Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Jumping Over the Google Sandbox

It's never easy for newcomers to enter a market and there are barriers of different kinds. For newcomers to the world of search engines, the barrier is called asandbox – your site stays there until it gets mature enough to be allowed to the Top Positions club. Although there is no direct confirmation of the existence of a sandbox, Google employees have implied it and SEO experts have seen in practice that new sites, no matter how well optimized, don't rank high on Google, while on MSN and Yahoo they catch quickly (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

For Google, the jailing in the sandbox for new sites with new domains is on average 6 months, although it can vary from less than a month to over 8 months.

Sandbox and Aging Delay

While it might be considered unfair to stop new sites by artificial means like keeping them at the bottom of search results, there is a fair amount of reasoning why search engines, and above all Google, have resorted to such measures (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

With blackhat practices like bulk buying of links, creation of duplicate content or simply keyword stuffing to get to the coveted top, it is no surprise that Google chose to penalize new sites, which overnight get tons of backlinks, or which are used as a source of backlinks to support an older site (possibly owned by the same company) (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery ) .

Needless to say, when such fake sites are indexed and admitted to top positions, this deteriorates search results, so Google had to take measures for ensuring that such practices will not be tolerated. The sandbox effect works like a probation period for new sites and by making the practice of farming fake sites a long-term, rather than a short-term payoff for site owners, it is supposed to decrease its use (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

Sandbox and aging delay are similar in meaning and many SEO experts use them interchangeably. Aging delay is more self-explanatory – sites are “delayed” till they come of age. Well, unlike in legislation, with search engines this age is not defined and it differs. There are cases when several sites were launched in the same day, were indexed within a week from each other but the aging delay for each of them expired in different months (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

As you see, the sandbox is something beyond your control and you cannot avoid it but still there are steps you can undertake to minimize the damage for new sites with new domains.

Minimizing Sandbox Damages

While Google sandbox is not something you can control, there are certain steps you can take in order to make the sandbox effect less destructive for your new site (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

As with many aspects of SEO, there are ethical and unethical tips and tricks and unethical tricks can get you additional penalties or a complete ban from Google, so think twice before resorting to them. The unethical approaches will not be discussed in this article because they don comply with our policy (Dell RM791 battery) .

Before we delve into more detail about particular techniques to minimize sandbox damage, it is necessary to clarify the general rule: you cannot fight the sandbox. The only thing you can do is to adapt to it and patiently wait for time to pass. Any attempts to fool Google – starting from writing melodramatic letters to Google, to using “sandbox tools” to bypass the filter – can only make your situation worse. There are many initiatives you can take, while in the sandbox, for as example (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) :

  • Actively gather content and good links – as time passes by, relevant and fresh content and good links will take you to the top. When getting links, have in mind that they need to be from trusted sources – like DMOZ, CNN, Fortune 500 sites, or other reputable places. Also, links from .edu, .gov, and .mil domains might help because these domains are usually exempt from the sandbox filter. Don't get 500 links a month – this will kill your site! Instead, build links slowly and steadily (sony vgp-bpl9 battery) .
  • Plan ahead– contrary to the general practice of launching a site when it is absolutely complete, launch a couple of pages, when you have them. This will start the clock and time will be running parallel to your site development efforts (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .
  • Buy old or expired domains – the sandbox effect is more serious for new sites on new domains, so if you buy old or expired domains and launch your new site there, you'll experience less problems (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery ) .
  • Host on a well- established host – another solution is to host your new site on a subdomain of a well-established host (however, free hosts are generally not a good idea in terms of SEO ranking). The sandbox effect is not so severe for new subdomains (unless the domain itself is blacklisted). You can also host the main site on a subdomain and on a separate domain host just some contents, linked with the main site (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery ) .You can also use redirects from the subdomained site to the new one, although the effect of this practice is also questionable because it can also be viewed as an attempt to fool Google.
  • Concentrate on less popular keywords – the fact that your site is sandboxed does not mean that it is not indexed by Google at all (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .On the contrary, you could be able to top the search results from the very beginning! Looking like a contradiction with the rest of the article? Not at all! You could top the results for less popular keywords – sure, it is better than nothing. And while you wait to get to the top for the most lucrative keywords, you can discover that even less popular keywords are enough to keep the ball rolling, so you may want to make some optimization for them (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .
  • Rely more on non-Google ways to increase traffic – it is often reminded that Google is not the only search engine or marketing tool out there. So if you plan your SEO efforts to include other search engines, which either have no sandbox at all or the period of stay there is relatively short, this will also minimize the damages of the sandbox effect (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

Monday, August 30, 2010

What is Google Sandbox effect?

The Google Sandbox effect is an alleged restriction placed on new websites. The result is that a new site does not receive good rankings for its most important keywords and keyword phrases for few months. Even with good content, many inbound links, a new website may still adversely affected by the Sandbox effect (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

The Google Sandbox acts as a probation for new sites, probably to discourage spam sites from rising quickly, getting banned, and repeating the process.Thus the Google Sandbox is very similar to a new website being placed on probation whose rank is kept lower than expected in searches, prior to being given full value for its inbound links and content (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

Why did Google create the Sandbox?

It is thought Google created the Sandbox filter for new sites to stop spam sites that purchase numerous inbound links, and rank highly for their keywords from the date of launch. As Google apparently considers a high number of links pointing to a site from the beginning to be rather suspicious, the inbound links are not considered to be natural (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery ) .

Another possibility is that spam sites would use various tactics to rise to the top of the search results, and gain heavy sales prior to being banned for violating Google’s Terms of Service; and then repeating the process continually. As a result, new sites are put on a probation period, and this effect is usually referred to as the Google Sandbox (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

Is there really a Google Sandbox?

Not all SEO experts agree that Google Sandbox exists as a separate filter from other alleged Google filters. Many of them do not even agree that Google uses a system of filters at all. Skeptics believe that the phenomenon merely echoes already existing Google algorithm calculations, and the Sandbox effect is an illusion. Note that Google has all but admitted recently that the Sandbox filter is real (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

Which sites are placed in the Sandbox?

While all types of new sites can be placed in the Google Sandbox, the problem appears much more frequently for new websites seeking rankings for highly competitive keywords and keyword phrases. All sites are likely to be given a term in the Sandbox, but those websites seeking rankings for keywords that are in high demand are probably in for a much longer duration in the sandbox (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

Why some sites never seem to been in the Google Sandbox? You can avoid having your site in the Google Sandbox for several reasons. Sites targeting non-competitive keywords and phrases are often left out of the Google Sandbox as there is little point in applying the filter. Keep in mind, however, that even less competitive search terms can be Sandboxed, but their much shorter stay in the sandbox often goes entirely unnoticed (Dell RM791 battery) .

How long is a site stays in the Google Sandbox?

