As Part of the Promotional side of Web development, it is very important to constantly keep an eye on back links, as these play a big part in how you rank within the search engines. Saying that, it is important to note that the quality of the links is arguable even more important. E.g. 100 back links with PR0 versus 10 backlinks with PR2, the latter would be much better for your own rankings.

http://www.searchenginegenie.com/backlink-checker.php

This site also has a wealth of other tools that are useful, these will be covered in other articles.

The mass upgrade process has begun, the Automatic Update is now offering Windows Internet Explorer 7 as download:

This free upgrade to Internet Explorer for genuine Windows customers offers improvements such as: enhanced security to help protect you from malicious software and fraudulent websites; a cleaner look, including tabs for browsing multiple pages in one window; features to make everyday tasks such as printing and searching the web easier.  This upgrade preserves your current home page, search settings, favorites, and compatible toolbars, and can be uninstalled if you decide to do so.

More information for this update can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=71727

Size: 14.8 MB

IEBLOG: In the first four days over three million of you have already downloaded the final release. Thank you! (If you’re not one of those three million, you can get it here.)We expect the numbers to continue to climb steadily until we start distributing via Automatic Updates in a few weeks.

Clearly, we expect IE7 adoption to really take off then. If you haven’t tested your website with IE7 yet, please use the tools Scott posted about a few weeks ago to help you prepare.With the final release, we got a chance to do some fun tech community activities. For instance, on the night of the launch, we hosted a dinner in San Francisco for about twenty leaders in the local blogging community.

Afterwards, Jeremiah Owyang posted his thoughts and Thomas Hawk put up a great set of photos. We also finally let our product managers do some real marketing. We have the first IE radio spot that I can remember us doing, and we created some Mobile billboards that cruised through 10 major U.S. cities.Source: IE Blog via Bink

Mozilla has just officially launched Firefox 2.0! Although the final release was posted to their FTP servers earlier today, Mozilla waited until around 17:30 EST to put the official launch site up.

New features include:
Visual Refresh: Firefox 2’s theme and user interface have been updated to improve usability without altering the familiarity of the browsing experience.
Built-in phishing protection: Phishing Protection warns users when they encounter suspected Web forgeries, and offers to return the user to their home page.
Improved tabbed browsing: By default, Firefox will open links in new tabs instead of new windows, and each tab will now have a close tab button.
Inline spell checking: A new built-in spell checker enables users to quickly check the spelling of text entered into Web forms
Spread Firefox coordinator Asa Dotzler commented on the release in his blog:

“Two years ago an amazing community of Firefox contributors set the world on fire (and not in that Sony battery way) with the release of Firefox 1.0. One year ago, when we came together and pushed Firefox 1.5 into the mainstream, proving that we were a force to be reckoned with. Today, with the release if Firefox 2, we’re setting a new standard for user safety, control, and fun on the Web.”

Download: Mozilla Firefox 2.0 (Win32, en-us) | Other Operating Systems/Languages

An interesting trivial article about the 10 biggest computer flops of all time including:

The Xerox Alto
NeXT computer
IBM PCjr
Apple Newton
Apple 3
Apple Lisa
Microsoft Windows ME
Microsoft Bob
IBM OS/2
Gary Kildall’s CP/M

Source: www.miguelcarrasco.net

Microsoft has released the final build of IE7 today to customers, with the company expected to push the build by automatic updates on 1st November.

So whats new in Windows Internet Explorer 7 aside from the name? Dean Hachamovitch, the General Manager for the IE development team says: “The Phishing Filter and the architectural work in IE7 around networking and ActiveX opt-in will help keep users more secure. IE7 also delivers a much easier browsing experience with features like tabbed browsing (especially with QuickTabs), shrink-to-fit printing, an easily customizable search box, and a new design that leaves more screen real estate for the web site you’re viewing. IE7’s CSS improvements are incredibly important for developers as many of you have made quite clear. I also think IE7’s RSS experience and platform are important, powerful, and innovative.”

Full English Links @ Microsoft:

Windows XP SP2 Edition
Windows Server 2003 32-bit Edition
Windows XP & Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
Windows Server 2003 ia64 Edition

Checking through the weblogs, this interesting search query was found within the refferals from MSN:

http://search.msn.co.uk/…

Now this query was made by someone else who had also been screwed over(not surprisingly, that person decided to use MSN instead of Google search) over alleged Click Fraud. Having a look at the results, VSNetwork.co.uk came up in third and fourth spots, but there are many other sites that were screwed over:

http://www.domainblog.net

http://www.itsmyjourney.com

http://business.timesonline.co.uk <-- Really good article here

Who needs Google Adsense anyway? Right? If you have also been screwed over by Google, please feel free to leave a comment.

Microsoft has quietly released the latest test version of Internet Explorer 7.

The RC1 build includes improvements in performance, stability, security, and application compatibility. With this build, Microsoft has also made enhancements to the fit and finish of the user interface, completed CSS platform changes, added language support and included an auto-uninstall feature in Setup, which automatically uninstalls prior betas of IE7 making installing the new build even easier.

IE7 RC1 is available in English today, and all localized versions of RC1 will be available in September including Arabic, Finnish, German, and Japanese as well as the French and Spanish versions which will be available for the first time.

Microsoft is expected to finalise Internet Explorer 7 at the same time as Windows Vista.

Download: IE7 RC1 for Windows XP SP2 | x64 | Windows Server 2003

Source: www.neowin.net 

In quite a surprising move, here an email that was recieved from Google:

” It has come to our attention that invalid clicks and/or impressions
have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s). We have
therefore disabled your Google AdSense account. Please understand that
this was a necessary step to protect the interest of the AdWords
advertisers.

A publisher’s site may not have invalid clicks or impressions on any
ad(s), including but not limited to clicks and/or impressions generated
by:

- a publisher on his own web pages
- a publisher encouraging others to click on his ads
- automated clicking programs or any other deceptive software
- a publisher altering any portion of the ad code or changing the
layout, behavior, targeting, or delivery of ads for any reason

These or any other such activities that violate Google AdSense Terms
and Conditions and program polices may have led us to disable your
account. The Terms and Conditions and program polices can be viewed at:

https://www.google.com/adsense/localized-terms?hl=en_GB
https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_GB

Publishers disabled for invalid click activity are not allowed further
participation in AdSense and do not receive any further payment. The
earnings on your account will be properly returned to the affected
advertisers.

If you feel that this decision was made in error, and can maintain in
good faith that the invalid activity was not due to the actions or
negligence of you or those you are responsible for, such as employees
and family members, you may appeal the closing of your account. To do
so, please contact us only through this form:

http://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/request.py?contact=invalid_clicks_appeal&hl=en_GB

If Google decides to evaluate your appeal, we will do our best to
inform you quickly and will proceed with appropriate action as
necessary. If we have reached a decision on your appeal, subsequent or
duplicate appeals may not be considered.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team”

This of course was a ridiculous and outragous claim and an immediate appeal was made! This decision by Google has greatly affected the VSNetwork of sites including live sites such as TokyoDriftTheSoundtrack.com and PowerTheBrain.com. Let’s up Google decides to do the right thing and re-enable the account!

After struggling to come up with a good slogan for TheShishaShop.com, a quick Google search came up with a Slogan Generator at this site here: thesurrealist.co.uk. So off we went o a lucky dip in the hopes of a decent slogan and this is what we came out with:

You Too Can Have A Shisha Like Mine.

Whatever You’re Into, Get Into Shisha

Pretty cool eh?  Go on, you know you want to give it a spin! Link is here.