SEO is always changing and to be successful you have to keep track of it all. Unfortunately there’s no single, definitive resource that can provide you with all the information you need. Of course, Google provides plenty of guidance and advice including lots of best practice elements to include. However they’re never going to give you a perfect blueprint for success as it would obviously be ripe for abuse. So it’s up to the webmasters and SEO specialists to try and keep up with the search engines algorithms in order to keep that organic traffic flowing. One of the most important factors for many years has been Page Rank but now we’ve no real direct way of even measuring it.
IS Page Rank still a factor for the Google Search engine algorithm, in some ways it doesn’t even matter. By all accounts, Page Rank’s days are numbered at least that Google want’s us to believe. For years it has stood at the core of Googles search results but for the last year it’s been difficult to work out the true rank of a web page. For the search giant has not been updating publicly the relative rank of pages for some time, so although most believe it is still an important factor, we can’t always work out the PR of a site. For instance if you create a new post like this about how to watch British TV Programmes online, the page will be ranked at nothing in most tools, however over the weeks this will rank higher if it is read, linked to and promoted.
The relevancy is important too, in the above example a link for a UK Television company would obviously be much more valuable than even a high powered link from a non related site.
The concept has moved more to the value of authoritative links which was largely the source of Page Rank scores anyway. Google lends a lot of weight to a site’s page rank when it comes to where and how to place that site in the search results. You need to have a high page rank if you hope to place as high as possible in Google’s results, and also if you want more traffic than ever before. But if you are new to the SEO game, you may be clueless as to how to increase your site’s page rank. First of all, your hard work building links is going to pay dividends when it comes to getting a much higher page rank. So if you can gain high quality backlinks from sites that have a good page rank then it will automatically help you reach your SEO goals. If you want to rank higher in the search engine rankings and get more traffic than you’ve ever had before, use the following techniques and you won’t believe what page rank you end up with.
One easy way to really get results for your page ranking efforts is to leave comments on other blogs within your niche that have good PR. This can quickly increase the number of backlinks you have pointing to your site which can be invaluable for your own PR efforts. One of the biggest advantages with this method is that there’s absolutely no limit on how many backlinks you acquire, so the harder you work, the better it is. You can find plenty of automated backlink tools, willing to post comments for you by the thousands, but it’s wise to steer clear of these. Even if you use the latest proxies to hide the location and maximise the number of links they can obtain, the quality will always be low and the effect usually negligible on your rankings. These tools do nothing more than spam your link around to thousands of blogs. This kind of unethical SEO practice will set off red flags within Google, who may decide to penalize your site. Think about finding blogs within your niche, or similar, and work on commenting on posts you find interesting. The blogs you comment on don’t nave to be in the identical niche to your own, as long as they have decent PR and plenty of traffic you’ll see results.
One of the best tools you should be taking advantage of to improve your page rank is social bookmarking. There are tons of social media sites such as Delicious, Reddit, Digg, and Twitter where you can easily submit your site. Once you bookmark your article on these sites you get a link back to the content on your site, which helps in boosting your page rank. It’s a tactic that is not quite as effective in 2021 however it does still work to some extent. There’s other similar links from things like forums and bulletin boards which help too, a tactic used by some of the ticket proxy sites to boost their ratings for a long time. For example, there are many pages on Digg where you can comment and get a good PR because these pages have a PR5 or a Pr6. Many people are aware of this tactic, but not many use it often enough to enjoy the real benefits it can bring.
Last but not the least; make sure you code your site the right way. You need to make it easy for the search engine spiders to crawl your site and view your text. Your site shouldn’t contain JavaScript/DHTML. Remember that search engines aren’t able to read flash, so if you use this feature then create a separate HTML page for visitors. You will have a hard time raising your page rank if your site isn’t constructed with the search engines in mind. You should focus on making consistent progress and building your page rank gradually.
So remember to use all of the strategies we’ve discussed above, and you will gradually be able to raise your site’s page rank and search engine ranking. If you want to increase your site’s visibility and gain more traffic, you have to pay attention to your page rank. You should try to get as much search engine traffic coming your way as possible.
