Friday, June 20, 2008

SEM - Search Engine Marketing

I wrote something for some office folks, thought it would nice thing to have on my blog too, hope someone finds this an interesting read.

Search Engine Marketing, generally involves a subset of operations in order to to make your site more visible on the internet, ie. Appear at fairly visible / the most effective postion when being searched on the internet on major Search Engines like Google, Yahoo!, AltaVista, Microsoft Live, Amazon etc.. Higher the position better it is.

Except for a handful countries, Google gets maximum search volume, about 70% of the total, It's extremely important to focus on the geo-target for proper optimization, for example if you're targeting india audience, you need to make sure Google is your priority one on optimization, over 90% search happens on google, Japan on the other hand seems to favor Yahoo!, US is a split of 65% on google rest of the traffic with rest of the providers Yahoo! holding about 19%.

For most part, Good URL's, META Tags, Title and Alt Tags, Spilling Keywords all over the document, Semantic structure of the document a robots.txt file would be the most obvious (and fundamental) things to help you be search engine freindly. You can also use number of online tools for key word generation, you can use third party tools or tools provided by search engine itself to make URL submissions.

Other tactics include getting your link to be on as many sites as possible (preferable, ones with higher rank on Google! than your site [Pagerank likes this]), Get some one to blog regular articles on your site etc etc..

The other thing you can do, of course is, buy positions in Search result sheets, like adwords.google.com, searchmarketing.yahoo.com, adcenter.microsoft.com what you can also do with these is create campaigns, generate / submit keywords, setup daily budget (min, max), pause campaigns, decide who to target (geography, age, culture blah blah..) and a whole lot more.

Besides all this, Google Adwords, Yahoo! Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter provide their API's out in the open, So you can get your programs / application to think for you! What you can do with them is only limited to your creativity.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Yahoo! The "could be" and "Not to Be!"

Phew.....

I've quit the job now, been over a month, haven't taken a break from never-ending home-office-jam routine for over three years. I would love a break of doing nothing but sleep and relax and travel and play drums. I hope i get that luxury. I cant afford to stay out of job for too long either, I got loans to pay.

I have just been taking interviews with Yahoo!, Its been 6 technical rounds of interviews, i think, i've done fairly well, I haven't recieved an offer yet, But i hope, that when (or if) i do, i get to work on perl.

perl's my favorite these days, i favor it over PHP which is something i've been writing for a while.
There are other languages of course that i like but don't find enough jobs on them back here. I like Ruby, its a fun language much like perl, I prefer it over python, I like python 'cause its clean.

If you're interested in cracking Yahoo! jobs, I wouldn't say interviews are hard. It's just too many. You need to be cool with PHP and have knowledge of UTF support in them, must have basic knowledge of how to optimize PHP for performance, Must have basic idea of HTTP transactions and Cookies. Must have some idea about MVC patterns, I hardly got asked SQL questions. You need be good with JavaScript, need to understand OOP support in javaScript, closures, defining private methods, using inheritence in JS. You need to know basic browser event handling, Browser quiks, Sematic Mark up, HTML DOM, XML DOM, AJAX, optimizing CSS for performance and for other browsers.

if not very well you need to understand these concepts.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Lighning Strikes Twice!

Pictures of Awesome Royal Enfield Lightning 535













































Monday, June 16, 2008

Days of Lightning : "Gimme fuel, Gimme Fire, Gimme that which i desire"

It's been just over a month since i bought myself a Royal Enfield Lightning 535, I wasn't prepared for the BIG buy, i already had RE Bullet electra (That's officially my brother's but practically mine ;)). I was reeling under FAT loans and credit-card shit, But when the offer came and i took a test ride, i couldn't resist anymore.

She's the best darn monster riding on two wheels, smooth as cheese, powerful as Kalashnikov, I live in Bangalore, more popular for its chaotic traffic than anything else, i still managed to make it to 115 kph on with a pillion, I never felt like the bike couldn't do more, Its HUGE, It gives me knock out punch every time i start it, I have ridden so many bikes, nothing beats a Royal Enfield, And nothing ever feels like a lightning. Its just PURE RAW POWER. At 535 cc, 25 BHP, Torque 38 nm, It is the most powerful bike in India.
All metal, silver and black, Smooth Sounds, Comes with a Tachometer, Exceptional performance, Its just incredible ride.

I've had problems with it though, Spark plugs burn out, The water leaks into my timing box, my battery went flat, The bike does funny things when water leaks into the carborator, Milage is relative low, But trust me, When i get the engines running hard smooth and clean, and i rev it up, Its just the that makes me forget everything and enjoy in bliss, while the "Lightning rides me".

Will put the pictures in with the next post.

