Uncover the Net Blog

Gmail is Amazing

2007-12-22T10:09:00.001-06:00

I'm so behind the times. I was one of the first people to get an invite. I got one from a googler a while back. I used it for about a month and then realized I should be using our @uncoverthenet.com emails, so I stopped using Gmail. Lately I've been traveling quite a bit and I have a mobile laptop that has integrated wireless so I can access the internet anywhere I go. But I've been finding that logging into each individual mail account is a pain. And using microsoft outlook or similar won't work. So yesterday I was tinkering around with gmail again and then I realized you can access your mail from up to 5 other accounts from it and create special filters. Like if someone important emails my work email, I can flag it to email my cell phone which would send me a text message. I'm off to tinker with it some more, but it is awesome!!

Software Update Complete

2007-07-14T21:11:00.001-05:00

We finally completed the software update for the site. There are still a few bugs we are aware of
and are working on correcting them. However, if you see some, please contact us with the error you encountered.

You will notice all of the directory urls have changed to a more easy-to-understand format. The urls used to be in the form of www.uncoverthenet.com/dir/31/1.php , they have since been replaced with urls that give you an idea of what that topic is about. For instance: http://www.uncoverthenet.com/directory/Computers_and_Internet/Internet

Currently for the submissions, only credit cards are set up, but Paypal functionality will be added in the next few days. Edited 7/16 - Paypal has been added.

The next few days hopefully we'll have corrected all the bugs. Thanks for your patience during the upgrade!

-Shawn

With Any Luck .... We'll Launch Tomorrow

2007-07-13T17:17:00.001-05:00

Here is hoping all the changes are ready and the import goes smoothly. We will be attempting the upgrade for tomorrow at about 10am. Saturday is the slowest day of the week for us and 10am, while not as good as 2am, it's a good time because our techs will all be online, web server guys etc. So we'll see. I'll keep you posted!!

New System Ready to Launch

2007-07-05T11:58:00.001-05:00

We'll be launching the new system any day now. It's really nice, I'm happy with the way it turned out. Stay tuned!!

New System Close to Launch

2007-05-21T09:34:00.001-05:00

So our techs have almost completed the new system, and I must say I'm happy with it! We're setting up a new server to run everything on and do some testing and hopefully within a few weeks we'll be ready to launch!!

You Can Help!

2007-05-14T09:41:00.000-05:00

Your feedback is extremely important to us at UTN. So if you're browsing through the directory and see any pages you feel should not be listed or that have changed their site's content, please feel free to submit a spam report. Thanks to all those who have helped!

Credit Card System Launched

2007-05-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

While we are still waiting on the new software development to complete beta testing, we've launched our credit card billing. In the past we used 2Checkout, Paypal and Google Checkout and you could choose which one to use. Now your choices are Paypal, Credit Card, or Google Checkout.

In summary, we've removed 2CheckOut as an option. This is not to say we weren't happy with them, we just had to move on to something more scalable.

Geo Targeting Added to PPC Listings

2007-04-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

Today we rolled out the option for geo targeting your ppc listings. This is a great feature because now you can set keyword bids based upon the geo location of searchers. For instance, let's say you wanted to advertise for the keyword "cars" and wanted to geo target searchers in the United States, Canada and the UK. Now you can set keyword bids based upon where they are coming from such as:

United States - $.50 cents/click
Canada - $.40 cents/click
UK - $.25 cents/click

For more info please see the PPC knowledge base or contact us!

Search Engine Conferences

2007-04-26T14:24:00.000-05:00

So I guess Ad Tech is going on this week. And just a little while ago SES NY was going on. I always see a lot less activity on forums and search engine sites when these events are going on. But recently, I've found that many of the companies we do business with don't respond to emails during these conferences either. Are these conferences that important that they risk losing the customers that are already loyal to them so they can maybe get some new ones?

I have an idea: hire more staff and have those people go to the conferences or have those people still run your businesses.

< / end rant > :-)

Images & Picture Search Trigger Quick Tip

2007-04-24T11:38:00.000-05:00

We always try and make the search more user friendly. After reviewing some logs, we noticed there were thousands of searches on the main web search page for 'keyword pictures' and 'keyword images' etc. And very few of them clicked on the top tab that would take them to the images search. So we installed some keyword triggers that will display a quick tip if the search term includes pictures, images, image etc. Give it a try with this search for britney spears hairstyle pictures.

Server Updates

2007-04-24T10:55:00.000-05:00

We will be performing upgrades that are designed to improve the capacity and availability of our Zeus Load Balancers. These upgrades will take place on April 26th 2007 at 02:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). There will be some downtime involved with these upgrades, but
we do not expect this outage to last more than a few minutes. All upgrades should be completed within two hours of the scheduled start time.

Once again, the maintenance window is as follows:
Date: 2007/04/26
Time: 02:00 - 04:00 AM EDT (GMT-4)

Sorry if the site is down for a few during the process.

New Image Search Available

2007-04-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we released an updated and much better version of the image search results. In addition to be much more relevant to your query, you can also now see more information about the image, the original page it was found on, the full size url and more.

An example is an image search for nickelback.

And a sample reply page for one of the images.

Changing the Blogging Style

2007-04-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

Over the past few years, I've been reluctant to post personal things on the UTN blog, but I find myself not finding anything cool to talk about UTN without sounding like one big advertisement. So from now on I'll talk about things that interest me and interesting things about UTN.

Now Pay with Google Checkout

2007-04-06T20:45:00.000-05:00

We've been asked a few times if we accept Google Checkout, so because you asked for it, we implemented it! :)

It's not available for Featured listings as they don't currently support recurring payments (hint to Googlers), but you can use it for Standard and Commercial Listings.

To use Google Checkout, just select it as the payment option on the submission page and you'll be taken Google Checkout.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please let me know!

New Server on Load Balancer

2007-04-04T22:10:00.000-05:00

Today we added a new server on the load balancer and it caused some MYSQL errors during the site copy. The issue has been resolved and the site appears to be loading much faster. And as always, please submit any bugs you find!

Free RSS News Feeds Available

2007-04-03T21:33:00.000-05:00

As you'll see from the post below, along with our news content, we're offering free news feeds for webmasters. Just click on the RSS icon on the news pages. Samples are:

Top Stories

News Search for Cars

Any questions, please ask. :-)

Full Text News Now Available

2007-04-03T19:21:00.000-05:00

Prior to today we used an RSS feed from Yahoo for current news. Of course, to read the entire story it takes you to Yahoo. So to maximize user experience, we've partnered up with All Headline News to provide our users with the entire story on our site. Much like Yahoo and AP News, about 20-25% of the stories will have pictures.

You can see this in action by going to the homepage. Once clicking on a story such as this one, you'll be taken to a full text detail page of the story along with an image or even a video when available.

You can also search the news stories via keyword or topic. For instance, this search for hurricane.

We'll be adding more useful features like these in the weeks to come!

Questions and comments are welcome.

Google Adsense Remembers?

2007-03-25T11:14:00.000-05:00

It seems that Google is employing some sort of cookie technology that stores your previous preferences. For instance, I did a search for Mercedes S-550 on a website that had adsense on the search results. Ever since then, any page I navigate to that has nothing to do with cars shows me ads for Mercedes. Anyone else experiencing this? I wonder if this will change Adsense as we know it?

Update on New Software Progress

2007-03-21T15:27:00.000-05:00

So I wanted to update everyone on the progress of the new software that will power Uncover the Net. Our programmers have the initial pre-development prototype completed and it looks great. Now they are starting to work on the production version of it. What are some of the new features you ask eh? Well on the front end, the new software will have..