Stays in the Google Sandbox can vary from one to six months, with three to four months being the averahe time frame. Less competitive searches will be given the much shorter stay in the sandbox, while hyper-competitive keywords will often spend six months in the sandbox. The filter will be gradually decreased over time, and will lose most of its dampening effect in about three months. However, for the most competitive search keyword phrases, the Sandbox filter might remain in full force for six months (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

How do I know if a site is in the Sandbox?

If your site has a good Google PageRank and incoming links, and it shows up in search results for some secondary search phrases, but the site is nowhere to be found for the most important searches; then it is very likely the site has been placed in the Google Sandbox (sony vgp-bpl9 battery) .

How to know if it’s the Sandbox and not a Google penalty?

If a site is punished from a Google penalty, the site would not appear in the Google search engine results pages (SERPs) for even the less important keyword searches. The site would also show no PageRank or even a grey bar on the Google Toolbar in case of Google penalty. The alleged Google Sandbox filter is apparently designed to concern itself with the more competitive keywords as they are more likely to have spam sites, purchased inbound links Google deems unnatural, and probably more manipulation attempts being made (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Will joining of Google AdWords or Google Adsense prevent being placed in the Sandbox?

Joining paid programs like Google Adwords and Google Adsense will have no effect on your site’s duration in the Google Sandbox. Those programs could provide much needed traffic while your site remains in the Sandbox. Participation in the various Google paid advertising programs will not keep your site out of Sandbox, or shorten your stay, despite what some myths would have you believe (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery ) .

Are there any other Google filters like the Sandbox?

The alleged dampening filter on new incoming links is often mistaken for the Sandbox. Many search engine optimization experts think that new incoming links are not given immediate full credit. The purpose of that gradual passing along of Google PageRank and link popularity, is to discourage purchasing of incoming links, and various linking schemes designed only to increase a site’s standing in the Google search rankings (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery ) .

How to get out of Google Sandbox ?

Time is the only real escape from the Sandbox. Depending on the competitiveness of your most important keywords, that time can vary from one to six months, with three to four months being the average duration. In the meantime, continue to improve your site contents, and be prepared to make a rapid rise once the Sandbox probation ends (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

What should I do while my site is still stuck in the Sandbox?

While your site is stuck in the Sandbox, it’s best to continue adding fresh keyword rich content and new incoming links to your site. Adding inbound links will ensure that they lessen any possible new link dampening filter that might be in effect. The links would be well aged, and ready to pass along their full value of PageRank and link popularity, as the site comes out of the Google Sandbox (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .

So it is better to concentrate on adding more keyword rich pages, and don’t forget both on page and off page factors. On the page, make sure your title tags match the most important keywords for that page. It is a good idea to add a site map and be sure that all of your pages link properly to one another with appropriate link anchor text containing the keywords for that page. Off page link anchor text should be set up to include keywords for the receiving page as well (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

This will make sure that when the filter is lifted, your improved site will rise rapidly to its proper place at the top of the search rankings.

Should I keep getting new links to my website while in sandbox?

The Sandbox is an ideal time to start adding incoming links to your site. Because of the alleged new links dampening filter, adding links while in the Sandbox solves two filters at once. If the newly added links are indeed dampened by a filter, then their full value should take effect just as your site comes out from the Sandbox (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Be sure to add strong keyword rich anchor text to your incoming links, and vary it to include several keyword combinations.

How long it takes to appear in the SERPS after leaving the Sandbox?

The length of time required to achieve your site’s proper ranking is difficult to quantify as so many variables are taken into consideration. If you have been adding well anchor text covered inbound links from relevant websites, your rise will be much faster than someone who has not continued to add incoming links (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

It will also assist your site’s ascent to search prominence by constantly adding keyword rich content. Of course, the more competitive the keywords you are targetting, the longer and harder is the climb.

How can I avoid being placed in the Sandbox ?

The Sandbox can be avoided to a degree by making the site prior to its being fully ready for prime time (Hp 520 battery) .

While the site will be placed in low rankings, it will start the clock ticking on its Sandbox duration time. Be sure to add as many incoming links as possible to get past the alleged new links dampening filter. Keep adding keyword rich content to your site. Anything that can be done to speed up your site’s appearance on the internet, including the purchase of an already existing domain, should be considered. With proper time management, a site can avoid the Google Sandbox entirely (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Seo glossary

Seo glossary What is it? What does it mean? We will try to unravel the meaning of most terms used in SEO:

Algorithm - It is a complex formula used by search engines to return the most relevant websites related to the key words to the users during a search. This formula also establishes the importance and rank of a website (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

ALT Tags – It is the text behind images or pictures. They appear when the mouse is held over the pictures (if they are included). They are useful for search engines or for the users in case the picture would not load, being replaced by the text in this tag.

Anchor Text – It is the visible text in a hyperlink. Website Design – this is an anchor text to our site’s home page. The html text will read: Anchor Text (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery)

Back Links – See IBL

Bot - is a robot or a spider, see crawler.

Black Hat – this is the name given to people using incorrect techniques to artificially raise the rank of a website in search engines. All black hat techniques violate the regulations of search engines and, sooner or later, lead to banning the websites involved from search engine indexes (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery ) .

Broken link – a link from a site that cannot no longer be accessed, usually returning the error message: 404 not found.

Click Through – it is the action of clicking a link to visit a new website.

Cloaking – it is a “Black Hat” technique where the contents presented to search engines is different from the one presented to visitors.

CPA – cost per action (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery)

CPC – cost per click, it is the amount paid by the individual launching the advertisement for each click received on the banner or link to his website.

CTR – Click Trough Ratio, it is the ratio between the number of displays of an advertisement and the number of clicks on that specific advertisement

Crawler – It is a programme created by the owners of search engines (also known as robot or spider), scanning the websites and making copies of every page it encounters (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

Description Tag - It is a Meta tag from the Header of each site containing the description of the site. This description can be seen by users in list of sites returned after the search, under the title of each site found.

Doorway page – These are pages created only for search engines. Any user who wants to access this page is immediately redirected towards another website. This is a “Black Hat” technique and it usually leads to permanent exclusion from search engines index (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

Duplicate content – sometimes webmasters simply copy pages from other sites or accidentally make copies of pages inside the site, so the same content appears in two different places. Generally, these practices are penalised by search engines because they try to offer a unique content to the users (Dell RM791 battery) .

EPV - Earnings per visitor

FFA - free for all link pages

Filter words – Words such as: and, as, I, at… are considered irrelevant by the search engines, for indexing reasons.

Googlebot – it is the robot (spider) of the Google search engine and it is used for scanning websites and collecting data to create the search index (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

Google Bomb – It can also be called ‘link bomb’ since it is the method to influence the ranking of a Google page on certain specific words. The most famous incidence of this method was when 32 webmasters placed the text ‘miserable failure’ on their sites with a link to George Bush’s autobiography page. These links raised George Bush’s site on the top position in Google when searching by ‘miserable failure’ (sony vgp-bpl9 battery) .

