Archive for July, 2009

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Domain Name Registration

July 22nd, 2009

Alright, we’ve had an introduction to domaining and domain names, domain extensions and how to get good quality domain names. What are we trying to do? We’re learning how to make money from buying and selling (at a profit) domain names. If you aren’t yet aware, selling domain names can earn you thousands (of US dollars) per sale. At what cost? A typical domain names costs 800 bob.

Today, we shall go through the process of buying a domain name. This is called domain registration. Now, I’ll be honest: I have no idea of how registration works from the technical point of view. Honestly, though, you may never need to know how the back end works.

Simply put, you buy domain names from Domain Registrars. They are licensed to sell domain names by ICANN. Once you buy a domain with a registrar, they put it into the registry and mark it as owned by you – so that no one else can register it later. Domain registration fees are paid when you register a domain and are charged annually. Once you buy a domain, it is yours in every way and you can manage it as you like.

Factors To Consider When Buying Domain Names
Registration Cost – Domain costs can range from $10 to $2,000 depending on the extension so it pays to shop around and get the best deal. However, as with everywhere else,you get what you pay for. You may buy a domain at $1.99 and get pue hell. It’s a fine balance of cost and quality that you cant to be looking for.

Domain Management – As I’ve said above, don’t get caught up looking for cheap domain names and forget that a good registrar should offer more than just registration services. Having the ability to manage your domains well is critical and a good registrar should have, at the very least, the following:

  • Ability to set DNS (domain name server)
  • Ability to modify your domain address
  • Ability to setup a URL redirect
  • Private Whois option available
  • Ability to manage multiple domains from a single account
  • Automatic renewal or renewal notification long before the annual registration fee is due

Customer Service – Sometimes you need help in one way or another, especially when you are new to domaining. It would help if your registrar is responsive and helpful. A good way to tell if the registrar has good customer service is to email them before ordering and judge the speed and quality of their responses.

Where Can You Buy Domain Names
Web Host Kenya Ltd – Many people look for good, reliable Kenyan domain registrars (to get those .co.ke domains) with little luck. Web Host Kenya is a diamond in the dust! A bit pricey for international domains, though.

Name.com – I have used this service for a while now and I have absolutely no complaints. They offer everything that you need as well as some extras (like Google Apps for domains integration).

Namecheap – They have a fantastic reputation and a huge amount of satisfied customers. They make transferring domains a breeze which is important to consider since domainers are constantly buying and selling new domains.

GoDaddy – GoDaddy is a popular registrar. They also have a good domain management system and fantastic customer support.

Other recommended places that you can buy domain names:
Dotster.com
Network Solutions

How To Save Money When Registering Domains
A little-known way of saving money during domain name registration is using coupons. When buying a domain name, there is usually a place where they ask for a coupon code – if you put one in, you get a discount!

Here’s a few places you can get coupons:
DNCoupons
Happy Coupons
Coupon Cache
Daily eDeals

Don’t Have A Credit Card?
If you don’t have a credit card or debit card, your domaining career is going to be difficult to start as almost all the above registrars accept payment only online. We can help, though (and cheap too). Basically, we have a credit card so if you do not have one, we can register the domain name of your choice for you after you pay us in cash, cheque or by MPESA.

Our charges:
International domain names – $10 (Kshs 800) per year
Local domain names – Kshs 4,000/- per year

Contact us.

This article is part one of a series of articles that will fully explore making money online from domain names. The other articles in this series are:

1. Introduction
2. Domain Extensions
3. Researching Keywords
4. Domain Name Registration
5. Domain Name Parking
6. Selling Your Domain

Be sure not to miss any of these articles by subscribing to Like Chapaa (free) or signing up to receive free updates by email.

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Posted in Make Money, Tips Hacking and Reviews

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Safaricom

July 21st, 2009

There’s no doubt that Safaricom is one of the very best companies in Kenya. I’m proud that such an innovative and, simply amazing company is Kenyan! God bless all that is good in Safaricom.

