Simply put, an FTP server is a computer that allows you to log in and either upload files, download files, or do both. FTP servers have a number of uses:

• Many web hosts allow customers to upload their websites’ files via the FTP protocol.
• When a file is too large for e-mail, many organizations will instruct you to upload it to an FTP server.
• Software, data, and other files can be distributed using FTP servers.

Common Uses for FTP Servers

When a file is too large to attach to an e-mail message, many organizations will instruct you to upload to an FTP server. This is common among companies that frequently work with technology and digital information, such as web development shops, graphic designers, marketing professionals, and video editors. The recipient will send you instructions for logging into their FTP server, where you will be expected to upload the file. Once the file is uploaded, it is sitting on the recipient’s computer system where they can easily retrieve it.

FTP servers are a common tool for distributing software, data, and other files. For example, one of the traditionally most common methods of getting various versions of the popular open source operating system Linux has been to log into an FTP server, locate the files you are looking for, and download them to your own computer.

Web hosting companies provide a space for your site’s files to live 24/7, and one way to get a site’s files from your computer onto the host’s server is via the FTP protocol. You log into to the web server via FTP, upload the files, and voila — your site is live.

How to Log Into an FTP Server

You need two or three things in order to log into an FTP server:

1. The FTP server’s address.
2. Login credentials (sometimes these are not necessary).
3. FTP client software.

The server’s address tells your client software where the FTP server is located online. An address might be something like ftp.example.com. Depending on which software you are using to connect to the server, you may be required to enter the full address, i.e. ftp://ftp.example.com.

In order to gain access to an FTP server, you may need to supply credentials. If this is the case, you will be asked for your username and password upon logging in. Some servers permit anonymous access… you may be given an anonymous username, or be instructed to log in with your e-mail address and no password.

Finally, you need FTP client software that knows how to communicate with the FTP server to which you are uploading/downloading. Most operating systems have a rudimentary client built-in, for example Windows Explorer can speak FTP. Mac OS X’s Finder can also connect to FTP servers, but as of this writing it does not permit uploading. Third party FTP clients include Cyberduck (Mac), Fetch (Mac), FileZilla (cross-platform), Transmit (Mac), SmartFTP (Windows), and WinSCP (Windows).

I bought my first digital SLR camera in April of 2007, started using the raw file format shortly thereafter, and quickly discovered how essential an organized workflow is for keeping your sanity from being consumed by a massive quantity of digital photos. Digital photos are easy to take, and even easier to lose — today’s favorite shots can be forgotten tomorrow if they aren’t organized properly, or lost forever if you neglect to back them up.

If you attempt to perform a transfer through HSBC’s internet banking service using Firefox 3.0, your funds will not be transferred and you will receive the following error message:

A technical error has occurred.
Back to Home Page

After getting this error numerous times, I successfully completed a transfer using Safari on my Mac.

I spoke with an HSBC representative regarding the issue. He first suggested all of the usual rigor — clear my cookies and temporary files, then restart the software and try again. This process does not help.

Referring to Firefox as “trial software” (I am using the latest official 3.0 release), he confirmed that HSBC internet banking is currently incompatible with Firefox version 3. I got the generic “we may support it in the future after we receive all of its information” explanation.

So for now if you want to use HSBC internet banking, you will have to log in with an alternative browser such as MS Internet Explorer or Apple’s Safari.

The iPhone 3G hit stores at 8 AM this morning, and the reviews are already flooding in from around the web. Are any OZaC readers planning on heading to the Church of Jobs or their local AT&T shop to pick up the new phone? I didn’t wait in any lines, but if supplies last I may stroll down to my local AT&T store to pick one up.

Coverage: Gizmodo, Engadget, Twitter.

Update: it appears that both Apple and AT&T are having difficulties getting people’s phones activated.

Update #2: A drive-by of my local AT&T store in Queens, NY found the line to be about 50-deep at 11 AM. Maybe I’ll give it a week.

