Janric Website Design

What posts have other readers of this blog found to be the most useful this week? Hopefully this will point you in the direction of some useful reading matter.

Scam Computer Problem Phone Calls
It seems that rather a lot of you are receiving scam computer problem phone calls, but at least you are looking at what to do! I’ve had the call a few times myself and they certainly talk the talk, but just ignore them. They are only after your cash!

Spam Expired Domain Names
The next most popular page, but way behind the phone calls, is about people receiving expiring domain spam. These people are just trying to get you to buy unwanted domain names. If you want the domain then fine, else just ignore it.

Simple Revenge
What happened when someone stole my blog content? I got my blogger’s revenge! And it seems that a lot of you are enjoying that post to. Why not read it and if you enjoy it, like it on Facebook?

Voucher Code Affiliates
Are you hoping to set up a voucher code blog? If so, you are in good company and this series of blogs will help you through the process.

Website Security
Do you want to secure your website? If so, then this is the post to go to for a few simple to implement tips and the post that was targeted by a hacker! Quite interesting twist there – at least the hacker did not succeed.

Are you feeling frustrated at the time it is taking for a page to load? Wondering just what you can do to finish the page loading and move on to the next page?

It’s a feeling that I’m suffering all too often. There are a few sites in particular that seem bad, probably because these are locking out the logon buttons until the entire page is loaded.

But I have noticed what is stopping these pages from completing their loading. Quite simply put, it is the all encompassing Google. There seems to be an issue with Analytics that will sometimes make a page take forever to load.

If you can, take a look at what your browser is waiting for (some display this information). Quite probably it is saying “Waiting for google.com”. I’m not sure why as this is different to the google analytics address that serves the code, but this is what is holding us up.

For me the answer was simple. Log on to the router and block all access to google.com. As soon as I do that (and I’ve tried it several times) the pages open instantly. There’s only one downside – if the .com version is your default browser you will need to swap to another one. But if it speeds up your browsing, isn’t that better?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

In the battle against big names not playing ball, Walgreens have announced their new prescription service. The  Prescription Savings Club at Walgreens offers its users savings against many products. From just $10 for families or $5 individuals, savings are offered on 8000 branded products and all generic products. Whether the customer wants to protect themselves against the flu with their annual jab, needs a new nebuliser or is buying prescription diabetic drugs or tablets for their dependents, from next to nothing per year the club can offer savings.

Such a new scheme needs a big launch and a lot of publicity and you can find out a lot more about what they are doing through their use of popular social networking media. With many thousands of followers and likes already, they are obviously doing something right with these!

How does this interest us here? Well this scheme is being promoted well through social networking media. You can follow Walgreens on Twitter or like Walgreens on Facebook. Have a look at either account, or ideally both, and follow them and see what they are offering and what they are doing. If you can follow their Facebook and Twitter pages, you might just like what you see and get some ideas of your own.

After a few weeks’ of work, three submissions to Apple and a complete rewrite along the way, finally our very first totally in house App is live on the App Store!

It isn’t much. It was meant to be a very simple App for the local running club to try to promote the club and it’s races. However it has evolved during the process to get it through the App review. Apple weren’t happy that it was just listing the races, so more ‘App’ functionality was needed and for that a running log was added along with features to help runners find the start of each of the races.

What was amazing though was the final review speed. Less than 45 minutes after submission the email arrived that is had been approved and was processing for the store. I’ve never seen it so quick, and it does make me wonder why Apps submitted last Thursday are still ‘waiting for review’. Maybe certain categories are reviewed quicker than others?

The App, which is available here, also involved one or two new tricks. The main one was the timer loop, or game loop. Although not put to much effect (actually it could have been static), the loop controls the display of a countdown clock. However, to avoid complaints the seconds element of the clock was removed, so it only counts in minutes. Sit there are watch for long enough and it will indeed change, but with another App planned that will use this technique, it has been a useful learning experience and something that might just turn into a powerful little tool!

Have a look at the App, download it and give it a good review! The Android version is due to follow later this week.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of My Travel Checklist for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you ever worried when you are packing for your holiday that you are going to miss something absolutely vital? Have you worried that you are going to be turning out on the first day of your skiing holiday only to realise that you have neglected to pack your gloves?

It is worst when you are going on a particular type of holiday that you have never been on before, but packing for any holiday can be worrying and result in packing only to be followed by an unpacking session to check that you really did put the gloves in the bottom of the case. And when you leave the house there is always that question – “Did you pack the suncream?” Even if you are certain that you did indeed pack it, you will be worried until that moment you have it in your hands at the other end.

That is where the My Travel Checklist service can come in extremely useful. You simply tell it where you are going and whether you are a single traveller, family or whatever and it suggests for you what you might need to take. You can then add and remove items as required to create your ideal checklist, then go through it to make sure that everything is packed.

And as you can access the list from your phone or computer, a sneaky look at the list whilst you are in the car to the airport is possible just to make certain that the suncream is ticked!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of ING Direct for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

The power of the internet these days and the information that it can give to us against what information was available to the general public even just a decade ago is amazing. These days you can uncover loads of statistics and figures about your neighbours, information that a few years ago you would never have stood a chance of finding out.

Take the new ING Direct savings widget (see below). With it you can try out for yourself the My Comparison Table widget and see how much, on average, other households in your area have in their  Savings Accounts! And not just your own area, you can explore the whole of the UK are saving and finding out whether you are above or below average with your savings level.

What can you do with this information? Well, I suppose it is there to incentivise you into increasing your savings and putting more money away for the future. Never really a bad thing! It might also tell you a lot about the different areas that are reported on if you are thinking of moving.

Just one of the many new information sources we now have access to. Have a look and le me know what you think.

Find out more about ING Direct Savings