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Ecommerce / Web Marketing Ezine
September 9 2001
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View the TTB Ezine Archive
Taming the Beast Ezine - September 9 2001
Contents:
A note from Michael and Kathy
1. Off the track a little... TTB's new free ring tone section!
2. Collaborate with Taming the Beast!
3. Article summary - What happened to the World Wide Web?
4. Article summary - Site & Email disclaimers - a necessary evil
5. From the Archives - The Internet vs. Nature.
Closing Notes and contact details
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September 9 2001
Greetings All,
Welcome to another issue.
It's been a busy fortnight in the Taming the Beast camp! We have had a couple of new projects with external clients begin and another couple on the boards, so in this issue we'll discuss possible collaborations with TTB. We'll review Kathy's latest project - Free Ring Tones. We'll also catch up on the latest articles on offer from Taming the Beast. The articles are FREE for reproduction on sites, ezines and newsletters, but please notify us that you are using them.
Please forward this newsletter on to those who you feel may be interested in the subjects discussed. If you have received this in error, we apologise, and by replying to this email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line, we'll remove you from our list promptly. To those of you who have subscribed, we assure you that your email address will not be distributed to any other party for any reason, in accordance with our privacy policy.
Michael and Kathy
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1. Off the track a little - TTB's new free ringtone section!
A few weeks ago, my beloved partner Kathy received a new mobile phone (cellular phone to our American friends). This caused much excitement in the Administrative Goddess, and many hours were spent in "optimising" the communications device.
Then Kathy set about hunting for free ring tones on the 'net. This was pretty scary as much cursing could be heard as she went from site to site, popup to popup. Many sites she visited were supported by pornography advertising. Most of the sites didn't show the keypress sequence, only the musical notes. Many sites required payment as they send the tones directly to your cell phone.
Kathy was sure that she wouldn't be the only one going through this, so in true TTB manner, instead of giving up, she set about creating a database of ring tones and tunes, complete with key press sequences. Kathy has also developed a tutorial for entering the tones into Nokia cell phones. Currently she is working on Ericsson tunes (if you would like to be notified of when Ericsson cell tones are available, go to the page and subscribe - it's free and your email address will not be given out to other parties).
Instead of publishing the free ring tones up in toilet roll fashion; we've chosen to implement a simple searchable online database using a PHP form and MySQL back-end. You can carry out searches by Artist or Title using full or partial artist or title names. Results are displayed rapidly.
At present, there are over 200 ring tones in the database. Kathy is continuing to update it on a regular basis. Genres include: Top 40, rock, metal, classical, popular, ballads, rap, house, acid, dance mixes, movie themes, TV themes and unfortunately Britney Spears is also in there ;0).
At present, the models supported are the Nokia 3210, 3310, 3330, 3390 and the 8250. If you have a request for a particular tune; Kathy will do her best to find it for you.
"SHOW ME THE TONES!!!"
Okay, enough rambling from me.... you can access the searchable free ring tones database here:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/ringtones /ring-tones.htm
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A short tutorial on entering the tunes can be found here:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/ringtones /nokiaringtonecomposertutorial.htm
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Subscription to Kathy's Ring Tone Update (free)
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/ringtones /ringtonesubscription.htm
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Please feel free to recommend the database by using the "Tell a friend" form at the bottom of each page. You can also subscribe to Kathy's Ring Tone Update by entering your email address on the subscription form of the Ring Tones page. Again, your details will not be distributed to any other party.
I can't begin to describe what a joyous experience it has been to hear the cacophony of tones produced from Kathy's mobile over the last 3 weeks! ;0)
Kathy looks forward to producing the largest key press ring tones database on the Internet and she encourages your feedback to assist her in keeping the quality of database high.
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2. Collaborate with TTB!
Web Development is an expensive, time consuming business to be involved with. We've recently spent a large amount of money ensuring that all our development software is properly licensed and this is an ongoing expense. Web development technology is constantly changing... so much to learn, so little time.
Taming the Beast is growing rapidly and we'd like to ensure that when a client asks us whether we can produce a specialised element with in a certain time frame, we can confidently say YES! We'd also like to be able to deliver projects at reasonable prices. For us to buy specialised software for a single project increases the price. The learning curve slows development.
This is where you come in..... are you a web developer with specialised demonstrable skills? Is the software you use fully licensed? If you answered "yes" to both these questions, we'd like to hear from you. The collaboration we envisage is of a contract nature.
Please send your details to collaborate@tamingthebeast.net. All submissions will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.
