Theoxenia House Hotel is a 4 star hotel in Athens, located in Kefalari Square, Kifissia

Theoxenia House Hotel has raised the standard of luxury to an unprecedented level. When you enter your suite, you’ll be taken aback by the elegant, yet refined ambiance. In fact, you may forget you’re also just steps from the Kefalari square, the centre of Kifissia and among the most spectacular restaurants, shops and entertainment in Athens. Plush upholsteries, elegant drapes and detailed furniture create a warm, relaxed atmosphere that will make your stay at Theoxenia House a memorable experience. A variety of services and amenities are designed with ultimate guest comfort in mind.
Designed to inspire, its beauty connects you with the surrounding environment, while ensuring your comfort and convenience
Situated 12km north of central Athens, at the end of Metro Line 1, the area benefits from a cooler climate and less pollution thanks to its raised elevation.
Situated 4 km far from ‘The Mall Athens’ which is the largest Shopping center of Greece, located in Maroussi area.
You can reach it by transportation (taxi, metro, bus).
It is the preferred home of the well-heeled Athenians, who flock to the area’s elegant mansions, luxury apartments, tree-lined streets and immaculately tended gardens.

All rates are inclusive of Breakfast and all local taxes.

CHECK IN : time begins at 2 p.m.

CHECK OUT : time is at 12 noon

Other than AccommodationZ.com, our network also includes Reserver.it (where we list more than 2500 Hotels in Italy with secure online reservation) and Siteseeings.com, where you can make reservations for sightseeings in Italy, tours in Rome and also in the Amalfi Coast.

With its acerbic humor and quirky characters, Taxi is widely considered one of the funniest sitcoms in television history. Created by James L. Brooks (whose magic hand played a role in such hits as The Andy Griffith Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Simpsons), Taxi maintains a loyal following to this day via syndicated reruns. Sporting an all-star cast, the show introduced the world to the comedic talents of such superstars as Danny DeVito, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Andy Kaufman, and Christopher Lloyd…

Taxi follows the inner-workings of the Sunshine Cab Company, a New York City taxicab operation run by an insulting and tyrannical dispatcher named Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito). De Palma’s onerous tactics are dispensed from the safety of his small office “cage” in the corner of the body shop, while various cab drivers such as Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsch), Tony Banta (Danza), and Elaine Nardo (Henner) associate with one another. Throw in foreign mechanic Latka Gravas (Kaufman), and all the ingredients are in place for endless hours of laughter. As the characters perform their numerous runs, meet back at the shop, and deal with varying problems in their personal lives, audiences are treated to some of the best comedy ever to grace the small screen…

The Taxi (Season 1) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the series premiere “Like Father, Like Daughter” in which Elaine Nardo begins a part time job with the cab company where she meets the various characters who work for the outfit. When everyone discovers that the broken pay phone will allow them to call long distance for free, Alex uses the opportunity to call his ex-wife in Brazil (hoping to speak to his estranged daughter). But instead, Alex learns that his daughter is in Miami on layover while en route to Portugal. He commandeers a cab and drives down to see her… Other notable episodes from Season 1 include “Memories of Cab 804″ in which the various cabbies reminisce about their good and bad experiences in a recently damaged taxicab, and “Friends” in which Tony unwisely places the fate of his pet goldfish in the hands of his bestfriend Bobby…

