VOICE PORTAL BETA Begins !

At AllTexas we are excited to announce local calling in 45 countries as our official voice portal beta test. Click on links below for immediate portal access or beta. 100 free accounts! Get them while you can !

10 WordPress Plugins That You Probably Should Have

Since WordPress is among the most popular CMS (if not the single most popular CMS), it is quite logical that there are so many WordPress plugins. Sure, not every single WordPress plugin is a masterpiece but undoubtedly there are hundreds of really great WordPress plugins. Because of this it was very hard to narrow down the list to Top 10 only – the competition was really fierce.
Anyway, even if it were possible to create the Ultimate Top 10 of WordPress plugins, this wouldn’t be very useful because webmasters and their needs differ. This means that there are hardly 10 WordPress plugins all webmasters like and use. Instead, we decided to compile a list of 10 WordPress plugins you could use on every site:

1. All In One SEO Pack. SEO is one of the most significant areas where a webmaster could use help. It is true that even the default WordPress installation is relatively SEO-friendly, especially when compared to other leading CMS, but still there is a lot a webmaster needs to do in order to optimize his or her site. All In One SEO Pack is really valuable because it includes everything you need – the ability to manage keywords, descriptions, titles and heading, as well as duplicate content.
2. Akismet. Akismet – the uncontested ultimate Wordpress spam guard – is another Wordpress plugin you can’t do without. Luckily, Akismet is among the handful of plugins that come preinstalled—just make sure you activate it. The spam algorithm used by Akismet is very sophisticated and you can rely that your blog won’t get filled with spam. If you use Akismet on a personal site, then it is free. The commercial license isn’t free but still it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
3. Adsense Injection. We admit that Adsense Injection would hardly make it into many Top 10 lists of WordPress plugins because unlike the other WordPress plugins on the list, it isn’t that popular. However, similar to the other WordPress plugins on the list, it is also useful.
   The most notable thing about Adsense Injection is that it randomizes the places where your Adsense ads are published. Many other ad plugins publish ads in static places. Users learn where ads are and they tend to avoid looking at these places. Adsense Injection changes this – every time the page is loaded, the Adsense blocks are published in a different place in the text.
4. Advertising Mgr. Advertising Mgr (short for Manager) is very useful because it allows to run ads not only from Adsense but from many different networks. This plugin has many configurable options and it does a pretty good job.
5. Most Popular Posts. Most Popular Posts is just one of the many WordPress plugins that lists of the most popular posts on your blog. What make this plugin different is the vast customization abilities it offers. You can define the number of posts on the list, which categories to include/exclude, etc.
6. Wordpress Backup. WordPress Backup doesn’t add cute functionality to your blog but it can save you lots of trouble. As the name implies, WordPress Backup creates a backup copy of your WordPress blog. However, you need to know that this plugin DOESN’T backup your WordPress database – it backups only the content outside of it. Therefore, if you want to have a complete backup, you need to get a plugin that backups the database – there are several such small plugins and they do a good job.
7. Sociable. Sociable is one of the best promotion tools you can use on your WordPress blog. Sociable is a plugin with a list of social bookmarking and social networking sites and it allows users to bookmark/share a post on your blog they like. This is very useful because when users bookmark/share your posts, this is free publicity for you.
8. External Links. External Links is a really handy plugin, if your posts and your site as a whole have many external links. This plugin allows to set global settings for external links – for instance, you can make all external links open in a new window, so that when users click a link to an external site, they don’t leave your site. Also, if you set a “nofollow” attribute, the external links won’t be followed by search engine spiders and this way you won’t harm your own SEO rankings.
9. NextGEN Gallery. If your WordPress blog has many images, why not make an image gallery? With the NextGEN Gallery plugin this is easy to do. NextGEN Gallery uses jQuery and its concept is very advanced. At present many features are still under development but nevertheless, NextGEN Gallery has enough features (i.e. watermarking your images to stop image thieves) and it is a full-fledged image gallery.
10. Zemanta. Finally, Zemanta is one more plugin worth checking. Zemanta isn’t WordPress exclusive because it is available for many other platforms but this doesn’t make it worse. Zemanta gives you the opportunity to add links to related articles from your own site or from all over the web and to display free photos from Flickr and other sites. The best thing about Zemanta is that if you opt to include your blog in the list of sites in Zemanta’s database, chances are that other bloggers will link to your articles, thus driving you free targeted traffic.