When you use a centralized server to store your enterprise log files, you’ll quickly discover that the system can become very big, very difficult to manage without using a good naming convention in the files names and the directory structure, If all your event and application logs from multiple systems and servers are simply dumped into some central repository then at best you’ll create an admin nightmare, at the worst you’ll lose data by overwriting log files accidently.
This is likely to cause a huge level of confusion, or even make the whole point of storing and archiving your log files pretty much pointless. To prevent this, there are three key steps that you must take:
1) Name Your Log files in an accurate and logical manner. Basically define a naming convention that suits your need – try and use descriptive names like gateway server or ticket proxies. You should also include all relevant information and try to consider future developments and allow scope for this. Make sure this is consistent and ensure that anyone who has access to the repository (be it human or application) uses this naming convention when adding files to the system.
2) Use a hierarchical directory structure on your file system to store the log files. It’s difficult to specify the exact method and structure you should use because it will vary depending on the requirements. For example you could start the top level with system name and then split lower down the directory structure by date, application or system whichever is appropriate.
3) Specify locations – it’s important to know which computers and server these logs are from. This might seem a very simple idea but it’s vitally important. Don’t rely on IP address or DNS names as these can change, indeed the best logs have hardware information which rarely change. High traffic computers like fast proxies will generate huge amounts of traffic and rarely be out of use.
There is no specific way to configure either of these two requirements simply because there are multiple variables needed to make the decision. However it is essential that some thought goes into these decisions as they are crucial to maintain your log structure and making a useable resource.
There is a certain level of personal preference in these decisions, however there are some steps that can be included before deciding on a structure. One of the most important things to do is to ask any users or analysts who need access to these logs – their own opinion. Many will need to run reports or look for logs based on certain criteria, you can make these tasks significantly easier with a logical and consistent structure which encompasses the information they need. Don’t assume that basing the structure or naming convention purely on names, systems or dates is the best option – ask the users.
Becoming a solo entrepreneur is a path that not many people choose to travel down. If you have the right set of beliefs, you’re confident about finding success. While, perhaps, you’ve found success already what is important is that you never let yourself stop learning. It is impossible to learn too much when you want to help yourself improve. You should already know how important it is to keep up to date with your industry. Eventually you will start to see that lots of the information feels familiar and even rehashed. It is vital that you do not ever stop reading because every so often you’ll stumble across something new and valuable that you can use.
The internet has really enabled this employment option, setting yourself up online is relatively simple and doesn’t require a lot of capital. There are many, many examples of small websites setup on a shoestring budget which become incredibly profitable purely through consistent hard work. That’s not to say success is guaranteed, far from it – far more people fail than succeed but it’s certainly possible. Imagine the possibilities – you can quit your job, take control of your time, work when and where you want.
The problem is that although it’s perfectly possible to create a full time income relatively quickly, most people don’t even get close. The internet is unfortunately packed full of ‘gurus’ and internet marketing experts who’s own income is derived from selling junk methods to people starting out online. From a $20 report and guide to a $10,000 course on ‘how to succeed’ – this is a huge market often preying on newcomers and their dreams. Be very, very wary of any product or guide that promises untold riches through internet marketing, 99% of the time they’re completely rubbish.
Solo entrepreneurs must be extremely budget conscious if they want to break into profit. As you may know already, when you’re in business it’s very tempting to purchase all kinds of tools and products. Just one more that looks really cool and helpful, and doesn’t cost much, can become a little addictive. If a certain product can do something important for you, ask if there’s not a cheaper (or even free) way to accomplish this. Is this product really relevant to your business, or is it something you want simply because it seems cool? There are many tools which can be of use to the online businessman but not all are appropriate for everyone. Take for instance these tools which hides your IP address such as the new range of elite proxies, for many online business people it’s worth it’s weight in gold, allowing them to access geo-specific web sites and indeed customers. Nowadays people also use them for watching TV from different countries bypassing all the blocks. However it takes a certain amount of technical knowledge to use, without that knowledge it’s pretty useless.
Before purchasing any such products, you have to be able to decide if it’s going to make any real difference to your bottom line. Many solo entrepreneurs have to learn to exercise self control when it comes to buying every new product they see. Some of the best products are ones you can use first in your business, like proxies for example. Then you get to test and verify them properly – only promote things you genuinely believe in.