Sometimes they make me wonder, though. Actually, they make me wonder a lot. Their customer care is not the worst but it is worse than most. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the term “Sufferingcom” – there’s even a Facebook group! Not to mention that many of my friends and family have “sworn” that they will vuka to another mobile phone service the minute we get mobile number portability in Kenya. (Mobile number portability allows you to move to Orange, for example, but keep your Safaricom number.) What if you could move to Zain, YU, or Orange and keep your Safaricom number, would you vuka too?

I recently won a prize (imagine that) in the ongoing Safaricom “Activate your drive” competition/promotion. I have never won any prize ever before so I was thrilled! Alas, I no longer am thrilled. Collecting the prize has turned out to be harder than I thought it should be. If I won it, why not just give it to me? It’s gone as far as someone from “marketing” being shockingly rude about this. Considering that the “Activate your drive” promotion is supposed to be marketing Safaricom, I find how Safaricom have handled me quite shocking. I suppose sometimes you get too big to care about the little guy.

Marketing is not just the adverts and other promotional gimmicks. It is how ‘customer care’ answer the phone; it is the way you speak to customers; it is the quality of your products or services; it is being honest and genuine. Marketing isn’t what you do when you want to make a sale. It is an ongoing process that starts even before you create your products.

Safaricom, you disappoint me.

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Don’t Let This Be You – How Twitter Was Violated

July 20th, 2009

Twitter is probably the world’s hottest technology company in the world at this time. If you follow the world technology industry, you’ll no doubt see Twitter in the news at least once a week, every week. Well, this past week, Twitter was in the news again – for all the wrong reasons. A cracker from France (named “Hacker Croll”) managed to single-handedly break down Twitter’s security system and gain access to confidential company information, employee records, calendars, phone logs, credit card numbers and other information.

In a thriller of an article, Techcrunch lays bare the riveting story of how Hacker Croll violated Twitter. Here is a summary of how he did it:

1. HC accessed Gmail for a Twitter employee by using the password recovery feature that sends a reset link to a secondary email. In this case the secondary email was an expired Hotmail account, he simply registered it, clicked the link and reset the password. Gmail was then owned.
2. HC then read emails to guess what the original Gmail password was successfully and reset the password so the Twitter employee would not notice the account had changed.
3. HC then used the same password to access the employee’s Twitter email on Google Apps for your domain, getting access to a gold mine of sensitive company information from emails and, particularly, email attachments.
4. HC then used this information along with additional password guesses and resets to take control of other Twitter employee personal and work emails.
5. HC then used the same username/password combinations and password reset features to access AT&T, MobileMe, Amazon and iTunes, among other services. A security hole in iTunes gave HC access to full credit card information in clear text. HC now also had control of Twitter’s domain names at GoDaddy.
6. Even at this point, Twitter had absolutely no idea they had been compromised.

Read about the whole thrilling account here.

In computer security circles, they say that a computer system can never be 100% secure – there’s always a hole somewhere that can be exploited by someone who is determined to do so. However, most organisations and individuals (probably even you) are very very poor when it comes to security in the computer systems (especially online) that they use.

As seen in the Twitter cracking, a single Gmail account fell and this opened the door for the whole company to be compromised. Could this happen to you? No, really, could it? Rethink your approach to computer security, reset those passwords and do not use a single password for all the services and systems that you use. Change your passwords regularly and do not use passwords that can be easily guessed.

Always be on your guard. Otherwise, You may come to regret it.

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Posted in Case Study, Internet Culture

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Work At Home Today – Jobs!

July 20th, 2009

More Freelance Jobs

Rails developer – Agathon Group is in need of an experienced Ruby on Rails Developer to help us finish off a mix of internal and external projects. This is a 100% telecommuting, full-time, three month contract position.

