Breakdown cover circa 1963

September 29th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

I recently came across an article that was nothing short of comical and amazing. The article and discussion of breakdown cover took great pains to point out that breakdown cover is a service strictly created and aimed for women. The author of the piece somehow managed to convince himself that the average man in the United Kingdom today is completely prepared and willing to deal with any kind of mechanical or automotive malady that should befall them. It seems to us that this conception may have possibly been true in 1963. But surely today very few car owners have an interest in roadside repair.

Further it should be pointed out that today’s automobile is no longer the tinkerer’s delight it may have been in decades past. I for one want no part of raising the bonnet on my car and staring stupidly at the engine as cars whiz past. For this reason I have done a complete breakdown cover comparison. I was able to compare breakdown cover with the assistance of a renowned consumer help website relative to breakdown cover, Breakdownchoices.co.uk. My study of every aspect of breakdown cover led me to choose Green Flag Breakdown for my roadside assistance company. My decision was based upon several factors.

The first was that only green flag breakdown offered European travel protection as part of their yearly rate. Green flag also offers the lowest rate for breakdown cover that includes at home assistance. Other excellent choices for breakdown cover protection available through Breakdownchoices.co.uk were RAC, AA, and Gem.

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BRITAIN’S BROADBAND BUGBEARS REVEALED

September 28th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

28 SEPTEMBER 2009

• Connection reliability top priority for broadband users – ahead of speed or value for money.
• Approx 7.6 million broadband customers feel disappointed in their ISP’s service2

A new survey1of some 4,000 broadband customers conducted by Broadbandchoices.co.uk has revealed what is most important to broadband users and also what aspects cause the most dissatisfaction and drive them to lodge a complaint.

When asked to identify the most important aspect of their broadband service, over a third (34% – the top answer) said connection reliability. This was followed by speed of connection (30%) whilst value for money lagged behind with 23% of respondents choosing this as the most important requirement from their broadband service.

When asked if they felt their ISP had lived up to its promises, almost half (47%) said no. Top gripe (70%) was disappointment with connection speed; reliability issues with the broadband connection received 32%. Over a third (36%) felt let down by their ISP’s customer service.

Michael Phillips, product director of Broadbandchoices.co.uk said:
“It is surprising to see that broadband users valued connection reliability ahead of value for money, customer service and even speed of broadband connection.

“Nine years after broadband was first introduced in the UK, it’s troubling to find that nearly half of broadband customers claim that the service isn’t living up to their expectations.

“The main reason for dissatisfaction is overwhelmingly because of broadband speed, demonstrating that ISPs are still falling short when it comes to meeting their customer’s expectations after advertising unattainable headline speeds in the media.

“The most disappointing findings from our research was how over half (55%) of respondents who had lodged a complaint with their ISP felt it did not reach a successful resolution. Whilst raising a complaint is never easy, consumers can significantly reduce any hassle and dramatically improve their chances of having their complaint quickly resolved by following our 10 tips to effective complaints resolution, below.”
1. Be wise before the event. Even if your relationship with the ISP is running smoothly, make sure that your paperwork is in order. Keep your bills filed in chronological order and keep all correspondence between yourself and the ISP.
2. Always approach your ISP first with any complaints or grievances and insist that they explain their official complaints procedure to you before you enter into a dispute.
3. Tell them, in writing, of your grievance and that you wish to enter into an official complaints procedure.
4. Maintain a call log detailing each call that you made to your ISP. Include such details as the time and date of the call, and the name of the person that you spoke with.
5. Remember any passwords or keywords that you might need, your claim will lack credibility if you forget.
6. Use bank statements to add credibility to your claims, particularly those concerned with billing errors.
7. When communicating with your ISP, be both patient and personable. Don’t raise your voice or get irritable. Make sure that you’re targeting the correct department and the right people with your complaints.
8. Insist on written confirmation of any changes to your contract, or any verbal agreements that are made over the phone.
9. If you have exhausted your ISP’s complaints procedure with no resolution after 8 weeks, contact Cisas or Otelo, and ask them to advise you on the next step you should take.
10. If all else fails, get legal help – Which? Legal Services provides low cost, smart consumer legal advice.
Notes to editors
¹ Broadbandchoices.co.uk Broadband Complaints Survey 2009, carried out in June/July 2009 – 4,165 respondents with internet access at home. 3,950 respondents had broadband access. 47.3% of respondents with broadband access stated that in their view, their ISP had not lived up to its promises
2 ONS 2006 estimates: 25,751,000 households in UK; ONS 2009 estimates: 63% of UK households have broadband access; 47.3% of 16,223,130 households = 7,673,540 households/customers


