Maki & Brian DeLaet EduCyber founders

November 2003 EduNotes

EduCyber is pleased to present the November 2003 Edition of EduNotes. This month we introduce you to one of the hottest acronyms in web sites, take a closer look at burning and ripping, and try to sort out how powerful your new computer needs to be. Enjoy and as always, send feedback to edunotes@educyber.com .

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Another Acronym

In the ever changing world of technology there is another acronym that every business owner needs to understand. The acronym is SEO and it stands for Search Engine Optimization.

What it means is that your web site needs to be optimized in such a way that search engines can easily navigate and index it. It also means that your web site needs to have certain features such as key word and description meta-tags so that those engines that use this information can better understand what your site is about and for what words it should be ranked.

Sometimes it is easy to overlook the obvious. If you want your web site to be ranked for the key word phrase “buy oranges online” for example, it would be important that that phrase actually appear word-for-word on your web site. We have seen many instances where people want to be ranked for phrases like this but then use “Buy our oranges via your computer online” and never use the exact phrase they want to be ranked for. Getting as many of your phrases onto your pages as is logical will help your rankings.

But SEO goes a lot deeper than that. As search engines continue to grow more sophisticated in the methods they use, your site needs to continue to change to meet these changes. Linking text and hyperlinks are areas that are ‘hot' right now. Instead of having a link that reads “Order online here ” you would be better served having a link that reads “ Order Oranges Online ”. In addition, the name of the file that you link to, instead of something generic like “orderform.html” would be better i f it was named “order_oranges.html”. Trying to delve into the logic of how your site is arranged, search engines examine these links and the file names to which they link, trying to better understand what phrases your site should be linked for.

Even your images and the “alternate text” that displays if the visitor has images turned off on his or her browser are places the “bots” the search engines send out to search your site look at. Naming your images 1.gif, 2.gif, 3.gif etc. is not very beneficial. Instead naming them orange_grove.gif, customer_buying_oranges.gif provides additional information to the search engines. You ALWAYS want to have alternate text that will display where your pictures are. This is an excellent way of using your key words and phrases.

If you'd like help with SEO or want to discuss your options regarding SEO, call us at (720) 275-4646 for a free consultation.

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Burning and Ripping

Have computer users around the world entered a world of violence where all they think of is destruction with actions like burning and ripping? Where's the pillaging? Actually, when it comes to ripping and burning on computers, folks are usually referring to the copying of music from or to a CD.

Burning a CD refers to the process of copying music (of files or other data) from a computer to a recordable CD or DVD. CD's (and DVD's) come in two flavors. They can be either writable or re-writable. A writable CD is one that you can write to once, sort of like using pen on notebook paper. A re-writable CD is like a whiteboard. You can write files to it, erase it, and write more stuff to it. So, if you burn a writable CD, it will be written to once and the data will be stored forever (or at least for the life of the CD/DVD).

The CD media is FAR more reliable than magnetic media. Run a strong magnet past your tape or floppy disk and you have blank media, regardless of what was stored on it. Run a magnet past your CD or store your magnet on top of your CD and, when you insert your CD again, it will have all the data on it. But I digress.

Ripping music can mean a variety of things including burning CDs but its most common meaning is pulling music from a CD onto your computer. You can also rip music from other sources onto your computer or from CD's or the computer onto an MP3 player. Once the music is ripped, it can be played from your computer or burned back to other media like CDs or DVDs.

Of course, if you talk to folks in the recording industry, they will tell you that the ripping and burning going on in today's music world is violent. The violence involves the changes happening to the way music is bought and sold. After the mass piracy of the last few years, beginning with Napster and continuing to this day, the recording industry is playing catch up. Apple has led the way with it's iTunes store selling music for 99 cents a song but the market is quickly filling up with competition.

If you haven't tried ripping and burning yourself yet and you've got a CD or DVD burner, try it. It's a lot easier than you might think and you will soon be creating your own Favorite Hits compiliations. While downloading music may do away with latent hits that turn up on the back side of 45s (OK I'm dating myself) or come out on albums containing already popular songs, it will give consumers much more control of what they listen to.

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What do you need for a computer?

My kids use an old 400 MHz Pentium II computer. This allows them to play their games, surf the ‘net for homework or to play their favorite online games, and to use word processing and presentation software. And it is more than adequate for this job.

Our graphic designer, Maki, just upgraded to a brand new 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 Processor computer with 512 MB of RAM. For the graphics programs that she runs, she needs this much power and could even use more.

And I (Brian) use a 1.4 Pentium and am wishing I had more power and speed.

So what does the average computer user need in a computer? Unfortunately there is no average computer user no more than there is an average car driver. If you've got kids you probably drive a mini-van or an SUV that can load the kids and their friends for outings. If you're single or married without kids, you might drive something smaller and sportier. If you haul stuff a lot, you probably have some kind of pick up.

In the same way, different computer users have different needs. If you're just using a computer to surf the net and do simple word processing, you'll be more than happy with a low end computer. The good news is that a “low end” computer these days starts at about a 2.4 GHz Celeron Processor and if you want to splurge, you can get a 3.0 GHz processor. More good news is that computers such as these can cost as little as $500.

But if you want a business class computer you'll want more than the basics. Make sure you get AT LEAST 512 MB of RAM. Also, get a Pentium Processor instead of a Celeron if you run any kind of database. For the operating system you'll be better served, in a business environment, with Windows XP Professional (as opposed to the Home Edition).

If you're a gamer, you probably don't need our advice but we would recommend getting as much processor and RAM as your budget can afford PLUS getting the very nicest video card you can. You'll probably want at least 128 MB of RAM on the video card.

Some other things to consider when purchasing a computer – many computers can be purchased without monitors. If you don't need a monitor, you can take $100 or more off the cost of a computer. Or, if you need more space, you can look into getting a flat screen LCD monitor. Starting at around $300, these monitors can save desk space and on the power bills.

Also, printers are very affordable these days as well. Low end laser printers (great if you don't print in color) start as low as $180. And if you need color, you can get fast color inkjet printers starting at $70. Just beware of the cost of ink cartridge replacements.

And get as much processor as you can afford – it's easier to upgrade memory than it is a processor. Computer memory comes in many different types but you can get upgrades for as little as $25 for 128 MB of PC133. If you want to upgrade your processor later on, you'll just have to toss the old one.

So whether you're upgrading the office or shopping for a Christmas present, think about whether the needs are for speed or for simpler tasks.

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