The inappropriate interview

Okay, I was in this company for an interview recently, I believe it's called Encora Technologies, for this "PHP" position. I got interviewed by this funny manager they had, don't even remember his name, honestly, don't think it carries any significance anyways.

First, I don't think this manager had and qualifications to conduct a technical interview. By qualifications i don't mean some jazzy certifications, but the knowledge, aptitude, attitude and most of all modesty in accepting things outside his knowledge box.

I don't consider myself "brilliant!" at what i do, I know there are better ways to do certain things, and i'm always seeking those better ways, I have no shame in accepting that there are million things i'm yet to know, but i find it extremely offending when some tells i'm wrong, when i'm actually right. This manager was one of those kinds, "If he din't know it, It must not exist" .


So his company runs business running PHP, Everybody in his company runs Windows (huh?), So the conversation goes like this:

manager: Have you worked on linux?
me: yeah, All my working life.
manager: Whats a 'pipe'?
me: --- A long response --
manager: have you used sed / awk?
me: yeah, a long time ago, I use Perl now ;)
manager: sed's faster, (..sort of suggests why sed's better than perl)

I mean If he really wanted to quiz about UNIX, did he just want me to know pipes, thats it? nothing more on UNIX? nothing at all.

Anyways, the thought of using sed because sed's faster bust me into two,

1. Why would a company that's so concerned about speed use PHP anyways?
2. Perl's quicker, Java is quicker and of course C is way quicker!

Then i rattled a little about perl's awesome regular expressions and compared it with regular expressions and back references in sed. I realized at this moment with his clueless nods that he'd never used sed either. Shit! Im being interviewd by a technical duck head, who wanted to prove by the way of force that his way was the correct way. I soon found out that, If i did join, i'd be reporting into this crack head, I called the HR and told them i wasn't interested in this job.


The most annoying part about this whole interview process was the fact that this manager wasn't even listening to me, he dint want to give me sheets of paper to describe Singleton Pattern's implementation in PHP, He dint think he could use LIMIT on UPDATE and DELETE statment in SQL (MySQL of course).

I do believe that during an interview process there are two parties forming their perceptions about each other, I do not say that interviewer has to be technically a better programmer than the interviewee, but he needs to be open to that fact.

Monday, May 19, 2008

At work again....

It's really boring these days, this is technically my first entry in the blog about my work, or anything personal. Just been reading all day and smoking my lungs to death....phew.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Drum Tabs, Dull Boy, Mudvayne

Dull boy - Drum Tabs
Author : V2
Email : superpulse.x@gmail.com
Note : Simple song, easy to Tab, Must have left out some cymbal notes and stuff I think I've got about 90% Correct. Please mail me if you have corrections to make. Cheers and have fun playing.



Cc1 - Crash Cymbal 1
Cc2 - Crash Cymbal 2
Hh - Hi Hats
Hp - hi Hat pedal
Rc - Ride Cymbal
Sd - Snare Drum
Bd - Base Drum
T1 - Hi Tom
T2 - Low Tom
FT - Floor Tom
Sp - Splash Cymal



Live in secret, Live in lie....
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc1|X-------------------------------|X-------------------------------|X-------------------------------|X-------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|----X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|----X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|----X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|----X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|--x-----x-----x-----x-------x---|--x-----x-----x-----x-------F---|--x-----x-----x-----x-------x-x-|--x-----x-----x-----x---F---F---|
Bd_|x-----x---x-----x-x-----x-x-----|x-----x---x-------x-----x--x--x-|x-----x---x-----x-x-----x-x-----|x-----x---x-------x-------x---x-|


Live like a Transian...
Cc2|--------------------------------|----------------------------X---|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc1|X-------------------------------|X-------------------------X---X-|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|----X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|----X---X---X---X---X---X-------|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|--x-----x-----x-----x-------x---|--x-----x-----x---x-----x-------|--------F---------------F-------|--------F---------------F---F---|
Bd_|x-----x---x-----x-x-----x-x-----|x-----x---x-----x-----x---x-x-x-|x-x---x---x---x-x-x-x-----x---x-|x-x---x---x---x-x-x-x-----x---x-|


Payback....
Cc2|X-------------------------------|X---------------X-----------------------|X-------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
Cc1|X-------------------------------|X---------------------X-----------------|X---------------------------X---|----------------------------------------|
Rc_|----x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|----x---x---x---------------------------|----x---x---x---x---x---x-------|----------------------------------------|
Hh_|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------|--------------------------------|x---x---x---x---------------------------|
T1_|--------------------------------|------------------x-x---x-x-------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
T2_|--------------------------------|----------------------------x-x-x-------|--------------------------------|----------------x-x-x-------------------|
FT_|--------------------------------|----------------------------------x-x-x-|--------------------------------|----------------------x-x-x-------x-x-x-|
Sd_|--------x---------------x---F---|--------x---x---------------------------|--------x---------------x---F---|--------x---x---------------x-x-x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-----x---x-x-x-x---xxxxxxxx|x-x-x-----------x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|x-x-x-----x---x-x-x-x---xxxxxxxx|x-x-x-----------x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|



