Beginner's Guide to Website Services

What is Instant Messaging?

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:16:17 +0000

Instant messaging is a way to communicate over the internet in real-time. No longer do you need to wait on an important email or wonder if your email was ever received. Most instant messaging programs have a contact list, commonly referred to as a “buddy list” where you can enter in the user ids of people you would like to communicate with. When you are online and signed into the instant messaging software, it will list the other people in your contact list that are also online or “available”. If someone starts the conversation first, a box will appear on the screen and show the contact’s message and also provide a text box where you can type in a reply. (To begin a conversation yourself, you simply click on the contact’s name.) Your conversation is “recorded” in the main text box, so you can easily read back over it if you lose your train of thought. This is the basic way instant messaging is used although there are many other convenient features will we discuss in a moment.

History and Origin

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:16:55 +0000

The idea of instant messaging had been around for a while, but it really took off in November of 1996 when the company Mirablis introduced ICQ, a phrase meaning “I seek you”. It was one of the first real-time IM (instant messaging) programs available and works much like the programs still do today. Not long after this, AOL came up with its own instant messaging program. Supposedly, it was originally referred to as “flashmail” and users would say that they were online “flashing” people. Now the official name is AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) and people refer to it as “IMing” or “chatting”. Today, there are many different IM software providers some of who are combining together so there are large networks of users that can all communicate with one another.

How do you use it?

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:17:32 +0000

In order to get started, you must first download the software. There are several free software versions easily accessible though the major email providers such as AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!. Chances are you either use one of these for your email or are at least familiar with the sites. Once you download the software, if you don’t already have a user id, you will create one along with a password. It is likely that they will ask for some background information and many experts discourage this so that you can protect your identity and only “talk” to those people you choose. Many times the software will allow you to search for friends using a username or email address and that is perceived as fine, but you don’t want anonymous people to be able to “find” you, especially if you have an adolescent or teenager that is using an instant messenger. As another protection tool, if someone wants to add you as a “buddy”, commonly a message will appear first asking if you would like to add this person to your contact list and be able to send and receive messages. Once you have people in your contact list and they are also listed as “available” or “online” you are ready to start IMing. Unlike a chatroom, you are only writing to that specific person and no one else in your contact list can see your conversation. It is important to note that instant messaging is not considered a completely secure form of communication, so confidential information and important identification numbers should not be shared.

Features

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:18:05 +0000

There are so many convenient and fun features that instant messaging provides. Here are just a sampling of what many IM providers are offering.

• Status: As mentioned earlier, when you are online you status will read “available” or something similar to that, but let’s say you need to go do something or the telephone rings. Most IM configurations let you change your status to something like “busy”, “away from the computer”, or if you use the IM at work, “out of the office” or “on vacation”. Many times you can also customize your status message to say exactly what you want people to see. If you choose to stay signed onto your IM continuously, you can change your status to “invisible”. With this feature you are able to communicate to someone, without all the other contacts knowing you are available.
• Sharing: Not only do you get to “chat” with your friends and family you can also share things like weblinks, photos, and computer files. Often there will be an icon for this located somewhere in the message box. Say you have a photograph you would like to share with someone. You would click the appropriate icon, follow the prompts and choose the correct photo. It will send that information to the other person and then they will be able to pull it up without having to mess with the hassle of composing an email, attaching the photo, and then sending it to the contact.
• Emotions: Many email providers have the ability to change the style and color of the font and insert “smileys” that portray emotion. IM has the same capability as well. Some also really neat features you might find are cartoon-like “audibles” that play a little message to the recipient and the ability to change the background of the message box. Many times the backgrounds are animated. These are not necessary features of course, but they make the IMing experience more entertaining.
• Talk and Video: One of the newest features that is rapidly catching on is PC to PC calling that allows you to actually “talk” to a contact. You must have the appropriate equipment to use this feature such as a microphone, sound card, and speakers. You can also use a webcam if you have one in order to have a live video feed during the “chat”. It is possible to use all these features together and have what you could call a “video phone” conversation while sharing files and photos!

With all the latest and greatest features, the possibilities are endless to what things you can accomplish using an instant messaging service.

