Alpha to the Omega

There are currently over 20 million students in America attending over 25,000 colleges, high schools and universities. Competition is high, especially at tertiary level, and where you gain your qualification can really impact on your destiny. But competition is none so higher than on the internet, where educational establishments strive to gain higher and better Google Rankings by constantly improving their layout and design of their web pages. The internet offers great means of support and excellent resources to all their users, whether you are a student, planning to become a student or just for casual browsing. Their libraries are an immense source of information whether you are compiling reports, writing a dissertation, doing research in your chosen field or wanting help with your essays. Therefore I have compiled a list of the top 50 American Universities using Alexa Rankings. I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed compiling it. If I have omitted any please drop me a note.

01. Stanford University - 1,244

21. Anna University - 2,862

22. University of Virginia - 3,030

23. Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey - 3,054

24. New York University - 3,137

25. The Ohio State University - 3,202

26. University of California, Irvine - 3,455

27. Texas A&M University - 3,710

28. University of Southern California 3,896

29. Michigan State University - 4,059

30. North Carolina State University - 4,075

31. The University of Chicago - 4,319

32. Princeton University - 4,335

33. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - 4,368

34. University of Hawaii - 4,427

35. Duke University - 4,496

36. Yale University - 4,708

37. Indiana University - 4,925

38. The Georgia Institue of Technology - 5,007

39. John Hopkins University - 5,036

40. The University of Georgia - 5,130

41. University of South Florida - 5,140

42. University of Utah - 5,187

43. University of Pittsburgh - 5,343

44. Boston University - 5,463

45. Arizona State University , 5,556

46. Washington State at Pullman 5,795

47. University of Iowa - 5,917

48. University of California, Santa Barbara - 6,160

49. Georgia State University - 6,412

50. Iowa State University - 6,685

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Labels: Alexa, College, List, Rankings, University

By chuntao On 8.13.2008 At 8/13/2008 02:48:00 PM

Ultimate List of Free Windows Software

Here is a list of over 150 free Windows & Office downloads from Microsoft. I have seen this ultimate list being mirrored on some sites, rather than it just being given the link for you to Digg etc. I mention no names - just put the title in inverted commas into your search engine and you will see the culprits, if you are interested. I'm sure Blake Handler from Microsoft doesn't mind, it helps to get the message out. Anyway feel free to work away at this cool list. Coz I know I am. Good luck.

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Labels: Download, Free, List, Microsoft, Software, Windows

By chuntao On At 8/13/2008 09:45:00 AM

Free Software

Here are a few pieces of software to keep you out of mischief.

Help save the planet with the Edison Energy Monitoring Tool from Verdiem. It is free (28MB)and helps you work out your computer's and household energy consumption. Very user friendly.

RarLabs have released their latest file archiver and compression tool WinRAR 3.80 beta 4. It is free again for 40 days. However, if you can't wait to buy it , well don't.

AOL Desktop: (codename: Nexus) Build 2.1.84.1 has now been released.

Red Hat has released an alpha version of Fedora 10 (Cambridge). A few bugs have been fixed ie. Sectool and audio improvements. It also includes an extra add-on called OpenChange, which should help those who use Microsoft Exchange.

Mozilla has released Thunderbird 2.0.0.12. Get it here.

If you havn't already got the new CCleaner v2.10, then you should. There are minor bug fixes and loads of extras including Shutdown to system tray and some support features with Windows Vista. This is a nice piece of software.

The new beta of Viigo for your Blackberry is also available for download. It includes lots of extras, especially covering the Olympics and loads of RSS feeds.

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Labels: Download, Free, Software, Utilities

By chuntao On At 8/13/2008 05:12:00 AM

"Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifs."

Cuil - Alexa Ranking 5,456

Cuil (pronounced cool) is a revolutionary new graphic-based search engine with in-depth site descriptions, that was launched on 28 July 2008. The word "cuil" is thought to be an old Celtic word meaning knowledge and hazel, which stems from the classic Finn McCuil legend. And there is no better place to start accumulating some knowledge, than here. It has already indexed over 121 billion pages and there seems no end to its ambitions. Its founders, Anna Patterson, Louis Monierall, Russell Power, all fomer Google employees and Tom Costello - CEO and of IBM ilk. Incidently, Tom is Irish himself and is also married to Anna. Between them and other prominent names, their experience in search engine architecture is immense. Their remit is to index the whole internet. Waow. Anyone looking for a new job, because they are hiring? They raised $33M in venture capital from private investors and this gave them a strong and timely foothold to launch the site.

So how does it work? Well for starters Cuil, unlike Google, is based upon rich content rather than popularity, pagerank and advertising. Cuil for everyone. Its' use of artificial intelligence in finding relevant context for your particular search is one major factor that is going to make this site a success. When you type in a word, eg. "software", you are faced with a drop-down menu that presents you with relevant suggestions such as software development, software reviews, software companies, software updates etc. Again very cuil. Now click and you see how really cuil it is. You get a slick interface with 2 or 3 columns, a neat description and top glossy images of the sites. Some people may think the descriptions are too long and more hits could fit on one page, but I don't think that really matters when you see the quality of the gifs, and the fact that some of the normal contenders are not displayed on the first page. Another point of note, is you don't get the obligatory "1000' results yet. I got 23 pages with 8 results on each page. Not so cool. But you do get more drop-down menus, tabs and roll-over definitions that really help you refine and expand your search even more. I believe quality over quantity always wins.

It has certainly made its mark already. On its first day Cuil had more than 50 million queries. Even though there may be some glitches at the moment, it offers rich and unique content on a user-friendly platform. It does not collate personal data, IP addresses or even users names, unlike other top seach engines. You can drop them an email and submit your URL too. All very very C O O L, Cuil, or even kewl.

And Webmasters should take a leaf out of their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) book, because when I checked their Alexa on August 5th they had a ranking of 1,090,420. Now it is in the Top 6,000 and climbing. For those who are interested, Cuil is supported by IBP Top 10 Optimizer. Grab yourself a free trial today and take on the big boys. Everyone wants to be the next Google. Cuil don't need to try, they are the ex-Google. Graphic search engines are the future and Cuil.com is here to stay.

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Labels: Free, Search Engines, Submit URL

By chuntao On 8.09.2008 At 8/09/2008 07:23:00 AM

Part II - Mega Firewall List

Hi again folks, I have decided to follow up my Top 10 Firewall list and expand it to Firewalls in the top million using Alexa Rankings again. I love lists and I hope y'all do. It wasn't easy, especially when a lot of software companies either collapse or get assimilated into larger companies. They will either change the name of the product or use the former products engine to run their already existing software. So I hope this list is more informative and give you more freedom of choice. However, it will give y'all more scope for securing your systems and allay any fears that you may have in using crackz. Crackz are bad ! They are real bad. You are better using a Firewall with high Alexa, rather than a crack with a great ranking. I must emphasize that this also should only be a short-term remedy and when you get round to purchasing your first Firewall, make sure it is one that you have had some experience in using. After your OS, a firewall is the next most important piece of software you will ever invest in. So take your time, enjoy using them and remember to be shrewd in your choice.

01. Windows Live OneCare - Ranking 13