Im not the reason...
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc2|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|x-------x-------x-----------x---|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-x---------x-x-x-x---x-----|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|


Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X-------|
T1_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------X---|
FT_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------X---|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|x---------------x-------F---F---|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x-x---|x-x-x-x-x-x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x-----x---|




Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|
Sd_|--x-----x-----------x-------x---|--x-----x-----------x-------x---|
Bd_|x-----x---x---x-x-x-----x-x-----|x-----x---x---x---x-----x--x----|


All work and no play....
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|
Sd_|--x-----x-----x-----x-------x--x|--x-----x-----x-----x-------x-x-|--x-----x---------x-----x---x---|--x-----x-----------x---F---F---|
Bd_|x-----x---x-----x-x-----x-x-----|x-----x---x-------x-----x--x----|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x---x-|


Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------X---|
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------X---X-|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X-------|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x---F---|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x-x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x---x-|x-----x---x-x-x-x-----x---x-x-x-|x-----x---x-x-x-x-----x---x-x-x-|



Payback....
Cc2|X-------------------------------|X---------------X-----------X-----------|
Cc1|X-------------------------------|X---------------------X-----------X-----|
Rc_|----x---x---x---x---x---x---x---|----x---x---x---------------------------|
Hh_|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
T1_|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
T2_|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
FT_|--------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
Sd_|--------x---------------x---F---|--------x---x-----x-x---x-x---x-x---x-x-|
Bd_|x-x-x-----x---x-x-x-x---xxxxxxxx|x-x-x-----------x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-|


Im not the reason...
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc2|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|x-------x-------x-----------x---|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-x---------x-x-x-x---x-----|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|

Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc2|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|x-------x-------x-----------x---|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-x---------x-x-x-x---x-----|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|




Cc1|--X-----------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc2|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Sp_|X---X---------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Bd_|x-x-x---------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|



By the way.....
Cc|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|
Sd|--r-----r-----r-----r-------r---|--r-----r-----r-----r-------r---|--r-----r-----r-----r-------r---|--r-----r-----r-----r-------r---|
Bd|x-----x-----x-----x-----x-------|x-----x-----x-----x-----x-------|x-----x-----x-----x-----x-------|x-----x-----x-----x-----x-------|

By the way
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--X-----------------------------|
Cc2|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Sp_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|X---X---------------------------|
Hh_|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|x---x---x---x---x---x---x---X---|--------------------------------|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-----x-|--------x---------------x-----x-|--------------------------------|
Bd_|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|x-x-x---------------------------|





Im not the reason...
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc2|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|x-------x-------x-----------x---|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-x---------x-x-x-x---x-----|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x---x-x---|


Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Cc1|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Rc_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
Hh_|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X---X---|X---X---X---X---X---X---X-------|
T1_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------X---|
FT_|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|----------------------------X---|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|x---------------x-------F---F---|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x-x---|x-x-x-x-x-x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-x-x-x---x-----x-x-x-x---x---x-|x-----x---x---x-x-----x-----x---|



Outro
Cc1|--X-----------------------------|--X-----------------------------|--X---------------X-------------|--X-----------------------------|
Cc2|----X---------------------------|----X---------------------------|----X---------------X-----------|----X---------------------------|
Sp_|X-------------------------------|X-------------------------------|X---------------X---------------|X-------------------------------|
Hh_|------------------------X---X---|--------X---X---X---X---X---X---|--------X---X-----------X---X---|--------X---X---X---X---X---X---|
Sd_|------------------------X-------|--------x---------------x-----x-|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-------|
Bd_|x-x-x---------------------------|x-x-x-------------x-x-----x-x---|x-x-x-----------x-x-x-----------|x-x-x-------------x-x-----------|

By the way....
Cc1|--X---------------X-------------|--X-----------------------------|--X---------------X-------------|--X-----------------------------|
Cc2|----X---------------X-----------|----X---------------------------|----X---------------X-----------|----X---------------------------|
Sp_|X---------------X---------------|X-------------------------------|X---------------X---------------|X-------------------------------|
Hh_|--------X---X-----------X---X---|--------X---X---X---X---X---X---|--------X---X-----------X---X---|--------------------------------|
Sd_|--------x---------------x-------|--------x---------------x-----x-|--------x---------------x-------|--------------------------------|
Bd_|x-x-x-----------x-x-x-----------|x-x-x-------------x-x-----x-x---|x-x-x-----------x-x-x-----------|x-x-x---------------------------|