A software to track how far emails have 'travelled' PTI | Feb 18, 2014, 07.02PM IST

A new system that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to calculate the number of miles an email has 'travelled' before reaching an inbox has been developed. 

The system known as Email Miles, uses GPS and internet tracking to determine where a message was sent and where it was received. 

It then calculates the total distance between the two and displays it on the screen alongside a map. 

Inventor Jonah Brucker-Cohen, a design lecturer, said he hoped that it would remind people how quickly they can communicate in a digital world, The Times reported. 

The system also shows how indirect the route of many emails can be. 

An email sent from New York to Dakar, in Senegal demonstrates how the system works. It first travelled 790 miles (1,271 km) to a server in Chicago, Illinois, and then went 2,163 miles (3,481 km) to Mountain View, California; 1,699 miles (2,734 km) to Dallas, Texas; 4,745 miles (7,636 km) to London; and finally 2,718 miles (4,374 km) to its destination -- some 12,115 miles (19,497 km) in all. 

Brucker-Cohen said the system does all of its time and distance calculations using the internet and a coordinate mapping system. 

"When all of the mileage amounts are tallied, it adds them all and provides the user with a map, the countries, continents and miles the email travelled," Brucker-Cohen said.

How to be an effective project manager

By Srilagna Saha, TimesJobs.com Bureau

A number of young employees can graduate to the level of a project manager, but are all of them effective in their way of working? 

Eight out of ten project managers seem to not have the adequate skills to oversee a project or to take up challenging responsibilities. So, what makes a project manager effective? Is it his/her ability to manage people only or is it the combination of being a good task master and yet a patient mentor or is it the ability to look after scaling business? 

Can we actually say that 'A' is a better project manager than 'B'? 

According to experts, a project management team has certain people with the innate ability to do things better than others. Some people are able to apply their skills in whichever combination necessary - the combination doesn't matter, what matters is to move the project forward; while others simply cannot do this even if they have similar or superior set of skills. 

A lot of organisations pay attention towards project management certifications while recruiting. But can a certification really make a project manager effective? Not always. Sonia Agarwal, head PMO, STMicroelectronics, stated, "Certification is not everything. In my own experience I have seen many certified project managers, who are good for nothing and I have seen many who do not have required certifications, but know what they are responsible for and are efficient time managers." 

Certification or no certification, one needs to have the ability to sail through any given situation and have the courage to take charge or control of things. It's not just about finding the usual solutions, but to explore new possibilities or do things that no one has done before. One needs to challenge himself on a regular basis. "Certification is a way to show others what you are actually capable of - but this is not the only criteria to showcase how effective a project manager you can be," adds Agarwal. 

To be an effective project manager one needs to: 

· Be an effective time manager · Be organised · Have the ability to drive a team · Have the ability to push team members and encourage to explore new ideas · Prioritise · Be great at communicating with team members · Have multi-tasking ability · Be self-motivated 

Top 10 Reasons for getting banned from Adsense

Top 10 Reasons – you may get a warning, you may get suspended, or you may just get banned

1. Commit Google Don'ts
The first thing to avoid is any of the Google Don'ts. Cloaking, keyword stuffing, and title stacking are all ways to get banned from Google searches. They're also ways to get banned from AdSense.
When you place AdSense ads on your site, your site is far more visible to Google and it's much more likely that your rule breaking will be caught.

2. Click on Your Own Ads
No matter how tempting, never ever click on your own ads. This is probably the easiest way to get your site suspended or banned. It's a form of click fraud, and Google is very good at catching this, even if you think you're hiding your tracks.
Don't let anyone who uses any computer in your home click on your ads, either. Make sure your significant others and children are aware of the rules, or you could jeopardize your standing with Google.

3. Hide Your Ads
It might be tempting to hide your ads by making them the same color as your background or camouflaging them on areas with busy background images. You do still get paid for pageviews, so invisible ads would still pay, right? Don't even try it. This violates Google's Terms of Service, and it's easy to get caught.
Don't stuff your ads far below the rest of the content, either. Clicks pay better than pageviews, so it's to your advantage to have your ads prominent. Try to make the ads look like they belong on your page.

4. Beg for Clicks
Don't hold ad-click contests, beg, or even give big hints that people should click on your ads. They can ban you if they catch you begging for clicks anywhere on the Web, including pages that are totally unrelated to your AdSense pages.
Google also forbids labeling your ads with language stronger than "sponsored links." This is really for everyone's benefit. Pages that beg for clicks are usually not great reads, and pity clicks don't help the advertisers.

Note: It's fine to have contests on your Web site that aren't related to ad clicking or other rule breaking, such as "best photo" contests.

5. Alter the Code
AdSense generates javascript code that you can copy-and-paste directly into the HTML of your Web page. If you need to change the color or size of your ads, generate new code from AdSense. Don't make changes to the code from your Web page editing program or tweak it by hand.
If you put AdSense in Blogger, Google will generate the code for you from within Blogger.

6. Use Robots to Click on Your Site
Never use any sort of automated tool to inflate your page views or click on your ads. This is click fraud of the highest order, and Google is very sophisticated at catching this. This is a trick that can easily get you banned.
Likewise, don't use human-powered schemes to pay for clicks, either. No trading clicks with other AdSense users, and no pay-for-clicking schemes. If advertisers wanted to pay people for clicking, they would have signed up for it themselves.

7. Tell People How Much You Earn Per Click
Google is very picky about how much you disclose about how AdSense works. They don't let you tell people how much you were paid per keyword, because this could jeopardize revenue from AdWords advertisers. Beware of anyone who offers to sell you this information.

8. Make Pages Specifically to Display Ads
Google says you can't make pages simply to hang ads, "whether or not the page content is relevant." Many Web sites, including About.com, make money from ads. Google itself makes most of its money from advertising. What makes the difference between ad sponsored content and content for the sake of ads?
When you develop your site, your first thought should be about creating content, not ads. Avoid writing empty sentences for the sake of generating keywords, and avoid lengthy copy-and-pastes just to make more pages. Every page you publish should have a content-driven purpose.

9. Make Content About Taboo Topics
Google has a strict list of content standards, and they don't accept AdSense on pages that are violating them. These include, among other things, sites that promote or sell:
alcohol
certain weapons
firearms
tobacco
drugs
designer knock-offs
This is a silly rule to violate, because AdSense is keyword generated, so it's amazingly easy for you to get caught. If you do have content that violates these rules, such as a beer-making supply store, they may be legitimate sites, but AdSense is not for you.

10. Cheat in Any Other Way
This isn't by any means a comprehensive list.
I'm sure there are many ways to game the system that Google hasn't found out about… yet. There always are. AdSense is constantly changing to find new ways to detect click fraud, and eventually you will be caught.

The best way to generate income through AdSense is to create good content that is well optimized for search engines and to promote your site through legitimate channels.

That sounds like a lot of work, because it is a lot of work. However, it's a strategy that won't get you banned.

Author: Marziah Karch

Post Originally Posted on : http://google.about.com/