For further information please contact:

Michael Phillips/Jon Ingram Broadbandchoices.co.uk 020 7700 3245
Karen Wagg/Emily Church Polhill Communications 020 7655 0540

About Broadbandchoices.co.uk

Broadbandchoices.co.uk was launched in 2005 and is the UK’s leading Ofcom accredited broadband comparison calculator, allowing visitors to easily compare broadband services

We offer comprehensive and impartial advice on broadband, mobile broadband and bundled packages (broadband with home phone and digital TV) saving our users over £250 when they switch.

The Broadbandchoices.co.uk calculator compares thousands of different combinations of packages and provides results in a clear, intuitive table where users can rank and compare services according to their individual needs.

Broadbandchoices.co.uk powers over 20 leading comparison services including Confused.com, Comparethemarket.com and GoCompare.com.

Broadbandchoices.co.uk – working hard to save you money

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Motorbike breakdown cover, Separate or add on?

September 27th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

Consumer assistance website for the area of car and motorcycle breakdown cover, Breakdownchoices.co.uk reports that motorbike breakdown cover has recently shown a huge rise in popularity. The factors contributing to this jump are, increased weight of motorcycles creating a situation where is no longer practical for the operator to push the motorbike to a repair centre, complexity of the motorcycles themselves requiring greater technology and a wider range of tools for repair, and a general unwillingness of motorbike operators to wait in unfair weather conditions for assistance.

These factors led to Breakdown Choices adding to their website charts and analysis for breakdown cover comparison featuring motorbike cover. An important feature of this analysis is that many of the United Kingdom’s better known breakdown cover providers do not offer motorbike breakdown cover. Breakdown Choices has sifted through all of the United Kingdom’s best cover providers to furnish visitors to the site with a definitive list of the best cover alternatives.

As many of these companies listed are primarily car breakdown cover providers this allows anyone wishing to compare breakdown cover an excellent opportunity to choose either separate motorbike breakdown cover or to purchase said cover as an additional option to their current or planned automobile cover. Prices for motorbike breakdown cover as shown on breakdownchoices.co.uk begin at £28.50 from RAC. One must always remember whenever purchasing breakdown cover that basic cover will only allow for towing to the nearest garage. It is recommended that purchasers opt for more complete or level three protection.

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New Fancy Dress Costume Company Launches Just In Time For Halloween Outfits Hot Period

September 25th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

halloweenoutfits
== For Immediate Release ==

The launch of ‘Fancy Dress Costumes UK’ has widened the choice and options for the costume and fancy dress buying public. Cutting it fine, in terms of the Halloween period, the company decided to “ … concentrate on proper customer research…” to create the perfect website for customers to find what they want, at one online location.

The Internet based, retail fancy dress, costume outlet with offices in Bristol has put a huge amount of time and resources into the launch. The culmination of this project sees the end of months of hard work by the firm’s founders assessing the actual requirements of the fancy dress costume buying public. Owner Mr. M. Watson said yesterday “The options available for the UK costume seeker just stepped up to a whole new level of variety, quality and customer service.”

Halloween Outfits Popular

With Halloween fast approaching many people are starting to think about the upcoming chance to dress up in Halloween outfits and step out of themselves for a night of fun, frivolity and fantastic costumes. With these uncertain times that surround us it seems that the chance to step into another identity, albeit for one night, has become more appealing over the last year or so. “It’s an opportunity to escape, have fun and forget the mundane.” Said a costume buyer we spoke to outside a costume shop in Bristol yesterday.

The new venture has an enviable inventory list with access to 15 of the top UK, European and worldwide fancy dress outfit collections. There will be something for everyone and prices are kept low enough so we can all afford to find our alter ego for the night.

Mr Watson added “ … we should all start as soon as possible to think about our outfits for the night. The popularity of dressing up this year will far exceed last year and as such the possibility of last minute ordering will inevitably be reduced through excessive demand.” So it seems that the industry experts are saying buy now to avoid the rush and possible disappointment.

“So start to think about who you would like to be; ladies, maybe you might fancy yourself in a Minnie Mouse fancy dress costume or gents is it time to step into that Gangster fancy dress outfit and let your inner ‘Al Capone’ step out for the night, and as I am old enough to remember it first time round, 70’s costumes can inspire lots of ideas for anyone stuck for something different” Mr. Watson added.

