Taking a page out of Apple’s book, Google is now urging Gmail users to drop Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in favor of Firefox or Chrome that, according to the company, run the popular web-based email service "twice as fast." Google also labels IE6 as an unsupported browser, meaning it fails to run some Gmail features...

Full article here: http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-40785-140.html

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We have a new Privacy Policy as well as a new set of Terms & Conditions for the website available here:

Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions


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We are delighted to announce the launch of Kids Chinese Club. Acuras has been highly privileged in helping to develop and launch the site. Kids Chinese Club is a truly global product which has been carefully crafted to help everyone and anyone learn Chinese quickly and easily.

Daisy is the star of the show, but kids from all over the world can get directly involved. Kids Chinese Club is going to be BIG!

The introductory videos for learning Manadarin Chinese from English, French and Spanish have been made available on YouTube here:

English: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=r6kXBtJ7Xoo
French: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8aB90jFAKd0
Spanish: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E3v0lr-1Yds

I would personally encourage you to sign up for an account and see what all the fuss is about.

Take a look for yourself...

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You will be pleased to hear that we're cutting prices here at Acuras. Domain Name Registration will now be cheaper from January 1st 2009. You can see the new pricing on the Domain Name Registration page.




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Just a note to say we've moved offices! Our new office address is as follows:

Paje House
164 West Wycombe Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP12 3AE

(We will still receive mail to our old address) 

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If you are an individual or organisation with product catalogues or brochures for example, how do you make use of the effort that has gone into designing these catalogues and transfer them to the web?

One great solution is LVolume. LVolume is a web based application that helps you make PDFs more readable. Basically, we've built some clever software that takes your PDFs and converts them into Flash animations. You send us the PDF and we work our magic. We send you some HTML to put into your site. Your users can leaf through your document online as if it's a hard-copy publication.

You can view the LVolume demo here.

Please get in touch if you would like to learn more or request a quote for setting up LVolume for your site...


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This post provides basic instructions for signing up to Google Analytics if your web designer is installing Google Analytics for you and giving you access to your site's stats through their existing Google Analytics account.

All you need to do is the following:

1. Sign up for a google account at https://www.google.com/accounts/
2. Login to Google Analytics at http://www.google.com/analytics/

Your site should then appear in your Google Analytics control panel so you can start analysing your site's traffic!

For help on how to use Google Analytics you can visit the Google Analytics Help Centre.


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In this period of economic uncertainty, businesses will tend to be looking for ways to draw in extra customers from different avenues. A cost effective way of doing this is by using the world wide web.

Several clients of Acuras have stated that by just having a simple contact form on their website they have received several leads that have been converted into high value sales. Such as simple feature, yet such an effective tool.

Getting a simple website up and running isn't expensive and it can grow with your business.

Many consumers look online for better deals when finances start to get tight. Selling your goods or services online can be a way to increase your sales, especially in an ecomonic slowdown!

If you would like to see how we can help you get online, improve your existing website, or even get you setup for ecommerce and selling your goods/services online, please get in touch on 08712 887 565 or email info@acuras.co.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Jon


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A selection of recent design, development and IT news links we've recently bookmarked:

Pirates plunder Adobe Creative Suite 4 | Tech News on ZDNet
Windows 7 must avoid the marketing trap that Vista stumbled into | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com
Which IT jobs will survive the credit crunch?
Useful PHP coding tips for writing maintainable code - Warpspire
4WebHelp - PHP Coding Tips
PHP Static Classes for Code Separation at Bryan St. Amour
Dell: Netbooks won't change shape of PC market | Tech News on ZDNet
Google Chrome - Download a new browser
Adeona: A Free, Open Source System for Helping Track and Recover Lost and Stolen Laptops
MySQL GUI Client Tools. MySQL Monitor and Manager
Unit Interactive :: Labs :: Unit PNG Fix
10 Tips for Being a Greener Web Designer [Work Smarter]


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A new web browser is available from Google. It's called Google Chrome and you can download it from here: http://www.google.com/chrome

From the website:

One box for everything
Type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.

Thumbnails of your top sites
Access your favourite pages instantly with lightning speed from any new tab.

Shortcuts for your apps
Get desktop shortcuts to launch your favourite web applications.

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We've made some new Link Building Services available through the site. Take a look at the information and pricing here.

High quality links are a valuable source of traffic and can improve your search engines dramatically if used properly in conjunction with On-page SEO.

Please Contact Us if you would like further information.