Data entry for online magazine site – Looking for someone to type in information from a printed magazine into an online spreadsheet. The magazine is a listing of businesses. Your job is to enter the business listings into a spreadsheet. The magazine is 65 pages with about 10 listings per page. We need the project done in 7 days. After that we have many more projects just like this one. We’re looking for honest, reliable people who we can work with online and depend upon.

Online copy editors – Demand Studios is recruiting experienced freelance line editors and copy editors to edit our growing library of informative articles. Demand Studios publishes thousands of articles a day and we rely on our community of copy editors to ensure accuracy and quality. We are looking for dedicated editors who can deliver quality work in a timely manner and are comfortable occasionally communicating with writers. Some fact checking is also required. Our articles cover a variety of categories and you can set preferences to edit the topics you are most comfortable with.

Web designer – Keele UX is a close-knit team of creative thinkers with a focus on the design and planning of web apps and community driven sites. We’re looking for full-time freelancers only, who can correspond between the reg. business hours.

Article writer (paid weekly) – We are currently seeking individual writers to write articles/stories about a wide range of topics. Our company is rapidly expanding and we need individuals like your self to become part our team.

Personal technology columnist – Mshale Newspaper, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota is looking for a personal technology columnist to comment and write on latest technology trends of interest to its readers. Mshale caters to the African immigrant in the United States through its print edition as well as its online version at Mshale.com.

Web UI designer – Appfrica Labs (appfrica.org) is looking to hire a part-time Web UI Designer for a number of our forthcoming web apps and a number of data visualizations. The position will pay based on experience and may turn into a full-time offering in a few months.

Freelance writing jobs – At Suite101, our focus is our commitment to supporting freelance writers. Whether your goal is to publish articles, earn more income, hone your writing skills or create new career opportunities, Suite101 is here to assist you every step of the way.

Remote web designer – Are you a passionate, multi-talented designer with a desire to help be involved in an exciting new organization dedicated to entrepreneurial innovation? Are you that rare type of professional who possesses an equal ability to design incredible websites and brand identities? Do you want creative freedom as well as the chance to collaborate? If so, Grasshopper Labs wants you.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

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You’ll Let This Opportunity Go?

July 20th, 2009

Starting on the 27th of July 2009, Wambere and I will launch the Biashara30 learning program where we will work with 10 people and teach them what we know about making money online. The program will be 100% free and will end in a project where the group (or everyone individually) launches a structured internet business.

Are you going to sit there and let this opportunity just pass you by? Why?

Apply today!

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Can Your Mom Also Work From Home?

July 18th, 2009

More and more moms are now starting their own home-based businesses and we say – good for them!

As the Internet unifies the world, as geographical boundaries disappear,
online money making ideas for work at home moms or WAHMs are on the rise. If you are an educated, talented, experienced professional mother, with at least basic knowledge of using the computer, the Internet is your playground! As more and more women in Kenya open up to the idea of being financially independent, becoming a mother may dampen their plans, albeit temporarily. Staying at home to take care of your child can be a tough decision and one that could have had damaging effects on your career. But now all you mothers can start your own business from the comfort of your home. After all, there are plenty of money making choices for work at home moms online now-a-days.

Online Money making ideas for WAHMs
Freelance Writing – A fantastic way to sell your skills and experience when you want, how you want, and without too much stress. Yes, whether you are good at storytelling, writing informative, research-based content, or simply have a way with word, you can sell your writing skills to people who require them. You can demand your price, choose your delivery period and start earning money. A great place to start is GetAFreelancer, Guru or Elance.

Selling Something? – Do you make crafty things like kiondos, carvings and suchlike? Or do you know where you can get them cheap? Why not sell them online? There’s nothing to lose, you don’t need to be a computer whiz to set up shop. Try etsy .

Graphic Design – Every business require well crafted graphics for promoting and representing their product/service from time to time. Not even businesses, kawa people need posters hata! If you are a skilled hand with graphic designing then this is your best online money making idea. A great
place to start is GetAFreelancer, Guru or Elance.