Google Sandbox – It is a theory about a filter that Google applies, according to which the new domains are filtered to prevent them from reaching top positions by key words. But it is only a theory.

Hit - it is considered as the single access a user performs to a server when wanting to open a web page

IBL – Inbound Links represent all links on other sites to your site, the same as ‘back link’ (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Keyword Density - it is the number of repetitions of a keyword within one page, and it is expressed in the form of a percentage related to all words on that specific page.

Keywords Tag – it is a Meta Tag in the Header of the site. This tag is filled in with all keywords describing that page (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery ) .

Link Farms – these are websites only existing to operate exchange of links, with the purpose of artificially increasing the popularity of other websites. It is considered as a ‘Black Hat’ technique and it is penalized by the search engines.

Link Popularity – the same as IBL, this popularity increases with the number of sites which make reference to your site (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery ) .

ODP – Open Directory Project (Dmoz) is the largest web directory on the internet, being updated by over 75,000 volunteers.

Outbound Link – a link on your site, sending the user to another website.

Page Rank – or Popularity Rank (PR) is a formula created by Google to determine the popularity of a website. It uses a 0 to 10 scale. There are various add-ons for Firefox or websites where the PR of a website can be verified (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

PPC - Pay per click, it is a promotion method – a link to your site is posted on various other websites on agreement. A certain cost per click (CPC) is paid. Google Adwords is an example of such types of advertising.

Query - the action of writing a keyword in a search engine to find the sites including the desired information HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery

Robots.txt – it is a file from the website root where various instructions regarding your site can be introduced for the search engines.

SE - Search Engine (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

SEM - Search Engine Marketing, a series of terms referring to most types of website promotion, including the SEO and PPC campaigns.

SEO - Search engine optimization, is the action of setting a web page by using various key words or phrases so that the website can be found on search engines more easily by users. At the moment, the term covers a wider range of activities in the promotion of a website.

SERP - Search Engine Result Page (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Spider - see crawler, a robot used by search engines for scanning the websites.

Stop Word – the words ignored during searches because they are too common to be useful in determining the result of a search. For example: and, as, at, he.

Title Tag – a Meta Tag in the Header of any website. It is the most important of all titles and tags. This title is displayed for all sites returned after a search (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

URL - Universal Resource Locator, a site’s address on the internet is unique.

Web Directory – a collection of websites grouped by categories. Usually each site is verified by an editor prior to approval. The most well-known web directory is Dmoz, but there are thousands of such websites on the internet (Hp 520 battery) .

List of words discussed above:

Algorithm, ALT Tags, Anchor Text, Back links, Bot, Black Hat, Broken Link, Click Through, Cloaking, CPA, CPC, CTR, Crawler, Description Tag, Doorway Page, Duplicate Content, EPV, Filter Words, Googlebot, Google Bomb, Google Sandbox, Hit, IBL, Keyword Density, Keywords Tag, Link Farms, Link Popularity, ODP, Outbound Link, Page Rank, PPC, Query, Robots.txt, SE, SEM, SEO, SERP, Spider, Stop Word, TITLE Tag, URL, Web Directory, Director web (Acer Extensa 500 battery) .

If you want to know more about other terms in the field which are not featured here, you can post a message here.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Making Your Website Work for You

One question I’ve been hearing a lot lately from both customers and potential customers is, “How can I make sure I’m getting my money’s worth from my website (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) ?”

Considering the way the economy is, I’m not surprised to hear this question. As a small business owner, I understand the need to carefully consider how every dollar is spent. Putting money into a website doesn’t make sense unless the site is working for you. But how do you measure that? And how do you improve it? Let’s look at these issues (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

First, we need to understand that not every organization uses their website the same way. Wrightsites.com, for instance, is a web service company – our website is our storefront. Other companies, such as AM Appraisals (www.amappraisals.com) have both a physical presence and a website that they use for business transactions. This is sometimes called “click and mortar” (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery ) .

Still others, like Glass and Garden (www.glassngarden.com) may or may not have a physical storefront, but they are using their websites primarily for showing off their goods and services and letting people know about events they will be participating in. This is usually called a “brochure website”. Each of these three entities uses their website in a different way. This also means that we need to promote our websites in different ways. Here at Wrightsites.com, our entire marketing budget can go towards pushing people to our website, because our website is our entire business (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

AM Appraisals and Glass and Garden gain their customer base from more than just their websites, so they need to spend their marketing dollars more selectively (think Yellow Pages, billboards, newspaper ads, local magazines, brochures, booths at home and garden shows, etc.). My point is that since there are different purposes for having a website, there are also different ways to judge if a site is working or not. In other words, one size does not fit all (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

So how do you measure if your website is working for you? There are several ways to do this. You could (and should) be asking as many of your customers as possible how they found you. Your website would be an obvious possible answer, but the answers to this question will really show you where you are getting the most bang for your marketing buck. Another possibility is to look at your website statistics (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

These show you a lot of basic information about your visitors: where they found your website, what page they entered the site on, what page they left the site on, and what pages in between they visited. All of our hosting packages include Webalizer statistics. This basic script analyzes server logs to see what time of day your visitors are browsing your site, how many visits per day, pages visited, entry and exit page on the site, host information about your visitors, referral sites, strings searched that led to your site, and information about the web browsers used to browse the site (Dell RM791 battery) .

We also offer AWstats, an upgraded package, for $2.00 per month. AWstats covers everything that Webalizer does, plus: visitors by day of week, countries where your visitors are from, search engine spiders browsing your site, duration of visit, operating system of visitor, keyphrases searched, keywords searched, and approximate times your site has been added to favorites. There are also other systems available that require you to place a small piece of HTML code in each of your pages (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) is one example of this. The biggest advantage to this system is that it can be plugged into Google AdWords for better results with that system. This will also let you see the paths taken by many of your visitors, which can help you understand if you have a problem with navigation of your site. The bottom line is, if you aren’t getting visitors to your site, then it can’t be paying for itself (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Make sure your site draws in users from the moment they see it, then keep them active with well-written, relevent text, and keep them moving through the site with a clean, easy to understand navigation system. Once you have all of that, advertise your website everywhere you can. This will all help your ranking in the search engines and go a long way toward making sure that your site is paying for itself (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

How can you improve your website so that it will start paying for itself? Keep it simple. You want to make sure your site design is simple enough to follow, but complicated enough to draw the visitors in at first. Then, get to know some SEO techniques. Search Engine Optimization is a service offered by many companies that will help modify your site so that it will rank as close to the top of the search engine listings as possible (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery ) .

