Thursday, August 26, 2010

Google may allow phone calls from Gmail

New York:  Already, Gmail serves as a control panel, an always-open tab, for the loyal Google  user. It offers quick and simple access to our email, contacts, calendar, documents, chat and more. Soon, it may be home to a Web-based telephony client.

According to CNET, Google has begun testing a Gmail-integrated VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) client that would allow users to make phone calls directly from the browser.

The feature is different from the voice and video chat that is already available from Gmail using the chat feature, in that it isn't solely between chat users. Instead, the new feature looks to allow users to call any type of phone directly from their Web browser.

For those users seeing the test of the new product, the ability to make phone calls is added directly to the Google Talk popup that appears in the lower right corner of the Gmail screen, offering a keypad, a call history, and a credit balance. According to the screenshots from CNET, Google will offer free calls within the U.S. and Canada, with cheap international calling, in 2010.
Gadget-obsessed blog Slashgear suggests that the new feature fits in line with rumors from last July, which suggested that Google was looking to develop a software-based VoIP service that would fit in line with its upcoming Google Chrome OS.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Tip Jar Widget for Blogs makes Money

ScratchBack is a friendly online "tipping system" for bloggers who desire to make a buck from their sidebar. It's a great alternative to a "Paypal Donation" button, because your potential sponsors will be tempted by a worthwhile reward. This reward is a nice fat link back to their site which no blogger can resist.


How it Works:
First you will need to sign up and install their widget code on your site. Once you've implemented the code into your blog you should be able to see a nicely sized widget in your sidebar. This should only take a matter of minutes to get your self up and running. Their system allows you to accept tips from advertisers and in return they will receive image or text links on your site.

Payout Rate:
The current commission structure has been switched from 50% to 90% for the publisher. This is an outrageously wonderful ratio! So you'll make 9 out of every 10 dollars sold on your site (payments made via PayPal).

Customization:
You might run in to problems when it comes to blending the widget in with your blog. Other than that, they allow you to choose from multiple themes, and some of which are pretty good looking. And the rest of the designs have a bit of a junky look to them, so don't get too excited...

My Experience with ScratchBack:
To be honest, I have only used it on 

"Technology Today & Earn Money Online"

for one day and I made only 2 dollars. So I will have to rely on my readers to give us some honest feedback on the longer term use of Scratchback. Although, I might give it a shot once the widget is fully customizable and is capable of matching my blog design.
Sign Up for ScratchBack

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Receive Facebook Alerts For Unauthorized Access to your Account



  • One thing that I don’t like about Face book is that when they choose to expose your personal information, they make it a site wide issue and you have to manually go deep into the setting to regain control of your privacy setting. Yet when they introduce a new security feature, instead of making it a site wide issue, they choose to place it deep into the setting and you have to go and fish it out in order to enhance the security of your account.

    In case you are not aware, Face book has recently released a new security feature that sends you an alert (email or SMS) whenever you like there is an unauthorized access to your account. This great feature, however, is starting deep in your account setting and it is not turned on by default.

    Here’s how you can configure Face book to send you an alert when there is an unauthorized access to your account.

    Note: By unauthorized access, it refers to login to your Facebook account from a remote location/computer. If another person login to your account using your own computer, it will not be registered as unauthorized access. 1. Log into your Facebook account
    2. Go to the Account Setting





    3. Scroll down until you see Account Security. Click “Change



    4. Click “Yes” follow by “Submit”



    5. Log out of your Facebook account and relogin again. It will now prompt you to enter name for your current computer.



    6. You will also receive an email stating that a new device has been added to your account.



    7. From now on, whenever Facebook detects that you are logging in from a remote device, it will ask you to name the device and send you an email alert. If that is an unauthorized access, you can quickly follow the steps listed in the email to disable access for that device.
    What other ways do you use to secure your Facebook account?

Macally BookStand Case for iPad


When I bought my iPad, I also bought the Apple iPad Case, mainly because I knew I needed a case and at the time it was pretty much the only one that was available. Now we have lots of choices with new cases coming out every day. The Apple iPad Case frustrates me because you can't leave it on the iPad and put the iPad in Apple's own iPad Dock/Keyboard Dock (unless you're willing to cut the case). It's also not easy to the get the iPad in and out of the Apple case. So I immediately began looking for alternative cases. I have three cases now and the Macally BookStand is my goto iPad case when I want a thin case that's easy to get the iPad in and out of. Since I haven't found a case yet that allows docking and sleeves don't usually allow you to stand the iPad up for video watching, the Macally BookStand is a very nice compromise.