IM Abbreviations

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 17:18:52 +0000

For those of us who don’t use the talk and video feature, one draw-back of using an IM over the actual telephone, is that you are forced to type everything you want to say and trust me, it can get very frustrating especially if you are engaged in a long conversation. In order to speed things up, you will likely see many abbreviations used by the IM savvy. To make things just a little less confusing, here are a few of the most popular abbreviations used today.

• AAR-At Any Rate
• BBL/BBS/BRB-Be Back Later/Be Back Soon/Be Right Back
• BTW-By The Way
• D/L or DL-Download
• HRU-How Are You
• IB-I’m Back
• L8R-Later
• LOL-Laugh Out Loud
• SRY-Sorry
• TTFN-Ta Ta For Now

These are just a handful of the abbreviations you might see while IMing. If you have a friend who uses abbreviations like these plus ones you don’t yet understand, you can find a list of commonly used ones by searching online.

Hopefully by now, you see all the possibilities that exist for those using instant messaging. It is not a scary process and the best piece of advice is to jump in, try it, and see if it works for you. Most people find it a convenient way to keep in touch with family and friends without running up phone bills or hassling with the broken communication of emailing back and forth. Now that you understand what it is, how you use it, and the features it provides, you are ready to become a member of the every growing IM community.

Application Service Providers

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:01:42 +0000

Application Service Providers Overview

What exactly is an ASP?

How to Choose the Right Online ASP?

What are the Advantages of Using an ASP

Content Management

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:03:11 +0000

Content Management Overview

Just what is Content Management?

How is Content Management Used?

How to Recognize Good Content Management

Online Database Solutions

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:05:01 +0000

Online Database Solutions Overview

Exactly How Does an Online Database Work?

How to Decide Which Online Database Solution is Best

Working With the Right Online Database Solutions Provider

Online Copywriting

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:07:21 +0000

Online Copywriting Overview

What is Online Copy and why is it needed?

Should I use Long or Short Copy

How to Create Successful Copy

What is WHOIS?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:44:55 +0000

WHOIS, also known as "who is", is the name for an Internet function that allows you to search remote WHOIS databases for domain registration information. By performing a simple WHOIS search you can discover when a domain was registered, who registered it, contact information, and more. A WHOIS search can also reveal the name or network mapped to a numerical IP address. Originally, WHOIS searches were performed in a command line environment and took the form, [drive]:\>whois domain.com. Searches can still be performed from the command line, but now you can simply visit a WHOIS website and enter the IP address or domain name.

What information will a WHOIS search give me?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:45:25 +0000

When you perform a WHOIS search on a domain, you will be able to find a plethora of domain registration information. For example, if you are looking up a domain that is privately owned, the WHOIS database contains the full name, address, telephone number, and email address of the registered owner of the domain.

If the domain is owned by a business, the company name, address, email, and telephone number are listed. There may also be areas for a domain administrator, technical administrator, and other contacts. The expiration date of the registration period is also listed.

What is the history of WHOIS?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:45:48 +0000

When the Internet was emerging out of the ARPANET body, DARPA was the only one organization that handled all domain registrations. WHOIS was standardized in the early 1980s to look-up domains, people and other resources related to domain and number registrations. Because all registration was done by one organization in that time, one centralized server was used for WHOIS queries. This made looking-up information very easy.

Early WHOIS servers were highly permissive and would allow wild-card searches. For example, one could do a WHOIS lookup on a person's last name and get all the individual people who had a registered handle. You could do a search on a keyword and see all registered domains containing that keyword. You could even search a given administrative contact and see all domains they were associated with. However, due to the advent of the commercialized Internet, multiple registrars and unethical spammers, such permissive searching is no longer available.

Initially, while ARPANET faded away in the late 1980s, responsibility of domain registration remained with DARPA. Soon, UUNet began offering domain registration service, however they simply handled the paperwork for you and still had to deal with DARPA's Network Information Center (NIC). Then the National Science Foundation aimed at getting management of Internet domain registration to be handled by commercial, 3rd party entities. InterNIC was formed in 1993 under contract with the NSF, consisting of Network Solutions, Inc., General Atomics, and AT&T. General Atomics' contract was cancelled after several years due to performance issues.

On December 1, 1999, management of .com, .net, and .org was turned over to ICANN and everything was switched to a thin WHOIS model. Existing WHOIS clients stopped working at that time. A month later it had self-detecting CGI support so that the same program could operate a web-based WHOIS lookup, and an external TLD table to support multiple whois servers based on the TLD of the request. This eventually became the model of the modern WHOIS.