We don’t say that the list of great WordPress plugins ends with these 10. Not at all! There are many more WordPress plugins that also deserve attention but since we wanted to focus on some more or less universal plugins, this is why we chose these particular 10 plugins. You are free to explore on your own what WordPress plugins are available and pick your very own Top 10 WordPress plugins.
Complement your fully-armed Wordpress blog with the appropriate hosting. For small to medium blogs with moderate traffic, shared hosting is your best option.

New Hosting Platform

Our group is developing a new multithread hosting platform
using blade servers, and  SAN arrays.

9 Popular Youtube Clone - Video Portal Scripts Reviewed

For those of you who may be interested in setting up a niche video website based on the Youtube video sharing Social Media model - there are plenty of php scripts out there that will basically allow you to easily setup a Youtube clone website. I have worked with a lot of them - specifically the top popular ones, and this post is a brief review of video sharing scripts. These scripts can be installed on solo websites or within a sub-domain or folder within your current existing website. While there are now plenty of Video Share scripts out their (many of them just re-writes and refurbished clones of original ones), the scripts I review below are the ones that are on the top of the list.

PHPmotion - This is a free, opensource script and a good startig point if you do not have the money, but would like to experiment to see what kind of traffic your video niche portal can attract. I would not recommend it to anyone who is serious. It works well, but the design templates and the functionality is not that great. But, if you are on a shoestring budget and all you want to do is throw up something quickly and cheap - you can try this. Score: 7/10

Clip-Share - One of the initial players in this space. Has amazing graphical and layout templates that can be purchased in addition to the 4 basic templates that come pre-packaged. This is a solid script and a highly recommended choice for the serious. They sell 2 different versions - a Lite version at $99 and a Pro version at $199. You can purchase additional Web2.0 look-and-feel design template for $100 each. The template files can easily be customized as you wish. I had no problem whatsoever with their support and they were prompt to answer and get back to me with solutions to the problems I faced. If you have the budget go for this one. Recently GodTube.com that uses their script gota funding round of $30 million. Score: 9/10

Rayyz.net - This script is not just for video sharing. It is a complete Social Media website that has has video, photo, music, files, articles, games, blogs and community networking built into the dash board. If you’re looking for a more than just video and a full fledged script of Social Networking around various media - then take a look at this script. Athough, I have not personally tested this script or worked with it - it seems to be alright. the price is a bit steep at $418. If you are serious about setting up a Social Netowrking site around media sharing content, it would be better if you installed Boonex (which has a free version). However, dont strike out Rayzz from your list - as it is quite powerful in its own way (it focuses more on the Social Media sharing tools and aspect than the Social Networking aspect, which is what Boonex does). Score 6.5/10

Attachmax - This script will allow users to download the videos in addition to viewing them streamed. The script comes with a basic database of videos so you can have pre-populated content on your site. While the layout and graphic design may suit some people, I thought the script was pretty average and not too focused. At $$ , this may be a good buy to some of you. Score: 6/10

Alstrasoft Video Share Enterprise - Stay far far away from this one. Its got holes in it and the people behind it have a very bad reputation. I don’t want to bash them too much, but just do a search on Google with their name and you will see what other disgruntled people are saying on various forums. At $300 this is a complete waste of money (even though I would not pay even $10 for it). You have been warned! Score: 0/10

MediaMax Script - This script is a recent re-branding of Video Watch Pro. They have videos, pitcure, audio and social networking too - built into this script. The site and demo looks pretty impressive at $299 and they even have a Google Adsense flash video integration - which will allow you to earn more money within the flahs player. I have read elsewhere that their customer service is not up to mark - but this is not from a confirmed source. I think - you are good to go if you like their look and feel and functionality. Quite impressive. Score: 8/10

VShare - This is the script with the highest value-for-money at $10 !! The features are very advanced and their are plenty of them. I was quite taken by surprise to see the amount of features this script had packed into it - such as, alternate video server uploading, youtube direct embedding etc. The only drawback was the graphical template… it looked a bit ordinary. So, if you have the time and resources to alter template files - then i recommend this script highly. Although there are a few vendors on their site forums who are selling laternate templates, I am yet to see one which is “professional looking”. Also, I’d like to point out that their support and forums are extremely good and I got answers very quickly. Install this script if you have the ability to dabble around with the template and improve its basic look. Score: 9/10

osTube - This script is a media sharing model and offers Video, Photo, Audio, Documents, Community and Blogs. The pre-packaged templates look quite impressive and the functionality and video player look good. I don’t have any idea what it costs - but you should test drive their free version, which has limited features, before you buy their paid versions. They are definitely the most impressive “media sharing” scripts out their from what I can see. May not have as many functions as Rayzz (above), but definitely a better and sleeker dashboard - although I dont know how the engine is under the hood. On what i’ve seen and assuming this script works well, I give them - Score: 8/10

