How to

How To Sync iPhone Contacts and Calender With GMAIL

2009-02-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, so you have just got your shiny new iphone and are wondering how best to sync your contacts and calender. We if you are a user of Google's suite of applications (specifically Mail, Calendar & Contacts) then you will be pleased to know that syncing these is very easy.

One concern I had was that I would have to access all of these Google applications via the iphone's web browser as opposed to via the Mail, Contacts and Calender Apps pre-installed on every iphone. (Doing so is essential if you want to make amendments and you are in a location with poor or no signal/wifi).

Syncing Google Mail With the Iphone

This is easy. Simply navigate to the Settings App on your iphone then select "Mail, Contacts, Calenders". Under the Accounts section select "Add Account..." then simply fill in the promted fields and away you go.

Syncing Google Calender and Contacts with your iPhone

Ok this is relatively straight forward to however you will need to use a third party service over at NuevaSync. Simply register for an account then set up your account by entering your google account details and telling it which services you want to sync (in this case choose calender and contacts).

Once that is done simply head over here to set up your iphone correctly.

What is great about this is that you can then easily share you fully sync'd calender with your other half or colleagues thanks to Google Calender letting you share calenders with other users.

How To Get on Flickr Explore

2009-02-16T08:23:00.000-08:00

Many users of flickr wonder how to get their pictures onto Flickr's Explore page. First you need to understand explore an how it works.

What is Explore?

Explore is a showcase of the best photos on flickr. Flickr use Explore to promote the 500 best or most interesting photos uploaded to flickr each day. They aim to select the 500 most interesting pictures each day as a way of show casing the best flickr has to offer.

The way flickr defines interestingness is via a computer algorithm that selects the picture. Exactly what it looks for in pictures nobody really knows however below are some great things you can to to get your pictures on Explore.

How to Get On Flickr Explore

1. Join the community

Flick is a community based site. Explore almost certainly ranks pictures by a large by by factors such as how many comments a picture gets, how quickly a picture gets comments, which users (new v established) comment on your picture, how many users have made a picture a favorite.

If you want people to comment or favorite your pictures then the only way to encourage this is to do the same to other people. If you provide lots of genuine copnstructive comments to others chances are they will take some time to do the same to your pictures.

2. Tag Your Pictures Well

Tags are another great way to help people find your pictures. Try to include many tags with each picture. In addition try to convey the mood of your pictures in some tags. For example don't just tag a snap of your dog "Dog" and "Mutley". Try to sum up his expression by using tags such as "longing" or "joy".

3. Learn from others

By spending some time looking on Explore you will soon see some patterns emerging of the types of pictures that flickr determines to be interesting. Moody landscapes, arty shots of attractive ladies and flora and fauna seem to crop up time and time again. Snaps of your families recent holiday in Spain may not be interesting to anyone apart from your family so are unlikely to make it onto explore!

4. The importance of Groups

It has been noted that groups that ask for mandatory commenting or awards on pictures may be ranked lower by the Explore algorithm. That said do not ignore putting your pictures in groups at altogether. Adding your pictures to groups is a great way to show others your work. Try to stick to special interest groups that relate to your equipment or style of pictures. In these groups the communities are generally very friendly and usually happy to comment on others work.

5. Make Friends and Contacts

If you see pictures or a photostream you like then add the owner to your contacts. If the photographer like your pics then he or she may well add you to their contacts. This will make them much more likely to comment on your picture in the future as they will see your recent upload when they log into flickr.

6. Improve Your Photography

While it may be a good buzz to get some of your pictures onto flickr's Explore page it is not the be all and end all. If you are interested in photography and you use flickr as a tool to help you learn from others and enjoy participating ion discussions then you will most likely make it to explore one day. The most important thing though is to enjoy your photography and learn to take better pictures!

How to Tie a Tie

2009-02-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Learning to tie a tie can be a tricky process. First off you need to decide which knot you want to learn to tie. Below is a quick guide to a few of the most common.

The Windsor Knot

This tie knot was named after the Duke of Windsor and is one of the most common tie knots. Best suited to formal occaisions the knot is large and triangle shaped. Due to the large knot size a cut back collar on your shirt looks best with this knot.