Always keep alert for those people who can become a key person in your business or market. There are various ways to get to know such people, so be creative about it. There are both online and offline possibilities for interacting with these people. You may have difficulties when it comes to the most famous or successful people in your industry. Don’t expect to become this person’s new best friend overnight; you have to build up a relationship with them gradually, even if it’s on a forum or social network. Meeting even one such influential individual can have important consequences for your business.
Here’s something that may seem unimportant but one day it may become very important. Whatever your solo efforts may be, write down the essence of what you hope to accomplish and then learn more about it. It could be a short and to the point description of your current business or the business that you are hoping to work on. As you start to get out there you have no way of knowing who will be asking you more about your business. Every person has the potential to be significant in your future and you must be prepared to converse with each one of them. Being lucky isn’t really about luck, it is about being properly prepared for each situation.
There is a mindset that is required of every solo entrepreneur and once you’ve really worked on it, your life is going to be quite a lot simpler. You need to learn to trust yourself and to have faith that you will be successful. Stay positive, even when your business is going slowly, it is how you will continue working. Of course there is much more to this mindset, and you’ll figure it out if this is meant for you.
The Linksys E2000 Wireless-N Router makes it simple for anyone with several computers or other devices to connect everything to one wireless network. This is an option that allows you to do without all of the cables required for a conventional internet connection. You get protection from data thieves, plus people won’t be a will to simply tap into your Internet connection. We will now review the Linksys E2000 Wireless-N Router, giving you an honest overview of the good and bad aspects of this device..
There are many advantages to owning a wireless router, however you may not be privy to what those reasons may be. People who have more than one computer (at home or at their office) can really benefit from such a device. A few years ago devices like these were only owned by geeks and people who were interested in networking, now any normal family will benefit from using them. Most houses now have a host of electronic, wireless enabled devices – we ourselves have four just in the form of Amazon Echo’s before counting all the other devices like phones and laptops. This is becoming increasingly common, and many, many households have three or more computers. That’s not withstanding all the other devices such as Smartphones, Tablets and iPads – read this.
The main purpose of a wireless router, from a conventional standpoint, is to remove the many wires that are typically necessary to connect to the Internet. The router connects your computers using radio impulses rather than cables. It is so easy to control the office network, even the one you have at home, with a router that is set up properly. This can help you do simple things like block certain websites to your kids are unable to view them. Before you get any type of electronic device, you really need to have a look at the warranty. You really should get a warranty for your wireless router. Even if a brand name or model is well known, it doesn’t mean that they will work perfectly all the time. And in the event that the router goes haywire, Cisco Linksys comes with a one-year limited warranty to protect you in case something happens.
The warranty is only 90 days if you get a refurbished unit, though even this should give you enough time to see if works. Purchasing products from Linksys will always come with the support necessary. Since many people own products made by Cisco or Linksys, you can also get plenty of advice on technical forums if you have questions. It’s particularly helpful if you want to try anything technical like operating a remote VPN or even connecting to some next gen proxy service directly.
Shopping on the Internet, you are bound to find a great deal on the Linksys E2000 Wireless-N Router. If you want to get the best deals for Linksys products, including routers, you should head over to Amazon.com which typically has the best deals on the Internet. You can also get this for a good price, considerably below the suggested retail price of $94.99. Refurbished units cost a lot less, but use caution when buying them for various reasons. Typically, wireless routers are known to be finicky, only having problems under certain conditions. So when you purchase refurbished products, keep this in mind. Stick to new units, especially when it comes to routers. Refurbished ones tend to have a bad track record for customer satisfaction. If you are looking for a wireless router that you can count on, and capable of streaming high definition multimedia like your Saturday Night Match of the Day fix then the Linksys E2000 Wireless-N Router is something that you should try. This is a wireless router you can find online at a reasonable price and install yourself in a short time. Most users are very satisfied with the Linksys E2000. It provides reliable connectivity, as long as you are in a small area. Get one for your home or office this week.