- A Secure login to submit and manage your listings
- A More integrated PPC platform
- An integrated affiliate program
- Much better search relevance and results
- Sponsored listings will also show as sponsors on search pages
- Direct Billing via credit card or Paypal API
- And much more!

Stay tuned...

Better Business Bureau Complaint Free Award

2007-03-13T15:59:00.000-05:00

Well today we received our nifty complaint free award for 2006! Thanks to all of you for taking any matters that arise up with us directly :-)

Adding Another Server

2007-03-09T14:26:00.000-06:00

Recently we've been getting spurts of high traffic, sometimes 20-30 requests a second and it's killing our our current configuration. So tonight we'll be adding another server to our cluster so the site may run slower than usual. Sorry if it's running slow for you! Tomorrow things should be back to normal.

Will You Buy an Apple iPhone?

2007-02-21T14:20:00.000-06:00

My wife wants to buy a new phone. She want a motorola razor. I want an iphone. But after learning that the iPhone will be about $600 and then about $100/month (voice and data charges), it seems kinda steep. And then comes the dilemma of whether or not I need a device that will allow me to be online even more out of my day. My wife already thinks I'm addicted to the internet, but the internet is where I work. And I think I'm far from alone in the internet addiction category. So is the iphone worth it? Would you buy one? And have you got a smartphone and has it helped you out or fed your internet addiction even more?

Googe.com - Why Parked Page?

2007-02-15T11:27:00.000-06:00

After noticing the misspelling on the Google logo yesterday, I looked to see who owned Googe.com. And it's currently a parked page with an alexa rating of 34,000. So I'm sure it gets tons of type in traffic. So why is it a parked page and why hasn't Google bought it from them (or threatened 'em for that matter)?

Google Spelled Their Name Wrong?

2007-02-15T00:00:00.000-06:00

So at 11:30pm my sister calls me and says, "Hey Shawn, go to Google.com". So, I went and she asked if I noticed anything out of the ordinary. After looking at the page, I said well, they have a holiday logo, but that's pretty normal. She said, look at the logo closer. Sure enough, the logo spells out "Googe".

Is the stem a semi-"L"?

Attached is a screenshot from Google's homepage on Valentine's Day. Did they forget the "L"? :-)

Complete Overhaul Coming Soon..

2007-02-05T12:36:00.000-06:00

We've thought about redesigning our software several times in the past, but always put it off. Well, to better evolve with the demands of our users, the time has finally come. We're going to be doing a complete overhaul with a state of the art software system. More details will be posted soon along with a beta version of the product in about a month or so. Your feedback on the beta will be greatly appreciated so our software engineers can tackle any issues with it. Should be a lot of fun! :)

TV Shows I Have to Watch

2007-01-25T14:42:00.000-06:00

When I was younger I always made fun of my parents for always watching their favorite tv shows like Roseanne, As the World Turns etc. But now I find myself in the same boat as them where I can't wait to see what happens next on those shows.

So my favorite shows that I watch every week are...

24 - Probably my all time favorite network show. Never miss an episode.

The Sopranos - Tough call between this and 24 as my favorite. I guess it's something about the mafia and the power associated with it that attracts us all. Speaking of which, anyone know when the new episodes start back up?

House MD - Everyone I tell about this show seems to have never heard of it, don't know why. maybe Fox needs to advertise more for it.

Grey's Anatomy - Ok, this one is good sometimes and annoying others. Some episodes are great and some others are complete chick flick type shows.

CSI - I think CSI Las Vegas ( the original ) is by far the best one of them. I tried watching CSI: Miami and I think Horatio does a horrible acting job. I have a feeling people just watch it for the girls in bikinis :-).

Numb3rs - Once again a show that many people say they have never heard of it. I love the idea of how math plays a factor in all of our lives. I remember one episode they said that statistically speaking you're 1000 times more likely to die in a car crash while on your way to buy a lottery ticket than you are to actually win that lottery ticket. That's pretty funny.

Bones - This one is kinda like Grey's Anatomy for me, some episodes are good while others are kinda stupid. Dr. Temperance Brennan is a little too fake/inhuman sometimes to believe.

So, those are my favorite shows, what are yours?

Trademark Finally Active

2007-01-24T11:36:00.000-06:00

I'm shocked at how long it takes after a trademark application is filed that it is finally approved. Anyway, we just recently received a notice from our attorney that our trademark is finally been approved and is active. So watch out scrapers :-) j/k

Word Mark	UNCOVER THE NET
Goods and Services	IC 035. US 100 101 102. G & S: Providing an online business directory featuring a wide variety of businesses. FIRST USE: 20041001. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20041007 IC 042. US 100 101. G & S: Computer services, namely, providing search engines for obtaining data on the Internet. FIRST USE: 20041001. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 20041007
Standard Characters Claimed
Mark Drawing Code	(4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK
Design Search Code
Serial Number	78593784
Filing Date	March 23, 2005
Current Filing Basis	1A
Original Filing Basis	1A
Published for Opposition	October 17, 2006
Registration Number	3191259
Registration Date	January 2, 2007
Owner	(REGISTRANT) UTN Enterprises Inc CORPORATION UNITED STATES
Attorney of Record	CHARLES F. MERONI, JR.
Type of Mark	SERVICE MARK
Register	PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator	LIVE

AB Testing the Search Results

2007-01-23T19:01:00.000-06:00

Our normal search results are basically a sql query that checks the database for a matching keyword and then returns results. If no results exist, we also employ a backfill from Yahoo so that it will result in a more positive user experience.

An example is this search for cars.

The alternative is to use Google's technology for our search. Some examples of this are:

- Web search for cars

- Category search for cars

- Listing page search for cars

So after trying the four different options for search, which do you prefer? Which do you find more accurate and which best makes the user experience the best?

Updated Main Page

2006-12-16T14:10:00.000-06:00

Recently, I've been finding myself leaving Uncover the Net (my homepage) to go to Yahoo or MSN to read the news and to get a feel for what is going on outside of UncovertheNetville :-). So I tinkered with the homepage a little to reflect more of what I would want to see on my homepage:

Top News Stories
Weather
Stocks
Search

What would you like to see on the homepage?

Overall, I guess if I can't be content with it being my homepage, how can I expect others to do so? So hopefully this is just one small step towards making Uncover the Net my homepage and hopefully others as well.

New Affiliate Program

2006-11-29T16:18:00.000-06:00

For those are familiar with our past affiliate program, we have changed affiliate programs. To help explain the reason for this change, suffice it to say that the old software we used to use: www.myreferer.com is horrible. Their customer service is non existent and basically they suck. I would NOT recommend them to anyone.

Anyhow, we recently changed over to a new software that seems to be a much better program. Our new url affiliate url is:

http://www.uncoverthenet.com/af/

Our pay out details have also changed a little bit. The new pay out details are 20% of all submissions. So in short, it's less on the less expensive submissions, but more on the more expensive submissions.

We also offer custom programs for well performing affiliates.

The bad news is that we cannot import anything from the old account into the new account, so the affiliates that wish to still participate will need to create a new account in the new system and update the incoming urls.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Adult Category Disclaimer

2006-11-29T12:00:00.000-06:00

To help limit the accessibility of the adult categories, we recently implemented a disclaimer to the adult category.