I'm not going to go into this topic now, because we will have an entire posting on it later. Basically, you need to drive more traffic to your site. That means putting your web address on all formal advertising and communications for your company. Having pens printed? Include the web address. Getting shirts, hats, or even stuffed zebras? Slap that URL on there! This will help drive people to your site. Just make sure you have something on the site for them to see or do – otherwise this is all wasted (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery ) .

Yes, I’m biased on this subject, but I really do believe that all small businesses and organizations should have a website – if for no other reason than to communicate with customers or members. More and more people every day turn to the Internet first when looking for information. Even information such as the hours of a local store are often sought out online first (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

That about does it for this edition of the Wrightsites.com Hosting Blog. Join me next week when I discuss ways to lessen the pain of spam (Hp Pavilion dv3-1000 battery) .

Thursday, August 26, 2010

iPhone on Verizon: Fact or Fiction?

The truth of the matter is, love it or hate it, the iPhone by Apple is an industry powerhouse. Since before it's inception, people have been murmuring about the possibility of Apple making a phone, and the rumors almost always included Verizon Wireless. Many were befuddled when Apple inked exclusivity with AT&T for the 2007 iPhone release (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

Soon after, word came out that Verizon had been given first dibs on the device, and passed it by for ego business reasons. Whatever reasons prompted Verizon to pass on the device have long since changed, I'm sure.

While it's always been present, the "Verizon should have the iPhone" sentiment starting gaining momentum around the time of the iPhone 3GS. Over the past year, complaints about the AT&T network experience for iPhone users has gotten louder (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

Calls for Verizon to carry the phone have become a roar. At this point, people are getting upset about the lack of an iPhone on Verizon - not caring about any alternatives on the market, the exclusivity deal with AT&T, or the fact that an iPhone experience has been, thus far, a substandard one. All some seem to care about is iPhone's existence on Verizon, and there are just enough of those people to cause the market lemmings other consumers from following suit (Dell Studio XPS 1640 Battery) .

To the more impartial, it seems that an iPhone on Verizon is an inevitability. It just makes sense to have a variation of the phone on the largest wireless consumer base in the US. Initially, the exclusivity was a win for both AT&T and Apple. Now, with sentiment turning against the relationship, it makes sense for Apple to release the phone to other - if not all - US carriers. At some point, AT&T will reach it's iPhone saturation point, and Apple would be forced onto other carriers. It just makes sense to move forward (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

The real question, though, is when. Many people would like to see it happen in 2010, but the likelihood of that grows smaller each month. At the same time, 2011 might be too late. As frustration with the iPhone cools with time, the push to add another carrier-supplier lessens. As network issues at AT&T are resolved, the reason for change diminishes (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ11S Battery) .

But the single biggest reason for Apple to get the iPhone on Verizon NOW? Android. Numerous studies by organizations that track retail sales, as well as those which track web traffic, seem to confirm what Google has been telling us about Android activations lately: they're growing. Fast (ASUS EEE PC900 battery) .

According to some analysis, Android overtook iPhone in sales in the first quarter of this year. Even with another iPhone, the fourth model, seemingly set to launch on AT&T this summer, at the rate that Google's Android platform is growing, Apple's market share will continue to decline. If Android's rate of growth is any indication, Apple could see themselves a distant second on the market (Dell Latitude X200 Battery) .

The only way for Apple to counteract this trend? Put an iPhone on Verizon. Verizon appears to be the fastest growing Android carrier in the US - much like how AT&T benefited from the iPhone. On an iPhone on Verizon has the ability to retain market share for Apple (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) .

The Internet is littered with rumors of an iPhone on Verizon happening this year. Even reputable sources seem to indicate the possibility, and online news organizations are sitting on uncorroborated reports as I type. The one thing I can say for sure is this: Apple and Verizon have said nothing at this point. And I wouldn't expect them to (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

iPhone on Verizon would be the biggest coup d'état the US market has seen in a decade. With something so huge, I can guarantee you that iPhone on Verizon would be the biggest and best kept secret in the business. Or at least, you'd hope so.

Digging through the web, you'll find mention of suppliers making parts and pieces for an iPhone (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

You'll hear industry analysts go on and on about why they think it's coming. You'll hear conjecture on advertising, orders and supply chain, as well as the staffing schedules all the way through the end of the year. It's all rumor. A mention here and there doesn't make truth. But at the same time, a rainstorm starts with a few solitary drops of water. It's hard to determine if the web is pointing to inevitability, or the simple fantasy of people looking for proof of a CDMA iPhone (Dell Studio 1737 battery ) .

The only thing we can do at this point is wait, watch, and listen. Don't believe anything for a moment. In this business, today's exclusivity is tomorrow's loophole or exception. What we know this moment will change the next. Will there be an iPhone on Verizon? I'm sure of it. Will it happen this year? Possibly. Will it happen in June? Doubtful (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

We'll just have to keep waiting for tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be on my Android phone enjoying today (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

China Renews Google's License While Censorship Tensions Remain

Google won permission Friday to maintain its website in China and keep its toehold in the world's most populous nation after bowing to pressure to eliminate a virtual detour around the country's online censorship requirements (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

Entering search requests at Google.cn from within mainland China now requires an extra click, a change made last week to appease communist regulators. Users who click anywhere on the page are then taken to a site based in Hong Kong, which isn't subject to Beijing's censorship rules (Dell Latitude X200 Battery) .

Since March, Google had been automatically rerouting search requests from the mainland to the Hong Kong service.

The small concession was enough to persuade China's regulators to renew Google's Internet license for at least another year, the company said. There was no immediate statement on the website of China's Internet regulator, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

It's the latest twist in a diplomatic dance that's been unfolding since Google vowed in January to end its four-year practice of omitting search results that the Chinese government considers subversive or pornographic. Google reversed course after blaming Chinese computer hackers for an attack aimed at stealing the company's technology and e-mail information from human rights activists (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) .

As soon as Google published a Jan. 12 blog post publicly challenging China's censorship polices, "it became clear that Google.cn could never operate the same way again," Internet analyst Scott Kessler of Standard & Poor's said (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Even if Web surfers in mainland China click on Google.cn to get to the Hong Kong search engine, China's government can still block results by using technology controls commonly known as its "Great Firewall."

Google and the Chinese government have been trying to uphold their conflicting principles while protecting their economic interests (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

Google Inc., based in Mountain, View, Calif., wants to remain in China because the country is expected to be an Internet gold mine for decades. China's government seems to realize losing a technology powerhouse would be a setback in its effort to cultivate more innovation and raise its citizens' standard of living (Dell TT485 Battery) .

The latest compromise threatens to curtail Google's growth in China simply because it requires hundreds of millions of users to take an extra step to get to Google's search engine. The single additional click could diminish traffic and send Web surfers to more convenient options, such as the homegrown Baidu.com (Dell XT832 Battery) .