There are lots of desktops to choose from, but the HP TouchSmart 600-1370 All-in-One Desktop is one of the special ones. Well, the name tells you the main ways that this computer is different. It has an all-in-one design that is compact, and it uses leading edge touchscreen technology. All of the main features will be discussed in this article because there is a lot more to this HP desktop. For many years HP have produced some of the best looking desktops on the market usually at a very affordable price and I think this is no exception.
First of all, if you are an avid picture taker, and like to edit your images before sending them to people you know, the HP TouchSmart 600-1370 All-in-One Desktop can help you do this. Want to transfer your digital images from your camera to your computer without cables? No problem! You can do this with the 6-in-1 Digital Media Reader built right in. Anyone that uses standard cables to connect their camcorder or camera to their PC will really appreciate this feature when uploading videos and photos and streaming TV. It is easy to combine your images into a slideshow with the touchscreen. You can even add audio! You will no longer have a problem organizing your photos, or making albums. Just drag your media using the TouchSmart technology, and organizing and sharing will be done in seconds.
Another great aspect of the HP TouchSmart 600-1370 All-in-One Desktop is the enormous touchscreen that comes with the PC. Do you like vibrant colors on your computer screen? The HD 1080p LCD Display is designed to display colors and images in crystal-clear clarity – see here. Very different from a smartphone or a notebook computer, this 23″ screen is something that you will really enjoy watching movies on or just surfing the web. Even though it will take a little bit of time, you will get used to using your finger instead of a mouse to do everything with your new touchscreen. The large screen, combined with the touchscreen technology makes this desktop quite enjoyable to use for entertainment and socializing. I’ve streamed some shows in 4k from the BBC iPlayer service and it looked wonderful. Remember you’ll need a fast internet connection to cope with this too.
Being able to have fun using the touchscreen, and the user friendly design are the primary differences with the HP TouchSmart 600-1370 All-in-One Desktop. It takes up a lot less space than a normal desktop, and the streamlined look is very attractive. You can move the screen 180 degrees and tilt it either backwards or forwards. The only slight criticism is that the screen is not always sensitive enough for some operations. Clicking and selecting blocks of code from my new proxy configuration which I was setting up in text file was kind of difficult.
For your own comfort, it can be put at just the right angle. In the case that you want it mounted on a wall, the base can be removed. If this is what you want to do, then separately, the adapter and bracket will have to be bought. The webcam can even be adjusted and tilted to whatever position you would like for it to be in. Desktops are typical for not being easy to customize, but it is easy with the design of the HP TouchSmart computers. This computer, the HP TouchSmart 600-1370 All-in-One Desktop, is an excellent desktop, free from all of the constraints that a computer usually has, lacking the wires and cables that most computers always need. It is really up to you to make a decision as to whether or not you need this computer. Despite its drawbacks (the price), this might be what you’re looking for.
Education has always been one of the most precious resources that a society can supply it’s citizens. In fact without education, an economy is unlikely to flourish in today’s connected society. Which is a real problem for emerging economies and less developed countries, who simply aren’t able to provide wide spread, high quality learning to it’s citizens. In the developed world, providing education is always a challenge for governments mainly based on how it should be financed rather than availability.
There are however huge developments in the world of online learning which offer opportunity to all countries to upgrade the educational opportunities available to their citizens. To some extent the earliest form of this distance learning was pioneered in the UK with the Open University, a huge distance learning university where you study from home. Initially many of the lectures where delivered on British TV stations and the radio although they too have now moved online.
Did you think that a Physics course from Stanford was out of reach for you, or perhaps a Business course from Harvard ? Well all these and thousands more are available online for anyone with an internet connection to some extent ! Many of these courses have been online for quite a few years but not accessible to everyone. Indeed many major Universities started off with quite limited access, although if you knew how to use decent proxies like this you get through to some. They used similar technology initially as used by the large e-commerce retailers who sell things like tickets to concerts online.
The world of education is changing though and at the heart of this digital inspired revolution is the MOOC. This stands for Massive Open Online Course, although slight variations on this acronym do exist. The concept and implementation varies but it’s basically moving much of the traditional education provision online. This will definitely accelerate after the covid 19 pandemic where many traditional secondary schools have also been forced to move their classrooms online.