Image Verification Added to Add Url Forms

2006-11-25T17:07:00.000-06:00

We have recently been bombarded with spam bots submitting javascript junk through the add url forms. And with the plethora of automated web directory submission software out there, I can see why. So today we added an image verification to the form. So when you're submitting a website, please be sure to type in ALL CAPS when entering in the image verification string or it won't work. If you have any questions, just ask!

NetFlix vs. Blockbuster Total Access

2006-11-22T12:48:00.000-06:00

So, we just moved into our new home that we have been having built for the past two years. And we had a custom home theater installed with a 110" screen. So, needless to say I live in that room :-) . And yeah I'm a big movie buff and love renting movies. So about a month ago I signed up for Netflix and signed up for the 6 at a time for $35.99/month. It's pretty amazing because if you order a movie into your queue on Monday, it's in your mailbox by Tuesday, and they carry virtually every move every made it seems.

But then I got some email from Blockbuster (how did they get my email? - oh well) and it said that their online movie program is even better than Netflix because you can rent online and then return them to the store and exchange it for a move there, all while not affecting your number of online rentals. So since they offered a free trial I figured I would try it. So I placed my first order with them on a Monday and I didn't receive the DVD's until Thursday. So then on Friday, I returned the DVD's to the local Blockbuster store as they said you could. The only catch is that you have to return those movies on time or it's like a $4/day late fee per move - not very cool.

Anyway, so when I got home on Friday from Blockbuster, I went online and ordered 2 more movies to see if this time I would get them any quicker. It wasn't until Monday at 7pm that I got an email that said your DVD's are on their way. When did they come? Thursday. So let's see, Blockbuster says that you can return the movies to the store and get twice as many movies, yet they take 6 days to send out a new movie.

Then I mapped out my local Blockbuster thinking maybe it's not so bad. But my nearest Blockbuster is 6 miles away with tons of stop lights. And I drive a Hummer. So for me that's like $4 in gas just to go there and back. If I do that twice a week that's over $30/month right there.

Something else I noticed about Blockbuster is that they do not carry any NC-17 versions of movies, only R rated versions. And a lot of horror and teen comedy type movies have both versions, but you can only get both versions via Netflix.

But one thing I do like about Blockbuster online is that you can see rows of the box covers as your browse through genres. Whereas Netflix basically gives you a list of titles. And I like to pick a movie out by the cover, or atleast look at it that way. So hopefully Netflix will catch on there.

Overall (from my experience at least), Netflix is superbly faster at shipping new movies out than Blockbuster (1 day versus 3-4 days). Blockbuster's online plan only allows up to 4 movies at a time and Netflix allows up to 8. But I guess if you live right by a Blockbuster, it may be a better deal for you. Just don't let those late fees add up. :-)

Alexa Ratings

2006-08-22T21:36:00.000-05:00

In the past few months, I uninstalled the Alexa extensions in Firefox due to some lagging page load times. I'm guess because it had to query the Alexa servers, it took longer to load. And just yesterday I checked the Alexa traffic rank for Uncover the Net and realized that it's a much higher number than it used to be.

For those not familiar with Alexa, a higher number is actually worse than a lower number. Then afraid we we're not getting as much traffic as before, I checked the actual traffic numbers from our server logs and our traffic has been extrodinarily steady and even went up a little bit. Maybe that's because we added natural search results provided by yahoo for queries that we ourselves don't have results for (Hey I would rather we serve them some results than none at all!).

In any event, I'm shocked that by me uninstalling my toolbar, our alexa rankings dropped that much. I guess that speaks for the reliability of Alexa rankings.

Difference Between Retail and Online

2006-02-24T13:17:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking how easy online businesses are compared to retail businesses. Retail businesses have to:

- comply with city codes and ordinances,
- get a business license,
- get an occupancy permit,
- get liability insurance,
- pass inspections
- pay rent and utilities
- deal with customer complaints face to face

Think of how much easier an online business is. I own a small retail store and I notice that the older the customer is, the harder they are to please. It seems people 35 and under seem to be used to the "online" way of doing things and don't expect you to jump through hoops for them.

Oh well, that's my rant :)

Moving Our Retail Store

2006-01-31T22:47:00.000-06:00

So, as some of you might know, my wife and I own a small photography studio here in Chicagoland. And recently due to some zoning ordinances, we've been forced to move into a retail location (we were previously in a industrial/office building). So over the past couple weeks, we've been packing and moving and it's been hectic! The new location is so much nicer though cause it's in a prime retail space with thousands of cars driving by every day. But the bad thing is that any construction on the place to get it ready for our new opening has to be done by the book. So I've been meeting with an architect, electricians, contractors, and of course the not-so-friendly village inspectors. Anyway, I can't wait until it's all done. I'll be sure and post pics!

PS - Have you ever noticed that when you move, you realize how much junk you really have? :)

UncoverTheNet PR 0? Oh My Gosh!

2005-11-07T00:18:00.000-06:00

I know it sounds dramatic; I guess that was the point. I've gotten several emails with just links to threads at various discussion forums about a PR 0 home page. I guess everyone wants an explanation. Well here it is: I don't know. :)

On a more serious note, my goal for UTN is something that will be made over the course of several years. So worrying about what website does or does not like us at the moment isn't exactly a big concern. I'm of the belief that if you try to build something worthy of customers, then the search engines will follow.

I'll bet alot of the users who read this blog are webmasters and care alot about PageRank. But did you know we spend over $1,000/day on Google Adwords alone? My point I want to convey here is that UTN is much more than a link farm type website.

So looking at the bigger picture: we're here to stay, Google or no Google. In other words, if Google doesn't have faith in us now, hopefully we can give them a reason to in the years to come. :)

Questions/Comments: Please leave yours!

Google: Entering into Evil?

2005-10-20T09:27:00.000-05:00

I recently wrote a paper about using Machiavellian theory in leading libraries. It can be found at http://www.michaellorenzen.com/machiavelli.html.

As we look at the current Update Jagger, it is time perhaps to take a philosophical look at Google. Does Google use Machiavellian techniques? I would argue that it does. Further, I would argue that it is appropriate for Google to do so.

Probably the most powerful (and controversial) idea that Machiavelli advocated for was the concept of "entering into evil." Here is a quote from my paper about what this entails:

"Perhaps the most powerful theme that Machiavelli postulates is the concept of entering into evil. In fact, it can be argued that it is the cusp of Machiavellian though set forth in The Prince. It also is an idea fraught with moral peril, which frightens off many from Machiavelli’s message. At times, a leader must commit evil acts for the common good. Further, failing to do this will actually result in a greater evil. "

"A good modern example of entering into evil is the case of President Harry Truman and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman knew that dropping the atomic bomb on these cities would kill hundreds of thousands of non-combatants including children. Based on the heavy causalities on Iwo Jima and Okinawa (coupled with Kamikaze planes), he also knew that a continuation of the war with an invasion of Japan would cost an estimated one million allied causalities plus countless more Japanese. With this in mind, Truman entered into evil and ordered the bombs to be dropped. By doing so, he created a greater good as Japan surrendered and the Second World War ended. "

Google needs to provide good search results. Failing to do so will harm the company and give searchers bad results. To do, it must constantly tweak the algorithm to weed out spam sites. In the process, some innocent sites get caught and removed from any meaningful Google rankings.

Google is fully aware of this. However, for the common good of their search results, Google is willing to enter into evil by allowing some innocent sites to be hurt. Failing to remove a few innocent here and there by not changing the algorithm would result in more spam in the SERPs. No amount of hand wringing will prevent all innocent sites from harm.