If that happens, Google will have fewer opportunities to show the ads that bring in virtually all its revenue.

Still, investors were relieved that Google get did not get kicked out of China's rapidly growing Internet market. Google shares edged up on the news, gaining $10.93, or 2.4 percent, to close Friday at $467.49. The stock remains down by about 25 percent so far this year, partly because of fallout from the company's stand against China's stringent censorship rules (Dell Studio 1737 battery ) .

Google already has been losing ground in China. The company's search market share in China now stands at about 30 percent, down from roughly 35 percent at the end of last year, according to the research firm Analysys International. Baidu's share has risen slightly to about 60 percent (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

China is not yet a big moneymaker for Google, accounting for an estimated $250 million to $600 million of Google's projected $28 billion in revenue this year.

But China is expected to become far more lucrative as its economy matures and even more of its population comes online. Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Marianne Wolk believes Google could be pulling in $5 billion to $6 billion annually from China's online advertising market just four years from now if it can manage to keep its market share in the 30 percent range (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

The makeover of Google.cn is bound to hurt the company, but "it's a sacrifice well worth making if it means they can stay in China," Kessler said.

Google's ambitions in China extend beyond Web searches. The renewed Internet license, set to expire in 2012, means Google can continue offering music, language translation and shopping-comparison services throughout the Chinese website (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

The company also is trying to get a license for an online mapping service and is hoping to build up its mobile phone business in China, which has been derailed in recent months.

Motorola Inc. had replaced Google services with rival offerings from Baidu, and Google postponed the launch of two phones that were supposed to rely on its Android software (Acer Extensa 500 battery) .

But all of Google's peripheral services could suffer if its main traffic magnet, the search engine, loses its allure in China.

Ad spending will shift to Baidu and other Chinese sites, predicted Vincent Kobler, managing director of EmporioAsia Leo Burnett, an ad buyer for a list of customers that includes Marriott International. He said the firm was recommending clients switch to Baidu (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .

"Even last year, before this crisis, Baidu always was in a stronger position," Kobler said. "In terms of media buying, customers in general ... are still more comfortable with Baidu."

For Beijing, the renewal tones down a high-profile dispute at a time when American and European businesses are complaining about unfair treatment by the government and saying China has become less accommodating to foreign businesses (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Renewing Google's license "was a smart move on the part of the Chinese government to kind of defuse the situation," said Paul Denlinger, an Internet consultant for startups. He doubts the friction between Google and China will disappear but thinks it will dissipate for now (Dell Latitude C400 Battery) .

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Battery care from beginning to end

It is clear to note that batteries which are maintained by individual users generally last longer than those in the public system to operate the group, where everyone has access, but no one is responsible. In this article we look at aspects of two specific battery applications, namely for purposes of personal and group applications. Article provides suggestions how to extend a battery life and can improve the reliability (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery).

In our definition, a single user is someone who is mobile phone, a laptop or a video camera for business purposes or pleasure using one. He or she is probably the recommended guidelines of the battery-care follow all. The user will be closely familiar with the difference between batteries do with. Once the period of performance is slowing, the battery is being serviced or replaced. Cases of critical failures are rare, because the individual owner on the performance of the battery and adjusts his expectations and adapt equally reduced (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery).

The user group, on the other hand, has a low personal interest in the battery pack and will tolerate a little, which is not perfect. It takes just a battery charger and expects that the length of time he maintains his power for. At the end of the day the battery is recharged, ready to hand the application of the next user. Presumably through negligence batteries provide for multiple users is noticeably shorter life span than those used exclusively for purposes that are personal (Sony VGP-BPS9 battery).

How can fleet batteries remain stable for longer? An interesting observation follows from the comparison between the manipulations of the U.S. Army on the one hand and the other army Holland where both fleets use batteries.The U.S. military divides batteries without any maintenance program. If the battery fails, a new pack is distributed without causal questions about the circumstances be made. Only minimal maintenance is spent and the failure rate is high (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery).

The Holland Army decided to drop the fleet system by the soldiers be held responsible for their batteries. This system has been introduced to improve the reliability and reduce operating costs. The batteries will be handed out individually to the soldiers and their property as maintained (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery).

The improvement results are amazing. Holland, the Army has introduced the new scheme, the failure rate fell significantly, while performance was an improvement in battery-listed. Sudden failure in the field application could be excluded almost completely (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery).

It should be noted that the Army Holland only NiCd batteries used. To prolong the life of each package is replaced by a periodic maintenance by a Cadex battery analyzer. Batteries that are not set 80-percent capacity to achieve the target will be reconditioned, those who do not reach the target capacity, will be replaced. The U.S. Army, on the other hand, uses NiMH batteries which have a shorter life span known for. The Army evaluated the newly developed Li? Ion polymer battery type as the future generation (Sony VGN-FZ150E battery).

Constant battery failure, high replacement costs and questionable reliability have led many organizations to, a battery to be checked by analyzing regular batteries and wait. Today, play a critical battery analyzer and indispensable role in the batteries to extend the service life and reliability and to improve performance (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18M battery).

As expected, new batteries correctly provide its full capacity at all times.However, many users notice that a new battery is not always the performance specifications. Weak batteries can therefore be identified and a battery analyzer to matching its performance to be brought through. the capacity does not improve, the packs in order to guarantee compensation to the supplier returned. deliveries to whole new battery had to be returned to power is lower due. Had these batteries without prior review released, the whole system would come into affect, and frequent failure causes which could unreliability (Toshiba PA3535U-1BRS battery).

In addition to the preparation of new batteries use lead battery analyzer important service function by which, to strengthen weak batteries, and has become sort out unusable units. It should be noted here that a battery analyzer, the nickel-based batteries most effectively regenerated. Lithium-based batteries lose their capacity primarily by the aging and loss of this benefit more can not be undone. Weak batteries are often hidden between the good units. If high stress emergency measure required by a falling early from already weak units (Toshiba PA3534U-1BRS battery).

Operating organizations tend batteries so long to move the maintenance until a critical situation develops. Had such a fire crew in the use of radio communication chronic problems, especially in an insert, which lasted more than two hours. Although the reception functioned normally, the team could not send clear. This situation brought the fire department in embarrassment, as it provided the team was not aware that their messages were not transferred (Toshiba PA3399U-2BRS battery).

On the recommendation to the fire department managed a Cadex analyzer to the battery and all batteries were serviced and reconditioned. Those batteries that do not aim to improve capacity were predetermined to have been replaced (Toshiba PA3285U-1BRS battery).
A short time later, the fire department a ten-hour operation to set up, the increased radio traffic required. To the surprise of no radio failed. The success of this operation was error-free battery performance attributed to the. The next day, sat down personally with the fire chief of the manufacturer of the battery analyzer, in conjunction, and praised the flawless performance of the product and its future use (Toshiba PA3465U-1BRS battery) .