The team at Fancy Dress Costumes UK have finalised their customer service and delivery options and are looking forward to helping the UK dress in fabulous costumes and live out the fantasy that is Halloween!

Contact halloween costumes UK:

Mr. M Watson –
0117 902 9398,
mob: 07988846552,
email: info@fancydresscostumesuk.com
http://www.fancydresscostumesuk.com

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Mehudar Esrogim and Tool Free Sukkahs to make your Sukkot perfect

September 24th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

= For Immediate Release =

Brooklyn, NY September 21 2009 – Sukkot is just around the corner and that means Jewish people everywhere are preparing by sourcing quality kosher Esrogrim and finding the materials to build a Sukkah. Normally you know you’ll be spending a good few hours setting up your Sukkah, even if you already have the costly materials needed to make something durable enough to withstand the weather!

Luckily the process of erecting a Sukkah has now become much easier thanks to the Snap Sukkah sold by online store, The Esrog Headquarters. The company has been selling kosher Sukkot products to schools and synagogues for many years, and now you can grab their entire product range online. The advantage of the snap Sukkah is obvious – their easy to follow instructions combined with a completely tool-less construction means you don’t need to be a DIY expert to set it up, and you can construct the entire Sukkah in minutes rather than hours.

The site also features a range of snap-in Klick Sukkah which are also tool free and feature interlocking, high quality steel beams and reinforcement crossbars. Both Sukkah come in a handy case and can be easily packed away without taking up much room in your storage space – unlike the materials for many less efficient Sukkah!

Both the models of Sukkah available are built to be durable in all weather and are covered by two-tone waterproof fabric. A zip up door and even a window allows the maximum amount of air and light into the Sukkah while still providing you with the option for privacy when needed.

To compliment their high quality Sukkah, the Esrog Headquarters also offers a large range of superior and kosher Esrogim in complete arba minim sets. Both Israeli and Yanover Etrog are available for purchase. All Esrog from the site are top quality and Mehudar – they even come with full English instructions that are simple to follow.

Sukkot is only a few weeks away. The Esrog Headquarters can rush late orders to ensure they arrive on time, but to make sure you get to choose from the full range of products and services, head on over to the site now to find some of the highest quality Sukkot products available in America today.

About Esrog Headquarters:

For 25 years The Esrog Headquarters have provided Esrogs and Lulavim across America and has become the principle supplier of not only stores but also school and synagogues. Now, the unique product range of The Esrog Headquarters is available directly to the consumer for the first time thanks to their e-commerce store. The company prides itself on providing superior service, high quality products and excellent value.
For Further Information Please Contact:

http://esrogheadquarters.com
Phone: 1-800-550-7230
Fax: 718-692-4174
Email: info@esrogheadquarters.com

£6 broadband tax to be pushed through before election – broadband comparison site Broadbandchoices.co.uk comments

September 24th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases


Michael Phillips, product director, said:

“Our concern is that the upgrading of the UK’s broadband infrastructure is a mammoth undertaking and this unpopular tax will barely make a dent in the likely total cost.

“Research we carried out earlier this year indicated that half of consumers felt that line rental costs weren’t good value for money. This is just another body blow to customers that have already seen the majority of telecoms suppliers significantly raise line rental charges this year.

“If you aren’t on paperless billing (or ‘e-billing’) and paying your bills by direct debit then we would recommend immediately doing this. The savings will – thankfully – more than cover the new broadband tax costs.

“If you are on paperless billing and direct debit and still feel you are paying too much then consider switching to a cheaper supplier. The Primus Home Phone Saver package at £9.49 per month is the cheapest line rental deal available in the UK and is exclusive to Homephonechoices.co.uk.”

“Our top tips for getting the best line rental deal are below.”

1. Pay by direct debit – Nearly all providers discourage payment by any means other than direct debit and impose punitive charges of anything up to £5 per month for dealing with cheques. The Post Office accepts payment by various means with no additional charges.

2. Go for paperless billing – Some providers offer useful savings if you receive your statements online, not by post. You’ll also do your bit for the environment.

3. Check your small print – If you’re tied to a 12 or 18 month contract, you may be faced with exit fees if you want to switch before the contract term ends. Weight up the savings and charges before making your decision as you may find the savings don’t merit the switch.

For further information, please contact Polhill Communications on 02076550540

About BroadbandChoices.co.uk

BroadbandChoices.co.uk was launched in 2005 and is the UK’s leading Ofcom accredited broadband comparison calculator.

