Have Laptop Will Travel

Web Books and cheap web hosting

Originally posted on February 10, 2011 @ 5:27 am

Web hosting like the mobile phones during the initial days of discovery was a very costly affair and was limited. Thanks to cheap webhosting, carrying one’s own library is so feasible and easy via web books. One can carry their best companion without having to carry the actual weight of it. There is a wide variety to pick from across the globe, which best goes with individual taste and preference. The cost of producing and consuming a web book are one time affair and lasts a lifetime. The author is no longer required to invest a fortune towards storage or maintenance.

For a consumer too, it comes packaged with advantages of portability. It can refer it at a time most feasible to an individual.

Web books are the future of all kinds of literary works including, but not limited to academics, art and philosophy, great literature works, and most of all not to forget the science and research works. Come to think of getting the work done across countries. Moreover, inviting feedback was a costly and time-consuming affair. With the advent of cheap webhosting, it became a reality to present one’s work to the world almost effortlessly .

In some countries, we still witness kids carrying heavy loads of books while going to school while there are some countries that no longer do it and utilize the medium of cheap web hosting to their advantage
We have come of age where owing to technology advancement cheap web hosting is at our disposal whereby it is possible to communicate and share the web books with the world at large.

3 Tips for Hiring a House Sitter

Originally posted on June 25, 2024 @ 8:43 am

Leaving your home in someone else’s hands can be nerve-wracking. But a responsible house sitter often means peace of mind while you’re away, ensuring your pets are cared for, your houseplants stay alive, and your home is secure. But with so many options, how do you find the right house sitter?  

Here are 3 key tips to help you find the right house sitter. 

Seek Personal Recommendations

If you want to get real insights into a house sitter’s reliability and trustworthiness, personal recommendations are your best bet. They offer firsthand experiences from people who’ve actually hired the housesitter, giving you a solid basis for decision-making.

Start by reaching out to your immediate network – friends, family, neighbors – who’ve hired housesitters before. Ask them specific questions about how the house sitter performed, whether they stuck to instructions, and how they handled communication. In fact, it’s also a good idea to consider joining local community groups or online forums where homeowners really share their thoughts and recommendations.

Meet Face-to-Face

Meeting potential house sitters in person is crucial. It gives you a chance to really assess whether they’re the right fit beyond what’s on paper or over the phone. Plus, it’s an opportunity to gauge their demeanor, professionalism, and how well they’d mesh with your home and pets.

Schedule an in-person meeting at a neutral spot, like a coffee shop or your place. Prepare a list of detailed questions covering all the bases – previous experience, emergency handling, pet care routines, house rules, you name it. Pay attention to how they carry themselves, communicate, and respond to your questions. This face-to-face really gives you a feel for whether they’re the one for the job.

Trial Period

Really, you want to make sure it’s a good fit before getting into a longer house sitting commitment. That’s where a trial period comes in handy. It’s a low-risk way for both parties to test the waters and ensure everyone’s on the same page.

So, agree on a timeframe for the trial – maybe a weekend or a few days – where the housesitter stays at your place and handles their duties. Lay out your expectations crystal clear – tasks to be done, house rules, emergency protocols, the whole nine yards. Keep the lines of communication wide open during the trial, and touch base regularly to give feedback and address any issues. At the end of it, chances are you’ll really know whether they’re the one you want for the job.

So, when you’re looking to find the right house sitter, it’s all about seeking personal recommendations, meeting candidates face-to-face, and giving a trial period a shot. By following these steps, chances are that you find a reliable and trustworthy house sitter who will take care of your home and pets while you’re away. 

Working while travelling

Originally posted on November 30, 2010 @ 11:57 am

I’ve done my fair share of travelling, and believe me, it’s not as cracked up as it seems. Especially when it’s not exactly a vacation, and you have loads of work to take with you aside from the usual business agenda of the trip, of course. Which is why I have my very trusty laptop with me wherever I go, It’s powerful enough to let me focus on work, light enough for me to be able to lug it around everywhere, and of course the battery life has to be stellar.

Now of course you can’t be expected to log in everytime to your office network to register your websites to some Australia business directory, and all that when you travel – scary security risks are involved. You’re probably better off using cloud-based services anyway for non-vital documents. Services like Google Docs, Dropbox, and the like are really helpful. Besides, they’re going to be synced with every computer, so if you lose your computer on the road (god forbid) your important files aren’t gone. Just log in to your account and voila, you have your files back.

Remember, I said non-vital documents. I don’t think you want to put your tax records in your Dropbox – what happens if your account is coompromised? I don’t even want to think about it. So if I were you, I’d utilize all these cloud-based apps as much as needed, but never, ever let security out of your mind. It’ll be worth it.

Google’s Farmer Update and How It Affects Traveling Writers

Originally posted on March 18, 2011 @ 8:38 am

Recently, Google issued an update to their search engines, commonly referred to as the farmer update, which was supposed to improve the relevance of search results by removing some malicious websites which were full of copied content. Fair enough, but this caused a variety of problems – for example, popular content hosting services seem to be completely filtered out of Google’s search results after this ordeal, which has raised some eyebrows.

One such website reports that the farmer update cut its monthly traffic down by half, since Google no longer showed any pages from that website in its results – no matter what the articles in question were; the filtering is domain-based. So, keeping in mind that many of us who work on the road and publish on the Internet rely on such websites to submit our work to, this can severely drag down the performance of small-time writers who were, until now, relying on the services of these established websites to do their work.

Sure, we understand that unique, relevant content is important to the Internet user’s experience, but when the measures to ensure that start treading on the experience on those who’re supposed to provide that content, we definitely have a problem. There has to be a way to address this in the end, and if it means revising the whole system from the grounds up, then so be it – looks like we’re left with no choice at this point.

Twitter retention rates not satisfactory

Originally posted on April 29, 2009 @ 11:25 pm

>raman amplifierter is getting massive attention from practically everyone lately. It’s gotten to the point where a person as mainstream as Oprah has appeared on Twitter. Of course, with Ms. Winfrey’s involvement, Twitter’s traffic has received a 24 percent boost. That’s a great help in Twitter’s continued growth. But according to studies, Twitter may not be getting the full benefits of this increased attention.

Reports have come in that Twitter is not getting the retention rate that it needs to ensure continued growth. Nielsen Online reported that 60 percent of Twitter users do not return the following month. This means that Twitter’s retention rate is only pegged at 40 percent, and that’s Post-Oprah figures. Pre-Oprah, the retention rate was only at 30 percent.

Even though a high retention rate does not necessarily guarantee a big audience it is still considered important. For instance, MySpace and Facebook had a retention rate that was twice that of Twitter’s right now. When these two sites exploded into the public consciousness, the retention rate increased and are now pegged at 70 percent.

I’d love to find out what strategies Twitter will use to increase retention among its users. This will be a make or break phase for the new kid in town.