Google is clearly aware of this and rationalizes it as it should. Nonetheless, for a company that has the motto of "do no evil", it is interesting to see them repeatedly enter into the Machiavellian ideal of justifiable evil with every update.

Comment Spam, and then More Comment Spam

2005-10-15T18:03:00.000-05:00

In the past few weeks we've been bombarded with comment spam from places like:

http://www.infinitemonies.com/

So much that I've had to hide comments for now until I fix these old posts.

Been a Long Time!

2005-10-10T08:13:00.000-05:00

Wow, i havent posted on the blog in quite some time. I guess I've been kinda busy with Submissions and new projects. On the personal front, I've been trying to spend that time I promised my wife that i would spend with her. But, I'll try and stop by the blog portion of UTN more often!!

New Corporate Name

2005-07-06T00:27:00.000-05:00

As of today, you will notice a new corporate name on all transactions. The new name is UTN Enterprises, Inc. Hope this doesn't confuse anyone. The actual business is the exact same, it's just under it's own S Corp now. :)

A few Changes to the Shortcuts

2005-05-17T16:57:00.000-05:00

Ill be posting a complete list of available shortcuts, but there are a few changes to previous ones that were already posted. The two in particular are the stock quote lookup and the zip code lookup. Previously, you could just enter in the stock symbol or the 6 digit zip code and it would return the data. But after a severe server overload this morning, I had to rework some of it. In case you're curious, what was happening was the server was checking to see if every query (even general queries like 'hotels') was a stock quote or a zip code and it was overloading the server. So, now the shortcuts are:

STOCK QUOTES

Just search for Stock yhoo - Notice the addition of "stock". So quotes will only be looked up when the term "stock" is included.

Proper Format: STOCK + STOCK SYMBOL
Example: Stock Yhoo (link)

ZIP CODE LOOKUP

Just search for zip 90210 - Notice the addition of "zip". So zip codes will only be looked up when the term "zip" is included.

Proper Format: ZIP + ZIP CODE
Example: Zip 60195 (link)

So there are the two changes, Hopefully this won't confuse anyone too badly. Sorry about that! :)

Even More Features Added...

2005-05-10T17:10:00.000-05:00

Wanna quick check of how your favorite stock is doing? Just enter in the ticker symbol and get a chart along with the day's opening price, the day's range, and some more neat info about your favorite stocks! Try it out: GOOG, YHOO, EBAY.

And secondly, ever wonder what city zip code 85010 is? Now it's easy! Just enter in the zip code and see the corresponding city name and state, along with a link to a map of the area! Try it out: a zip code search for 90210.

Image Search Released

2005-05-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to announce another cool feature here at Uncover the Net..image search! Like for instance, ever wanted to see some pics of a Ferrari? Or if you're like my wife, you'd love to see pics of Vin Diesel. :) So go ahead, try it for yourself. And as always, we love hearing what people think, feedback is always appreciated!

Our 8th Month Birthday!

2005-05-01T08:14:00.000-05:00

Well, May is here, and we are now 8 months old! Quite a lot has happened in 8 months. Here are some cool statistics about Uncover the Net...

Sites Listed: 14,091
Average Number of Searches Performed Each Day: 67,863

It will be interesting to see what these figures are on our 1 year anniversary! :)

Robots & More Robots

2005-04-29T09:55:00.000-05:00

After checking some of our search results in Yahoo, Google & MSN, many of the pages we have indexed seem to be our /keyword/ (search results) pages. I guess that's not good. :) So, we added a robots noindex, nofollow tag to all the keyword pages. Hopefully we haven't p'd them off too much by leaving them fair game to be spidered. :)

Look! Baby Pictures, Well Not Quite

2005-04-27T07:20:00.000-05:00

In the next few weeks we'll be adding more detailed bios of our staff. Here at Uncover the Net, we believe in being as up front and personal as possible. So we want you to get to know us! It reminds me of an e-meeting I had for the World Wide Web Consortium. One of the administrators said that at MIT they require all instructors to submit baby pictures of themselves to show they are nice and friendly. I thought that it was actually a good idea. It kinda makes you feel like you can warm up to them more.

Amyway, recently our associate editor, Michael added a more detailed bio of himself.

"Michael Lorenzen has a bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University in philosophy, a Master of Library Science degree from Kent State University, a Master of Education degree from Ohio University, an Educational Specialist degree from Michigan State University, and he is currently working on a doctorate in educational administration at Central Michigan University where he is also employed as the Head of Reference at the Park Library." Read More...

And check back in the next few weeks for more detailed bios of our staff!

Hmm, Now What Category Should I Look In?

2005-04-27T03:20:00.000-05:00

Ever do a search and not find what you're looking for? Well, you can try to navigate directly to the category by doing a category search. For example, now you can do a category search for kitchens and find all the categories that have the term kitchen in them! You can do this from any search results page by simply clicking the category tab to refine your search to only categories. Fun stuff! :)

What's My IP Address?

2005-04-25T12:29:00.000-05:00

Ever wondered what your IP address is? Now you check it from anywhere using Uncover the Net! Just do a search for "ipaddress" and it will display your IP address. :)

A Customer's Word: Just Wanted to Let You Know...

2005-04-25T04:53:00.000-05:00

I have to say that it's very reassuring when a customer goes out of their way to say thanks or job well done. Here is a testimonial from a webmaster:

Just wanted to let you know, that one of my clients who have a listing with you has done alright from it.

We submitted this listing for the Langtry Manor Hotel about a month ago, admittedly nothing much (in my experience) ever comes through directories so it was more of a scope for dragging some much needed rank onto the website.

But, something happened... this is a website that takes a hell of a lot of traffic for a hotel we push it hard as a result they do quite well.

But... they actually took in the last two weeks three bookings from your site. One English woman who was on your site clicked through and booked a room for her and her husband, and the other both Americans who are going to be in the UK during the Summer booked by clicking though and booking.

Great stuff mate.. good investment.

Vincent

Thank you for the note Vincent. Hopefully we can send you many more bookings to come!

Page Rank & UTN, Part 2

2005-04-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

I just want to add to what Tim has written.

It is great to see UTN assigned an 8 and to see PR running though the whole directory structure. However, this directory is not about PR. We are working to build a resource useful to those who surf the Web. PR is not important to that goal. 99% of the additions to the database are selected and added for free by editors. You can compare this to those PR selling directories that have the majority (or all) of their additions via the paid submission route.

We at UTN are in this for the long haul and we are going to achieve a directory with several hundred thousand useful sites in the next few years. We are not DMOZ, or Yahoo, or Zeal, or Joeant, or any other search resource. We are creating our own identity and our own unique contribution to the Web.

But as Tim wrote, this increase in PR is certainly exciting!

Page Rank & UTN

2005-04-22T21:39:00.000-05:00

Well, after 111 or so days of waiting for a PageRank update from Google, you can imagine the excitement of all of us involved with the UTN site/project, when we realized that UncoverTheNet had been assigned a PageRank of 8!! That puts us in the same league as DMOZ.org and the Yahoo! Directory.

It just goes to show, with a great product/service, and a lot of hard work, one will be rewarded. The PR in itself isn't overly important to the strength or longevity of the site, but just a visual symbolization of how good this directory already is, and how great it will become.

Congrats to Shawn, my fellow editors, and all those involved with UncoverTheNet!! We done good. We will continue to do better.