Below is a list of episodes included on the Taxi (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Like Father, Like Daughter) Air Date: 09-12-1978
Episode 2 (One-Punch Banta) Air Date: 09-19-1978
Episode 3 (Blind Date) Air Date: 09-26-1978
Episode 4 (Bobby’s Acting Career) Air Date: 10-05-1978
Episode 5 (Come as You Aren’t) Air Date: 10-10-1978
Episode 6 (The Great Line) Air Date: 10-17-1978
Episode 7 (High School Reunion) Air Date: 10-24-1978
Episode 8 (Paper Marriage) Air Date: 10-31-1978
Episode 9 (Money Troubles) Air Date: 11-14-1978
Episode 10 (Men are Such Beasts) Air Date: 11-21-1978
Episode 11 (Memories of Cab 804: Part 1) Air Date: 11-28-1978
Episode 12 (Memories of Cab 804: Part 2) Air Date: 12-05-1978
Episode 13 (A Full House for Christmas) Air Date: 12-12-1978
Episode 14 (Sugar Mama) Air Date: 01-16-1979
Episode 15 (Friends) Air Date: 01-30-1979
Episode 16 (Louie Sees the Light) Air Date: 02-06-1979
Episode 17 (Elaine and the Lame Duck) Air Date: 02-13-1979
Episode 18 (Bobby’s Big Break) Air Date: 02-20-1979
Episode 19 (Mama Gravas) Air Date: 02-27-1979
Episode 20 (Alex Tastes Death and Finds a Nice Restaurant) Air Date: 03-06-1979
Episode 21 (Hollywood Calling) Air Date: 05-08-1979
Episode 22 (Substitute Father) Air Date: 05-15-1979

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the Taxi (DVD).

Summer is here and it’s a great time for outdoors action and adventure. Many photographers will travel great distances this season to find the perfect shot. For all photographers, just as important as the camera, is the camera bag. If you’re travels find you hiking in the Grand Tetons, or cycling in Moab, travel with a quality small camera bag like those made by M-Rock to ensure your camera is safe. M-Rock is leading the way for small camera bags with unsurpassed quality and attention to detail.

M-Rock small camera bags offer lots of advantages to the active traveler. Many times stories are told of a trip put on hold when a camera was lost or destroyed. A quality camera bag like those made by M-Rock keeps this from happening. M-Rock small camera bags have comfortable shoulder straps and belt loops to keep the camera at your side where you need it, or on your back for comfort. The camera inside is protected by thick foam and durable water resistant material. Plus, the small bags offer triple protection from the elements with a rain-flap, zipper, and front buckle. And all M-Rock camera bags come with a weather jacket that acts as a dry bag when the weather acts up.

M-Rock offers several sizes and styles of small camera bags, as well as medium and large bags. The smallest bag is the Mesa Verde, and it holds a great number of digital cameras and camcorders models. The Niagara is a vertical bag that holds cameras with lenses up to seven inches. The bags come with two additional side pockets for storing accessories, and rubber straps to hold water bottles.

The greatest advantage to M-Rock camera bags is their modularity. All small M-Rock camera bag products can attach to the sides of M-Rocks medium and larger camera bags. The modular bags allow an active traveler to gear up when necessary, or reduce bag size when less equipment is needed.

So, no matter what this summer season holds for you, enjoy your adventure and take along a great small camera bag to protect your gear. Visit M-Rock.com today to see the products they have available and see why everyone is switching to M-Rock.

Angela Oliver is an author for www.M-Rock.com, maker of the most functional and user-friendly camera bags. Visit M-Rock.com today check out their complete line of unique and high quality camera bags.

I’ve been shooting with digital cameras in my portrait and wedding photography studio for about five years now, and in that time I’ve taken well over 50,000 exposures. Our studio has been around for about twenty five years, and it is busy, so creating a digital workflow that made sense was essential to not only our sanity, but our bottom line as well. After all, we’re in business to turn a profit, and time is money.

One of the reasons this is so important is because so many photographers get bogged down and stuck in time wasting systems, systems that are over complicated and too “perfect’. In the real world, where real clients pay the bills, and making them happy on a consistent daily basis is critical, getting the job done as fast as possible is essential.

Let give you a “snapshot” overview of our digital workflow. You should know that all the stratgies we’ve created in our studio are not new. They are essentially the same as when we shot film. Nothing has changed, except the media, the turnaround times (faster, much faster!), and, of course, the huge learning curve. Which we’ve over-complicated beyond anything that makes sense.

