Q3 PageRank update review

Posted by multippt

Looks like Google has rolled out another PageRank update. Overall, most sites won’t experience any change in PageRank. However, there is still a significant number of sites whose PageRanks have fallen by one or two points, usually for sites that have been around for quite some time. New sites are fairing fairly well, most of them achieving an average of between 2 to 3. There were improvements in PageRank for some relatively well-known sites, such as Youtube (why of course, a Google product). However most others simply experienced a dip in PageRank, and well-known ones are not spared either.

Though, if compared to the previous update, the previous one would be much enjoyed by most webmasters (firsly being that there were much more increases in PR than decreases). Seems like Google may have tweaked the alogarithm a little, or it could be that most webmasters are relaxing after preparing all that Search Engine Optimisation last year.

The previous PageRank update was on May, which means this update came a lot more sooner than expected. Judging from past updates in January, February, and May, it does seem that Google is updating PageRank much more regularly, with its cycles becoming shorter (hopefully moving towards the 1 month cycle Google had about 6 years ago). The current PageRank cycle is estimated to span across 1.5 to 3 months.

Notices on iGoogle?

Posted by multippt

Update: The “beta” notice appears to be gone, for now.

Seems like Google is doing a mini experiment on the iGoogle page. This time, it involves a small little yellow notice with a “Close” link. Apparently Google forgot to place any message on the notice.

Clicking on the close link will close the notice, though not for long as the empty annoucement will spring right back on the next time you reload the page.

Once again, yet another one of those minor things to happen on the Google home page.

Time to update your Flash player

Posted by multippt

If you haven’t gotten version 9.0.124.0 of Adobe Flash player, please do get it quickly, since an exploit found in earlier versions is being used actively. Older versions of Flash player are at risk.

The flaw is being used by Chinese hackers (presumably, since most of the affected sites are in China) to steal World of Warcraft passwords through the installation of a keylogger that records keystrokes for certain programmes. It also attempts to disable Kaspersky Anti-virus (fortunately most other anti-viruses are not affected).

The attackers also attempted mass SQL injection attacks (i.e. attempting to insert some “additional” stuff or modify things in your site) early on and are using these victim sites as a means of

While the bug affects Internet Explorer more often than Firefox in a way, it’s still a good idea to update your Flash player immediately (even if you not play World of Warcraft).

Convault Theme released, Other site news

Posted by multippt

Convault Theme

I’m pleased to announce that the Convault theme is available for download. The convault theme is a 2-column layout that supports widgets.

The other theme is still undergoing further testing and may be released shortly.

Dofollow enabled

Tevine would be removing nofollow from comments (i.e. dofollow) to further credit any commentators. If you are a registered user, your comment would not be subjected to immediate moderation. However, if you are not registered, your comments would only appear after moderation.

Love the template? Vote for it!

Posted by multippt

This would probably be the first “contest” on this site. Basically, I’m going to release this template to the public early if it gets enough approvals - and the best way to do it would have to be through the built-in voting system here. A pretty cool move right? I’d bet this would probably be the first time anyone would have done something like that.

Guest posting and the lot

Posted by multippt

In order to spruce things up a little, I’ve decided to make guest posting more available to the public. This means that you can post here on this site, without even needing to register an account. This whole thing is currently being tested, but it works. Guest posting allows you to publicize an idea, or perhaps if you have something you want to debate about, you can use the guest posting feature.

Sure, you may ask what is in for you, the poster. The simple answer is that, guest posting will act as a form of legal advertising here (provided you leave a link to your site somewhere in the post).

How to guest post

Guest posting is easy. You’ll only need to come up with a 100 word story, and post here. It need not be a news post. It can be a debate, or something else. However, reviews are currently not allowed. Once you are ready, you can proceed to the post submission page and submit your entry. Be sure to write a brief description of yourself at the top of the post (E.g. “John is a problogger at example.com”).

Once you submit your post, it will be subjected to review before it gets posted. Ammendments to a post can be requested via sending an E-mail to the administrator.

What if I register an account?

If you register an account, you will be entitled to future upgrades which allows you to manage your posts better.

What if everything went well?

If the trial went well, posts will be posted automatically, without much prior review. That is, if there isn’t too much spam received via the guest posting feature.

Entrecard mini updates and Wishlist

Posted by multippt

There are some minor changes in the Entrecard dashboard. More statistics are displayed, and sadly, some were moved away from the front page. The following (statistics) additions are pretty nice:
-Credits earned via ads
-Credits earned via drops
-Currently running ads (i.e. ads that you buy)

Some other changes
-Pending Ads/Your Ads moved to its own page

The changes are pretty minor, so don’t expect much from it.

Wishlist

To make it short and sweet, I decided to put it as a list:
-Entrecard API for plugin makers like me
-Make it possible to view other people’s recent drops (without asking the user)
-Template glitches to be fixed (Internet Explorer)
-Support for more ad sizes
-Support for customizing of the card beyond the black-yellow-white design
-A more “nicer” design of the ad, to cater everyone’s taste

I hope that Phirate will be listening. I’ll be using Entrecard for a while more to see how things go.