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The wait is finally over for the latest release of Firefox. Some important issues have been addressed in this latest major release and it's sure to be a great step in the right direction for web browsers in general.

Download Firefox 3 and view its features here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

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Acuras has just launched a new website for a local educational media company, Avanti Media Solutions. Visit the site at www.avantimediasolutions.co.uk.


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Acuras has just designed, built and launched a new website for Trevor Laurency. Visit it at www.trevorlaurency.com. The site was built with a very basic content management system in order to allow the client to edit some of the content on a page of the website.

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A selection of recent news, coding tips and general technology links we've recently bookmarked:

Tomorrow's CSS Today: 8 Techniques They Don't Want You To Know [CSS Tutorials]
Microsoft: Vista feature designed to 'annoy users' | Tech News on ZDNet
CSS Sliding Photograph Gallery
Emma Alvarez Site: Most Useful 50 CSS Tips And Tools For Webmasters
Content Overlay with CSS - Snook.ca
MySQL Workbench
gnome-open: Open Anything from the Command Line « Ubuntu Blog
MySQL Mathematical Functions

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I came across Mozilla Prism in a recent version of the SitePoint Tech Times newsletter. The HTML version of this issue can be found here.

The concept behind Mozilla Prism is simple. It effectively allows you to run a web application (or any website) within a stripped down, dedicated web "browser" (I use that term loosely) which enables you to use the web app more like a desktop application rather than a typical website within a normal web browser.

From the Mozilla Labs website:

Mozilla Labs is launching a series of experiments to bridge the divide in the user experience between web applications and desktop apps and to explore new usability models as the line between traditional desktop and new web applications continues to blur. (Mozilla Labs)

This concept is particularly applicable for web applications such as Google Mail (or any webmail system). One noticeable advantage to this new model of use is that it enables the separation of web browsing from the regular use of web apps. If your browser crashes while visiting a site, your web app (e.g. Google Mail) is still running as if it was a completely separate desktop application.

To see what all the fuss is about take a look at http://labs.mozilla.com/2007/10/prism/ to find out more and download the current version of Mozilla Prism for Windows.


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A selection of recent design, development and server admin links we've recently bookmarked:

Subversion - Community Ubuntu Documentation
8 Premium One Line Css Tips | Css Globe
what is the /srv folder for? - Ubuntu Forums
SAMBA Windows Linux file sharing notes
Bash Cheat Sheet at SSH Help - Bash Resource Guide
Linux keyboard shortcuts
Basic Linux Commands
MySQL: How to count the number of occurences in a string
Digital Web Magazine - How to Build a Green Business
Create Eye-popping Graphics with Photoshop Brushes [Software Tutorials]

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The root password for Ubuntu is locked by default therefore logging in as root directly or by using "su" is not normally possible. This is where the "sudo" command comes in.

"sudo" can be added before any command to run it as if you were logged in as root. Alternatively, type "sudo -i" then enter your password and you will remain logged in as the sudo root user.

More info here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo

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Just a quick tip regarding PHP. If you need to override the Register Globals settings in PHP and you don't have access to php.ini then you can typically add a single line to your .htaccess file (or create a .htaccess file and place it in your root web directory)

If you need to turn register_globals on use:

php_flag register_globals 1

If you need to turn register_globals off use:

php_flag register_globals 0


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Here's the first of (hopefully) many posts documenting some of what's available out there on the web when it comes to re-usable javascript components and libraries.

This first post looks at date pickers or calendars. Very useful for date fields, they can improve usability dramatically (if integrated successfully).

JavaScript Date Picker (nsftools.com) - http://www.nsftools.com/tips/DatePickerTest.htm

A nice and simple date picker, easy to integrate with forms. Thanks Julian!

Jason's Date Input Calendar - http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex7/jasoncalendar.htm

Takes a different approach to Julian Robichaux's Date Picker. This script generates all the HTML for the date picker inputs itself. This date picker consists of two dropdowns for the day and month plus a text field for the year as well as an overlay which allows dates to be selected directly from a calendar. Can be customised fairly easily.

Some other date picker scripts are listed below. We haven't had much time to fiddle with these yet but they look promising...

The DHTML / JavaScript Calendar - http://www.dynarch.com/projects/calendar/

JS Calendar - http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/scripts/js_calendar/js_calendar.html

Calendar Popup - http://www.mattkruse.com/javascript/calendarpopup/

Bye for now!


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