We offer comprehensive and impartial advice on broadband, mobile broadband and bundled packages (broadband with home phone and digital TV) saving our users over £230 when they switch.

The BroadbandChoices.co.uk calculator compares thousands of different combinations of packages and provides results in a clear, intuitive table where users can rank and compare services according to their individual needs.

BroadbandChoices.co.uk powers over 20 leading comparison services including Confused.com, Comparethemarket.com and GoCompare.com.

BroadbandChoices.co.uk – working hard to save you money

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BT vision from BT TV offers a unique alternative

September 21st, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

As hard as it may be to believe, not everyone adores television. For some it is a mere convenience or diversion and plays a simple and small role as part of their communications network. Indeed many people prefer to interact more directly with the world by means of their computer and broadband. For those people for whom 500 channels of digital TV and music are unneeded, BT TV offers a superb alternative. That choice, which coincidentally was announced at digitalchoices.co.uk, is BT vision.

BT Vision is the television arm of BT broadband. In fact subscribers to BT broadband receive the BT vision based package which includes Freeview at zero cost. As BT vision is aimed at selective digital TV viewers, specialized programming is all offered on a pay per play basis. To compare BT vision and other popular digital television alternatives such as those offered by Tiscali and Virgin TV, one should visit the Digital Choices site.

Aside from news and announcements pertaining to digital TV, Digital Choices also provides, at no charge to the public, unbiased reviews and comparisons of prices and service for the varied telecommunications products now most in demand throughout the United Kingdom. Also available free of charge at digitalchoices.co.uk is a helpful digital TV price and availability comparison tool that allows the user to find the best deal for television and broadband in any targeted UK area.

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The best way to buy digital TV

September 19th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

There was a time when the concept of paying for television was considered to be completely ludicrous. Why would anyone in their right mind pay for that which traveled freely about the air. And indeed when cable TV was born its lack of success seemed to prove the point. But as Marshall Brickman’s vast wasteland seemed to expand and grow, we somehow managed to be left with fewer and less and entertaining viewing choices.

So now we eschew Freeview and terrestrial TV in favor of 145 channels from media giants such as Virgin TV and Tiscali. Those who find themselves more selective opt for programming purchased on a per programme basis such as is offered with BT vision. All of these options are now well researched and presented by Consumer Choices network Digital TV comparison website digitalchoices.co.uk. Digital Choices keeps constant track of all the best deals for television in the United Kingdom. As part of their free assistance planning, Digital Choices offers visitors to their site a handy digital TV comparison tool. Using the tool could not be easier.

Simply type your Post Code into the available box on the digitalchoices.co.uk home page and select whether you would like to examine prices for television alone or prices including other services such as broadband. Once you submit your selection, within seconds you’ll be presented with a list of all the best and lowest priced digital TV suppliers for your specific home area.

Find out if Tiscali serves your area with digital TV

September 18th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

A recent comparison of digital TV available throughout the United Kingdom confirms the general knowledge that the best deal for telecommunications services presently available in the UK is likely to be found by using Tiscali. Much like Virgin TV, Tiscali has made itself a supplier of choice by building and maintaining their proprietary fibre optic cable network. This is in lieu of tying into the existing BT copper cable system. It should be noted that this comparison was based only upon limited areas where Tiscali was available.

Tiscali and other low cost digital TV providers in the United Kingdom may well be available to you. To find out if Tiscali serves your area with a digital TV, broadband, and home phone service bundle, visit digitalchoices.co.uk. Digital Choices has compiled up to date information on all of the UK’s major TV providers. This information has been cross referenced with packages available for general communication. To quickly and easily access this free wealth of knowledge all one need do is visit the Digital Choices home page and enter a few simple bits of information into their free TV comparison tool.

The database of information compiled by Digital Choices has been built into a simple tool that presents for the user an instant cost and service comparison. Tiscali may not be available in your area. But there are plenty of great deals for digital TV available from the other companies including BT TV with their groundbreaking BT vision program. All of these are included in the free digital choices comparison.

Post office home phone update

September 18th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

The post office home phone which was for years the darling of United Kingdom consumers has slipped recently in favor of more competitive pricing offers from companies such as Yourcalls.net, Virgin Media and Vonage. With better pricing options now including unlimited day or night calling, the lower monthly rate as initially offered in 2005 by Post Office Home Phone seems to have fallen out of favour. A recent article about this in respected consumer assistance website for home phone analysis homephonechoices.co.uk remarks on the obvious benefits of unlimited calling plans. The trend for any time any day calling has become so popular as to cause the landslide of UK consumer home phone switching.