Virtual Assistant – You used to be a secretary, or receptionist, or personal assistant? Or can you do everyday office administration duties (like filing, reading and responding to emails, etc). How about data entry? You can do it online by becoming a virtual assistant. Have a look
at this site virtualassistants.

Teaching – Are you really good at something? Anything..like singing, dancing, designing, etc, this is the best time to fulfill this dream and then use it to make money online! Yes, if you sing like a nightingale why not start your own singing classes? How about teaching dance to kids and other moms in your neighborhood? Simply send out flyers and advertise in the local media to get started. Better yet, get a website at Nickel Pro and offer online classes – just make a video of yourself teaching and re-use it (read re-sell it) hundreds of times.

It’s important for you to understand that you may make mistakes initially. Don’t get disheartened by these mistakes. However, once you have decided what you want to do, make sure that you organize your life and time accordingly so that you are able to reduce stress and have a more productiveday. After all, planning, organizing, and managing are the 3 cornerstones to any good business and you already know this because you are a smart, intelligent and experience professional woman.

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Posted in Blogging, Make Money, Small Business

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Are You Limiting Your Potential?

July 15th, 2009

Most people who launch a website with the intent of making money from it usually follow the following set of steps:

  1. Launch the site
  2. Provide value to the user
  3. Put adverts on the site (especially Adsense)
  4. Make money

This strategy works for hundreds of sites out there. However, it is not the only strategy out there and it is not the easiest or most profitable either.

There are two ways of making money from a website: you can make money from your site or because of your site. Earning from advertising is only one of the many ways to make money from your site. The other ways are probably too many to count but here are some ideas: subscription fees, affiliate marketing, selling goods and services etc.

How can you make money because of your website? Well, I’ll give you an example: Like Chapaa is barely two months old now and it is currently not making me any money directly (nor was it ever meant to) but, believe it or not, I have had people inquiring whether I offer consultancy services…

Do not limit what you do with your website. Especially not to just advertisements. There are so many other things you can do with a website. As we’ve seen, you could earn money in a variety of ways and you can also do any one, or all, of the following:

  • Enhance your network
  • Build and grow a community
  • Establish your expertise and authority
  • Meet new friends
  • Experiemnt
  • Do something that matters

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Researching Keywords For Domaining

July 15th, 2009

So far, we’ve had an introduction into the art of making money from domain names. We’ve learnt what domains are, and we went deeper and learnt about domain extensions and saw that choosing the right extension will improve a domain’s value. However, the really valuable part of a domain name is not the extension, it is the second level domain. You may recall my example of sex.com being significantly more valuable than sex.net. The domains, however, derive their value from the word “sex” – which is the second level domain in both cases.

Domain keywords are what make up your second level domain and, indeed, they are key. They account for almost all of any domain’s value.

It is possible for the keywords of a domain to contain absolutely no relevant words and still be valuable (e.g google.com, squidoo.com) but this happens after a lot of time and effort from the domain’s owner(s). Google.com is valuable because of the google brand – on day 1 of its registration, its value to a domainer would have been pretty close to nothing. However, other domains (like sex.com) are valuable from day one. Why? This is because the word making up the domain (e.g. sex) is inherently relevant. It is a key word. Keyword based domains have an inherent value and are much more easier to sell as a domainer.

Successful domainers usually have a portfolio that mostly consists of keyword-oriented domains since these have more obvious value and appeal better to search engines.

Researching Keywords For Your Domains
An easy way to come up with valuable keywords for your domains is to follow trends, seasons, fashion and major events/happenings. For example, many domainers made lots of money by taking advantage of the opportunity presented by Micheal Jackson’s death. Another example: I know of a domainer who quietly buys a portfolio of summer related domains (barbeque, camping, etc) during the cold months and then sells them at a profit when summer finally comes. He lives in the USA though – where this is possible.