Currently, there are many more generic top-level domains than there were in the early 1980s. There are also many, many more country-code top-level domains. This has led to a complex network of domain name registrars and registrar associations, especially as the management of Internet infrastructure has become more internationalized. As such, performing a WHOIS query on a domain requires knowing the correct, authoritative WHOIS server to use. Tools to do WHOIS proxy searches have become common, and there's a command-line WHOIS which uses a configuration file to map-out domain names and network blocks to their appropriate registrar.

How can WHOIS information be stored?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:46:19 +0000

There are two ways that WHOIS information may be stored: thick or thin. With the thick model, one WHOIS server stores the WHOIS information from all the registrars for the particular set of data. For example, one WHOIS server can respond with WHOIS information on all .org domains.

With the thin model, one WHOIS server stores the name of the WHOIS server of a registrar that has the full details on the data being looked up. For example, the .com WHOIS servers refer the WHOIS query to the registrar that the domain was registered from. The thick model usually ensures consistent data and slightly faster lookups (since only one WHOIS server needs to be contacted).

What happens if a WHOIS client does not understand the information being returned? Thin lookup results (which include the WHOIS server of the registrar, and perhaps a few other necessary details) will be displayed to the end user. If the WHOIS client understood how to deal with this situation, it would display the full information from the registrar. Unfortunately, there is no standard in the WHOIS protocol for determining how to distinguish the thin model from the thick model.

Different domain name registries store information in different ways. Some top-level domains, including .com and .net, operate a thin WHOIS, allowing the various domain registrars the ability to maintain their own customers' data. Other registries, including .org, operate a thick model.

How does WHOIS prevent hackers from using domain information?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:46:48 +0000

Although WHOIS provides information that can be very valuable, there are people out there who choose to abuse this information.

While the original purpose of the WHOIS database was to provide a directory for domain owners, the publicly available information opened the doors to mass spam and other abuses. WHOIS tried several things to prevent this from happening, including changing the terms and conditions of WHOIS databases to include a statement that the information revealed should not be used for such purposes. This change has proven to be mostly ineffective. To further discourage data hackers, most WHOIS sites have implemented a script with a random graphic display of numbers or letters. When a person requests information from a WHOIS website, they will be asked to manually type a series of letters or numbers. This way, "Bots" or data scouring programs cannot read the graphic displays and are unable to manually enter them. This disables results from automated queries.

This has slowed down many hackers, but beyond precautions such as these, there is no real mechanism in place to catch, identify, or punish abusers of WHOIS information.

What are the problems with WHOIS?

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:47:16 +0000

With this technology, there have been a few problems arise. First, since anyone is able to look up a domain address, privacy has become an issue. When you look up a domain, the owner's address and telephone number is made easily accessible to anyone over the Internet.

Another problem that is arising is the amount of false registrations. The privacy services mentioned above are sometimes abused by people who are involved in illegal activity. These people use them in the knowledge that it makes it extremely difficult for people outside of their legal jurisdiction to obtain their contact details. Since these registrars are uncooperative when notified of illegal activity makes this situation worse.

Another problem is caused with the inaccuracy of the information. Some people who register their websites are not completely honest with their contact details. Unfortunately, there is not a major way to prevent people from putting down inaccurate information. This is also a problem that occurs whenever people move. Since a person's email stays the same even when they move locations, the file stays valid. Most people forget to update their address information.

Another problem occurs with the history of the domain. When a domain record is updated, the previous information is not archived but overridden. Few WHOIS web servers, however, do automatically monitor and cache the records for domains that were queried through their interface, making the WHOIS history partially available.
Spam also becomes a problem with WHOIS sites. Spammers often harvest plain-text email addresses from WHOIS requests. This means that both WHOIS servers and websites offering WHOIS lookups have resorted to special systems and rate-limiting systems.

Internationalization is another problem. The WHOIS protocol was not written with an international audience in mind. A WHOIS server cannot tell which text encoding it is using for either the requests or replies, and the servers were originally all simply using US-ASCII, although this cannot be assumed anymore with international servers. This will impact the usability of the WHOIS protocol in countries outside the USA, especially as internationalized domain names are falling into wider use. A user can use punycode, but this leads to conversion problems, as the punycode system is not easy for a regular user to grasp.