It's very easy to put the iPad into this case. You simply snap it in to the four corner holders. All of the ports and controls are exposed so there is n't much protection on three of the sides. There is a nice suede feel to the outer case and a nice leather strap that folds over. The case can be used either so it opens to the left or to the right, which makes it nice for left or right handed people. Flip the cover over and around, insert the strap and you've got a nice easel like stand. If you want to use the iPad in a Dock, just pop it out of the case in about 3 seconds. That's pretty much it! It works and it works well. I took it with me on a recent trip because I was low on space and like the Apple case this one is very thin.

You can get the Macally BookStand here for $37 ($49.99 List Price)

Readdle Turns 3 and Celebrates with a 99¢ Sale

ReaddleDocs is my favorite PDF viewer on the iPad (review here) and with each update it just keeps getting better. Including great new PDF highlighting abilities. However, the company also makes other great iOS Apps too. They are celebrating their 3rd birthday with a 48 hour sale and an iPad giveaway. That's right for the next 48 hours you can get any of their Apps for only $0.99.
Check out all of their Apps ON SALE Here on Readdle

How Fast Is Your Data Connection? SpeedTest.net Tells You

When I want to see how fast my cable modem connection is I use my favorite website SpeakEasy.net/speedtest. However, since the interface for that site is in Flash, that site doesn't work on iOS devices. So I wanted to find an App that gave me the same look and feel as the SpeakEasy site as well as the consistent results I've grown to depend on from SpeakEasy. I found just such an App and it's a FREE download. It's called SpeedTest.net. Just like my favorite speed test site, this App delivers a great user interface that's easy to read and most importantly it logs your results so that you can compare multiple devices and different connections. As I was running a test, I seemed to remember seeing the Ookla branding somewhere before. As it turns out this App is by the same developer of the speed test on the SpeakEasy.net site. No wonder I like it so much :)
So if you're feeling that your data connection is all of a sudden slow, you can test and compare to see if it is or if it's just your imagination. They do a great job showing you if the test was run via a WiFi connection or via your Cellular connection.
You can get SpeedTest.net for FREE here from the

American Airlines App: there’s only one thing that I don’t like about it

Yesterday American Airlines released a GREAT NEW APP for iPhone and other iOS devices. The App is extremely well done. It offers the things you would expect like the ability to log into your frequent flyer account, see your upcoming flights, check schedules and book new flights, see terminal maps, and get push notifications of departure times and gate changes. That's all great! There are several other travel Apps out there that do similar things. Where the American Airlines App goes beyond the basics is that it lets you track your Elite status progress, it lets you get your electronic boarding pass right in the App and most importantly it lets you check your place on the upgrade/standby list. These are the kinds of things that only a native Airlines App can offer. They even threw in a AA Sudoku Game. That's thinking outside of the box. Who else gives you a game to play in their business app for those times while you'll have to wait? Very clever idea! They even built in a feature that lets you snap a pic of your car and add a quick note to help you remember where you parked after a long trip. The developer of this App gets it!

So what's the one thing I don't like?

It's a major thing actually and it's one that American Airlines can't fix. The problem is that this is not Delta Airline's App :) I'm joking of course, the App is GREAT! However, I personally almost never fly AA because I live near a Delta hub. I can't remember the last time I was on an AA flight. This App is so perfect that I just wish Delta had one just like it. It clearly sets the example as to how to do a native airline travel app right! Fantastic work American Airlines, my hats off to you!
If you are an AA flyer, then you should download this FREE App immediately!
Get the American Airlines App here from the

Acrobits Softphone App- Make Cheap Calls Internationally

As a frequent international traveler I depend on various Apps to make low cost calls both back to the states and to other countries. We've all heard of Skype and while I use Skype like many of you I also have a separate company reimbursed VoIP line through Vonage. I have a separate Vonage "Sofphone" line with its own number and it allows me to make calls via my computer. The beauty of this line is that it uses the SIP protocol. This means that it's compatible with just about any standard SIP client including the various iPhone Apps out there. At first I was using an App called WeePhone and while WeePhone works, it was very basic and lacking in some features that the higher end Apps had.

