Side-by-side comparison of calendars:  You can now open up a shared calendar and view it right next to your own calendar. This makes It easier to compare and coordinate schedules.

Ability to attach messages to messages: This is a nice feature especially useful if you are concerned about a message and would like an administrator to look at the message prior to opening.

Access to mailbox archives: Allows users to access archived mailboxes from within the OWA interface so you can view your archived messages no matter where you are.                                              

Support for multiple browsers such as Firefox and Safari: OWA fully support Safari and Firefox to get the OWA premium experience.                             

This newest installment of OWA has some out there believing that you could use this as a full time mail client. I wouldn’t go that far but it seems like a huge improvement over its predecessors. As Microsoft continues to move into the cloud concept, I believe you will start seeing more and more people switch to OWA as their go to mail client.

6. Page load times: Google started looking at this more recently. Make sure your pages are optimized, and your server takes advantage of gzip compression. I would suggest you use Google Webmaster tools located here: http://www.google.com/webmasters/ to measure the load time and compare to other websites.

7. Hosting: this is important because google still uses IP addresses to track spammers, blackhat sites, etc..If you host your domain on an IP that has been linked to a “bad” website before, you can get penalized, through no fault of your own..I would recommend using a respectable web host that understand small businesses – try www.webmasters.com

8. Internal link structure: this is important..While I feel that inbound links are most important, internal links are as well. Make sure your pages are linked, and you have a site map so that google can crawl easier. Avoid using javascript when linking as much as possible.

9. URL Structure: last but of course not least, the URL strcuture is still important. While I feel that Google learned, and is always getting better at recognizing various URLs, I always recommend an SEO-friendly URL structure. For example, on my website, appplication hosting URL in this link is very clear, so when a search engine crawls this page, its that much easier for it to recognize what the page is all about…

I think most of the stuff about is just common sense..After all, Google is programmed by humans, and its made to think like a human as much as possible. So, if it makes sense to you, it probably makes sense to Google.

- Need to have your email secure and possibly encrypted.
- Audit and detection software so you can audit file access and also detect unwanted access.
- Encrypt all removable media
- Tighten security

1. Age of Domain: I feel this, and the second item on this list, are probably the 2 single most important factors, especially for Google SEO. Unfortunately, this factor is often times beyond our control. If an opportunity arises, do purchase a domain name with significant age. Google does penalize you when the domain registration information changes as it knows the ownership changed, but the penalty is not severe.

2 .Inbound links: this is another very important factor. The basic premise behind Google algorithms is still the number of quality inbound links pointing at your domain. The higher the number, with the right anchor text (e.g. Application Hosting is the anchor text of the link, and the link point to http://www.computersupport.com/application-hosting.html) , the better you rank. Of course, quality, or authority, of the links plays a huge factor – get an inbound link from the whitehouse.gov, which is considered an authority on government matters, and the benefit of this link is much higher then from some unknown site.

3. Title Tags: Title tags are what you see at the top of the browser (see pic), and what shows up as the website title when you do a search in google. Place your most important keyword closest to the beginning of the sentence, those count more.

4. Keyword on pages: Its only obvious that a search engine reads the text on your page, and sees if there is relevant content to the search query, and takes that into ranking account. Make sure your pages have relevant keywords, but do not overdo – this should come naturally if you have good content. Bolding important keywords makes a difference as well.

5.H1, H2 and alt tags: These HTML Tags are important to Google – you should have your most important keywords in H1 tags, less import in H2, etc..Also, every image should have an alt tag with a description. Please make sure to run your site through W3C markup validion and be sure it is error-free. http://validator.w3.org/

Well, this is it for part 1…to be continued….

-Rob

As a technology enthusiast, I took the time to try Kindle first hand, and read reviews on other deivices. I wanted to share my thoughts about these devices with those of you who may be interested in purchasing one for yourself or your business.