Interview with Aaron Wall

2005-04-22T03:59:00.000-05:00

I recently had a friendly interview with Aaron Wall of SEO Book. He has finished editing and he published the interview of his site now. Anyway, thanks for the opportunity Aaron!

Feeling Like Football at UTN

2005-04-21T07:10:00.000-05:00

I notice that where I edit at UTN in many cases depends on what I am feeling and what I am interested in at the moment. This works out OK because a growing directory like Uncover the Net can use new sites just about everywhere. I have noticed that I am going through major football withdraw right now. I haven't seen a game since the Super Bowl and it will be months before the NFL and colleges kick off again. What am I to do? I decided yesterday to do some major work in the football categories for UTN. I added every team site for the NFL, NFL Europe, and Arena Football League as well a variety of other football related sites. It looks like the Recreation and Sports catgeory can use some work so I will focus on building this up for a while. I don't want to wish the summer away but I could sure go for a good football game right now...

Progress & Updates

2005-04-12T13:03:00.000-05:00

Well, last night I got an invite to Y! 360 from my brother in law (who works at Yahoo), although I'm not sure what to do with it yet. :)

I just checked our stats, and here they are:

Total Sites Listed: 10725 Categories & 12653 Websites
Total Music Lyrics: 256 Artists & 7404 Music Lyrics

On average our editors are adding between 1,000-3,000 sites per month. We've been working on ther music lyrics section for the past couple weeks to try and populate that as well. I think it's awesome that we can now search for a popular phrase in a song and find out what song it is and who it's by! For example... a search for whatever Makes Me Happy And Sets You Free returns Christina Aguilera's "What A Girl Wants". Well, I think it's cool :)

Search Engine Rebuild Progress

2005-04-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

Well, it's still beta, but we're making progress. We've only got a fraction of the pages indexed so far, but we'll be dumping the updated index to the live version every 4 hours. Anyway, some cool new features that I didnt mention yet are:

Url input. - If a customer searches for say www.yahoo.com, it will automatically provide a quick link that users can click to visit that site directly. Example: Here.
link:domain.com command. - Now a user can see how many (and what) pages of the site link to a certain page or directory. Example: Here.
Last Indexed Date. - Much like a "fresh date" on Google, this tells users when the file was spidered. Note: generally speaking, the more recent the date, the better.
Advanced Search Commands. - If you want to find an exact phrase, use "double quotation marks" around the phrase when you enter words in the search box. Example:To find lyrics by the King, type "you ain't nothing but a hound dog" in the search box.

And more features to come :)

Search Function to be Rebuilt

2005-04-06T17:17:00.000-05:00

We're currently using the default search appliance that came with the directory script with just a few modifications to it. And suffice it to say that it leaves a few things to be desired! So anyway, Im indexing the site now with a different search utility and hopefully this will make our search feature more reliable.

Some cool features that it will have is the ability to refine your search by

Sites Listed
Categories
Forum Posts
Blog Posts
Music Lyrics
Maybe Another

So hopefully it will be better :)

Uncover the Net - Online Store

2005-04-05T18:12:00.000-05:00

I think this is pretty cool. I've always liked the idea behind Cafepress. So, I got a new online store with them where you can buy Uncover the Net merchandise. I dont think there is a markup on the items set, so you pay the same that I would pay. We just want people to wear our cool t-shirts, or our super funny thong underwear. :) I think I'll buy the neato mousepad!

Accoona Search Engine - A New Player?

2005-04-03T15:02:00.000-05:00

I recently found on some other sites talk of a new search engine Accoona. So after hearing about it, I looked at it's Alexa rating. Today, it's Alexa rating is 256. That's just a little bit better than Ask Jeeves. How is that possible? Well, they launched in December, and apparantly they hired Bill Clinton himself to come to the official launch party of the site. They also have something with the Chinese Government that allows them and only them to be a search engine of the Chinese people.

But the new question is, looking at the Alexa rating and the buzz on the internet, does search relevance really matter to the end user? I ask because after looking at the search engine, I can't find anything there that can't be found at the other big boys. But what's worse, is all the 'natural' results are provided by Overture. So what's going on?

I've also read that Accoona has been spamming blogs lately. Now I think it's fair that we give them the benefit of the doubt on that, hence maybe it's not actually them, just someone who wants to ruin their rep. But anyway, seems there are more players in the search business now. :)

A Second Server Added

2005-04-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

Well, last night you might have noticed some lag time at about 3am. We were adding a second dedicated server to the site to help with the high traffic days that put a huge load on the server. So hopefully things will run smooth even when we have 20k+ uniques per day :)

Applied for Trademark

2005-03-21T00:00:00.000-06:00

Well, as we're growing I want to protect our name and entity, so my attorney applied for a trademark for Uncover the Net. They usually take several months (I believe) to complete, but when it's done, I'll post a copy of it on the website. :)

UTN Toolbar is Live

2005-03-19T17:48:00.000-06:00

Well, I posted at UTN forums that I was working on one, and the feedback was good. So now we have one! Now being version 1, there are still lots of features that will be added soon, so keep watching. :)

Anyway, I originally had PageRank installed, but I'm waiting for approval (if!) from Google on that before I add it to the live version. I also was going to add Alexa, but I figured that should not be bundled in due to the privacy issues assciated with it.

So..What does it do?

• Eliminate Pop-Up Ads

• Search From Any Website Using:
- Uncover the Net
- Google
- Yahoo
- MSN
- Ask Jeeves

• Check Backlinks for Any Website Using:
- Google
- Yahoo
- MSN

Coming Soon:

- FireFox Toolbar
- AutoFill Forms (IE only)
- Anti-Ads Feature (IE only)
- RSS Reader (IE only)

Download link : http://toolbar.uncoverthenet.com/

There's no spyware, adware etc. So let me know what you think! And if there are features that you would like to see implemented, let me know, maybe we can incorporate them! :)

Almost 12,000 Listings!

2005-03-12T15:10:00.000-06:00

Well, at just over 6 months old, we're at just under 12,000 sites listed. So we're averaging about 2000 sites added per month. The majority of which are non commercial valuable sites added by our editorial team.

Looking forward, we're in the process of hiring a few new editors so hopefully in the next 6 months we can beat our previous statistics!

As you may have noticed, we've changed a few things on the directory too. And you're feedback really does get noticed and makes a big difference. So if you have suggestions or things you'd like to see, just let us know!

Over 10K

2005-02-25T09:43:00.000-06:00

Just thought I would note that Uncover the Net now has over 10,000 listings. That's not bad considering how new this directory is. I expect that the number of listings will continue to grow quickly at Uncover the Net as the editors keep up the fast pace of new additions. All this contributes to the goals of Uncover the Net which are to create a quality directory that is useful to Web searchers and is also a good value for Webmasters.

A "Real" Regional Section

2005-02-15T19:39:00.000-06:00

First, sorry I haven't posted on the blog in a while, I've mainly been on the forums!

We have been working on ditching the cross-referencing locations and opting for a real regional section, much like what DMOZ & Yahoo have. Personally when I was trying to find an interior designer or local radion station or something, the first place I looked was Google or Yahoo. After being presented with a bunch of scraped result adsese websites, I would then head over to DMOZ or Y! Directory and boom..there is a whole category on just what I was looking for and in the city I was looking for. I think regional sections on directories are possibly one of the best and most used sections of a directory. That's why we're really trying to make them the best they can be. Anyway, after working on it for about a week,we've got the ground floor paved:

So, if you have a regional specific website, now you know where to submit! Or if your browsing the directory, now you can (or will be able to :]) find that local radio station you've been trying to find.