Acrobtis Softphone is my New Favorite VoIP SIP Client

This App already had more features than WeePhone. However, in their latest update they added support for iOS 4's multitasking, which means that the App can run in the background during a call while you use other Apps in the foreground. So in that respect it works just like the native iPhone Phone App. As many of you know I'm a sucker for a great UI (user interface) and Softphone is beautiful to look at. The App allows you to customize the colors and just has a more overall polished look to it over the last App I was using. I also like the fact that they have built-in presets for the most popular SIP based VoIP services and that makes setting up your account a breeze. Usually all it takes is to choose the service you're using and enter your user name and password and the App configures all the settings for you. I also really like the icon based Quick Dial (Favorites) feature. You add your most frequently called contacts to this screen and you just tap their photo to make the call. You can also configure the App with multiple SIP accounts if you need to. Probably the biggest reason I use this App over Skype is a simple one, Softphone supports bluetooth headsets. Other than that I also find the audio quality to be better too. Just like the native Phone App it works with my Jawbone ICON headset. So I can use it for handsfree calls.
It works over both 3G and WiFi and it's not limited to the iPhone. This App also runs great on an iPod touch or iPad. That's right you can use any iDevice as a phone! I've made calls from my iPad because it was already in my hands and the iPhone was across the room. Now before you rush off and buy this App I must remind you that it will be of no use to you unless you have a VoIP service that uses the SIP protocol. There is a list of providers right in the App and you can pick one of those if you don't already have one and get setup. International rates will vary, but they will be pennies compared to what your cellular carrier will charge you.
What about receiving calls? Although Softphone runs in the background in iOS 4 while you're on a call, iOS 4 doesn't allow any of these apps to sit idle in the background waiting for a call. Therefore if a call is received the App can only notify you via Push notifications. Depending on your VoIP carrier and the Push settings, this will either work for you or it won't. I didn't spend a lot of time in this area simply because I forward my Vonage line to my Google Voice number for my incoming calls.
You can get Acrobits Softphone here from the Acrobits

Facebook Dislike Button Is Fake [WARNING]

A new Facebook scam is making the rounds, and it's taking advantage of a non-existent Facebook feature many users crave: the dislike button.
First, let's clear things up: There is no such thing as an official Facebook dislike button. It's possible that Facebook will implement a similar feature in the future, but right now it simply doesn't exist.
So, if you see a status update containing the message "I just got the Dislike button, so now I can dislike all of your dumb posts lol!!" or "Get the official DISLIKE button now" followed by a link, you should know that it's another one of many scams that aim to extract your personal data.

If you click on the link, you'll land on an elaborate Facebook dislike button "install" page (note that if the dislike button were real, you wouldn't need to install it; Facebook would automatically add it to user profiles). If you follow the instructions, you'll be asked to give the app permission to run, after which you'll be asked to complete a survey, similar to the surveys found in many other scams we've seen recently.
Interestingly enough, the app ultimately points you to an existing Firefox add-on called FaceMod, which dubs itself the "Facebook Dislike Button (the Original)," but the add-on doesn't seem to be connected to the scam. We haven't verified whether the add-on works as advertised or if it's dangerous, but one thing is certain: It is not coming from Facebook and it is not an official Facebook dislike button.
As usual, we advise you not to click on suspicious links on Facebook, especially if they promise something that sounds impossible or unlikely. Do not give away your personal information, unless you’re absolutely sure why and who you’re giving it to. If you’ve fallen for the scam, remove the offending app(s) from your Facebook profile; furthermore, remove the related message from your status, News Feed, and your Likes and Interests in the “Edit my Profile” menu.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Top 10 SEO keyword tools you cant live without

There are a number of useful tools at the disposal of us olde search optimisers. So you’ve spent months chasing a specific keyword, dropping links like a maniac, until you reach that top ten position on your search engine of choice, only to find that traffic dribbles in slower than a snail on crack. So [...]
There are a number of useful tools at the disposal of us olde search optimisers. So you’ve spent months chasing a specific keyword, dropping links like a maniac, until you reach that top ten position on your search engine of choice, only to find that traffic dribbles in slower than a snail on crack. So what do we do? We research. The following paid and free research tools are well worth a shot at determining how much your chosen keywords are likely to bring in.
Google Adwords Free Tool
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Firstly we start with ye olde Google. If you uses adwords advertising you will know all about this keyword tool. It is of course free to advertisers and search engine heros alike. Unfortunately it doesn’t really give us exact details on search volume, instead using charts to show the competition. The excel downloads dont give much information either.
Yahoo / Overture Free Tool
http://inventory.overture.com/
Overture (Read Yahoo) also has a tool for determining potential traffic from specific key phrases.
Msn Keyword Tool
http://adlab.msn.com/ForecastV2/KeywordTrendsWeb.aspx

