Resource Document Updates - 2006-08-17
We've re-tooled some of our resource documents with updated information and added some new ones. Be sure to take a peek .

You've got Spam. What can you do? - 2006-08-14
Spamming - the abuse of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited, bulk messages. Most likely you are already familiar with this word, and don't even need to look for its definition. The question that's bugging you is: "How did spammers know my e-mail?"  A popular method that spammers use to find your e-mail address is by combing through the Whois database.

The main idea behind it is that ICANN, the international governing body for domain names, requires every Registrar to maintain a publicly accessible database displaying all contact information for all domain names registered. That means that every time you register a domain name, your personal contact information is available on the Internet for anyone to see, including spammers, identity thieves, or telemarketers.

Knowing how important it is to keep your online identity secure we offer an identity protecting service called DOMAIN PRIVACY, which will hide your personal information from spammers and will replace it with alternate contact details. The result is unquestionable; you remain the owner of your domain, without revealing your personal info to the public. 

Call us to see how you can take advantage of this service. 

For All You Mac Types - 2006-08-08
If you haven't already heard, the next 'cat' is upon us with Leopard debuting soon.

Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs showed off the new Mac OS X Leopard at the Worldwide Developers Conference Aug. 7 in San Francisco.

There are some pretty nifty features, all of which are sure to decrease productivity as you play with their fancy effects (I love the Time Machine thing myself).

You can preview the new OS here. 

Web Users Judge Sites in the Blink of an Eye - 2006-08-01
Researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second of viewing a webpage. They were surprised as they believed it would take at least 10 times longer to form an opinion.  The study, published in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology, also suggests that first impressions have a lasting impact.

Speedy conclusions
The Canadian team showed volunteers glimpses of websites, lasting for only 50 milliseconds.  The volunteers then had to rate the websites in terms of their aesthetic appeal.  The researchers found that the speedily formed conclusions closely tallied with opinions of the websites that had been made after much longer periods of examination.

Gitte Lindgaard of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and lead researcher of the paper expressed her surprise at the results.  "My colleagues believed it would be impossible to really see anything in less than 500 milliseconds," she told the website of the Nature journal, which reported the research.

The judgements were being formed almost as quickly as the eye can take in information.

Lasting impressions
The researchers also believe that these quickly formed first impressions last because of what is known to psychologists as the "halo effect".  If people believe a website looks good, then this positive quality will spread to other areas, such as the website's content.  Since people like to be right, they will continue to use the website that made a good first impression, as this will further confirm that their initial decision was a good one.

As websites increasingly jostle for business, Dr Lindgaard added that companies should take note.  "Unless the first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of your site before they even know that you might be offering more than your competitors," she warned.

- Nature Journal first reported on the study online on Jan. 13, 2006.