Batteries, which for a long time period are willing to fail, often when they claimed to be in a Notbedarf suddenly. A tour of a Cadex Representative emergency system in a large American city invited to. In the fortified underground bunkers were over a thousand in NiCd battery chargers ready.The green light flashed at all and showed that the batteries fully charged and ready at any time would be. Responsible manager assured with undoubted conviction: "We are prepared for every possible emergency!" (Toshiba PA3450U-1BRS battery)

The Cadex representative asked for one of the operational battery charger, to check the condition. Within seconds, showed the battery analyzer battery failure in one. In an effort that this was only one case, took the head of another battery charger, which also failed, however, and tested the following batteries not fared better. He also denied (Toshiba PA3285U-1BRS battery ).

Such events occur, unfortunately, quite common. Decisions and lack of financial fundamentals make it difficult political to the problems, if detected, remove quickly. A maintenance program where every month battery analyzer battery is cycled a systematic, could prevent such problems. As long as this refrain will remain the responsible head of the emergency response system remain to be hoped that it never comes to a real emergency (IBM ThinkPad R50 battery).

Another group of users who must rely on batteries is crucial, is the military.Defense organizations attach great importance to use the best quality and performance requirements for appliances and equipment to make the highest. This applies, unfortunately, not necessarily on battery packs, where poor maintenance, lack of knowledge and lack of care are common. The battery thus escapes the military thorough inspection and is often used only superficially inspected. These efforts will be little done to and the number of cycles to capture the age. Finally, mixed with new batteries are weak and the system is unreliable. As a result, the soldiers carry, so to speak "stones" instead of batteries ready with him (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery).

Summary

Different from the single-user, the battery like a good friend and treated him carefully to know the need batteries from an unknown group of users remove the supply pool. While an individual user already noticed a slight drop in performance, group users have little knowledge of when the batteries are removed from the charger. The user is the condition of the battery completely delivered. It plays Russian roulette (IBM ThinkPad R60 battery).

In recent years many companies have decided to perform battery maintenance programs. Such facilities include regular drill of the battery reconditioning of those units that are below the set target capacity, and the sorting out has become unusable batteries with one (IBM ThinkPad R51 battery).

Unfortunately, batteries are usually then waited until they no longer hold their power or when the unit is sent for repair. As a result, the battery device unreliable and battery-related failures will happen more frequently. The loss in the battery is just as harmful as any other disorder in the system (ACER Aspire 3020 Battery).

Monday, August 23, 2010

Android GPS Tracking

For quite a while now i wanted to program something for the android platform, and dive into the holy world of google, but i really never had time to do any investigation on that platform , maybe just because lack of any good and reasonable project (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

But i got my chance now at a recent course where the assignment was to develop any Web 2.0 related, or something for mobile devices ideally in combination with Web 2.0 so two colleagues and me submitted a project to live track your way on a mobile Android device on crossingways.com, aside from live tracking we also wanted to support offline track recording with the possibility to upload the tracks later (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

No one complaint about the project idea, so we started developing.

Result

We finally have 4 Screens

The main screen

It is the starting point for all operations, and displays an overview of your location if gps is enabled and if location is available. Live tracking can be enabled and disabled seamlessly here (assuming your user credentials are configured properly, see settings screen (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

Also a nice feature of android is the automatic switching of layouts. Suppose you have a device which supports screen rotation, on other platforms (e.g. Windows Mobile ) it's a real pain to support portait and landscape mode at once. On Android it's just defining two different layouts in predefined locations and the android framework choses the "best" layout for the device the application is running on, even when switching from portrait to landscape while the application is running (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) !

The settings screen

As the name already says, enter and check your user credentials and enter the upload interval for live tracking to give the internet connection (umts or whatever) the change to sleep in these intervals to save battery power (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

The track management screen

As you will see in the program flow later, this screen contains all tracks that are recorded on the device. Here you can delete, load (continue) and upload them. More technical details on uploading following later (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

Program flow

As you can see starting a new track recording is quite simple, after pushing the "Start Recording" button the "New Track" window pops up where you can enter some information about the new track. After creation the recording starts immediately with the option to pause or to stop the recording (Dell TT485 Battery) .

Because of the slow solid state memory access the received track points are not saved as they are received. After receiving a punch of trackpoints the data is written to disk. Maybe we will add an option to configure the "maximum count of uncommited trackpoints" ;-)

Implementation details (Dell XT832 Battery)

I only have picked some interesting things about the implementation if you want to see the whole source, go to the end of this section.

SOAP for Android

One of the first questions were, how to "talk" with crossingways.com. They offer a (undocumented ;-) ) webservice written in ASP.net. These webservices can be contacted by either HTTP GET (really ugly), HTTP POST (nicer, but not what i wanted) and SOAP (Dell Studio 1737 battery ) .

We decided to use SOAP. So the question was "Is there already a SOAP library for Android?" and we discovered that ksoap2 has already been ported to android! The only problem know was to get the ASP.net webservice to speak with the ksoap2 library because that's not real standard SOAP (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

The result of that work is a nice PerformSOAPCall method.

Asynchronous Web Requests

After some first testing we figured out that the internet connection on an android device can be really slow, so we decided to implement asynchronous web requests, which don't block the user interface, well i know that is always a good idea, but we thought if it's fast enough without reasonable blocking we could leave it because threads are expensive (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

This raises some more problems, what if the (sending) queue gets larger and larger (filled with live tracking requests, they occur quite often) and i want to upload my recorded track NOW without waiting for all the live tracking requests to get processed (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) ?

to solve this issue we implemented a 2-stage request queue, a low priority and a priority. The low priority queue gets only processed if no elements in the priority queue are present and if the low priority timeout is reached (defined on the settings screen). The priority queue gets processed immediately on adding a new request (it would only wait for an other element currently processed (Acer Extensa 500 battery) .

But now we are still missing one important feature --> Ui feedback. It's nice that the requests get processed in the background but the user wants to know if the track upload has finished or if it failed. This Ui feedback is not straight forward, because the methods that show the feedback (message window) or the methods that update the list element status or whatever need to be called in the same thread than the user interface is running and not in the background-connection-thread. But the android framework also has a soution for this problem. It's called AsyncTask (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery)

You just extend that class (in this case we extended CrossingWaysConnection) and override two methods.

The first one: doInBackground

This is the method which is executed in a seperate thread without interfering the main/ui thread.

The second one: onProgressUpdate

Once publishProgress is called in the background thread, this method is called in context of the main/ui thread. But keeb in mind without locking or condition variables the background threads runs further even before this method is finished (Acer Aspire One battery) .

That's a real nice mechanism which makes the program feel faster and it's real flexible. Currently there are only a few requests implemented but it could be extended easily (Dell Latitude C400 Battery) .

