Most bloggers want to encourage comments from their bloggers. This discussion ensures that the blog is a two-way street in communication. Comments also show that a blog is popular and busy, adding value to the blog post and possibly aiding in its search engine optimization. However, you can just as easily get flooded with spam comments and other comments that overwhelm your site.

Working to help this situation is the Flood Defender WordPress plug-in from beyn.org. It does not attack spam directly in the same way that you’d be able to do with Akismet. Instead, this plug-in only serves a single purpose. What it does is prevent a person from leaving two consecutive comments on the same post.

Before the person is able to leave another comment on a particular blog post, they have to wait until someone else has posted another comment. This prevents the comment area from being flooded by the same person. It’s debatable whether you want to implement such a system, but larger blogs can benefit from this anti-spam measure.

For more information and to download the Flood Defender WordPress plug-in, point your browser to Beyn.org or to the WordPress Plugins Repository.

Basic text editors were likely your initial choice for writing your programming in. Default operating system programs such as Notepad (on Windows) and TextEdit (on Mac OS X) work great for programming. Their minimalistic feature set and interface won’t get in your way and let’s you get straight to the point of the programs: writing. Unfortunately, their main strength, minimalism, it also their main weakness.

Notepad and TextEdit just don’t provide the features that can make programming faster and more pleasant. Features such as syntax highlighting, line numbering and code completion can all make programming just a little bit easier (and easier on the eyes). Below is a list of code editors and any outstanding features.

Notepad++ (Windows)
Tabbed documents, macros, auto-completion API. Open source (GPL). Free.

jEdit (Java based – Windows, Linux, Mac)
Macros, tabbed documents, code folding, location markers, session persistance, plugin manager. Open source (GPL). Free.

Programmers Notepad (Windows)
Code folding, project support, text clips. Free.

TextWrangler (Mac)
“Grep-format” searching, file differencing, FTP support, document sidebar. Free.

Coda (Mac)
Projects, text clips, auto-completion, file differencing, FTP support, Subversion integration, HTML/CSS preview, “drag and drop” grep searching, live collaboration. $99

Dreamweaver (Windows, Mac)
Mostly point and click web design software, however it does include a code editor. Notable features: built-in FTP, Subversion integration, live-view (for HTML/CSS), code completion. $399.

Obviously we’re just scratching the surface with this list (and the listed features). What’s your favourite code editor, and why?

As some of you may already know, I’m a professional freelance writer with a sizable focus on product reviews. I take a look at quite the range of consumer electronics and gadgetry, like cell phones and digital cameras. One thing that I have noticed is that companies typically take one of two approaches when it comes to naming their products.

Some companies choose to stick with a “word” or a “name” of some kind. For example, you all know about the Apple MacBook. By contrast, a company like HP decides to sell its laptops based on a model number. For example, you may or may not know about the HP G60-530CA. Not as catchy, right? The advantage is that it can be more descriptive or defining that a “simple” name. The disadvantage is that it can be terribly confusing for the consumer.

Whichever strategy that you choose to use when naming the products that your own company sells, there is one rule that you should always follow: Make sure that the product name is easily reproducible and cannot be misinterpreted as something else. This aids in online searches, for starters, but it also helps consumers better differentiate between seemingly similar products.

I’m currently taking a look at speaker system and it’s called the Hercules XPS 2.1 40 Slim. The “Hercules” and “Slim” parts of the name are fine, but there are some potential spacing issues. When I first read the product name, I read it as XPS 2.140 rather than as the XPS 2.1 40. That space between the 2.1 and 40 is important, because the former presumably points toward the 2.1 configuration and the latter points toward a model series. Without the space, the “2.140″ sounds like something different entirely.

Beyond simple spacing issues, also be mindful of how the product names are spelled. There is a place to be creative, but you don’t want a competitor to have a similarly named product stealing your limelight.