Seemless Integration of Articles

2005-02-06T09:32:00.000-06:00

Today, I moved the articles section to http://www.uncoverthenet.com/articles/ and designed it for a more seamless integration.

You can see some examples of the article categories here:

And some indivdual articles here:

Building Value on The Web
Learn some of the steps which will help you build value on the web.

Determing the Value of Links from Link Renting
Article helps the reader determine what links are worth.

Evaluating Search Engine Marketing Results
Side by side comparison of the search engine results on Inktomi and Google for "search engine marketing."

There are also topic specific articles that we are working on, almost like About.com. An example would be:

Education Articles

I'll be adding more articles this week, but you can add your own too! Click here to submit an article. Questions / comments? Discuss the articles in the webmaster forums.

Blogger Error - 001 java.net. ConnectException: Connection refused

2005-02-05T18:39:00.000-06:00

For the past few days I've tried to publish new posts and couldn't do because of the following error from Blogger:

001 java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused

So after searching Google for a solution, I found this post by Frank who had the same problem.

He outlined 4 solutions:

1. Clear your cache, history and cookies and try to publish.

2. Try publishing through a different browser.
Read this and this

3. Under Blogger -> Settings -> Publishing, change the FTP Server name so it begins with "ftp."

4. Delete your username and password in the publishing settings in Blogger and it will instead prompt you for this information when you publish. Now you enter your username and password every time you publish.

For me, it was immediately fixed when I tried publishing via IE (I use Firefox).

So..thanks Frank!

Moving to a Dedicated Server

2005-01-24T22:26:00.000-06:00

We're currently on a virtual dedicated server, but I notice some lags sometimes. Especially on content rich categories. So I'm upgrading to a Dual Xeon 2.66GHZ Hyperthreaded server. There shouldnt be any down time or anything though. Fun stuff :)

Things I Would Have Done Different

2005-01-24T01:48:00.000-06:00

Recently in the forums I was asked if there is anything that I would have done differently. So, are there things I would do different? Yes, I guess there are. A few of them would be:

1) Start out with about 20 categories and nothing more. Then as we got about 5 sites of similar topics in the same category then create a subcategory.

2) Spent some of the $25k+ money that I spent on advertising and used it to pay a bunch of editors to add 100,000 sites instead.

3) Offered an option for noncommercial websites, but would have been strict and it would have most likely caused headaches.

4) Not stayed up all hours of every night for a month working on it. I would have paced myself a little better.

5) Not listened to junk talk on the forums.

6) Made it into more of a semi-portal..still is a possibility.

7) Probably a bunch of other things, but those are the main ones. :)

Spam Will Continue..

2005-01-20T03:04:00.000-06:00

Even with the new nofollow tag. Atleast that's what this cool Google employee wrote (Chris)...

"Our future has spam in it. Comment spam. Link spam. Pagrerank spam. Spam. Sigh."

Read More...

Obviously, he's not really saying anything we didnt already know. But I will admit that I find it nice to stumble upon blogs of some of the Google Guys who are actually people and not automated responses :)

Google Adsense

2005-01-19T03:43:00.000-06:00

I'll be testing Adsense throughout the site, in an unobtrusive manner (atleast as unobtrusive as possible). I'm doing different things with the search pages, forum pages, listing pages, and index pages. You'll probably see them in different areas, but if there are any recommendations or suggestions..please by all means, let me know!

Preventing Comment Spam

2005-01-19T02:46:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's actually true. Here is the link.

Basically it allows people to place a rel="nofollow" on hyperlinks, so that they wont get spidered. Holy Moly.

IRCA Work Done

2005-01-19T02:01:00.000-06:00

Earlier I posted that I was working with the ICRA on labeling the website correctly. Well due to the technical difficulties of our large database and huge number of pages we had to make some modifications to their standard labeling procedure. Anyway, after over a week of working on it, it's finally done!

Because of the details of the modifications made here at UTN, we'll also be participating in the ICRA's case study of a new beta labeling system. :)

Back 2 Business

2005-01-16T18:55:00.000-06:00

Sorry I havent posted in a little while. I've been trying to spend the time I promised I would spend with my wife. Anyhow, I'm back!

First, I'd like to welcome Cheri as a new editor at Uncover the Net. She has quite a bit of experience editing at some other directories including DMOZ, Joe Ant, etc. So.welcome to UTN Cheri...we're happy to have you!!

Secondly, I've been working with the International Content Ratings Association (ICRA) about the proper labeling of the directory. I dont want little kids to have access to some of the more questionable sections like adult novelties, etc. So, hopefully in the next week or so we will have properly labeled all of the categories.

So...how's everyone else doing? :)

Directory Building at Uncover the Net

2005-01-12T11:35:00.000-06:00

My strategy for directory building at Uncover the Net is to add non-commerical information sites to as many categories as possible. I am adding two to three sites in a category and moving on. Eventually, I hope to have no empty categories at Uncover at all. I have moved through Arts & Humanities and am working in Science right now. The Alternative Science category was fun. I know more about the hollow earth and aquatic ape evolutionary theory than I did before. Editing at directories can be very educational. Currently, I am in the midst of adding tons of sites relating to salt water fish species. Uncover the Net is growing fast!

Business Card Page Features Completed

2005-01-04T18:03:00.000-06:00

Our new business card features are live and ready!

An example of a fully completed business card page is for Google.

You will notice we now offer the following features on the business card:

Site Name
Site Url
Phone Number
Company Address
Company Email Address
Extended Full Page Description
Company Logo
Quick Links to Internal Pages (Sponsored & Commercial Listings Only)

If you have previously submitted a listing and would like to add some
of the features contained on the business card, please fill out our update form here.

Editor Introduction

2005-01-03T08:35:00.000-06:00

Hi, I am an editor for Uncover the Net. I am a librarian working at Central Michigan University. I am also a senior editor at Joeant and I edit at DMOZ and Zeal. I am using this experience to find good sites for Uncover to help build the directory up.

There is nothing wrong with having a directory that charges commercial sites for inclusion. However, any directory that only lists paying sites is pretty worthless in my opinion. If you don't have good non-commercial information Web surfers will ignore you. It becomes obvious that those directories that mainly only add paying sites are just selling PR. This is not the case with Uncover as we are adding tons of free non-commercial sites every day. This directory is meant to be useful to end users. And of course, it should remain a good value for those commercial sites which pay to be reviewed for a listing.

I hope to be working with Uncover the Net for a long time. It is exciting to be building a new directory from scratch.

UTN RSS Feed

2005-01-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

As you can probably tell, I'm not much of a blogger, but I'm learning :)

I'll try to maintain a daily journal and use the blog for announcements about the directory and special promotions.

I also will be enabling staff posts from our editors in the blog as well, so everyone can hear from all the people behind the scene!

Anyway for those who are more 'blogger inclined' than I, here is the RSS Feed.

Many New Features to Be Added

2004-12-31T19:36:00.000-06:00

Well, you spoke and we listened. Many of our customers have sent us feedback about things they'd like to see in the directory. Some were great, and we are going to include some of your suggestions! In the next week we are working on integrating several new features into the directory. Just a taste of what we are adding are:

Business Phone Number on the Business Card Page
Email Address on the Business Card Page
Business Address if they have one and want to use it
Extended Description on the Business Card Page of up to 5 paragraphs
Their own logo on the Business Card Page. Ideas for demensions are about 250x250
Better and more streamlined add url forms

These changes will make your listings on UTN much like a listing on a Yellow Pages website. It's also great for people who have businesses but don't have a website yet. This new business card page will help serve as your own personal business web page with your contact information on it.