Those consumers rushing to change home phone companies can hardly be faulted considering that even BT landline users have available a £4.95 charge for unlimited calling. One hopes that this is a signal that the integrated eight pence minimum connection charge per call is ready to take its last bow. Home Phone Choices notes that UK consumers are no longer complacently paying the league each month for needed services such as home phone and broadband without giving close examination to the price they pay. Indeed with companies such as Primus offering completely free nights and weekends service and Vonage offering exceptional pricing for international long distance calling, companies such as the post office once considered to be innovators will now be playing catch up.

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Extreme lifestyles demand Xtreme energy – DNEVitamins.com provides Energy Boosters that really work!

September 18th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Release WS

dnevitamins

= For Immediate Release =
Bloomingdale, NJ. Septamber 2009 – When you need an extra boost of energy, what do you do? If you can’t waste time sleeping and you’ve simply got to keep at your absolute peak performance – you need to take Xtreme measures. With the Super Cap Xtreme energy formula from DNEVitamins.com, you can make sure that you excel in everything you do, even when tired and suffering from fatigue.

The new Xtreme formula offers a powerful boost of energy that keeps you going for longer, keeps your more alert and keeps your reactions sharp. You can wave goodbye to that dull numbness that creeps over you when fatigue hits, replaced with a brutal increase in your energy. It’s perfect for people with busy home or work lives, or just for one off occasions when you just need the strength to do your very best, even if you’ve already been performing at your peak all day long. Xtreme is unlike any other thermogenic formula available, online or off.

You can buy Xtreme now from DNEVitamins.com. The site is run by D&E Pharmaceuticals and with nearly four decades of experience in the industry and their own New Jersey manufacturing centre, you know the product you get will be the best on the market. Before moving online, the company ran a hugely successful mail order catalogue, so they’ve got plenty of experience in long distance customer care. You can even find their products in retail stores around America.

About DNEVitamins.com:

DNEVitamins.com is an online store that specialises in a large variety of commercial pharmaceutical products. The site is owned by D&E Pharmaceuticals who have been supplying mail order products across America since 1979. The company offers up a huge range of products across all areas of consumer pharmaceuticals, from diet supplements to energy boosters and vitamins. D&E also offer a range of herbal remedies via their website. The company has kept the same excellent level of customer service from its mail order business as it moves into the digital arena, and their products can even be found in stores across America.

For further information please contact:

D&E Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
206 Macopin Rd
Bloomingdale, NJ 07403
(973) 838-8300
mary@dnevitamins.net

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Pay as you go mobile broadband examined

September 17th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

Immensely popular United Kingdom broadband comparison website Broadband Choices has just published an exciting set of statistics. These numbers and their corresponding anecdotal reference points make it extraordinarily simple for an average person to weigh the pros and cons of pay as you go mobile broadband.

As pointed out by Broadband Choices, the key to finding a great mobile broadband deal is determining which pay as you go contract allows you great speed of connectivity coupled with the largest amount of download gigabytes per pound. What makes this article from Broadband Choices unique is that while speed of connection is fairly universal in all pay as you go mobile broadband contracts, set at around 4MBps, the amount of allowed download varies greatly.

Considering that use of pay as you go mobile broadband requires no long-term contract, one would of course expect to pay a little more for the service. This turns out to be false as about 15 pounds purchases approximately 3 GB of download. This equates to around 2000 emails sent and received, 3 full length movies downloaded or saving onto your computer approximately 500 songs. Broadband Choices has examined all of the best mobile broadband coverage and contracts available in the United Kingdom and presented them for study in a similar easy to understand format. If you’d been considering switching to mobile broadband, this easy comparison format will allow you to learn both how much broadband you expect to use and how much for that service you should expect to pay.

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Free line rental moves closer to reality

September 11th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

The United Kingdom’s largest home phone and broadband supplier has taken a huge step forward in releasing from bondage the average UK consumer from the need for a BT landline.

A recent procedural announcement in Home Phone Choices, the United Kingdom’s premier home phone price and service website has allowed UK consumers a unique insight into Virgin Media’s price structure which will hopefully at some point lead to free line rental throughout the nation. While cost of continued buildup of the Virgin Media fiber optic network precludes the ability of the company to offer completely free line rental, recent incentives such as free installation and two months free service seem to point the company’s ambitions in this direction. The primary incentive and means of achieving a super low cost per month home phone service objective remains the combination or bundling of all communication services. These include home phone, broadband and television.