So what exactly is a MOOC and why is it so important? Well it offers the opportunity for a student to study a certain course, delivered by a specific professor irrespective of where they live. The secret of course is the internet, which allows a course to be delivered in an open access format across the web. Traditional course material are supplied such as digital lectures, films, slides and documents which mirror the normal formats. Many even offer the chance to earn the same qualification as standard students who are actually attending do. Mostly though there’s a certificate or non-certificate option which recognises you’ve completed the course.
Earlier courses were quite basic and just involved filming lectures and then making resources downloadable, which of course was a extremely popular. However as the format was adopted by more and more educational establishments the courses developed too, with the digital format improved in it’s own right.
One of the first major improvements was to allow for both tutor and pupil interaction concerning the courses. Of course, a tutor wouldn’t be able to respond to thousands of pupils all across the globe. However interactive forums and message boards allow this interaction enabling fellow students, assistant teachers and others to help professors support the huge volume of students. These would also help build up additional resources such as course specific FAQs.
The provision and development of online courses has developed rapidly over the last few years. In January 2012, the University of Helsinki launched a Finish MOOC in programming. It was developed because in many Finish provinces there was no premises or teachers available to provide such a course, the MOOC ensured that any Finish student could study programming if they wished from wherever they were.
There are some difficulties and challenges to the expansion of these digital courses, one of the most important is licensing and funding. In an ideal world of course, these courses could be open to anyone however this can be difficult to finance for most educational establishments. Many have tried restricting the access to specific locations in order to limit demand, however this is increasingly difficult with various tools like this which hide your location.
For years we’ve heard that computer skills are an invaluable asset to any CV. It’s fair to say that it’s probably one of the most asked questions in interviews too, after all computers impact all areas of our lives to some extent. Even if a job doesn’t directly involve computers, any company values these skills because they’re aware of how useful they can be. Small businesses without specialized IT departments are usually especially glad to have employees who can use computers.
However, knowing how to use computers are not only a valuable skill in building a career – they have even more value than that. The simple fact is that computer skills are also invaluable for anyone wanting to work for themselves. The number of self employed computer programmers, IT technicians or network support engineers has never been higher. Whether they’re working directly with businesses or through service contract companies, literally millions of people now can class themselves as self employed simply due to their computer skills. The Internet has enabled millions of people in all sorts of areas to utilize their computer skills to develop new businesses or careers.
It goes further than this though, you don’t even need to work in the technology area directly to leverage your computer skills. Many people in all sorts of areas are using the web to boost their ‘real world’ businesses. In a little village near where I live, a mobile green grocer has developed a brand new web site, a Facebook page and a Twitter account. All of these he uses very effectively to promote his business and his latest offers to customers around the area. He has even launched a milk delivery service directly on the response he received from a couple of adverts on Facebook. Thought that the days of milk delivery where gone ? Well think again as the response was huge largely fuelled by the lower environmental impact of receiving milk in reusable glass bottles!
The new opportunities are everywhere and you often only need a modicum of technology skills to get started. When I was on holiday I met someone who’s retired and set up a business selling solutions to access UK TV stations. He was set up to retire, discovered he couldn’t watch Coronation Street on ITV player and Match of the Day when in Lanzarote, then proceeded to market the solution he discovered – it’s here if you want to see. He’s doing very well and can still enjoy his soaps online.
The fact is that perhaps more and anything learning about computers can open new doors and create opportunities. It’s like learning a new language suddenly options open up that perhaps weren’t there before. As a supplement to your existing skills set or specialization, there’s very little that can compare. For those with entrepreneurial aspirations having the skills to leverage the internet and social media can be the difference between success and failure.
Digital skills can easily be obtained, most schools and colleges offer a variety of technology courses. Of course you can even learn them online now, with many offering online equivalents of their normal courses too. You can bypass blocks by using high speed VPNs – try here, if available which can also be used to access content in different countries anonymously.
Of all the skills you need to develop in your business career, few if any will be as important as your creative abilities in bringing new ideas to the table. Business is all about growth and expansion and to do that, a constant flow of creative ideas needs to be sought and the person that can do that will be sure to excel in their line of work. The problem is that it’s one of many skills that doesn’t fit into a traditional education. Too some extent it’s a skill which comes with experience, however there’s no doubt that some people are much better in this area than others.