Funny thing is, I’ve come to realize that the learning curve is quite small when you do only the things required and when you use only the essential tools.

Here are the seven steps to digital photography workflow:

Good capture: This is the starting point. Without a properly exposed file and good color balance, you are in the “taking corrective measures” mode. You don’t want to be there. In time you would go crazy if you had to “fix” every file, so you need to master these two basics. Good photography and fast, painless workflow starts with good exposure and good white balance. A good exposure means you have as many of the tones, from the blacks all the way to the whites, in the image. The middle tones are exactly where you want them to be, in the middle. How can you check this? Shoot a grey card, and check your histogram of that grey card image in Photoshop. The levels should show you most of the data in the middle, or very close. If you are off, you are either over or under exposing your files and you are asking for trouble. Your white balance should be neutral, with no color cast. How can you verify? You should first of all should be creating a custom white balance for each lighting scenario. In our studio I created a custom white balance and never change it. It works all the time because the lights and the studio setting is consistent. On location each scenario requires a custom white balance. It’s very easy when you get the hang of it. To check that you are getting a fairly neutral image from you custom white balance, again, shoot a grey card, in Photoshop use the color picker, and the RGB numbers should all be very close together. This means your image is neutral. If any of the RGB numbers are way off, you have a color cast in that direction. Master this and you are 90% of the way to success.

Adjust contrast: For many images we hardly do much contrast adjusting. Sometimes we slightly “tweak” the file in levels, but you can easily get carried away here and ‘over process’ the image. When you do that, there’s no turning back. It’s like over-cooking a steak. Too late, once it’s cooked. So be careful here. My rule of thumb? Less is more. If you have to ask yourself “Does this need more contrast?,” then you’re done. STOP! But I do a step before anything else, and it does adjust the contrast as a side effect. You will never hear about this in any digital photography course or book. As a matter of fact, they will (”they”, being the “experts”) likely frown upon this step. Try it anyhow. We do, on every sinlgle image we work on. And that’s a lot of images. Here it is: In Photoshop go to Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp mask. Apply the following settings: Amount 60 Radius 20 Threshold 0. See how it removes the haze? Cool uh? And it just beefs the image up a bit. Now this filter is also used to sharpen image, but this step is not a sharpening step. We call it the de-fog step.

Enhance the skin tones: For all you nature and scenic photographers this step may not apply. But try it anyhow, it may help. The idea behind it is to bring out the reds in our skin tones, for all skin types. In the good old days of retouching by hand, we used to finish the print off with a layer of red. This always brought the final steps of those long tedious retouching by hand steps together just nicely. How do we do this? Simple. In Photoshop go to Image/Adjustements/Selective Color. You will notice that the red channel is the default chanel. This is the one we want so don’t switch. Pull the top slider, Cyan, over to the left, and watch the colors, especially in the skin, warm up. Adjust it to your taste. We find that most images are within the -20 to- 40 range. That’s it! Assuming you have a good exposure and good white balance, this is the only color “enhancing” you will need to do.

Adjust the saturation: When I shoot I turn the cameras’ sharpening, contrast and saturation features off. I don’t want the camera doing any of these important steps for me, since every image requires a different amount in order for it to be optimum. The images that come off the camera tend to look a little flat, dull and sometimes not sharp. But that’s good! I get to adjust these myself. The saturation will add a whole lot of life to your images, if done properly. Again, less is more. Here’s how: In Photoshop go to Image/Adjustements/HueSaturation and pull the middle saturation slider over to the right. It helps if you enlarge your image so you can really see this effect and not over do it. This works very well on scenics and underwater images as well. But be careful not to over process. Remember, less is more.