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Goodbye Vista. Hello XP

Three months ago, shortly before it's release in stores, I installed Windows Vista on my machine. A couple of days ago, I deleted it and installed the previous operating system - Windows XP. Why did I go backwards in operating systems? Let me explain (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

It has been my experience over the years that Microsoft's operating systems usually need a good year to 'season' before they are ready to be used. When Windows XP first came out, I upgraded to it. It didn't last very long on my machine. At the time, I was still using a parrallel port printer. USB printers were still fairly new at the time but parallel printers had been around for a long time (Dell Latitude X200 Battery) .

I installed XP and setup all my devices. Somehow, XP decided it didn't want to work with my parallel printer, but the cheapo USB printer I had, worked perfectly. Now I usued that parallel printer (an old HP Laserjet) 99% of the time when I printed stuff. It wasn't color like the cheapo USB inkjet, but it printed much better than the cheapo, was faster and was quieter. But since XP couldn't work with it, I got upset and went back to Windows 2000 (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

I couldn't believe that Microsoft would be able to get a brand NEW type of printer (USB) working, but they couldn't get a technology that had been around for 10 years beforehand (parrallel printers) working? WTF? This was unacceptable. It worked in Windows 2000. Why didn't it work in XP? It was another year before I went back to XP and tried again. This time it worked perfectly on everything, including my parrallel printer. It looks like Vista is going to turn out to require the same one year 'seasoning' (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) .

Now, my usage of PCs has changed drastically since those days of my first experiment with XP. Back then, the PC was my ONLY computer. Without that, I couldn't do anything. So, back then, I used the PC and as a result, Windows every day. I had to have something that worked! These days, that's changed. Now, I use my Mac 99% of the time (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

I only switch over to the PC for the occasional small task that I can't do on the Mac. This means that I actually didn't use Vista all that much. I would use it for a few simple tasks - copying files, browsing the web, organizing the files on my iPod etc. for a few minutes a day. Despite this very small amount of usage, Vista continued to aggravate me and get in my way more so than XP ever did that first time. If it hadn't been for my printer problem back then, I could have kept using XP (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

Vista has been nothing but problems for me.

My first impression of Vista was certainly positive, as I wrote about in my blog at the time. It had a pretty UI, and it had some nice 'Mac-ish' features. Over time though, the 'thrill is gone'. I've come to really dislike it (Dell TT485 Battery) .

First, the UI. While, it definitely is a more colorful UI than XP, I'm not entirely sure it's a good design. Vista's Aero UI has this interesting 'frosted glass' transparency of the title bar and the borders of it's windows. This means you can see a somewhat blurry version of whatever is underneath the title bar behind the title bar at all times (Dell XT832 Battery) .

Frankly I find this very distracting. I've seen Vista running on my machine and on other machines in the stores. Every one of them looks different to me. But they are all running the same graphical scheme. It's just that the background image on each was different. This means that there was a different background blurring through the title bar on each Vista machine I looked at (Dell Studio 1737 battery ) .

I don't like this. This means that essentially your title bar will have a different look depending on where on the screen it is located and what it underneath it! This can make it very hard to spot the title bar and which application is the active application. This is going to lead to a great deal of confusion among the less computer-savvy users out there. Hell, it leads to confusion with me and I'm far from a computer novice. I think this was a major UI mistake (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

Vista is highly unstable (or at least it's drivers are). I've lost count of how many times I've had to reinstall my video card and motherboard chipset drivers of the last three months. This thing has given me the 'blue screen of death' more time in 3 months than in the 6 years that I used XP (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

It also seems to have an even worse case of the 'XP pause' effect. You know the one - when you bring up Windows Explorer and it just sits there and 'thinks' for a good 10-20 seconds before it shows the contents of your hard drive. This is unacceptable to me. Even on a directory with only a few files, it pauses for a long period of time. It also seems to pause for long periods of times when you click on an app in the task bar to switch applications. I've lost track of how many times I've clicked on iTunes in the taskbar to just have nothing happen (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

It has many problems with iTunes and iPods in general. At times I'd click on iTunes in the task bar to switch from another app back to iTunes and it would just sit there and do nothing. iTunes wouldn't respond for a good 10 seconds. It also had the annoying habit of every time I plugged in my iPod, it would tell me that the drive on the iPod is corrupted and offer to repair it. The drive on the iPod is NOT corrupted (Acer Extensa 500 battery) .

If it were, it wouldn't be playing any music, now would it? Yes, I know these iTunes problems are well documented and Apple and Microsoft have been working hard to fix them, but I just cannot live with them anymore.

The network configuration panel in Control Panel is one of the most confusing things I've ever seen (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .

I am a very knowledgeable computer person, but this thing damn near baffles me. It almost seems to be too smart for it's own good. At one point, I went in there and temporarily disabled my network card. The problem was, I had a hell of a time trying to figure out how the hell to turn it back on! I'm afraid to touch anything in that network configuration panel now, for fear it won't work (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Vista has serious software compatibility problems, even with Microsoft's own software! For a while Microsoft's Zune software wouldn't work with it. Visual Studio 2003 doesn't work with it. This incompatability with VS2003 is a major concern. My company still uses VS2003. This means we essentially can't upgrade any developer machines to Vista! The initial version of Visual Studio 2005 doesn't work properly with it. You need to install a service pack for it to work properly (Dell Latitude C400 Battery) .

Microsoft's Active Sync software doesn't work on Vista. You need to install a completely different program on Vista to get the same functionality as the older Active Sync. I use Active Sync to sync with my new Treo 700 cell phone. This cell phone runs Microsoft's PocketPC OS. The problem was, I couldn't get the Active Sync replacement to work at all on Vista. It never seemed to recognize my cell phone properly (Sony VGN-FZ150E battery) .

Plus, I had to install an OS update on the phone itself, but that update did not support Vista. It was this Treo incompatibility that ultimately caused me to give up on Vista.

What's even more funny about the fact that I went from Vista back to XP? It's the fact that I bought a copy of XP to do it! For the last 6 years, I've been running a 'less than legal' copy of XP. It took the 'Vista Experience' to make me want XP enough to buy it - after it was already out of date (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) !

Maybe in six months to a year from now, Vista will have stablized enough for me to use it. In the meantime, I'm going to stick with the 'old' XP and my Mac.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Making iTunes stop that gapless playback nonsense

Here's a problem that a lot of people are having: iTunes supports gapless playback since version 7.x. Okay, admittedly there are also people who think it's great - to clarify, my personal negative reaction to it is not strictly about gapless playback as such, but rather about Apple's implementation approach (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

Apple seem to assume a number of things:

  • everybody needs it
  • the process of gathering all the required info is short, painless and unintrusive
  • their implementation is perfect and doesn't have any bugs

These assumptions have led them to leave out a simple checkbox in an Options dialog, which would allow to switch the collection of gapless playback information off (Dell Latitude X200 Battery) .