Another approach to getting valuable keywords is found in SEO concepts. I mentioned before that domainers have to be SEO-conscious and I repeat it again: as a domainer you have to understand how SEO works. Domain keywords are a huge part of search engine optimisation and should be picked carefully and always with SEO in mind.

Researching search trends is a good way to assess the potential traffic of a domain as well as to get ideas of how valuable that domain could be. The basic idea is simple: analyse search engines like Google and find out what people are searching for (their search terms are your keywords) then develop those keywords into keyword-based domains.

How do you do this? Fortunately, there are several tools available:

Tools To Analyse Search Trends:
Google Trends – With Google Trends, you can compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they’ve been searched on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in which geographic regions people have searched for them most.

Google Insights For Search – With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties.

Digital Point Keyword Suggestion Tool – This is a handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Enter a search phrase to see how often it’s searched for, as well as get suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.

Other tools
Keyword Discovery
WordTracker
NicheBot
Google Keywords
SEOChat SEO Tools
Lycos 50

Generally, keywords that receive a lot of search engine traffic would be more valuable and you therefore want to get those. However, competition should also be put into consideration. For example, if you found a keyword that gets searched only about 25,000 times a month (which is low) but there is hardly any competition, it would be a good keyword to develop a domain (or domains) around. The Adwords Tool is useful in analysing competition.

Getting Your Domain Name
Researching search trends will leave you with a list of keywords. You know want to get a nice, brandable domain name based on these keywords. How do you do it? Well, you can sit down and brainstorm. Or you can use a domain name generator like DomainsBot. Domainsbot allows you to sort domain suggestions based on extension, availability, and by synonyms. It’s a fantastic tool

Other tools:
Nameboy
Domainfellow
Raining Names
E-gineer’s Domainator
SnapItNow

This article is part one of a series of articles that will fully explore making money online from domain names. The other articles in this series are:

1. Introduction
2. Domain Extensions
3. Researching Keywords
4. Domain Name Registration
5. Domain Name Parking
6. Selling Your Domain

Be sure not to miss any of these articles by subscribing to Like Chapaa (free) or signing up to receive free updates by email.

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Posted in Internet Culture, Make Money

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Domain Name Extensions

July 13th, 2009

The domain name extension is the tail end of the domain name and is predefined by ICANN. You know, the part that comes after the dot. For example, the .com or .org. Once upon a time, there were just a handful of different domain name extensions to choose from. The choice used to between .com for commercial organizations, .net for network services such as ISPs and .org for non-profit organizations. On a country by country basis, many countries offered domains based on the two-character ISO country codes, such as “.fr” for France, “.ke” for Kenya and so on.

Then the picture became more complicated, with more and more domain names and alternatives springing up until we were left with the mess that is the current domain name industry. And it’s going to get messier with new domains coming in 2010.

It would, however, be unnecessary to go through the history of domain name extensions so I’ll only cover the bare basics. Extensions come in two forms: Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) – which includes .com, .net, .org, .gov and some others; and Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) – like .co.ke, co.uk, .ca etc. Note that a ccTLD is usually worth significantly less than a gTLD.

TLD stands for TOP Level Doman. The .com, for example, is the top/first level. What are the other levels? I’ll illustrate using an example. In www.jobs.problogger.com, the .com is top level, the second level is “problogger” and the third, and final level, called a subdomain, is the “jobs”. Same case for likechapaa.com. The “likechapaa” is the second level domain in this case.

As Domainer, the first and second levels are the only ones you need to worry about. However, there have been rare cases of very valuable third level domains. An example is the massively popular del.icio.us. These are few and far between, though – you can afford to focus on the first and second levels exclusively.

The Value Of domain Name Extensions
Undoubtedly, the .com extension is the most valuable TLD and domains with this extension usually sell like hot cakes and at premium prices. Seventy Eight (78) of top 100 domain sales this year have been .com domains. Another example: sex.net was sold for $450,000/- a couple of years ago. Sex is a very popular word and the sale was a good and tasty one, right? Well, get this, Sex.com sold for $14 Million.