This literally invloves rebuilding the database from scratch and importing everything, but it's better we do these upgrades now when we only have about 4k listings as opposed to 1 year from now!

Comments / Suggestions? I'd love to hear 'em!

Mass Submission Binge

2004-12-31T14:19:00.000-06:00

In the last 24 hours, myself, the editors and our customers have added almost 300 sites! We're growing rapidly! :)

Some Major Changes

2004-12-30T11:32:00.000-06:00

In the next few days, we will be implementing a system that will insert a robots no index, no follow tag on all categories that do not have any listings in them. We also excluded the add-url and suggest category pages from being spidered. We'll also be deleting some of the categories that are empty and do not seem to be a popular category.

What we'll end up doing is adding categories as we need to based upon the number of similar sites in one topic.

So,what does this mean for users? It means more direct traffic (it wont be as hard for people to find sites), and more targeted link popularity since it's not spread out to so many categories.

Too Many Categories?

2004-12-29T18:52:00.000-06:00

Recently there has been lots of buzz about too many categories on directories, and possibility of getting penalized for tons of empty pages in the index. Now that we have like 20 million pages in the directory,I'm thinking of deleting some of the categories until they have website listings to populate them. Maybe even locations as well.

Is Google Cracking Down on Directories?

2004-12-29T08:40:00.000-06:00

Recently it was posted at V7 that Webatlas was banned by Google. When in fact a search for the domain in Google does appear that it was removed from the index. But, after talking with the owner and creator of the site, it seems that she wanted to redirect http://webatlas.org to http://www.webatlas.org and she used a 302 redirect which we all know from the Business.com instance that Google treats as spam. In other words, it's a problem/ glitch with Google, not Webatlas. Now, I'd like to see how quickly it will return to the index. She emailed them and hopefully they will get back to her soon with reinclusion.

Once again, directories will be banned or penalized for the exact same reasons that a normal site will be penalized or banned. And not just because they are a directory. Google & Y! knows crap directories from quality ones, I assure you. :)

Traffic Doubles

2004-12-20T23:36:00.000-06:00

Got about 2300 unique visitors today. I know it's not much for most sites, but we're still growing :)

Marketing Online

2004-12-20T08:15:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I ran across one of the coolest marketing quotes from Davenetics...

If you want to get in front of a few thousand potential orthodontics patients, you might have to figure out something more creative than the words teeth and braces.

Google Search Appliance

2004-12-15T20:01:00.000-06:00

Recently, I've been looking into Google's search appliance. Basically it's your own google.com type search results on your own website. They factor in over 100 factors in ranking your documents. If you do a search on the directory now, you'll see that the results certainly leave something to be desired. There are studies that state that people will leave your website if they don't find what they are looking for (eg, the correct category or relevant website etc).

So anyway, more info about it is here. Now whats the down side? It costs $32, 000 for 2 years. So it's very expensive, but the question that begs to be asked is whether or not it will pay itself off. Now to help make the purchase more "worth it", they are willing to make a case study for us, which would be posted here kinda like this one for USA Today.

What do you think? Is it worth it? Will it help our users out?

New Editor - Branson

2004-12-15T18:24:00.000-06:00

Today we added Branson as the editor of Health & Medicine. He's a super nice guy who's very particular about the quality of sites that he ads...just what we want :)

I also want to thank the other editors for their hard work..I really do appreciate it. Especially Michael, he ads between 20-50 websites a day!!

Clicksor - New Contextual Advertising

2004-12-15T18:01:00.001-06:00

There is a new contextual advertising out there in addition to Adsense. From what I can tell, it looks to be pretty good. I'm going to try it on some of the seo articles to see how it works. You can choose either adsense style ads, banner ads, or text ads with your content (kinda like what seochat does on their articles)

Here's the banner..

New Affiliate Program

2004-12-15T17:56:00.000-06:00

Do you have a website that talks about directories or site promotion or seo etc? If so, apply to be an affiliate for UTN and make money for every customer you send over! :)

See the affiliate section for more details.

Back to Blogspot...

2004-12-15T02:42:00.000-06:00

For some reason I couldn't publish any new posts when it was on UTN's servers, so I moved it back..

Be the very first listing in the top search engines immediately!

2004-12-14T19:32:00.000-06:00

I can't tell you how many of these emails I get every day.  Some days its gotta be over 30.

Pure 100% spam.  Hopefully no one actually signs up for these.  Email is below  :)



Dear Customer,

 

Be the very first listing in the top search engines immediately.

 

Our company will now place any business with a qualified website

permanently at 

the top of the major search engines guaranteed never to move (ex: Yahoo!,

MSN, Alta Vista, etc.).  This promotion includes unlimited traffic and is

not going to last long.  If you are interested in being guaranteed first

position in the top search engines at a 

promotional fee, please contact us promptly to find out if you qualify via 

email at    (n_larrea@spymac.com).    Please include the URL(s) you are

interested in promoting.  This is not pay per click.  Examples will be

provided.

  

 

Sincerely,

 

The Search Engine Placement Specialists

December Holiday Special

2004-12-11T17:44:00.000-06:00

If you are a subscriber to our newsletter, you should know by now that we are offering a holiday submission special.

For those of you who are not subscribers, you can subscribe here. Or read below for the newsletter contents...

Hello,

First let me say, thanks for signing up for the UTN Directory
Newsletter. This is our first edition of the monthly newsletter.

As you should know the holidays are upon us and everyone likes holiday
shopping specials! So to thank the webmasters who help us grow, we're
offering a holiday special that involves free submissions! Basically,
you get a free listing for every paid listing that you submit. It's
valid until the end of the year. For complete deatils, please see this thread.

Thanks & Happy Holidays!
Shawn Walters
http://www.uncoverthenet.com

Massachusetts Governor Declares December 2004 "W3C Month"

2004-12-11T16:34:00.000-06:00

I thought this was pretty cool. If you live in Massachusetts maybe you saw it on the news :)

Anyway, the Governor of Mass declared December to now be known as the W3C Month!

Here is the link to the official document...

Blogspot is Sooo Slow

2004-12-07T15:29:00.000-06:00

Everytime, I tried to access the blog it took like 5 five minutes just to load the page. So I moved it from Blogspot to our server @ www.uncoverthenet.com/blog/ :)

A Christmas Present for the W3C

2004-12-02T20:14:00.001-06:00

In the spirt of the holidays, we donated a Dell laptop computer to the World Wide Web Consortium today. See here for more info. And don't forget the 10th Anniversary of the W3C is being held this week in Boston! :)

I'm going to start a directory and get rich...

2004-12-01T21:21:00.000-06:00

That's what I hear every day in forums. All about how someone has this great idea on starting a directory and then is gonna charge for submissions and make tons of money for doing nothing.

How foolish they are. Today we added 127 websites to the directory, and guess how many of thoese were paid submissions? Well, let's just say not as many as people think. Now considering we've spent probably over $20,000 in the past 2 months on advertising, that's not exactly raking in the dough.

It just kinda makes me sick to see new directories spring up, then spend no money on promotion, and slap adsense on it to make some cash. This is what gives directories bad names.