Want to keep an eye on your business even when you’re not there? Perhaps you’ll be traveling during the holidays and your storefront will be left unattended for several days in a row. Maybe you want to check in on your shop during the evening hours, ensuring the security system is working the way that it should. A great solution that you may want to consider is the Internet Pan/tilt Security 2WAY Audio Day/night Camera Server from TrendNet.

Also known by its simpler TV-IP422 model number, this TrendNet system effectively lets you access its video camera feed anywhere you happen to have an Internet connection. This way, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Detroit or Dubai, because you can still log into your system and take a look at what’s going on inside of your store. You could just as easily install the TrendNet TV-IP422 in your home if you prefer too.

One of the major features that separates this system from others like it is that you also have remote control over which way the camera is pointing. As you can see, the webcam-like device is mounted in such a way that you can pan and tilt to your heart’s delight. More specifically, you get 330-degrees of horizontal panning and 105-degrees over vertical tilting. Installed in the right place, you can effectively see everything in that room. It also helps that this camera offers night visibility of up to five meters.

Using the complimentary software, you can also program email alerts and motion detection recording for added security. Other highlights include the F4.0 fixed lens for daylight, F1.8 IR lens for night vision, VGA resolution, between 1fps and 30fps for the framerate, and 3x digital zoom.

The TrendNet Internet Pan/tilt Security Camera Server is currently on sale on Amazon.ca for 37% off.

It’s time for another tour of the blogosphere, so let’s see what the bloggers had to say this week.

Jake Tobin Garrett loves the Vancouver skyline as much as the next person. That’s one of the major reasons why Vancouver is one of the most desirable cities in the world. That’s why it’s intriguing to consider the tradeoff between mountains and metropolis when it comes to request for the construction of buildings taller than the current height limit. Jake says these should be considered on a case-to-case basis.

The Teen Geek doesn’t seem to think that Internet Explorer or Safari even factors into this discussion, because he has decided that Chrome is better than Firefox. I prefer using Google Chrome as my main web browser too, mostly because it provides a cleaner and simpler appearance. What do you use as your main browser? Why?

Ed Lau likes to eat and he likes to eat good food. While moseying around downtown, he discovered the great Mexican food at La Taqueria along with Ben of Chowtimes and Angie of SeaSaltwithFood. They were all invited by Kevin from 604Foodtography and had a great time munching on some great soft tacos. I’m a little partial to Doña Cata on Victoria Drive, myself.

Rebecca Bollwitt, who is better known in many circles as Miss604, reports on the new observation area at the airport. Even if you don’t have a ticket to fly away that day, you can go to this special area to learn a little bit about BC while you watch as the planes take off and land on the tarmac. This is a great outing with the kids and, with the new Canada Line, getting to YVR is easier than ever.

Neil Patel of Quick Sprout knows a thing or two about making a buck, but he also reminds that you getting rich quickly will make you poor. If someone is trying to sell you on a “get rich quick” scheme, you have to realize that 99% of the people who try it will probably fail. The people who do manage to achieve quick success are either very lucky or have something special that you probably don’t.

On Tuesday, I wrote a post about how you should be careful making bold claims as part of your advertising campaigns. Making claims that you cannot back up with appropriate evidence can be a very bad business decision with very bad legal ramifications that may result. At the same time, even more mundane items in your marketing campaign should be consistent across all of your advertising channels.

I was watching television the other day when a Walmart ad came on. This is nothing out of the ordinary, since Walmart is about as large a retailer as it gets. Most people may not have noticed or cared, but there was one minor inconsistency that I saw with this particular commercial. The ad talked about how Walmart had an expanded “electronics” section where you could buy things like the iPod and the Wii.

While an “electronics” section was mentioned in the voiceover, the actual image on the screen showed what appeared to the “entertainment” section in a store. There was a big overhanging sign that said “Entertainment.” Realistically, these two sections in a store tend to blur together, since a Nintendo Wii is both entertainment and electronics. For the sake of consistency, Walmart should have selected one term or the other and stuck with it.

Do this minor inconsistencies bother you when it comes to advertising? A confused message can lead to confused customers, and that can’t be good for your business.