At the minute this is absolutely my favourite tool for predicting search results. Im going to let the pretty screenshots shown below speak for themselves as the level of information you can get for competitive terms. I tested the word “viagra” to see what comes up (forgive the pun). There is also a raw data (in text format) and flash version of the same graph.
trendslinechartaspx.jpg
And now for the third party tools..
HighPosition.net SEO Tools
http://seotools.highposition.net/Keyword-Research-Tool.aspx
Seo tools shows a good old fashioned HTML table. But you have to wonder on its accuracy considering the graph we see above for MSN.
Wordtracker
http://www.wordtracker.com/index.html
Ah, Wordtracker. Every search engine optimisers favourite tool. Wordtracker have been extremely clever in their past marketing efforts themselves. Tempt us in with a free trial..then grab the bigger players with a paid option. Wordtrackers own backlinks stands at a hefty 80,000 + backlinks at time of writing, which show their own knowledge of the search industry. They have recent moved to a “give me your credit card so we can renew your free trial” AOL type business model, so for your benefit we’ve decided to take the trial and show you guys around. The montly subscription costs $59, but can be cancelled at any time.
So they have their backlinks built, and their traffic and are moving towards a more shrewd business model. Anyway, onto the service and the screenshots of what you get.
blog1.jpg
This shows an overview of the features you get from the service, I started with going to the keyword researcher. This allows you to search for keyword in a variety of ways, and pick up alternatives / mis-spellings and figures for the quantity of searches performed across the engines. Starting with a seed keyword it suggests a few alternatives. It also distiguishes between UK and US based searches which is pretty cool.
See the screenshots below for further bits and pieces. It also gives two interesting reports showing that the porn industry is live and well online. The search reports for the recent search trends (short term keywords) and the long term keywords. I’ve saved and uploaded them here for you to get a look at ‘em. You can select further options after the search is performed to determine the level of searches your chosen “basket” will amoun to.
blog2.jpg
blog2.jpg
Overall I was very impressed with the service, the excel spreadsheet export is also pretty neat. I also learned that I might need to change a few things about my own site, that could result in new traffic so overall I think its a very powerful tool, and well worth taking the trial for the seven days to find out what you are missing out on. For those of you who knew the service before, that the old Wordtracker keyword tool (with the small dig button – as in a spade not as in social bookmarker) is still alive and well from within the control panel.
Nichebot
http://www.nichebot.com/
I have seen various blogs mention the joys of nichebot before, but I personally didn’t like the design (or lack thereof ) of the site – it looks like a ten year old threw it together and therefore I wasn’t going to part with the $1 fee for a signup. It uses Wordtracker data anyway, so nothing we cant get already.
nichebot.jpg
Keyword Discovery
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/
The keyword discovery site took absolute ages to load for me. I dont know whether this is a sign that they are busy, or are on a poor hosting server, but anyway..their free tool is available at the below URL. At time of writing I couldn’t get on to review their tool properly, but I do know that the main site is a paid model, the link below is a freebie.
http://api.keyworddiscovery.com/cgi-bin/addme/free.cgi
Wordze
http://www.wordze.com
keywordresearch1.jpg
With Wordze, this is a similar service to Wordtracker, giving similar results. One thing I did notice with Wordze is that it gives poorer output options for downloading your keywords, and isn’t as highly regarded in the search engine industry as Wordtracker would be. I’ve included here for completeness anyway. This isn’t a free service at a cost of $45 dollars monthly for the all singing all dancing monthly subscription. This is compared with $59 for Wordtracker.
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
This free tool taps into Wordtrackers database, and is extremely useful if you are on a budget. Aaron Wall the developer of the tool, is an extremely highly thought of SEO in the industry, so you can trust the results.
NicheWatch
http://www.nichewatch.com/
Not so much a keyword tool as a competition tracker, it gives comprehensive data on the following bits and bobs, for particular phrases.
Symbol Definition
BLD Backlinks to the domain in Yahoo.
BLP Backlinks to the webpage in Yahoo.
PRD Pages Rank of domain.
PRP Pages Rank of webpage.
Count Keyword/Keyphrase occurrences on webpage.
Pages Pages indexed of domain in Yahoo.
Anchor All in Anchor Rank of domain in Google.
Title All in Title Rank of domain in Google.
Text All in Text Rank of domain in Google.
Miva
https://account.uk.miva.com/advertiser/Account/Popups/KeywordGenBox.asp
Miva, gives out the number of searches for keywords or phrases based around their advertising networks and is useful for gaining a perspective of how many searches are performed – especially if your niche is highly competitive.
Some other useful Keyword tools
Some of these may not be specifically keyword traffic tools but they can be leveraged to gain useful information on the competition and related keywords.
Google Suggest
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
Google suggest, obviously this is used to try and predict what users may be searching for before they actually finish typing, we can use it to see related stubs related to keywords and phrases.
Google trends
http://www.google.com/trends
See peaks and falls across the year (i.e. seasonal changes in keywords / phrases). This would be particularly useful for determining when to launch a marketing campaign which is affected by the weather or country of origin etc.
Spyfu
http://www.spyfu.com/
A mighty useful tool to see what other websites in your chosen subject area are chasing. Type in your competitors domain to see what they are targetting in both the natural search engines and the pay per click model.