Burning and Dodging: Over and over, I see it all the time. Using the right amount of good old fashioned burning or dodging and you will take your images to whole new level. It isn’t easy to master however. Way back when I started out in photography, my mentors and early instructors were well versed and skilled in the ways of this traditional application. They knew and valued the importance of an image that was properly worked. The rookie mistake I see over and over is either not using enough (or none at all), or using too much. It takes some doing but this skill is worth mastering. Here’s how: On the toolbar in Photoshop, click on the dodge/burn tool. It has both. Burning is by far the one you will use the most. When you select burn, the control bar accross the top will allow you to set the brush options. These settings are vital to your success. First, select a soft brush. The size will depend on the area you are burning. When I am burning all around an image, I generally choose a larger than the image area size. Next, choose Highlights in the range options. Next, bring your exposure down, way down to about 20. Now you are are ready to do the first step. Burn all around a few times, and stop after you notice a very slight darkening. Next, switch the Range to midtones. The first step, in highlight mode in the Range bar, gives your image some teeth for the next step. Now burn around again, careful not to over do it. The success of proper burning will depend on how well you can achieve an almost imperceptable dark vignette look to the image. If it’s too obvious, then you’ve over done it. I should point out that this is not recommended for white or very light images.

Sizing: Almost done. We size two ways. For prints smaller than 11″x14″, we use the crop tool and simply crop and save as required. For larger prints we use a technique that will magically increase your images to just about any size without any virtual deteriotion. Here’s how. In Photoshop go to Image/Image Size. In Document Size, switch the option in the drop down menu from inches to percentage. Only do this on the top “witdh” option: replace 100% with 110% and click okay. Make sure Constrain Proportions and Resample Image options on the lower left are clicked on. The image will increase in size by 10%. Do this until you have reached the size you want. It’s amazing! Virtually no deteriotion at sizes up to and beyond 40 inches. Try it.

Sharpening: This is the last step, well, almost. My sharpening approach is not something you will hear about in any course or book. Again, I figured out what works, and what works best. I was able to get tack sharp images from file sizes as small as 3.4 MP. Here’s how: Go to Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp and start with these settings: Amount 500%, Radius .2, and Threshold 0. Click on preview. Highlight the Radius number and start to increase that number (I use the “up” arrow on my keyboard) one step at a time until the image slightly “pops”. That’s when it’s done. If it pops too much, bring it back one number in the radius. I don’t even touch the other two settings. They will not recommend this technique in any course or book, but it works in the trenches. I’m sure it breaks all sorts of rules. The final step for all images is by to Filter/Noise/Add Noise, and set the amount at 1. Why do I do this? It gives the image a slight texture, a little bit of “love”.

That’s it! In a nutshell. From the trenches. There are more technical and highly advanced ways of getting these steps done, but frankly, in the end, you won’t see the difference. I know, I tried em all! Fact is the only expert in the game of portrait photography is the client. All she cares about is great looking images. She doesn’t care if I shot using RAW mode (which I don’t by the way, always JPEG). She doesn’t care how many megapixels I use. She doesn’t care what kind of lights I use, how I workflowed my images, whether I did them on a MAC or a PC (PC by the way). She ultimately is the final judge and jury.

Robert Provencher has been a professional portrait and wedding photographer for over 25 years. He has trained hundreds of professional photographers throughout North America in live workshops and through his online forum. Robert has authored several manuals on digital photography and photogaphy marketing.
http://www.nobsphotosuccess.com

Another theory on the cause of running cramps says that carbohydrate depletion and a resultant loss of energy and build-up of waste products in the muscle leads to cramps.

A fully ‘topped up’ person should have enough glycogen stored in the muscles for about 2 hours of activity. After that you begin to fatigue, the glycogen gets used up and you start feeling a little ‘light’ and don’t think as clearly - a condition athletes call ‘bonking’.

Over an extended period of physical activity you will inevitably get a build up of waste products in the blood. And the more you get fatigued and the less oxygen there is available, the easier it is for these waste products to accumulate.

And it’s these toxins that are an important issue when it comes to cramping.