Not only that, since 7.x (we're now on 8.x) they have continuously ignored feedback from users asking them to add this option. I count myself lucky not to have stumbled upon this issue shortly after the introduction of the feature, because it must have been much worse then - many people reported severe problems at that time, which usually ended in iTunes crashes (Dell Vostro 1710 Battery) .

Before I get to the point of describing my own issue, I would just like to state that I find Apple's attitude towards this issue despicable. It seems to constitute a severe error of judgment not to introduce the option above from the start. I don't know the right words to describe what I think about the neglect of customer opinion that is apparent today, seeing how the latest versions still haven't changed in this regard (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) .

And at the same time Apple continually makes iTunes a more and more important application - it used to be for dealing with music, now it does podcasts, videos and the iTunes and App stores, in addition to being the only feature complete management frontend for iPods and iPhones. If you're listening, Apple, this is ridiculous (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Now, the issue I was seeing is not a bug - or maybe it is one, on some level. I have a collection of music on a network share, with a total volume of around 40GB. Around 600 CDs I ripped myself, a few songs recorded from internet radio stations and the rest is podcasts. When I ran iTunes, it started analyzing all the files for gapless playback info (whatever that actually means, I was unable to find out precisely what this analysis step entails (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

This process went rather slowly, at maybe one file per two seconds or so. More importantly though, the implementation of this is such that iTunes uses up all available CPU for the duration of the scan. Since I need to use my computer every now and then, I never actually saw whether the process would complete at some point - it might, but then again, I have seen some forum posts that claim the process started over the next time they ran iTunes (Dell TT485 Battery) .

The process certainly started over for me every time I re-ran iTunes, and confusingly the total number of files in the status message always seemed to be the same. Since the information gathered is allegedly stored in the MP3 headers of the files, I don't really understand why iTunes apparently scans the same files all over every time (Dell XT832 Battery) .

At least canceling the process usually worked for me, if only for a while. I saw that on occasion the scanning would resume later on - not hard to notice, since the computer became unusable every time this happened - and of course at the next iTunes start it would start over (Dell Studio 1737 battery ) .

In some forum I found the hint that there's an option on each file which says "this file is part of a gapless album". I found the option and set it to "no" for all files in my collection, as per instructions. Unfortunately this didn't help at all, no idea why. There seems to be an additional confusing connection to the global "crossfading" option, but I tried all possible combinations without success (Dell Studio XPS 1340 Battery) .

So, on a technical level, these here seem to be the issues:

The process is implemented with what seems to be high priority (in contrast to just "normal" priority). It appears to use both cores in my machine, thereby effectively blocking the rest of my system. Not a good multi-tasking citizen (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

Status saving for analyzed files seems to be either broken or brain-dead, otherwise the process would at least get done over time. As it is, the scan seems to be run for the same files over and over.

The information is stored in the files themselves (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

Why do iTunes developers assume they have the right to change my files without asking me? Don't do that! It would not have been a problem to add an option to my iTunes library file instead. (Admittedly, the workaround below would not work then, so at this point, without the option to switch gapless playback off altogether, I'm glad they were insolent enough to store the info to the files (Acer Extensa 500 battery) .

The per-song option to configure gapless seems to be broken. If it's not broken, it's badly implemented - an option that doesn't do what it name says is useless.

Now, for the positive news. There's an easy way I found to "deactivate" the collection of gapless playback information (HP Pavilion dv6000 Battery) .

It is to simply make the folders in which your iTunes library resides (yes, the physical files) read-only. If iTunes can't write to the files, it doesn't collect gapless playback info. In my case we're talking MP3 files, and while I wouldn't expect any difference, I don't have a clue about other file types (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Depending on your setup, there are probably several possible ways of doing that, with various benefits and drawbacks. In my case, I simply went to my file server and set the permissions on the entire network share to read-only. Then I created a second share for the same directory, on which I set read-write permissions (Dell Latitude C400 Battery) .

This way I can now access the data on the share just as easily as before, but iTunes can't change the files anymore. When it comes up, I see the status message about gathering gapless playback info flash by quickly, but it doesn't last more than maybe a second or so. Nice (Sony VGN-FZ150E battery) .

If your setup doesn't involve a network share, you would probably succeed most easily by changing the NTFS (or Unix, if you're on a Mac) permissions for the directory, taking away write permissions. I don't use iTunes to download podcasts, but I imagine it would even be possible to leave a certain sub-directory read-write for these (or videos perhaps), while making the rest read-only. In any case I think it's beneficial if the actual music directory is not the same as the "iTunes music folder" Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .

That's what things are like for me, and it works just fine. Ah well... YMMV.

So, on a technical level, these here seem to be the issues:
The process is implemented with what seems to be high priority (in contrast to just "normal" priority). It appears to use both cores in my machine, thereby effectively blocking the rest of my system. Not a good multi-tasking citizen.Status saving for analyzed files seems to be either broken or brain-dead, otherwise the process would at least get done over time (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

As it is, the scan seems to be run for the same files over and over.The information is stored in the files themselves. Why do iTunes developers assume they have the right to change my files without asking me? Don't do that! It would not have been a problem to add an option to my iTunes library file instead (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .

(Admittedly, the workaround below would not work then, so at this point, without the option to switch gapless playback off altogether, I'm glad they were insolent enough to store the info to the files.)The per-song option to configure gapless seems to be broken. If it's not broken, it's badly implemented - an option that doesn't do what it name says is useless.Now, for the positive news. There's an easy way I found to "deactivate" the collection of gapless playback information (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

It is to simply make the folders in which your iTunes library resides (yes, the physical files) read-only. If iTunes can't write to the files, it doesn't collect gapless playback info. In my case we're talking MP3 files, and while I wouldn't expect any difference, I don't have a clue about other file types (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Depending on your setup, there are probably several possible ways of doing that, with various benefits and drawbacks. In my case, I simply went to my file server and set the permissions on the entire network share to read-only. Then I created a second share for the same directory, on which I set read-write permissions . This way I can now access the data on the share just as easily as before, but iTunes can't change the files anymore (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

When it comes up, I see the status message about gathering gapless playback info flash by quickly, but it doesn't last more than maybe a second or so. Nice.

If your setup doesn't involve a network share, you would probably succeed most easily by changing the NTFS (or Unix, if you're on a Mac) permissions for the directory, taking away write permissions. I don't use iTunes to download podcasts, but I imagine it would even be possible to leave a certain sub-directory read-write for these (or videos perhaps), while making the rest read-only (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery)

. In any case I think it's beneficial if the actual music directory is not the same as the "iTunes music folder". That's what things are like for me, and it works just fine. Ah well... YMMV.