No doubt some steadfast old-timers will insist on continuing to use a BT landline and paying a per call charge. Still as the customer base for home phone service continues to lower in average age it is likely that youthful UK consumers reliant upon the Internet for the large part of their social networking will accept options such as triple play bundling as a required cost of living. For complete information on packaging of telecommunications services with emphasis on finding the lowest price, please visit homephonechoices.co.uk.

Leading UK Based Software Outsourcing Company Exhibiting at DSEi Conference

September 10th, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

= For Immediate Release =

BRISTOL, July 10 2009 – Suaju Ltd, one of the UK’s most unique and efficient software outsourcing companies will be exhibiting at the world’s largest defense and security exhibition, DSEi. The DSEi exhibition brings together a huge collection of companies and provides visitors and exhibitors alike with the ability to conduct business and discuss development in the industry, as well as providing an excellent opportunity to network.

Suaju’s appearance as an exhibitor at the DSEi the marks the company as a true player on the world stage when it comes to bespoke software development outsourcing solutions, but also as one that has its roots firmly planted in the UK. The company provides businesses with the ability to work with flexible and affordable global teams without any of the problems that can occur when dealing with software development on an international scale.

Because Suaju act on behalf of the client and are a UK based team responsible for interfacing with the global workforce, typical problems are no longer a concern for companies requiring software outsourcing solutions. With a UK team with years of communication and outsourcing experience like Suaju fronting the project, clients never have to worry about communication problems caused by the language barrier, painful hidden charges or a lack of communication when it comes to progress on the work.

Using global teams to develop software solutions means that a product can enjoy vastly reduced costs. This means that clients can increase the scope of their software solutions or reduce the time the project takes to complete without having to worry about going over budget. Suaju agree on timescales and help clients write up an architectural design before the project begins. Suaju then introduce the project to their global teams, working with the software houses and client to iron out any potential problems that may occur, either technical or non-technical in nature.

Clients looking to explore what Suaju can offer their business and to learn about how outsourcing software development in general can help their company move forward can find Suaju at Stand 229 during the entire four days of the DSEi exhibition.

About Suaju Ltd:

Suaju Ltd is based in the UK but works with development teams around the world in order to achieve the best combination of quality and skills that fit neatly within the budget of their clients. The unique hybrid service allows Suaju to provide the excellent value and ingenuity of using global teams while maintaining a single point of reference in the UK to give clients the benefit of project security and reliability. Suaju focuses on providing bespoke windows or web based software solutions.

For further information please contact:
Suaju Ltd
PO Box 2927
Bristol
BS3 9EZ
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)117 902 4532
Fax: +44 (0)207 022 1663
enquiries@suaju.com
http://www.suaju.com

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How to recover your permalinks settings to get your indexed posts back – Don’t loose Google Serps!

September 5th, 2009 by admin | 3 Comments | Filed in Press Releases

BEFORE reading this, it is important to read here, to check you are not still hacked! – SERIOUSLY GUYS, DO IT!!!

Okay, some bloggers seem worried because they have lost their permalink structure, and can’t remember what it was set to! – Could this mean they loose the serp results they have worked so hard for???

This is just a quick note to help all those that have been stuck by the terrible WordPress permalink hacker!

Please note: This is advise only, kingpin-seo.co.uk, nor it’s writers cannot be held responsible for any harm done by messing with your wordpress install, please always backup, backup and backup some more to be sure you can’t loose any data. Bear in mind that if you backup your user accounts though, you may be backing up the hackers account ;-)

Once you have cleaned your blog of the hacker (see this post on the removing the wordpress permalink hacker) then you will probably want to fix your permalinks!

The trouble is, what if you didn’t note down what your permalinks settings were?

How do you figure out what they were if you haven’t seen them for ages???!

Google is Your Friend!

Simple. Let’s say your blog url is: http://www.this-is-an-example-blog.com/blog/

Go to Google.com
In the search box, type this:

site:www.this-is-an-example-blog.com/blog/

You should then see your blogs pages that have been indexed by Google. This should allow you to see your URL structure!

But my URLs are shortened, truncated with “…” added!

Yep, Google likes to show a tidy search results page! Long URLs would look damn ugly!

Don’t Panic!

Simple follow these Steps!

1) Find one of your blogs posts in listed in the Google search described above… (make sure its a post page, not a tag or category page!)

2) Right click on the title of the result (you know, the blue (usually!) underlined link!

