what you’re looking for. Nor will you be subjected to endless contextual ads at least not initially.

For example, when I entered the term “New York” in the search bar, the results served up were for New York City, listing the city’s population, the population of the metropolitan area, a map of the 48 contiguous United States pinpointing New York’s location, local time, current temperature and elevation. Click on a couple links and you can see satellite imagery of the city and retrieve coordinates. And, if you really meant New York State instead of the city, one additional click can bring you information about the state.

Keep Your Queries Simple!

In short, Wolfram Alpha is a computational knowledge engine, one that serves up math based answers. So far I’ve discovered the simpler the query submitted, the better for getting spot on answers.

For example, if your question is, “How many miles from New York to Miami?”  you’ll get “Wolfram|Alpha isn’t sure what to do with your input” as your answer. However, if you make your query simple such as “distance New York Miami” you’ll get an answer. So, keep it simple and Wolfram will be able to serve up the correct answer.

If you’re looking for additional takes on Wolfram Alpha, then I suggest you start with Wolfram Alpha, Google ‘rival’, launches or Wolfram Alpha: Wikipedia Killer? for some good reads.