Yes that is my name, Michael Morgan. The reason behind me doing this post is quite simple.

In search results for “Michael Morgan” in Google and Yahoo not a single result is to do with me - not in the first few pages at least. What I want to do is be the number 1 position for searching for “Michael Morgan”. If you’re wondering why then I don’t really know. I suppose it would just be pretty cool to come up as position one for my name. Also it gives me a chance to test out my SEO skills :p.

I’m not going to make any drastic changes to this blog to rank higher for the term “Michael Morgan” but will instead use incoming links to do the majority of the work. I may make a few minor adjustments throughout the blog to increase keyword density but that’s about it.

Lets see how it goes.

In the last few years online social networks such as MySpace, Friendster etc have really kicked off and have become widely used all over the world. Currently there are a few hundred million users of social network sites (my guess based on member stats I have heard about leading sites) so it’s obviously a huge thing. But in the last month or two it has really amazed me as to how far these sites have spread and are really now becoming a part of our daily lives.

Here are just a few examples. To begin with about 8/9 weeks ago I was in Tesco picking up something to eat and whilst queuing at the counter I over heard a conversation. It was between two members of staff and they were talking about MySpace. Basically they were asking for each other user names so they could be friends online. I didn’t really take too much notice of this though so didn’t really think about it.

The second time was not long after, I think just a few days when my sister (who is not a big user when it comes to computers) asked me if I wanted to be her friend on MySpace Continue reading »

That’s right. I finally have a car!

Ive been waiting for this day for quite a while now and now that it’s here it’s great! The car is a Vauxhall Corsa, 99 plate (V reg), 3 door. I’ve been driving it around most of the day - going to places I don’t really need to be. The insurance for it is also considerably cheaper than what I had budgeted for which is great - more money to waste on other things.

For now I only have one photo of it but will try and add some more when and as I can. For updates keep an eye on the gallery.

The last few days I’ve had a break from working on Sokial; had to get some other things sorted first. But prior to that I really dug in to the core of the code and have made quite a few changes to how I originally planned it. The code is now ‘module’ based if you like; meaning that every (well most) feature/element of the sites functionality can be enabled/disabled as required. Doing this means I have much more control over the code so if there are ever any problems (I’m sure there will be a few bugs) I can get it sorted as quick as possible. The new code also makes use of a nice templating system to output everything to the browser so the design could in theory be changed in a matter of days (if I worked in it full on) without any real hassle.

I’m also going to be implementing some pretty advanced customization options for the users profile. Again I’m not giving too much away right now but they are pretty cool.

I would like to thank all of those who have entered their email address Continue reading »

Just over 2 months ago my keyboard decided to pack up (might have something to do with the drink I tipped onto it) and I urgently needed a replacement. After all without a keyboard how could I use my computer properly?

So I went looking around for a new keyboard I could buy. At the time I didn’t have much money and to be honest I wasnt that bothered on what keyboard I got - as long as it was comfortable to use and not too big I’m happy. I ended up getting a Logitech keyboard but whilst I was shopping around I also came across a bunch of other really cool ones.

Here are just 5 keyboards which are different from the rest.

Continue reading »

Blogging has become quite a major part of the internet lately as it has become so easy to set one up. Anyone can now start a blog with virtually no technical skills needed with services like Blogger and WordPress. Only recently have I actually started reading peoples blogs (pretty much same time I started my own blog) so although its not a new thing to me, I cant say I know everything there is to know. What I do know though is that there are certain blogs which as a computer/tech enthusiast I have found to be quite interesting and a good read.

I don’t visit these all on a daily basis but these are some of the ones which I look at quite regularly. They are in no particular order but all of them I find to be quite a good read. Continue reading »

As I explained in a previous post I am currently developing Sokial into a social based web site. One of its features, just like almost every other social based site is that the sites users will be able to have profiles. These profiles will be able to be customized in a wide number of ways, one of which is its colour (background, links, text, etc.).

Right now I am unsure about one particular thing with regards to customization. If a user was to customize their profiles colours, for example if he/she changed their background to black, should every page then show a black background for that user? Or should it be just the public profile page? Or perhaps it should only be the profile page and its related pages.

So I’m going to ask for your opinion on this. Please cast your vote. Also post a comment if you have any further ideas or suggestions regarding this issue. Continue reading »

I have just uploaded a temporary message onto Sokial while I continue to work on it. Originally Sokial was a general forum community however due to inactivity as well as my interest in developing the site further, I have made plans for the site and am currently putting them into action.

Over the past month or so I have been working on it. I’m not giving away too much information right now on exactly what the site will contain however as you probably have already guessed it will be a social based site. There is still a lot of work to be done right now so don’t expect the site to be live anytime before mid September.

As for those of you who are interested in the project you are welcome to enter your email address on the Sokial front page. By adding your address I will keep you up to date with any important news regarding the project. You may also be chosen as a beta tester prior to the sites launch so you could be one of the first people to use it live.

If you have any comments or suggestions don’t hesitate to let me know.