In order to get these waste products out of the blood, the muscle needs to contract and this process uses energy or ATP. Most people kind of understand this, but what they don’t understand is that ATP is also needed for relaxation - and if the muscle doesn’t relax fully before it contracts then it becomes more inefficient and you get a build up of waste products.

To compound the situation, in the process of producing ATP from carbohydrate, the body also produces lactic acid waste and it requires energy for this lactic acid to be recycled into a form that can be used as part of the energy cycle.

As we run out of ATP, the muscle gets less and less efficient, this leads to an accumulation of waste requiring even more energy and it will simply get to the point where it won’t contract anymore.

It’s for this reason that we recommend squeezing the muscle to re-establish blood flow before you stretch it.

In order to avoid this muscle cramp situation - some athletes take extra creatine because they think it will give them more energy. Creatine works to help with the release of energy from ATP - but unless you’re very efficient at making ATP in the first place, then the extra creatine won’t help as much as they think it will.

To maximise the release of ATP energy, certain mineral nutrients are needed and the best place to get these is from a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables (particularly vegetables) and from specific supplements.

Some high energy sports drinks taken during an event can also help delay the onset of severe fatigue leading to cramps - but you have to know what types to look for . . . and that’s a whole new article.

Copyright www.Running-Cramp-Relief.com

Paul Newland is a health and nutrition consultant, trainer, martial arts instructor, commercial helicopter pilot and author. His Ultimate Cramp Busting Guide is one of the internet’s leading health information books and is the definitive guide to preventing, treating and curing cramps. In the Ultimate Cramp Busting Guide Newland speaks with 6 health, sports, nutrition, medical and complimentary health care professionals and explains why you get cramps, the best ways to treat them and how to prevent them from happening again.

It was a rainy afternoon. I had decided to take a few days of vacation. Finally, getting the kids off to school, I had some time for myself. I don’t know why I decided to tidy up the spare bedroom closet, but what a surprise awaited me. It was an old hatbox, you know, the one that just sat on the shelf for years collecting dust, but interesting enough never to toss out. It had actually belonged to my wife’s grandmother. Though I had seen it for years, I had never looked in it. Why I did this morning is still a mystery, but when I opened it, a treasure of pictures gripped my attention, inducing an almost hypnotic trance. These were my children’s heritage. It was all about their past, their roots, and the people that had shaped their lives.

I had always wondered where Alex, my 18 year old, had gotten his deep, penetrating brown eyes; certainly it wasn’t my side of the family. But it certainly was similar to the photo of the attractive young woman in the picture. The sepia photograph was definitely old, very old. It was worn and needed some attention - if it was going to last much longer. The family portrait of what later proved to be my children’s Great-Great-Great Grandfather and Grandmother, and their three children, was priceless.

As I gazed upon each picture, searching for similarities, attributes and features of my wife and children, I realized that this assortment of pictures told a story of our family, our heritage, the old farm and how our relatives had looked. Imagine…this generation saw the first airplane fly overhead; they huddled around the kitchen table and listened to a radio broadcast for the first time; they cranked their car by hand to start it; they had live operators who connected them to their neighbors; and these were the people who survived the great depression. Past history? Not for us. This was history that had just come alive to our whole family; a history that we could have missed; a past that a generation may have never known existed; a history that we talked about for hours that evening and still talk about today; a history that is now being shared with my new grandchildren - the next generation.

“Travels Through Time”; that’s how many refer to the photos that often resurface to new generations; generations that want to know about their past; generations that due to age and maturity eventually begin wondering about their Great Grandparents, their Great-Great Grandparents, and even their Great-Great-Great Grandparents. Who were they? What did they look like? Do I look like them? Many of these generations who want to save a bit of their history, are often saddened if not desperate as they find the centuries of old photos in old albums, drawers, chests and hatboxes, often crumbling before their eyes.