These sort of soft, creative skills are valuable to any organisation but are traditionally more valued in some than others. The internet and technology is changing all this though and businesses which don’t embrace change and development are unlikely to survive in the long run, But how can a person develop an ability in themselves that is not taught in schools or generally perceived to even be a skill at all?
The way to so this is not really so different from the development of any other skill whether it be physical or mental in nature. For example, if you need to be a better athlete and compete for the top achievements, you need to train hard and regularly and push your body to its limits.
Similarly, if you want to achieve a tough intellectual goal or aim for a high educational qualification, you have to learn all you need to know and then study hard so all the information is crammed into your memory for you to recall at will. You can’t get this by sitting around watching TV, real learning comes from proper studies.
Well, you can go about nurturing your creative talents in a similar way by practicing coming up with new ideas and repeating that procedure regularly and often, which is a broad subject covered amply at axcp.org. What you are essentially doing is re-wiring your brain to use its creative faculties, which are things we all possess but few use to their fullest capabilities.
If you find at first you are simply stumped to come up with even one simple idea, the trick is not to give up at the first hurdle, but keep trying until you succeed. As long as you go at the task with the sure belief that you can manifest ideas, they will come while you remain calm and don’t let yourself get stressed over it. Nowadays there’s always a way to find inspiration and ideas for virtually any concept – it’s called the internet. Indeed many marketing firms use the web in creative ways to find new concepts and ideas. One of them involves scraping data and ideas by using proxies to hide their real location and browse from the perspective of someone located in another country.
The ability to relax and remain calm is a secondary trait that will stand you in good stead when you are trying to come up with ideas and insights that can overcome problems. When you are stressed and uptight, the creative part of your mind gets locked out and the flow of imagination dwindles to nothing. But as soon as you relax, that flow is restarted and you might just surprise yourself at what you can come up with.
The most creative employees are a company’s greatest asset as it is their insights and good ideas that can lift the company to new heights in whatever area of business it happens to occupy. Being one of those people can being greater rewards that you might imagine.
When you logon to your computer and start browsing the internet, there’s a feeling that you’ve some element of privacy. After all you’re probably on your own computer, tablet or phone using your own internet connection in the privacy of your own home. There’s a tendency to believe that whatever you do or say online is not really linked directly to you as an individual. It’s part of the reason why many people seem to have complete personality changes online, an expectation that you can say or do anything without consequences.
Although twenty years ago, this was probably true to some extent – it certainly isn’t now. The news in the UK are frequently filled with stories and reports of legal cases concerning blogs, tweets and comments made online. It seems that many people make these remarks often under the misapprehension that they are made under the cover of anonymity. However the idea that you can do anything online anonymously is fairly far from the truth. Only this week a blogger in Singapore was fined $100,000 for reposting an article on Facebook with allegations about the Prime Minister – Singapore blogger ordered to pay nearly US$100,000 damages to PM for Facebook post | Singapore | The Guardian.
Facebook is of course probably the last place you want to hang out if you’re looking for any level of anonymity. The platform is one of few that is based on people using their true identities when using it. There’s plenty who don’t of course but it’s normally a simple case to work out who’s said who especially if they have any level of interaction with other users and friends.
This of course becomes very obvious when the individuals find themselves in court or in the media, however many young people still seem to fail to learn this lesson. The reality is that just as in real life, anything you say online is ultimately traceable to an individual – sure it can take some effort and there can be some exceptions. But overall it is important to act online in a similar way as you would act in real life.
The reason is that everyone who connects to the internet is assigned an IP address which is linked to the device they are using. If you access to the internet at home, then tracing this IP address is a trivial matter – it is linked directly to your name and address via your ISP (Internet Service Provider). Tracking any web visit, email or message sent whilst using your home computer is very straight forward indeed.
Even messages sent from an unmanaged internet connection using a smart phone or tablet can usually be traced. This is normally not directly through the internet address you’re using at the time but through connections related to those accounts. So is it possible to have any anonymity at all online?