3) If you are using Firefox, left lick on ‘Copy Link Location’ – For IE users, you do the same, but click on ‘copy shortcut’ – and Chrome fans, click on ‘Copy Link Address’ – All found by right clicking on the search results title/link

4) Open a text editor (Wordpad, Notepad etc) and paste into there.

This will give you one of your URLs. From here you should be able to work out your old permalink structure, and thus restore it - Saving you loosing SERP results :-)

I hope this helped guys! – Here are some samples of how to decode WordPress permalink structures, and a link to the descriptions on WordPress.org

Firstly, once you think you have sorted the permalink structure (remember to update your .htaccess file if you use one!) the TEST IT BY CLICKING ON ONE OF YOUR BLOGS OLDER RESULTS IN GOOGLE’S SERPS

Restoring WordPress’s Permalink Structure

Lets say your blogs SERP, found in Google’s results is something like:

http://www.my-abc-example-blog.com/blog/01/01/2009/i-like-wordpress-hackers-go-away/

It is a fair bet, that your permalink structure is something like this: /%year%/%monthnum%/%day%/%postname%/

If you take your time, you should be able to get your wordpress URLs back to exactly the same as they are in Google’s search results.

More info on the WordPress permalink structure can be found here: http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks

—

You may also like to visit our great new Webmaster Magazine by kingpin-seo – An Ethical Search Engine Optimisation Company, based in the UK

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WordPress Hacker Stikes, How to Fix The Hack That Causes Permalinks / URL Structure Error.

September 5th, 2009 by admin | 6 Comments | Filed in Press Releases

Please also see this post on how to recover your permalink structure if you have forgotten it: WordPress Permalink Recovery
This is a short guide on how to fix the recent hacker attack on wordpress blogs, that causes the posts to be unreachable, by altering the WordPress permalink settings.

Please note: This is advise only, kingpin-seo.co.uk, nor it’s writers cannot be held responsible for any harm done by messing with your wordpress install, please always backup, backup and backup some more to be sure you can’t loose any data. Bear in mind that if you backup your user accounts though, you may be backing up the hackers account ;-)

Unfortunately, like many people running WordPress on a self hosted basis, we suffered a hacker attack over the last few hours. The effects of this attack were that our permalink structure was altered, making all of our news stories/press releases unreachable, and causing a ‘Bad Request’ error in the browser.

Initially, we thought it was just an error with the permalink settings, or .htaccess – possibly caused by a recent blog update. So we fixed the permalinks, job don, right?

Wrong!

A few hours later, the permalink structure had been altered yet again! – This caused us to suspect foul play.

So, we did a bit of investigation on every researchers friend, Google.co.uk.

What we found has that there is a hacker at large, who has found a vulnerability in WordPress. It has been suggested that this may be fixed in the latest version of WP, however we have not ourselves had this confirmed by the WordPress team, as yet.

What does the wordpress permalink hacker do?

It appears that the hacker has found a way to create himself an account on WordPress blogs (and to those that say it’s only if the blog has the setting ‘Anyone can register’ – we didn’t have this ticked, yet we still got hacked!) and he then adds some javascript to his ‘First Name’ – causing his account to not appear in your list of registered users.

That’s right! – He may not appear in your list of registered users, so read on!

The account this hacker registers is given admin rights, which is something that is both annoying (due to him being able to mess with your blog!) – but also allows us to track his account, and remove it!

Steps to Remove The WordPress Permalink Hacker… Let The Eviction Begin!

1) Login to wordpress
2) Go to Users – Authors & Users
3) Check the number of Administrators, this is the important bit folks!…

If you count the number of administrators that you have on your blog, by looking down the list of users (or at the top of this page, click on the ‘Administrators’ link, to just show administrators) – Then compare this number with the number of Administrators that is next to the link at the top of the page (see image below)
wordpress-users

If the number shown next to the Administrators link (like above) is different to the actual number of Administrator accounts shown in the table of users, there is a good chance that you have been hacked!!!

Now it’s time to remove the hacker!

What we need to do is find the hackers ‘User Number’. As he is not visible in the list of users, this may seem tough, but fear not! – There is a simple way!

Go back to the page of wordpress users (/wp-admin/users.php)

View the page source (Firefox press control U – or click view, page source – IE users… – download firefox! – only joking! – its ‘View, Source’ in IE – Google Chrome users – Just hit Control U)

Now, what we are looking for here, is the administrator accounts, in a table Search for

Then you should see something like this (Click on the image to enlarge it):
wordpress-hacker2

Now, on our blog, we only have one Administrator… and his userID is ’1′

You see in the image above, where it says: class=’administrator’ – That’s a give away!