We are also interested in assisting other web developers in their projects. Our specialities are in planning, ebusiness strategies, content development and promotion. It's common knowledge these days that simply building a good looking sight isn't enough. "Build it and they will come" is pretty much well over (see http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles /build.htm
). Contact us at collaborate@tamingthebeast.net for further details regarding how we can assist you in not only building web destinations, but making sure that others find it.
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3. Article summary - What happened to the World Wide Web
"One of the most common debates around is over web advertising.
Some sites that you visit have so many animated banners that it looks like a shooting gallery! Others will throw up 20 windows of ads when you try to exit the site. I call these tactics "scumverts". I know of a number of people who have stopped using the World Wide Web due to scumverts. Some say, "The Internet should be free of advertising!"....
.... pardon? Why?"
Read the full article:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles /webadvertising.htm
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4. Article summary - Site and Email Disclaimers - A necessary evil
"This being the age of increasing litigation, it is advisable for web site owners to have disclaimers posted on their Internet sites, and to have them accessible from any other part of the site. It is unfortunate that we need to do this, but such is the nature of the beast. Internet Law varies from country to country as to what can be posted on disclaimer and privacy notices, but generally they should cover your terms of use regardings these points............"
Read the full article:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles /legaldisclaimer.htm
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5. From the Archives - The Net vs. Nature. (February 2001)
Over the last few days, I've noticed many disturbances on the Internet. Mail has been going missing, a lot of sites have been down. It seems to be a global thing. It can make life pretty difficult if you are building and maintaining sites, or are reliant on the Internet to communicate with family and friends.
So much of our world is now dependent on the Internet to keep things flowing. I still think it's a great tool as the Internet has broken down international barriers. I have met many wonderful people through this medium.
While the difficulties I have been experiencing over the last couple of days are probably coincidental, I remember a point last year when this wasn't the case. It wasn't caused by hackers, or Australia's "extension cord" being cut by a Japanese trawler (again).
It was the sun....seriously...solar flares.
A solar flare is an explosion on the Sun that happens when energy stored within it is suddenly released. Flares produce a burst of radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays - it's a radiation smorgasboard!
The frequency of these flares is tied in with the Sun's eleven year cycle. When the flares peak, radiation forty billion times greater than an atomic bomb, weighing from 1-10 billion tonnes and travelling at approximately 1-2 million mph is flung into the solar system. When the solar cycle is at a minimum, active regions are small and rare. Few solar flares are detected. These multiply as the Sun approaches the most active part of its cycle. The Sun reached its maximum, from what I understand, late last year.
Flares and geomagnetic storms (extreme solar wind caused by charged particles) can have serious ramifications on our communications, navigational tools and power supply. On March 23, 1989, Hydro-Quebec had a 9 hour blackout affecting 9 million people. The cause was a geomagnetic induced current (GIC) due to a large geomagnetic storm. Solar flares can effect cell phone communications, GPS navigation, other satellites and more importantly, my dear friend, business partner and confidant - The Internet.
A little ray of sunshine is sometimes not a good thing, and no, don't rub sunscreen lotion on your modem (I already tried it - had to buy a new modem).
Just to put your mind at ease, here's the current weather forecast from The Space Environment Center:
"Forecast of Solar and Geomagnetic Activity
21 February - 19 March 2001
Solar activity is expected to be at low levels during most of the
period.
No proton events are expected during the period.
The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit is
expected to be at normal levels during most of the period.
Geomagnetic field activity is expected to be at quiet to unsettled
levels, barring an Earth-directed CME."
...I feel so much better knowing that, gotta love them protons.....:0)
Michael Bloch
michael@tamingthebeast.net
http://www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community.
Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions.
Copyright information....If you wish to reproduce this article, please acknowledge "Taming the Beast" by including a hyperlink or reference to the website (www.tamingthebeast.net) & send me an email letting me know. The article must be reproduced in it's entirety & this copyright statement must be included. Thanks. Visit www.tamingthebeast.net to view other great articles FREE for reproduction!
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Well, that's all for this Taming the Beast update. We appreciate your support and the next time you visit, take the time to fully explore the site as it is expanding rapidly. We are very open to feedback, so please don't hesitate in contacting us.
We hope that life is treating you kindly.
Regards from Australia
Michael Bloch & Katherine Tyndale
Taming the Beast - Established 1995
michael@tamingthebeast.net
kathy@tamingthebeast.net
www.tamingthebeast.net
Tutorials, web content and tools, software and community
Marketing, eCommerce and General Training Services
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Our ezine archive can be viewed at:
http://www.tamingthebeast.net/misc /ezine.htm
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