We all know the old adage that age escapes no person. As we get older, we all become more reflective, sometimes spending time with old photos just to remember. Maybe it’s good for the soul. Maybe it’s a way to add significance to our lives. Maybe it’s a way to reflect or ponder about how others will sometimes remember us. Whatever the reason, we all have to wonder what others will see when all that is left is a picture and a memory to go with it? The least we can do is cherish the photos and assist the next generation with their “Travels Through Time”.

So why the panic? Why not just store the old photos in a safe place and let their recovery be the next generation’s fun surprise? Because it’s just not all that simple, the problem is with the photographs that were produced before 1950. You know, the black and white photos that were taken with the cameras that were held down by your waist; looking down to see the subject’s reflection; and then clicking on the lever to capture the picture. These photos were processed using silver salts -the best-known photography procession method at its time.

The silver processes used in the old black and white photography are far more stable and “thicker” than the multitude of dyes used in processing colored photos today, but the years have now hardened the photo’s emulsion that was once meant to preserve. The patina has hardened; the image looks brownish; and the cracks seem brittle - easily damaged further with even the slightest bend. Can these photos be preserved for the next generation or is history destined to eventually fade with their memories and become lost forever?

What about the “natural color” photos of today? The family gatherings, the 35mm camera pictures capturing treasured vacations, even the Wedding Photos? Will they survive the onslaught of future years, the generations of new eyes wanting to discover their own history, their own family heritage and experience their own travel through time? Probably not! The chemical dyes that create today’s foundation of photography processing make it almost impossible to maintain the color intensity that you first experience when you first see a newly developed picture. Natural ultraviolet rays fade all color photos, eventually to the point of obscurity.

What’s your history worth? What’s it worth to pass on your won legacy, or the legacy of your grandparents and the special family “characters” of the past who defined the genes of those “new characters” that comprise your family today. Don’t let them fade away. A professional can retain them forever. Memories deserve to have pictures. A picture legacy is good for the soul. It adds significance to life. After all, what greater gift can you give your loved ones than a “Travel Through Time”?

William Heroy - Owner of Old Photo Specialists - Founded in 1973

If you would like more information:

Visit Our Website
http://www.oldphotospecialists.com
or email us at
oldphotospecialists@triad.rr.com
(336) 271-6960

Old Photo Specialists is a highly specialized restoration studio. We provide a variety of services including original restoration, digital restoration, archival black and white and sepia tone printing, hand oil tinting, oils on canvas and a large variety of photography services. We educate our clients on how to take care of, preserve, and archive their precious family photos.

Or Write to Our Studio
Old Photo Specialist
320 South Elm St.
Greensboro, NC 27401

Many individuals are purchasing a photo blanket either for someone that they know or for themselves. A photo blanket is a great way to transform a traditional photograph into something so much more. A photo blanket is sometimes placed in a safe location and preserved for the future, but many individuals actually use their photo blanket when resting, reading, or watching television. If you are interested in ordering a photo blanket or you already own one did you know that you can order a personalized photo pillow to match your blanket?

If you are interested in purchasing a personalized photo pillow to go along with your photo blanket then you should have a number of options to choose from. It is important to remember that you should first find an individual or company who produces personalized photo pillows before fully developing your idea. This is because each company or individual may have different pillow products. The two most common types of pillows used to create a personalized photo pillow are large bed size pillows or small couch pillows.

When selecting a larger size pillow to use it is likely that your picture will have to be enlarged. If you would prefer not to have the picture enlarged or for some reason it cannot be done there are other alternatives. The company or individual making your personalized photo pillow may allow you to add another picture to one side of the pillow. Two pictures on one pillow is a great way to distinguish between the past and the present; however, it may increase the cost of the pillow.

If you are interested in purchasing a smaller sized pillow it is possible to purchase a couch pillow. A couch-sized pillow is great when trying to match a photo throw blanket to a personalized photo pillow. Since the size of the pillow is smaller, the price is likely to be less than that of a large size photo pillow. The size of the pillow often limits one photograph to the pillow; therefore, if you like the idea of two photographs on one pillow you may be required to purchase a larger size pillow.