I would say that the domain values are usually like so:
1. .com
2. .org /.net
3. Everything else

Keep in mind that there are a ton more domain extensions (including our own .co.ke) but once you go beyond the gTLDs it is not easy to figure out which domain is actually worth more than the others.

As a domainer, it is important to keep up with what ICANN is up to as the domains industry is largely shaped by ICANN policies. Sometimes, ICANN releases a set of new TLDs and jumping on them could be very lucrative. When the .mobi extension was released, some clever guy registered mortages.mobi and later sold it for a sweet $10,500/- less than a month after that TLD was open for registration. Could this be you some day?

This article is part one of a series of articles that will fully explore making money online from domain names. The other articles in this series are:

1. Introduction
2. Domain Extensions
3. Researching Keywords
4. Domain Name Registration
5. Domain Name Parking
6. Selling Your Domain

Be sure not to miss any of these articles by subscribing to Like Chapaa (free) or signing up to receive free updates by email.

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Posted in Internet Culture, Make Money

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You Also Want These Jobs?

July 13th, 2009

More Freelance Jobs

Looking for OLPC News writers. OLPC News is the premier independent community following the One Laptop Per Child project, and we’re seeking Africa-based bloggers to cover XO laptop deployments around the continent, and around the world.

Are you a Relationship expert? Examiner.com, a Quantcast Top 100 website, is growing and looking for FREELANCE WRITERS (we call them “Examiners”) to share local insights, knowledge and experience. It’s a great way to cover what you love and communicate what’s happening in your city.

Are you a fan of TV? If you love watching TV, this is the perfect opportunity for you. This opportunity is for affiliate TV show data superloggers who can work from home with our emerging start-up, Moogi. As an affiliate superlogger, you will be responsible for a TV show of your preference. (You can elect to log more than one show) An affiliate TV data superlogger is similar to a wiki master, but instead specializes in generating rich informational data specific to TV shows.

Can you write for the web? Can you take jargon filled technical copy and turn it into an engaging read? Do you understand the role good editorial plays in a brand’s ‘personality’? Can you write snappy headlines? Can you get people to register, sign-up, click the ‘read more’ link? Got some samples you’d like to share? Ok then. Lets chat. We need your help in the run up to a re-launch of our business site. You’ll get all the technical content you can stand and slightly less time than you’ll need to make it interesting.

Bathhouse Experience? We are currently accepting submissions for inclusion in a non-fiction anthology covering gay bathhouse experiences both domestically and internationally. Writers are encouraged to fictionalize exact names and locations to protect the privacy of others, though stories should be based on personal experience, either direct or indirect. Writers will be compensated $50 per published piece.

Freelance Writing Jobs. At Suite101, our focus is our commitment to supporting freelance writers. Whether your goal is to publish articles, earn more income, hone your writing skills or create new career opportunities, Suite101 is here to assist you every step of the way.

Cell Phone Writer. Do You Love Gadgets, Cell Phones, and everything related to Mobile and Wireless? Mobile Maven, the Cell Phones.org blog, is looking for a full time blogger to blog about everything that’s going on in the wireless industry.

Appfrica Labs Seeks Web UI Designer. Appfrica Labs (appfrica.org) is looking to hire a part-time Web UI Designer for a number of our forthcoming web apps and a number of data visualizations. The position will pay based on experience and may turn into a full-time offering in a few months.

Flash Developer. Covenant Communications is seeking freelance flash developers for contract work. We are seeking candidates who have impeccable programming skills and a good eye for motion design and interactivity. We are seeking developers to help us create next level Flash projects for our company and clients.

Finally, Some Hot Freelance Jobs


Need help?
How to get an online job.
How to avoid online scams.

This post is a weekly feature – we post a list of online, work-from-anywhere, jobs every single week. Be sure not to miss the next list of jobs. Subscribe to Like Chapaa today, or sign up to receive free email updates.

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