Blog of Batman

I have decided to split this blog into two blogs (each with the same look & feel, but with a different target audience).

Blog of Batman

This blog will remain as is, focussing on photography, unusual places or events, sports and humour (above the belt). I shall transfer (and remove from this blog) all articles that would otherwise rather belong in the other blog.

Batman @ Work

I develop software using Java (and Linux where the client allows). Currently I am using Fedora with Gnome but I’d rather be using Ubuntu. This blog contains articles of a technical nature, that might otherwise be uninteresting for “the other blog’s audience” 🙂

I hope to see you at both of these blogs.

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I’ve just discovered this great game for the PC – and the best thing is that it is free for download – legally! BMW launched this game to coincide with the launch of their new M3 – allowing us to get a taste of this fantastic machine – and getting the competitive juices flowing at the same time.

The following taken from the Official BMW website:

Start the ignition to see just what the V8 high-rev engine is capable of. Shift up through the gears to propel the BMW M3 Coupé forwards as it constantly pushes the boundaries of driving pleasure even further. Brake as you approach the first bend but keep your steering tight, you don’t want to lose your advantage.

Think you could have performed better? Then try again. Thanks to the BMW M3 Challenge, the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit is all yours. Configure your BMW M3 Coupé using original paint finishes and enjoy the powerful sound of the engine at 8,300 rpm – until you have to brake again that is.

System requirements

The software runs on all standard Windows personal computers. To control the vehicle you can either use the keyboard or a PC steering wheel.

Download

Click here to download it (345 Mb)

Credits

BMW

My Personal Challenge

Click here to see my inner challenge – only invited friends / family have been invited to partake in “our” challenge.

Open Challenge

Please add a comment with your best time (please also specify long or sprint track, as well as MAN|AUTO, TC, etc.. I’d really like to see what sort of times have been set.

Thank you BMW – this has been an awesome marketing exercise – until now the M3, C63 and RS4 have just been names – now only two of them are… This has got to be the benchmark – if only all manufacturers of sporting vehicles would now follow suit…

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Introduction

There are literally hundreds of ways of doing this, with many offerings and services. I’m not claiming any of them to be the best – merely sharing the specific route that I followed – what worked for me, and what didn’t.

Register a domain

I used GoDaddy to register my domain (www.brucewaynehart.com). I paid 9.99 USD, which is annually renewable.

Hosting

I used Servage to host my domains. I paid 6.49 USD per month (I opted for the 6 month option, but will definitely renew after that). This includes 510GB of diskspace, 5010GB of data transfer per month, unlimited domains, virtual hosting, FTP, several useful automated installer scripts e.g. wordpress, mediawiki, openbook, etc.. and their response times are very good.

You will need to bring your domain across to your hosting provider – they will provide you with DNS settings (Name Servers) – that you will need to take back to the place where you registered your domain. You can also register a domain with servage, altho i only found that out later…

Site Statistics

I used StatCounter to monitor the traffic on my site. Its free, but offers a professional and really comprehensive service. Features include number of visits, number of distinct visitors, maps of visitors, statistics per site per day,week, month, etc.. It really provides all that I need.

Start a Blog

I uploaded the latest WordPress 2.5 to my servage host (you can use one of their existing installers, but they do not as yet provide the latest wordpress). Its very easy to upload a few themes and plugins, and you can be blogging away in minutes.

Content Duplication

Tempting though it may be to copy, or “steal content from other sites, don’t do it. The SEO’s are wise to it, and there are some very smart tools out there that can detect duplication in a whisker. They will penalise your site because of this which will harm your page rank, and ultimately affect the traffic to your site. Look at CopyScape as an example. Even changing words in a block of text doesn’t help – they’ve got really advanced tools out there.

Increase Traffic

• submit your site to the search engines e.g. Google, Yahoo or Ask.com
• submit your blog to a few of the blog directories out there Technorati, Blogging Fusion or Blog Catalog, or 20 Essential Blog Dirs,
• provide as many links TO your site as possible e.g. from other blogs, social networks e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn. And the higher ranked they are, the better.
• leave comments on other blog articles, making sure to leave a link back to your blog. please ensure that your comments are legit and sincere – no blogger likes a spammer leaving his trail of trash at the end of any of his articles…
• advertise your blog – if you can make a mention in your company’s newsletter, the signature at the end of your emails, messages to user groups and forums, messages sent to your contacts in social networks, etc…
• BUT PLEASE DON’T BECOME A SPAMMER!!!!!!!

Making Money

Googles Adsense is one of the leading ads programs out there. How does it work? Well first of all people will pay Google money to advertise their products. What Adsense does is to display relevant ads on your site, and Google will pay you for displaying these ads, or for when people click on ads on your site. Simple really. Admittedly its not that easy to make serious amounts of money – but you have to start somewhere.

Technorati : adsense, blog, host, website, www
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Zooomr : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Flickr : adsense, blog, host, website, www

Technorati : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Del.icio.us : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Zooomr : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Flickr : adsense, blog, host, website, www

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Technorati : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Del.icio.us : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Zooomr : adsense, blog, host, website, www
Flickr : adsense, blog, host, website, www