Anyway, this was my friendly public service announcement for the day. :)

A Few Good Men...and Women :)

2004-11-30T01:36:00.000-06:00

Well, the time has come where we are getting a large amount of traffic from search engines now; namely Google ..thanks Sergey & Larry :)

But I've found that many of the terms that are being searched for have no sites listed in the categories. Obviously, that doesn't help anybody out. On top of that, probably 75% of the searches are non-commercial and informational type searches. Which means that there probably won't be very many edu or government sites submitting their sites.

Therefore I've enlisted the generous help of some editors. From department heads at State Universities to small business owners, we have 4 editors in total now, and 2 'in training'.

My personal goal is to add 100 websites per day through normal paid submissions, and the additions that myself and the editors add by scouring the net for quality resources. Given that ratio, within a years time we can become a viable database of over 36,000 websites. Imagine that number in 5 years with 10 more editors. It's exciting to say the least. :)

The World Wice Web Consortium Celebrates Tenth Anniversary

2004-11-29T23:37:00.000-06:00

http://www.w3.org/ -- 30 November 2004 --
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is marking its tenth
anniversary with a day-long symposium on 1 December at the Fairmont Copley
Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. W3C10 brings together Web and
Internet technical leaders from around the globe to both remember the W3C's
origins and look to the future of the Web and W3C's role in it.

The Web is 15; W3C is 10

In March of 1989 while employed at CERN

(l'Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), Tim Berners-Lee
wrote a proposal
that would become the basis for the World Wide Web. With approval from his
supervisor, the late Mike Sendall, and support from colleagues including
Robert Cailliau, Berners-Lee's invention grew from one server at CERN (1990),
to millions and millions of servers today.

Yet even in those early days, Berners-Lee saw the potential for tremendous
growth predicated on key features: openness of technologies, and agreed-upon
standards and protocols. CERN agreed to make Tim's code available to all free
of charge, but who would ensure that standards and protocols would be
developed, disseminated and used, ensuring one Web for all users rather than
fragmentation?

In October 1994, Berners-Lee, with help from the late Michael Dertouzos of
the MIT Laboratory for Computer
Science, founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Its earliest stated
mission was to "Lead the Web to Its Full Potential." It has done so in at
least two distinct ways. First, W3C has developed technical recommendations
that industry embraces as Web standards such as Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets
(CSS), and Extensible Markup
Language (XML), the last of which has
given rise to new graphics and multimedia formats (SVG and SMIL) as well as
applications for mobile devices, such as VoiceXML 2 and XHTML Basic. In
addition to these formatting standards, W3C serves as the developmental
center of the Semantic Web.
The second way that W3C has impacted the Web is through the creation of
policies and practices that encourage the extended applicability and growth
of Web technologies to the broadest number of people, including W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative, its Internationalization
Activity and its Patent
Policy.

"W3C10" Program Looks Back, Looks Forward

To celebrate its tenth anniversary, W3C is organizing a one-day symposium
on 1 December for its Members and invited guests to reflect on the impact of
the Web, W3C's central role in its growth, and risks and opportunities facing
the Web during W3C's second decade.

"This special anniversary brings the opportunity to acknowledge the impact
of the Web and the W3C's stewardship role," said Tim Berners-Lee, W3C's
Director. "I hope it will also inspire ever more collaboration, creativity,
and understanding across the globe."

The event's emcee is Ethernet inventor and Internet pioneer Bob
Metcalfe. The rich program includes
equal parts reflection and projection. Sessions cover the early days of the
Web and W3C's emergence, through the commercial and social impacts of the Web
on the world we now experience. Others look at the impact of the Web, and of
Web standards, with an eye towards new frontiers for Web technical
development, and tensions that may require resolution.

"W3C10 is a celebration that brings together the people who are
pioneering, standardizing, implementing and benefiting from Web
technologies," explained Steve Bratt, W3C Chief Operating Officer. "We'll
share stories from the W3C's past and dreams for the future of Web
technology, making for a full and exciting day."

Sponsorship for W3C10 is International, Diverse

W3C10 enjoys generous sponsorship
from both Members and outside organizations including Platinum sponsors MIT
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), HP, and
Microsoft Corporation; Gold sponsors Adobe Systems, Amadeus e-Travel, BEA
Systems, Google, IBM, ILOG, and INRIA; and Silver sponsors Billiotek srl,
CERN, Digital Enterprise Research Institute (DERI), IONA Technologies, Inc.,
Intervoice, Inc., Nokia, Sogei, and Uncover the Net.

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing
common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability.
It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and
Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. Services provided
by the Consortium include: a repository of information about the World Wide
Web for developers and users, and various prototype and sample applications
to demonstrate use of new technology. More than 350 organizations are Members of W3C. To learn more, see http://www.w3.org/

Some New Advertising

2004-11-26T10:25:00.000-06:00

Well, in the past 48 hours, I've signed up for about $2000 worth of more advertising on a montly basis. They include..

www.seoroundtable.com - a great site by Barry Schwartz. He's got a very good reading audience.
www.isedb.com - we already had some advertising on it, but it was just a link, so now we'll have a 250x300 banner

And...UTN Directory is now a proud sponsor (in addition to being a member) of the World Wide Web Consortium's 10th Anniversary!

Uncover the Net Blog

Gmail is Amazing

Software Update Complete

With Any Luck .... We'll Launch Tomorrow

New System Ready to Launch

New System Close to Launch

You Can Help!

Credit Card System Launched

Geo Targeting Added to PPC Listings

Search Engine Conferences

Images & Picture Search Trigger Quick Tip

Server Updates

New Image Search Available

Changing the Blogging Style

Now Pay with Google Checkout

New Server on Load Balancer

Free RSS News Feeds Available

Full Text News Now Available

Google Adsense Remembers?

Update on New Software Progress

Better Business Bureau Complaint Free Award

Adding Another Server

Will You Buy an Apple iPhone?

Googe.com - Why Parked Page?

Google Spelled Their Name Wrong?

Complete Overhaul Coming Soon..

TV Shows I Have to Watch

Trademark Finally Active

AB Testing the Search Results

Updated Main Page

New Affiliate Program

Adult Category Disclaimer

Image Verification Added to Add Url Forms

NetFlix vs. Blockbuster Total Access

Alexa Ratings

Difference Between Retail and Online

Moving Our Retail Store

UncoverTheNet PR 0? Oh My Gosh!

Google: Entering into Evil?

Comment Spam, and then More Comment Spam

Been a Long Time!

New Corporate Name

A few Changes to the Shortcuts

Even More Features Added...

Related Searches Added

Image Search Released

Our 8th Month Birthday!

Robots & More Robots

Look! Baby Pictures, Well Not Quite

Hmm, Now What Category Should I Look In?

What's My IP Address?

A Customer's Word: Just Wanted to Let You Know...

Page Rank & UTN, Part 2

Page Rank & UTN

Interview with Aaron Wall

Feeling Like Football at UTN

Progress & Updates

Search Engine Rebuild Progress

Search Function to be Rebuilt

Uncover the Net - Online Store

Accoona Search Engine - A New Player?

A Second Server Added

Applied for Trademark

UTN Toolbar is Live

Almost 12,000 Listings!

Over 10K

A "Real" Regional Section

Seemless Integration of Articles

Blogger Error - 001 java.net. ConnectException: Connection refused

Moving to a Dedicated Server

Things I Would Have Done Different

Spam Will Continue..

Google Adsense

Preventing Comment Spam

IRCA Work Done

Back 2 Business

Directory Building at Uncover the Net

Business Card Page Features Completed

Editor Introduction

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