A personalized photo pillow makes a great gift for special friends and family members. Although a personalized photo pillow makes a great gift it does not have to be one. You can purchase yourself a customized pillow to use or keep as a family memento. Photo pillows are great on their own; however, they are even better when purchased with a photo blanket.

Joel Preston is a writer for Photo Blanket Gifts where you can find
more information about personalized photo pillows and other personalized photo gifts.

Scenario: You work in a corporate environment in which you are, at least partially, responsible for network security. You have implemented a firewall, virus and spyware protection, and your computers are all up to date with patches and security fixes. You sit there and think about the lovely job you have done to make sure that you will not be hacked.

You have done, what most people think, are the major steps towards a secure network. This is partially correct. What about the other factors?

Have you thought about a social engineering attack? What about the users who use your network on a daily basis? Are you prepared in dealing with attacks by these people?

Believe it or not, the weakest link in your security plan is the people who use your network. For the most part, users are uneducated on the procedures to identify and neutralize a social engineering attack. What’s going to stop a user from finding a CD or DVD in the lunch room and taking it to their workstation and opening the files? This disk could contain a spreadsheet or word processor document that has a malicious macro embedded in it. The next thing you know, your network is compromised.

This problem exists particularly in an environment where a help desk staff reset passwords over the phone. There is nothing to stop a person intent on breaking into your network from calling the help desk, pretending to be an employee, and asking to have a password reset. Most organizations use a system to generate usernames, so it is not very difficult to figure them out.

Your organization should have strict policies in place to verify the identity of a user before a password reset can be done. One simple thing to do is to have the user go to the help desk in person. The other method, which works well if your offices are geographically far away, is to designate one contact in the office who can phone for a password reset. This way everyone who works on the help desk can recognize the voice of this person and know that he or she is who they say they are.

Why would an attacker go to your office or make a phone call to the help desk? Simple, it is usually the path of least resistance. There is no need to spend hours trying to break into an electronic system when the physical system is easier to exploit. The next time you see someone walk through the door behind you, and do not recognize them, stop and ask who they are and what they are there for. If you do this, and it happens to be someone who is not supposed to be there, most of the time he will get out as fast as possible. If the person is supposed to be there then he will most likely be able to produce the name of the person he is there to see.

I know you are saying that I am crazy, right? Well think of Kevin Mitnick. He is one of the most decorated hackers of all time. The US government thought he could whistle tones into a telephone and launch a nuclear attack. Most of his hacking was done through social engineering. Whether he did it through physical visits to offices or by making a phone call, he accomplished some of the greatest hacks to date. If you want to know more about him Google his name or read the two books he has written.

It’s beyond me why people try and dismiss these types of attacks. I guess some network engineers are just too proud of their network to admit that they could be breached so easily. Or is it the fact that people don’t feel they should be responsible for educating their employees? Most organizations don’t give their IT departments the jurisdiction to promote physical security. This is usually a problem for the building manager or facilities management. None the less, if you can educate your employees the slightest bit; you may be able to prevent a network breach from a physical or social engineering attack.

Dennis dEntremont is the operator of SaveLoad Video Game Directory - www.saveload.net and www.Computers-Made-Easy.com

Landlords and rehabbers take notice - you may soon be focused on the new concepts of “Virtual Real Estate Investing“. There are many variations on what this term means, encompassing everything from using the internet to aid in real estate investing efforts to participating in online games such as SecondLife.

To get the facts, I sought out the man generally considered to be the father of virtual real estate investing: Bryan Ellis.

When I began using the term virtual real estate investing in the late 1990s, I did so because I saw clear parallels between the strategies used for profiting from physical real estate and those that would create income in the online world, said Ellis.