Well it is possible, although it does take some effort and it involves using something called a proxy or VPN to hide the origin of your internet connection. have a look at this video for example. It enables you to hide your location by routing through an intermediate server.
This is a similar method lots of people use to bypass the other tracking technology used online – geo-targeting. This technology filters and blocks based on your physical location, it’s commonly used by media sites to restrict access to their domestic markets. However millions of people use it to access TV sites when they’re outside the correct area. Most UK expats for instance have been using them for decades to access UK television online like the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. It should be noted though that these companies do try and stop these workaround, you can read about these measure in this article – How the BBC Tries to Block Your VPNs
As you can see it is possible to make it very difficult indeed to track people online, but without taking these steps you should presume that everything you do can in fact be traced back to an individual. Of course the debate on anonymity/privacy online is often quite a heated one with strong arguments on each side. Using proxies and VPNs like these though has become almost automatic for many of us who want to keep our online world private.
Some people think that everything should be attributable to an individual indeed social networking sites like Facebook insist on people using real names to interact. Others point to the potential for abuse of this sort of data, and with the Snowden revelations which showed how the various security services routinely track and harvest our data – it’s difficult to argue with this.
Whichever side of the debate you side with, one things for sure – young people should be aware of the fact that they have a digital identity and it can usually be linked with there real life. It is probably not appropriate to encourage the use of all these tools which hide and anonymize your connection without stressing their responsibilities.
Have you noticed the increasing number of websites that are becoming inaccessible? Once upon a time you could click on pretty much any YouTube video but nowadays so many are country restricted i.e. you can only watch from specific countries. I was trying to watch a movie clip the other day and I got this message. It was a YouTube video from Channel 4 the British TV channel. Which is odd really as this happened from the UK and I could access all of the actual Channel 4 site and the thousands of programmes on it (including where the clip was from).
I see it more and more, sometimes with more information but very rarely. The reason is normally due to licensing issues or restrictions, the technology used to block you is called Geotargeting. The restrictions are based on your IP address – many web sites now look up your location from this. Sometimes it’s for good things perhaps to customise your experience of their site. All the search engines for example will customize your results to your actual location. So if you just search for ‘plumber’ you’ll get results of local plumbers not from the other side of the world.
The problem is that there seem to be far, far more restrictions than there are benefits to this technology. I watch a lot of shows on Channel 4 and love this one in particular – Escape to the Chateau which is broadcast on Channel 4 live and through their website for free. However as soon as you step outside the United Kingdom our old friend geo-targeting will block access to not only Channel 4 but all the other UK TV sites too.
For example try and watch something on Hulu when not in the USA and you’ll get blocked, watch the BBC Iplayer outside the UK and the same thing happens. More and more sites are doing this – literally thousands of different websites will only allow you to watch certain things on their sites depending on your location. Sometimes the lookup gets things wrong, this is because the database which lists all the IP addresses and their locations doesn’t always get updated. I’ve often managed to watch UK shows from a French hotel because my IP address is incorrectly listed as British. However this is all a bit haphazard and you certainly can’t rely on this happening.
To ensure you can watch what you like you need to start using VPNs or proxies to obscure your location. These middle man servers present their own IP address to the web servers when you connect. Therefore if you select an elite proxy or VPN in the appropriate country you should be fine to access the sites.
The service I use has lots of servers in different countries in order to make this more accessible. For example the above site is watchable from Switzerland despite being blocked in the UK. Connect via a Swiss server and you can watch the above video with out a problem. If you want to watch the BBC or Channel 4 then you need a UK server, for Hulu or NBC then select a US one and so on.
There can be some restrictions and issues with using this technology primarily because the media sites try and block their use. Some sites are better than others at achieving this, the BBC was quite relaxed until recently when it started blocking a lot of VPNs. There are plenty that work though and you should always check before investing in a long term subscription to see if it works properly with the stations you need.
When you get the right VPN though, you’ll wonder how you lived without them. They open up literally thousands of great sites from all over the world. Most of the best VPNs come with subscriptions that cover lots of countries so don’t restrict your viewing. I recently used a VPN to watch the Test Match cricket on Indian TV then switched to watch Match of the Day on BBC later all from a US based computer.
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