20 Worst Domain Names of All Time







































Pencil Printer - a printer who works on a pencil and Sterk


Suffice it to say that this printer is designed not only for printing text, but also to erase them!. The trick concept called Pencil Printer is to use toner instead of graphite extracted from Ogryzkov ordinary pencils. The printer has two "exit". On the one hand leaves the printed page, on the other hand it could theoretically leave blank. Can only guess that smoking was a source of inspiration, designer Hoyanga Lee. But he proceeded, for sure, the desire to conserve paper and save, so the forest.

Facebook Acquires Chai Labs, Semantic Search Company

Facebook has not been into acquisition as such, but it now started making some smart moves. The social network is said to have acquired Chai Labs, a web publishing semantic search company at an estimated price of $10 million. Allthingsd quoted to many sources but the confirm price of acquisition was unable to retrieve. Possibly Facebook was interested in technology developed by Chai Labs, so could purchase it at a great price.
Chai Labs site reads -
Our technology platform enables publishers to easily customize and launch scalable, search-friendly sites in several verticals. We seamlessly complement our partners’ editorial teams, and some of our most compelling implementations have occurred when editors and journalists have worked side-by-side with our platform.
The main focus of Chai Labs is of course web publishing, but it is very associated to search. It highlights search verticals and it allows users to search for content in a specific area. Well Google is been grabbing social networking companies and gaming companies quickly of late. So Facebook interested in snapping some of the search companies is understood!

Friday, August 13, 2010

World’s Most Expensive Mobile Phone iPhone 3G Supreme with 22 Carat Gold

iPhone3GS Supreme World’s Most Expensive Mobile Phone iPhone 3G Supreme with 22 Carat Gold
With a price tag of $3.14 million, the iPhone 3GS Supreme, designed by Stuart Hughes, is the most expensive cell phone on Earth.
The exclusive gadget has a solid 22 carat gold casing that weighs 271 grams as well as considerable number of flawless diamonds. The iPhone 3GS Supreme was designed by British artist Stuart Hughes for Goldstriker International, a company that specializes in creating extravagant mobile phones.
It took ten months to complete, but the final result is more opulent than you could have ever imagined. The front side of the iPhone 3GS Supreme features 136 flawless diamonds, while the Apple logo on the back is made from 36 diamonds. The directional key of the phone is a rare 7.1 carat diamond. It also comes in an over the top 7 kg case, made from a single block of granite.
Unfortunately you’ll never get to hold this technological treasure in your hands, as it has already been acquired by an anonymous Australian business from the gold mining industry.

Solid Gold Ipad Supreme Edition

solid gold ipad supreme Solid Gold Ipad Supreme Edition
This Golden iPad Supreme Edition could be the World’s Most Expensive iPad ever. with the solid gold body, this ipad was sold for $192.000! Wow. could you afford to buy this expensive gadget?
the iPad Supreme Edition designed by Katherine Hughes has a solid gold on its body.The rear case and bezel is made from a single piece of solid 22-karat gold (weighing an immense 2,100 grams) and on the back, the Apple logo is bedazzled with 53 individually set gems. The cost? A cool £129,995( $192,000).This item is of a limited edition of only 10 units to be made
Its really great if you add another gold iPad case or another luxurious iPad accessories.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Desktop Connect Goes Universal



One day after I list my Top 10 Favorite iPad and iPhone Universal Apps, one of my favorite iPad Apps goes Universal. That's right! Desktop Connect is no longer just for iPads. This VNC/Remote Desktop App now brings its power and great UI (user interface) to the iPhone and iPod touch as well for the same price. That's the great thing about a Universal App is that you buy it once and install it on all your iOS devices. As soon as I got the update I was able to sync it to my iPhone 4 and start remote controlling my Mac from the palm of my hand and I can do this wirelessly from local network or anywhere in the world over the internet.

Yahoo Launches “Kindness – You In?”

Yahoo! launch a new social site to support its users in performing random do something of kindness on the way toward Christmas. The site name kindness.yahoo.com allow its visitors in posting detail of their act of generosity such as help an elder person or offer at a homeless shelter etc, in the holiday this December. Yahoo before had done an activity “You in?” which be likewise to the present act. It also added that it would also set up links where people can even give to charity trusts.
Yahoo also has of late launched a You branding campaign focus on Yahoo’s recent portal re-brand, allow visitors to add apps and services easily as of Yahoo and other providers counting MySpace and Face book.