Update #3: An unhappy iPhone customer recounts activation problems from Houston to San Francisco (via MG Siegler on FriendFeed).

Update #4: The activation servers are back online, and iPhones are being activated. The lines at Apple stores around the country are a few hours long, but most do not expect to run out of stock. Some have closed down their lines in order to close by midnight.

Photo by Dan Taylor.

What are contextual ads

Contextual advertisements are ads that are served to the viewer based on what kind of content they are looking at. The system chooses which advertisements it will deliver based on the context in which those ads are being viewed.

A contextual advertising system analyzes the content that is being delivered to the user, and selects advertisements that are closely related to that content in order to increase the probability that the ads will have some sort of impact on the user. Here are a few examples of contextual advertisements:

• Text ads for data recovery software on a blog post about restoring digital photos from a corrupt memory card.
• Banner ads for sporting equipment on a baseball website.
• Advertisements for camera equipment on a message board for photography enthusiasts.

Most contextual advertising companies give the publisher of a website special code to insert into their web pages. When a viewer loads a web page, that code analyzes the content of the page and fetches and appropriate advertisement from the ad server.

The goal of an advertisement is to have some sort of effect on the viewer — it could be as simple as increasing brand awareness, or as aggressive as convincing the person to make a purchase. Contextual advertisements are meant to increase the likelihood that this will happen by making educated guesses about what a person is interested in based on what kind of content they have requested from the website publisher.

Since I have been using Friend Feed over the past few months, the service has turned into an excellent source of material for blogging. My main source of material for Technology Links Daily has always been my various RSS subscriptions through Google Reader, but my FriendFeed contacts have quickly become a reliable go-to source for technology-related information.

FriendFeed is an aggregator of social networking activity. Create an account and hook it up to the various social network sites in which you participate, and watch FF pull together your activity in a neat, organized list. Subscribe to other FriendFeed users, and all of their online activity is displayed on your FriendFeed home page.

By simply scanning my FriendFeed homepage a few times a day, I can see what sort of content my contacts are Digging, bookmarking, Stumbling, and sharing, what topics they are covering on their blogs, and what they are saying in their Twitter streams.

Looking for a fresh perspective? Every item that appears on FriendFeed is the beginning of a potential conversation. Reading what smart people have to say about the topics in which I am interested constantly sheds new light on the same subject matter.

Ready to join FriendFeed? Already a member? Here is my FriendFeed.

Facebook profiles are strictly meant for real, live people… try to create one for your business, brand, or product and you will quickly find out how good the Facebook staff are at detecting and disabling profiles that violate this rule. Operating an outlaw Facebook profile is a risk — get caught, and you can lose all of the time and data you pump into the service in one fell swoop.

This is what a 10-day roller coaster of nerves looks like:

Yes, Of Zen and Computing was hacked, and our traffic was hijacked.

Some scanners will automatically perform a number of corrections on pictures, but it never hurts to be familiar with carrying out this touch-up process by hand. Your scanner software may not have such a feature, or you may not like the results. With Photoshop, you can make your scanned pictures look as they do in their printed form.

To illustrate this tutorial, I am going to use a photo I took with a disposable camera on a trip to France in 2000. Here is how the photo looks after being scanned, without any adjustments:

Not bad, but the colors are a little off, it lacks contrast, and the image appears soft. Time for a little touch-up work.

Today, June 17^th, 2008, is Firefox Download Day 2008. The Mozilla Foundation is attempting to break the world record for most software downloads in 24 hours with the release of Firefox version 3. To help break the record, head over to the Spread Firefox site and download Firefox. Download Day officially begins at 10:00 AM pacific daylight time on Tuesday, June 17^th.

Firefox is a web browser like Safari, Opera, and of course, Internet Explorer. By participating in Firefox download day you not only help break a world record, but contribute to encouraging software innovation and healthy competition in the web browser market.