Space Based Internet from SpaceX

Posted on November 16, 2019April 25, 2020 by Alex

The first stage of this Falcon 9 Rocket has now flown 4 times and returned successfully. The new SpaceX rockets that land have reduced the cost of getting payloads to space by a significant extreme. A comparison made by the owner Elon Musk, often called the real Iron Man, is international travel. If you threw away each plane that flew from the US to Europe the cost of tickets would be extreme just like low orbit space transportation has been. These ships use hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. You know. WATER split to make the two gases. Very cheap fuel. When the fuel is cheap and you don’t throw the ship away the transportation cost to space has been greatly reduced,

EXCITING LAUNCH OF 60 SATELLITES AND THE LANDING OF THE 1st STAGE

https://youtu.be/IUyicaPAs4U

FAST INTERNET BUT THE COST IS NOT ALL IN DOLLARS
This launch was to put 60 ‘Starlink’ satellites in orbit which will be providing internet services from space that are expected to out-perform terrestrial internet service providers by a vast margin in both speed and bandwidth. However, there are great concerns from folks like the ‘International Dark-Sky Association‘ who want to protect the night sky so that space exploration from earth based telescopes can continue. This ability is threatened by the number of these and similar satellites expected to be put in orbit in the coming years.

You can see the Starlink satellites in the night sky now. Space.com says, “SpaceX plans to launch at least 12,000 Starlink satellites for its megaconstellation and is eyeing adding another 30,000 satellites in the future. With other companies like Amazon, OneWeb and Telesat planning their own megaconstellations.”

Between the assault on ‘Net Neutrality’ and now the advent of a man-made sky, perhaps we should take a deep breath and consider alternatives. A wise government will be needed to consider the course we are on and to modify it so as to promote better information exchange systems to reach all people without trapping us in a satellite bubble and curtailing scientific advancement and human knowledge for commerce. What do you think?

SEO Marketing Changes Update

Posted on December 11, 2017February 22, 2018 by Alex

The ever evolving environment of the internet is too much for one person to follow. I’m grateful to the folks who provide ‘Content Samurai’ for their regular updates. (See the post for a free trial to ‘Content Samurai’ and make professional videos like this yourself) They are one of the many resources we use to stay informed and we thought this a good update to share.

Here is a video, highlighting recent SEO Marketing related changes, from the company who provides Content Samurai (try it free here). They cover the Google ‘crawling scheme’ changes, ‘Reels’, and how ‘Snapchat’ changes provide new advertising opportunities.

Spider? Algorithm? For advanced SEO enthusiasts, the Google Webmaster Central Blog has an article about how to render AJAX-crawling pages to get ready for the change when Google switches off their AJAX crawling scheme.
https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2017/12/rendering-ajax-crawling-pages.html

A FaceBook Post We Like from January 2016

Posted on September 19, 2017November 15, 2017 by Alex

We recently came across a blog post which several of our clients have taken advantage of. We shared it on a Facebook Post. We feel it is best to upgrade your PC’s operating system to Windows 10 if you are on an older version. If you can’t, here are some browser solutions so you can utilize many of the new features on websites built for the current internet environment despite your old operating system.

Note that, as important as it was to upgrade your web browser and operating system in January 2016 (that is when the article we posted about was posted on the ZDNet Blog), it is even more important now. Improve security, loading speed, readability, functionality, and more! Upgrade your operating system to Windows 10. If you can’t try one of these.

We are not associated with the publisher, author, Microsoft, or anyone else. We present what we have learned for the benefit of our readers and all credit for shared content goes to their authors.

International Hacking Impacts American PHP Based Websites

Posted on February 18, 2017 by Alex

You may be aware of the Russian hacking assault in late 2016. Or, maybe you heard about the PHP malware attack on American websites which was traced to the Ukraine around the same time. Either way, you should not have to worry. With proper protection, you can greatly reduce the chances of your site being impacted by malware.

In late 2016 we had firsthand experience with the international internet malware concerns. We had an inquiry which resulted in our gaining a new client who was using a PHP based website which was infected by…. Well…. First, a little more background.

The website hosting servers run software called PHP and make using the ‘php’ language possible. Somewhat like running a Windows operating system makes running some very popular PC programs possible. PHP is a very popular coding language which is used to build WordPress blog sites and various other PHP based websites. Some custom designed e-commerce websites, or storefronts, are built with PHP and it is used in other mixed coding websites.

The newer the version of the PHP system, the more resistant it is to the malware traced to the Ukraine from the late 2016 internet assault. In order to run the latest versions of PHP the server must be using modern components. Older systems can’t run newer versions.

Our new client was using an older server so We updated the server and this resolved some of the php malware vulnerability they were experiencing but did not eliminate the problem entirely. The malware had left infected files behind so we turned to SiteLock. We installed the SiteLock system on this website and it found and eliminated the problem files and has protected the site without incident ever since.

Adding SiteLock protection is affordable and effective and can provide a tailored or complete solution with virus and firewall protection for your site and the skilled technicians to address any problem which may arise in this ever changing environment. Let us know if you’d like to explore the various levels of protection SiteLock can provide and we’ll SiteLock your website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUVPxcaEA8w

Fortunately, this client’s website was protected with an SSL or Secure Sockets Layer Certificate. This encrypts the transmission of data between the website server and the user’s browser and a must for e-commerce websites. So, no data was ever taken and the cause of their downtime was eliminated.

Recently, Google has started to give preference to websites with SSL. A website with SSL has an address which begins with https: while those without it begin with http:. This protection also improves your website’s ranking when potential customers search for your products or services.

Two lessons from this experience. One, you should plan on upgrading your website’s hardware, the servers that host it, regularly and as dictated by the changing technology. The second is the same lesson Benjamin Franklin shared with us. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” The SSL Certificate saved the day, a new server gave improved PHP security, and SiteLock will now keep the site safe and uptime at a maximum.

Contact us if you’d like to move your website to a new server, to get an SSL Certificate, or SiteLock malware protection for your website or anytime we can be of assistance.

ICANN Control Just Became International

Posted on October 1, 2016May 2, 2020 by Alex

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

This organization has been in charge of domains since 1988 and has been located in the United States. Today it has changed hands and is now under the control of an international body. This change has been highly politicized. Which, given the internet is an American invention and is the result of our combined needs for a “nuclear proof” nationwide means of communication and to rapidly move geometrically increasing amounts of binary data, is quite understandable.

We’ve had occasion to utilize the ICANN organization in the protection of a client’s domain and were very satisfied at how their rules and administration over them protected our client, the rightful owner. It shall be interesting to see how the internet will change in the new global community, under international control, and in a very unstable time in international politics.

Ed Black, chief executive of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said in a statement, this transfer is “a symbolic, but important step in preserving the stability and openness of the Internet, which impacts free speech, our economy and our national security.”

The new body which is now in charge of ICANN is IANA, The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Their website says, “IANA is responsible for coordinating the Internet’s globally unique identifiers, and is operated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).”

It is certainly a challenging thing to have an open environment which is also safe. Both in terms of governments and networks. We’ll do our best to keep you posted of changes which may impact you and your business. Working together, Americans have always overcome the most difficult challenges. Technology has given us a chance to grow and learn how to work with our international partners on the internet and in space.

Working together, our clients have the peace of mind knowing we are focused on their internet presence, so they can focus on their customers. My favorite team is Ours 🙂 Join us!