An example of the similar nature of “virtual” and “physical” real estate Bryan Ellis likes to point out is the methods of making a profit from domain names compared to physical real estate. He points out that control of a domain name or even a specific web page is much like controlling a real estate property ” those assets can be monetized in similar ways: By selling them for a profit, by leasing them, by offering advertising, etc.

I must admit: Its easy to see the parallels. For example, if you’re the owner of a desirable property, its desirability is (in a business context) largely due to its being in a location that is of interest to others. Likewise, if you own a desirable domain name, others will find value in it because it serves their purposes. In either case, you could sell or lease the asset and turn it into cash.

In our next installment of this series on virtual real estate investing, Bryan Ellis will share the internet analogies to the physical concept of real estate development.

Keyword analysis is a major part of search engine marketing.
Choose the right key phrase,check the market and calculate
the ROI in terms of time and money.

I am just trying to redefine “The Boston Matrix” in terms of
keypharse analysis, hoping that it will help in your
investments.

There are three steps to it,

1. Market

2. Competition

3. Conversion Ratio

Let me explain it one by one:-

Market:

Check different key phrases using suggestion tools like
word tracker,inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
or www.espotting.com/popups/keywordgenbox.asp , it doesn’t have
to be perfect as we are just looking for keyphrases with high
search shares.Choose as many as possible with promising
market.Google’s Adword can also be used.

Competition:

Search in Google or yahoo and see how many sites are listed
under respective key phrase search.For example when I search
for ‘key phrase’ in google it says, - Results 1 - 10 of about
4,800,000 for ‘key phrase’- this gives the primary idea of the
competition. Take the first ten websites in SERP and check the
following factors:-

1. Back Links (directly proportional to PR)

2. Saturation

3. Ranked Page’s onpage attributes like Title, keyword density
e.t.c

Competition is directly proportional to Back Links, Saturation
and onpage factors but I consider the back links more crucial as
achieving better saturation level along with onpage optimization
is comparatively easier to obtain.

Conversion Ratio:

If 100 visits are made to your website from a key phrase, how
many will get converted (sigup or buy).For example the key phrase
‘mortgage quote’ will have higher conversion ratio compared to
‘mortgage rate’ as the person searching for ‘mortgage quote’ is
more likely to signup.

Create your own ‘Boston Matrix’ for keyphrase analysis.

Create the matrix in the following way:

Take a blank paper and pencil. Draw a square about 10cm X 10cm in
size. Divide the square into four equal parts(cells). Each of
these cells will denote a type of kephrase.

Take X-axis starting from the bottom left corner towards right.
Take Y-axis starting from the bottom left corner towards top.

Name top two cells as C and D . Name bottom two cells as A and B.
X-axis denotes Search Market. Y-axis denotes Competition.

Values on X-axis will be from high to low from left to right.
Values on Y-axis will be from low to high from bottom to top.

Thats it - now you are ready to analyse !

C:

These key phrases require high investment of time and money but
will deliver high in long run. Proper strategy and resources are
required.

D:

ROI is very low, its better to avoid such keyphrases in the
initial stage of business but at later stage some keyphrases do
well without any investment due to the improved standard of the
site.

A:

Low Competition but high market. It is with High ROI.Target such
keyphrases as it generates the money to survive and invest on
other cells of the matrix.

B:

You may choose not to invest at the initial stages of business as
many of these keyphrases will automatically make it to top with
time without any investment. After making few A’s and C’s, check
the investment required for B.

Summary:

In the initial phase of your business invest on ‘A’s,later invest
on ‘B’s and ‘C’s. I will advice not to invest on ‘D’s until it
starts appearing in top ranks with time. In marketing we say that
retaining a customer is tougher than getting a customer.
Similarly if making it to top ranks is tough,then tougher it is
to retain the position. So do proper risk analysis at every stage
of your online business.

About the Author:
Aji Issac
Site: HEDIR WEB DIRECTORY

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