PHPmelody - If you’re looking to setup a Music Videos website, then this is script is fantastic. It does not allow you and your visitors to directly upload videos to the site - but one can embed videos from Youtube - which is a fantastic feature, as not only does it save bandwidth and server resources but it also allows you to quickly add content. They also have a neat “keyword” based search that the admin can use to find videos on Youtube and add them with one click! The script comes pre-packaged with thousands of pre-populated music videos - if you want to get content included right away. A breeze to install, and definitely worth the price at $39 with additional layout templates at $10 to $19. Support is excellent and prompt. Score: 10/10 if you are creating a Music Video website.

GIGS Gets Educated !

 With the demand for colaberation more every day, GIG's and Total Access Networks have agree to combine resources to deploy work together to deploy not only services but help develop an educational system of those resource.

Education is a key element in this worlds existsance and will go on , after those of us typing these pages are long gone. The residual repositories will shared world wide, unlike most education systems with agrue about infinite details , but must the basics or a solid education.

demo accounts are available to educational institutions & schools world wide upon request.

Using Gizmo5 ? Here’s your iNum !

Using Gizmo5 ? Here’s your iNum !

 

If you are a Gizmo5 user, you now have an iNum.
To know what’s your iNum number look for your Gizmo5 SIP number, which looks like 1-747-XXX-XXXX and replace the [1-747] with [883 510 07].
Example: If your Gizmo5 SIP number is 1-747 123 4567 then your iNum is +883 510 071 234 567.
For more info on Gizmo5 go to www.gizmo5.com
Tags: Gizmo5, iNum

Are You Buzzing? Get Your Google Profile Verified

Seeing that shiny “Verified” badge on someone else’s Twitter profile can cause envy in some users — there are many cases of impostors on the service and, yeah, I know it’d make me feel special too. It’s OK though, if you’re a Google Buzz user in the U.S., you may be able to verify your name.



DISCLAIMER: Before you read any further, keep in mind that this only works in the United States right now. One of the two methods of verification is unique to the country.


It’s actually not a new feature but something that was simply forgotten over the past year or so — thanks to EndofWeb for remembering. The process is completed through Knol, one of Google’s side projects. It’s easy, free, and important to be able to give people the peace of mind that it’s really you.

1. Go to Knol.
Look to the top right corner of the page, and sign in with your main Google information. Once signed in, look back up to that same spot and click on the preferences link. You’ll be directed to a dashboard of all sorts of options, but the tab you want is Name Verification — click on it.
Now, you’ll see two options once you click on the tab, that will look like this:

2. Choose an option to verify.

So, it’s really up to you which way you’d like to verify — either with your credit card info, or your Social Security Number. Both work just as well. How does Google get this information? We’re not sure, but it’s safe either way.


I used my SSN (it also asked me for my current address) and I received verification within five minutes.
If it doesn’t work as fast, don’t worry, it may take some time — just keep an eye on your inbox.

Notes from site:

For verification by credit card number, we will securely pass your verification information to a third-party credit bureau, which will confirm that your information matches a record in their database. Your credit card will not be charged, this process will not result in an “inquiry” to your credit profile, and no one will look at any credit rating information or specific financial information in connection with this verification. Google will not see or have access to your credit profile or other credit bureau information. Instead, the credit bureau will simply provide us with a status indicator to let us know whether or not the information matched their records.
For verification by US social-security number, we will securely pass your verification information to a third-party credit bureau, which will confirm that your information matches a record in their database. This process will not result in an “inquiry” to your credit profile, and no one will look at any credit rating information or specific financial information in connection with this verification. Google will not see or have access to your social security number or other credit bureau information. Instead, the credit bureau will simply provide us with a status indicator to let us know whether or not the information you provide matched their records.

Please Note: Your verified name will be identical to the name we verified through your credit card number, so if you don’t want that exact appearance of your name to appear on Knol, you shouldn’t use Name Verification.

We will not share your information with anyone other than the third party database providers that process these verifications for us, and your verification information will be treated and stored securely throughout this process. After the verification process is complete, Google will not display or share any of the information you provide except your name, which will be displayed on Knol as your verified author name. If you’d like to learn more about how Google handles your personal information, please read our Privacy Policy.