by Ben May
In a world of email communication, the email is becoming the sole point of contact for many businesses and individuals. The email has the advantage over the phone call, or instant message that it can be delivered and read at the earliest convenience. The email has the advantage over something like a posted letter in that the response can be immediate, and no delays in transporting the message, especially inter-state or internationally.
When we now fire up our workstations every morning, and make our cup of tea, whilst the computer is downloading all the emails received over night, or since the last check. Whilst pulling down the large number of emails, you’ll see a number of emails from family members, fellow workers, and unknown contacts. Among the unknown contacts there will undoubtedly be emails trying to sell Viagra, offshore drugs and other pieces of junk email, better known as spam.
How does it happen and what does it do? Spam is sent to any email address the spammer has in their database. Trying to sell something, trying to direct the recipient to a virus based website, trying to gain traffic to a new website, or to simply be a nuisance, regardless of the reason, spam annoys the best of us.
How does the spammer get my email address? There are multiple ways a spammer can get your email address. If you have your email address posted online, then you’re almost guaranteed that they will get your address. Spammers can also get your email address from buying your details from other people such as other websites that may collect your email address however this is rare; as most people caught doing this, are shut down.
How does one avoid spam? There are a number of theories of how to avoid spam. The best, simple ways to do this, are to avoid putting your email online. If you must, there are certain scripts available to prevent this or to say yourname [at] yoursite.com.au most people will understand that means yourname@yoursite.com.au. But it can be tricky. Further, you should always have a more difficult email address, a spam bot can guess simple email addresses, such as bob@bob.com, or sales@mysite.com.au, info@mysite.com.au as they are commonly used on most sites. The other way to help reduce spam, is to have two email addresses: one that you use online- this will receive more spam. You should then have a secondary email address where only your verified contacts know about, this will always be good email.
Is there anything else that I can do? Yes there is! Where your email comes from, either your Internet Provider, or Website Host (if you have a website) will be able to run spam filtering software, that will be able to scan your email, to see if it looks like spam. The spam filtering algorithm is fairly complex, but in most cases is accurate. If you’re getting the spam blues, talk to your email provider about some spam filtering! Or switch your web hosting over to Design House we’re more than happy to help you with the spam blues! Click here to see the Design House Premium Australian Web Hosting
Posted in Email / Website Hosting, General Tips ~ No Comments
WHAT WILL WE TELL OUR CHILDREN? HELP STOP THE SLAUGHTER!!!
Send a clear message to your government and officials
Commercial whaling ceased in Australian waters in 1963
Just 7% of the population of humpback whales remained
Art for Earth, led by world-renowned Hervey Bay artist Jorge Pujol, will create a giant 5000 candle image, covering 3000 square metres at a private property in Hervey Bay on September 16th 2007. This emotive public art statement will depict a mother nursing her calf with the simple message: “LET THEM BE”.
This project is designed to attract international media attention to help stop the proposed whaling of these gentle creatures.
If you would like to be a part of this important action or make a donation Phone: 0419 669 929
Or download this form: Let Them Be - Whale Project - Sponsorship Proposal (2).pdf
More details are available here: www.artforearth.net
Posted in In the Media / General News ~ No Comments
By Ben May
This years Hervey Bay Seafood Festival was an enormous success with large crowds once again! The weather didn’t look promising early in the morning but as luck would have it the rain held off.
Enjoying the delicious local seafood in the Sponsors tent at the Hervey Bay Seafood Festival were (Left to Right);
Councillor Ted Sorensen (Mayor of Hervey Bay), Julie, Jeanette, Jenny Sorensen, Margaret & Paul Neville MP (Federal Member for Hinkler)
Martin Hicks, General Manager for QSIA (Queensland Seafood Industry Association) caught up with the Design House team at the Hervey Bay Seafood festival. Martin was rapped with his display stand at the QSIA stall and the great feedback he is receiving about his new website http://www.qsia.com.au/, both the work of Design House Fraser Coast.
Posted in In the Media / General News ~ No Comments
By Ben May
Today we all have high spec. digital cameras that take huge photos. Quality digital photos are becoming easier and easier to take. Even a novice such as myself can easily take a good photograph with a good camera. The only problem with taking such high quality photographs is the transportation of the pictures.
Say you take 30 great shots and wish to send them to friends and relatives worldwide, this would take hours and hours to send and most likely not even work as the there is a limit of a few megabytes that you can send in an email.To send 30 photos straight off your camera is looking at about 60megabytes at the minimum.
You’re not going to send 30 different emails, each with an image attached. Professional software can resize your images down to a standard size, simply for viewing, say 800×600 or 1024×768. However, most people don’t have professional photography software on their computers. Even with the software, resizing images is not that simple.
The Microsoft PowerToys for Windows is a collection of simple tools that have been created by Microsoft for simplistic tasks. The entire collection of PowerToys can be found by following this link. One of the most handy tools is the image resizer, this is a tool I use almost on a daily basis.
PowerToys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released.
Note: Microsoft take great care to ensure that PowerToys work as they should, but they are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys. PowerToys are for Windows XP only and will not work with Windows Vista.
Microsoft PowerToys Website
If you are running Windows XP and need a way to resize images easily, then head on over to the PowerToys website and download the image resizer on the right hand site of the site. (Direct Link Setup Installer)
Once you’ve installed the software, it’s as simple as right clicking on an image, and then selecting re-size!
Choose the appropriate size, for what you need. Generally, Medium or Large will do. You can also specify advanced options if you need to.
Posted in General Tips, Technology / Photography ~ No Comments
Cullen and Couper came to Design House seeking a fresh revamp of their existing website. The previous website had not been touched in a number of years and there were some modifications to make with content.
Design House drafted up a bright new template that reflected the company. If you’re interested in town planning, surveyors, environmental, GIS, project management, hydrographic or feasibility studies, make sure you give Cullen and Couper a call on 07 4124 7054.
The Website includes a modern DHTML navigation system on the left hand column and a flash slideshow on the home page of the website.
The site itself is hosted locally on the Cullen and Couper web server at their office.
The website has valid and compliant code.
Posted in Web Design Clients / Reviews ~ No Comments
This month in Horizon Magazine, Jeanette was featured in the “inFOCUS” article, where readers learn all about her, and her work at Design House Fraser Coast. Further to Jeanette’s interview, The Design House official opening pictures made it to the “Social Pics” page.
To find out more about Jeanette, or the opening pictures- check out the August 2007 Edition of Horizon Magazine!
Click here to view Jeanette’s inFOCUS pdf
Click here to view Design House Official Opening - Horizon Social Pics pdf
A Huge Thanks to Horizon Magazine for the Exposure Design House received in the August 2007 edition.
Posted in In the Media / General News ~ No Comments