The Half Windsor

As the name suggests this knot is very similar to the Windsor however it is slightly smaller in size. This is probably the most popular formal knot in existence and a must for anyone to learn. It is ideal for wide ties made form light fabrics such as silk.

Here is how to tie one:

Where to get slide films cross processed in London

2008-11-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

Below is a list of known outlets in London where you can ge your 35mm colour slide films cross processed.

Kodak Express in Camden
Tel: 0207 387 9882
Location: NW1 7JL
Price: £9.99 for developing only
£19.99 for developing and scanning to cd (4mb files)

Snappy Snaps in Moorgate
Tel: 0207 638 2876
Location: EC2M 6SL
Price: £11.99 for developing and scanning to cd

How to install PHPList on Hostagor Hosting package

2008-07-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

Are you haveing problems installing PHPLIst on your Hostgator account? Will PHPList noty install? If the instalklation appears to have been successful but you receive a 500 server error when you try to navigate to the mail page try the following:

In the directory where you installed PHPList open up the htaccess file in edit mode.

You need to comment out the last line. Change

php_flag magic_quotes_gpc on

to

#php_flag magic_quotes_gpc on

Now retry viewing the mail page. Hopefully you should now be able to enter and begin using PHPList on your hostgator account!

How to write & display code in a blogger post

2008-05-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

to display code simply use the html code tags.

Right click this page to view the code tags in this example below:

This is some example code!

How to set up multiple sites on XAMPP

2008-05-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

If you are having a problem setting up multiple web sites using XAMPP try the following process:

Assumptions- root folders for your two sites are:

c:/mysite/
c:/myweb/

1) add these lines to the Windows Hosts file (C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts)

127.0.0.1. myweb
127.0.0.1. mysite

2) Into Apache's "\xampp\apache\conf\Http.conf" file add the following:


<Directory c:\myweb>

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>



<Directory c:\mysite>

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>

3) Add this is the "\xampp\apache\conf\extra\httpd-vhosts.conf" file:


<VirtualHost *:80>

ServerName myweb

DocumentRoot C:\myweb

<Directory C:\myweb>

IndexOptions +FancyIndexing NameWidth=*

Options Includes FollowSymLinks Indexes

AllowOverride All

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>

</VirtualHost>



<VirtualHost *:80>

ServerName mysite

DocumentRoot C:\mysite

<Directory C:\mysite>

IndexOptions +FancyIndexing NameWidth=*

Options Includes FollowSymLinks Indexes

AllowOverride All

Order allow,deny

Allow from all

</Directory>

</VirtualHost>

Now open a browser and simple type either myweb or mysite and you should be able to see both of your site wih all the php in their full glory!

How to check websites listing position in google

2008-01-11T03:41:00.000-08:00

How to check a sites listing position in Google

Naturally when developing a website or blog you need to be able to track the position that your site get listed in google for a particular keyword. As you apply SEO techniques and market your site over time then hopefully your site will move up the listings for your particular keyword.

Unfortunately google does not currently provide this information, however the answer is relatively easy to find:

This is the simplist and my favourite method as you know it is 100% accurate. All you do is open up google and click on the "advanced Search" link just to the right of the search box.

On the following screen type your target keyword into the input box next to "with all of the words". In the example below I have searched for "chilli". Then change the box to the right to display 100 results per page and hit search.

On the resulting screen you will see the top 100 sites returned by google for the search word (Chilli). Now simply hit ctrl+f and paste the exact url of your site into the search box and click find. If your site is listed in the top 100 the cursor will take you to your listing. Then all you have to do is simply count how far up or down your search is to work out your listing.

If your site doesn't appear then scroll to the bottom of the page to and click on "Next Page" and repeat the search to see your site is listed between 101-200.

Also in order to narrow the search a little you can try searching displaying 50 results per page.

blogging: How to add categories

2008-01-10T02:34:00.000-08:00

Here is a neat little hack from the .net team on how to add categories to your blogger blog.

1. Make sure that the titles of your posts contain the category names that you want to assign them

2. Visit this page to generate the code needed to create the categories.

3. Copy and paste the code into your blog template (sidebar), save and...

hey presto! You now have a categories section on your blog!