We only have one admin account, user ID of ’1′, yet if you look at the image above, you can clearly see:
id=’user_10′ class=’administrator’

Meaning that the person with userID of ’10′ is an administrator, yet we know he shouldn’t be because our admins userID is ’1′.

So, we now know that the hackers UserID is ’10′.

If you are getting confused right now, and you have more than one Administrator account, consider setting all your user accounts except the main one back to subscriber, writer or contributor temporarily.
 – Then go through the steps above, to find the extra Administrators UserID.

Once you have his user ID (in our case, the UserID is 10) then you want to go to this address (you will need to be signed in as an Administrator yourself)
: http://www.[yourdomain].[co.uk(or your tld)]/wp-admin/user-edit.php?user_id=10
The number in bold (userID) should be replaced by your hackers user ID.

This should take you to the edit user page.

Removing the wordpress permalink hacker is easy now!

Just follow these quick steps:

1) Change the guys account to a Subscriber
2) enter a fake email address
3) enter a password twice
4) Go back to the users page (/wp-admin/users.php) and delete his account!

Precautions to make sure your wordpress blog is now safe

* Using an ftp program, login to your site
* Check all the blog php and config files, looking at when the ‘last modified’ date was. If it appear to have been altered recently, and it wasn’t you, open the page and check for bad code (read here and here)
* Visit this page on WordPress.org: http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_My_site_was_hacked
* Once you are sure your site is clean, immediately upgrade to the latest version of wordpress… AND KEEP IT UP TO DATE!
* It may be best to change your mysql password, as that is good standard practice with any hack kind of situation, so changing your blogs Administrator password, your ftp/hosting control panel password, and your mysql database password may be advisable.
* Now go to the permalinks setting page (/wp-admin/options-permalink.php) and enter your normal permalinks.

Whilst there is no guarantee that having an up to date WordPress install will mean you are safe, at least you will be Safer

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You may also like to visit our great new Webmaster Magazine by kingpin-seo – An Ethical Search Engine Optimisation Company, based in the UK

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Free long distance calling or free Wi-Fi attached to mobile broadband

September 3rd, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

Currently there is a very competitive battle being waged between two of the United Kingdom’s major mobile broadband suppliers. These are 3 and O2. “3″ charges a base monthly rate of 15 pounds for 5 GB of mobile broadband usage. Included for this price are free calls to Skype users.

For those who rely upon their broadband connection and the laptop computer for international communication this package could present significant savings. In comparison O2 offers 3 GB of total download and usage for just under 15 pounds per month but their incentive includes unlimited use from any of their 7500 Wi-Fi hot spots scattered around the UK. Tough choice?

To some degree, but one wonders if the entire point of mobile broadband is to avoid having to share Wi-Fi hot spots. This particular comparison was found at broadbandchoices.co.uk in their section devoted to mobile broadband comparison. Of course anyone considering a contract for mobile broadband should visit broadband choices for a free complete evaluation of the best options available.

Such an evaluation will include important factors such as mobile broadband coverage and pricing plans. Choosing the best mobile broadband supplier depends upon your personal usage requirements. For some, pay as you go broadband is perfect, for others it would be a financial misstep. Before you choose any mobile broadband supplier, choose first to visit broadbandchoices.co.uk.

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Digital TV now reaches 90% of British Homes

September 1st, 2009 by admin | No Comments | Filed in Press Releases

Almost 23,000,000 households in the United Kingdom are now equipped with a DTV receiver. This figure being in sharp contrast to just 10 years before, when more than half of UK viewers received their television by means of analog signal.

Obviously the ongoing and almost complete changeover from analog to Digital TV has played a major role in this development. However, the greater cause is probably due to simple advances in electronics overall. Development of low cost high resolution wide screen televisions with built in digital tuning is one of the largest factors in digital TV growth. Most of the UK has abandoned the use of Freeview set top boxes in favor of hundred channel cable TV.

Suppliers such as Virgin TV rush to meet the growing demand with massive operations in place for the installation of fiber optic cable throughout the United Kingdom. Noted consumer protection resource Digital Choices points out that the inclusion of digital programming recorders as incentives for cable TV sign up has even further heightened demand. In contrast to the use of digital TV recorders many programming networks such as ITV now offer total on demand programming. It would seem that digital TV continues to make customized viewing the entertainment norm.

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