Kindle2 by Amazon - the pre-emenent e-book reader device out in the marketplace. Based on E- Ink technology (E-ink is a company that was started in 1997 by MIT grads based on research done there; it uses ultra-low power to generate paper-like appearance on thin, light form) , it also sports a cellular modem which allows you to download content wirelessly (the updated version as of October 09 rides on AT&T GSM network, so it works inside and outside of US). The device can hold 1500 titles in its memory, so you will never run out of reading material. Thoughts: I tried this device out for a few days. I think it works well generally, and is good enough for what I consider to be a Gen1 ebook reader. The drawbacks for me are: no native PDF support, no web browser, you have to pay(!!) to read blogs, can’t browse Google Books for free books, and there is no feature to “lend” books amongst devices. Also, E-Ink is a bit too slow on the refresh for my tastes. This device has a 4-star rating on amazon.com

Nook by Barnes and Noble - This was supposed to have been a Kindle killer. However, plagued by lawsuits, delays, and out of stock problems, it didnt turn out to be. This device uses E-Ink technology just like Kindle, but has a smaller color display on the bottom. This device runs the open source Google Android OS (which can be hacked to enable the full browser and other apps!!), and can store about as much content as  the Kindle. It also rides on AT&T network and works in and out of USA. In addition, in supports a feature called LendMe, which allows you to lend books to your freinds – it is removed from your library for the duration of the “lend”, which is up to 14 days..Thoughts: The positives about this device are its price ($259 as compared to $299 for Kindle2), the AndroidOS, the color mini-screen, LendMe, PDF and e-pub support, Google Books support..So on paper, this is the Kindle Killer! In reality though, the device has been plagued with delays (latest ship date – 1/11/2010 for orders placed before Christmas, 2/1 for those after). There are also early adapters reporting that the device performs sluggush, its hard to find books, and the interface is not intuiative.

Alex by Spring Design - this is device worth waiting for in my book. It should have been released by end of year 2009, however, their website still shows “coming soon” as of today. This device is based on Androis OS, and has 2 displays similar to Nook, however, the color LCD display appears to be larger. The display features a built-in browser and and interactive technology called Duet Navigator that allows for multimedia integration between what you are reading and browsing. It works on 3G networks such as GSM and CDMA, as well as Wi-Fi. Other details are scant, but this is the one to watch!

Bottom Line:  we are going to see a lot more new e-book readers on the market this year. Asus is coming out with one in March, and Sony Daily Edition is out (I did not review it as I feel it is overpriced for what it does). 2010 may yet turn into the Year of The EBook.

What does this mean for you?

I think what it means is that we will see less hype around the desktop, and the operating system. Yes, the MAC still does have a “cool” factor, however, when in comes to productivity at the workplace, cool may not be a substitute for fast, cost effective and available. And this is what The Cloud promises us. As we see widespread adoption of broadband across the US and other countries, and in the next few years we are also bound to see blanket, high-speed wireless coverage finally taking place, I believe more and more businesses will elect to move their computing environment to the cloud. Perhaps this full-on adoption will be slower with the larger companies who have their own, highly customized applications, lots of confidential data, entrenched IT departments, etc…but for the smaller, more agile firms out there, this should be a way forward.

The benefits are numerous:

• Always On – access from any location 24/7
• No upfront costs
• No worries about upgrades or new releases
• No “server down” situations (in a properly architected cloud environment redundancy should be in place)

..i can go on, but I think I have made my point. The technology will mature, and more and more businesses will find themselves using cloud computing in one way or another..Meanwhile, Spirinet has build a cloud computing and application hosting environment built with the small business in mind called AppsOnDemand. It’s core package includes Office 2007, file storage, email and other things that will serve as a starting point for most companies..And in case you need other apps, we can easily add them. Please check out our new product and provide any feedback, it is appreciated.

• New technology as it relates to SMBs
• First hand technology and product reviews that people and companies may find useful
• Tips and tricks – make IT work for you
• Search engine optimization and Search Engine trends
• The business of Web 2.0, SAAS and other emergengin technologies
• And other topics as they come along…

Again, our hope for this blog is to be an informative source of information for those of you that may have wandered onto our website.  We always welcome and appreciate comments to any of our Blog entries.

Blogger Cast of Characters:

Kirill Bensonoff – Spirinet Technology Services, partner.
Alex Ho – Spirinet Technology Services, partner.
Robert Zinger – Spirinet Technology Services, Senior Systems Engineer
Mike Shaw – Spirinet Technology Services, Senior Systems Engineer
Liam Shea – Spirinet Technology Services, Helpdesk Manager

We hope through our different practise areas we will bring a variety of topics and styles to the Spirinet Blog going forward.Enjoy….