INTERNET SOUL

Apple Introduces the iPhone

2007-01-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Steve Jobs was on stage at Macworld 2007 just some time ago and he officially introduced the iPhone that everyone has been yearning for for years.

The iPhone is being described as a widescreen, touch-controlled iPod, a mobile phone and an ‘internet communicator’, all rolled into one device.

The iPhone runs a version of OS X, allowing for full fledged apps to be created for the phone, rather than the limited versions of other mobile phone applications.

The iPhone is a fully touch screen device with no keys at all or even a stylus. The screen is a large, 3.5cm one with a high resolution. It uses Apple’s new, patented ‘multi-touch’ input method that supposedly prevents any accidental touches or presses, boasting of a new level of accuracy with touch input.

When required, a full QWERTY keypad is displayed on the screen, similar to Windows Mobile or Symbian UIQ phones, but this one supposedly is easier to type on, automatically eliminating any mistakes you may make from typing.

The iPhone has interesting features such as iTunes’ CoverFlow running on the phone in widescreen mode. It can play not only music, but also videos and photos. Photos can be zoomed in or out by using finger gestures such as moving them closer together or away from each other.

The device seems a little large in the hands, but it’s ultra slim at just 11.6mm, which is thinner than the RAZR. It comes with a standard 3.5mm stereo headphones jack and a built-in speaker. It has the iPod connector to sync with iTunes on the PC or Mac. It will come with a wired, stereo headset and also a Bluetooth headset.

The iPhone also has a 2 megapixel digital camera built into the device.

There’s a choice of 4GB or 8GB of space available on the iPhone to use. There is no option of adding any extra memory via memory card slots.

The iPhone is a quad-band GSM device with EDGE support. Unfortunately, there is no 3G/WCDMA support, which would have been expected of a device being touted as ‘revolutionary’. It also runs Safari, the web browser, for full HTML support. The phone comes with Google Maps built-in.

Email is covered by a POP3/IMAP client. They’ve mentioned support for Microsoft Exchange as well, but that may just be over IMAP. Yahoo will be providing free push-IMAP email to iPhone customers, giving them BlackBerry-like features.

Personal and local connectivity is handled by Bluetooth 2.0 and WiFi support.

The device is expected to offer around 5 hours of talk time and 16 hours of music playback time.

The iPhone will be available this June, exclusively on Cingular in the US. The 4GB version will cost $499 (Rs. 22,500) and the 8GB version will cost $599 (Rs. 26,700).

Google, Indian Police Combat Orkut Offenders

2007-01-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

The recent controversy surrounding social networking site, Orkut has prompted parent company, Google, to work towards making it safer and friendlier for Indian users. Google has assigned a team from its headquarters, to work closely with the Delhi Cyber crime investigation cell. A Google spokesperson has confirmed the initiative and revealed that the team will be meeting the police from various Indian states, to develop a special 'reporting tool' for Indian authorities.

The spokesperson said, “We take the misuse of Orkut very seriously and are reaching out to the appropriate authorities in India to address this." The initiative is directed towards supporting the law enforcement authorities in their investigation against Orkut and Gmail abusers.

This reporting tool will enable the police to have a direct line of contact with Google, to remove objectionable material or aid in investigation and prosecution. The spokesperson elaborated that this new reporting tool will not affect the way Google treats users' data. Authorities will be required to follow the standard legal process in order to get user-identifying information from Google, but the tool will offer a faster, direct communication between Google and Indian authorities.

The spokesperson said, "Orkut is a community website, so we take the obligations set forth in the Community Standards seriously. We want to foster an environment in which users feel safe, as well as free to speak and interact. Criminals cannot hide behind privacy and use the service for illegal purposes. We will balance all requests with the interests of our users. When we learn about violations, we review and take the necessary actions, which can include removal of the inappropriate content. We have done in many cases, and will continue to do so. That said, we believe that the Internet should be a place that allows and encourages free expression, including controversial and unpopular ideas and opinions."

In response to the recent controversy regarding the Shivaji Community, which caused an uproar in Maharashtra, the Google spokesperson said, "We reviewed the community and have removed it, as it violated our community standards. The case for 'We hate India' community is sub-judice and we cannot provide any comments on the case or the proceedings of the case. We respect the authorities in India and are committed to working with them."

When asked if Google is working on any special filter to weed out objectionable content from the site, Google says it has implemented numerous tools to receive, handle and respond to complaints about content on Orkut. "At the same time, we put a certain amount of trust in our users to notify us of violations; the energy and attention of the Orkut community has proven to be very effective in identifying and reporting inappropriate activity. Orkut users can report content to our reviewers by clicking the 'report as bogus' button. There are also tools for community owners to delete posts or topics, ban users and delete anonymous posts."

YouTube Back in Brazil, Sans Steamy Video

2007-01-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

Brazil has lifted the ban on video sharing site, YouTube.com, after a Brazilian court reversed its decision to block the site in the country. The Brazilian court had previously asked all internet service providers to block YouTube, after famous Brazilian model Daniela Cicarelli's sex video was posted on the site . The judge had demanded that the site be blocked off until the objectionable video was pulled down.

Judge Enio Santarelli Zulianio has now revised his ruling and allow internet service providers to reestablish access to the site, but only on the condition that YouTube permanently removes the particular sex video, which was the most viewed video in Brazil for days last year. However, technology experts say that getting rid of the video entirely, is difficult because users can repost it under different titles, which may be tough to track down.

Cicarelli and boyfriend Renato Malzoni, had filed a lawsuit last year, to force YouTube to take the video down and demanded $116,000 in damages for each day the video remained. The case dragged on for several months so Malzoni filed a third suit in December requesting that YouTube be shut down as long as the video is available to users.

Microsoft Criticized For Gifts to Bloggers

2007-01-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has been accused of trying to influence and even bribe tech bloggers by 'gifting' them Acer Ferrari PCs, loaded with Microsoft Vista. The two models (Acer Ferrari 1000 and 5000), worth approximately $2,400 each, were handed to big and small bloggers as Christmas gifts.

Microsoft issued a statement last week, saying the company "sent out machines loaded with Windows Vista, to bloggers to encourage them to experience the product and to solicit their valuable feedback, offering full disclosure that no editorial commentary was expected as a condition of acceptance." However, the issue has drawn criticism from some of the bloggers themselves, as well as others, on grounds that these bloggers are bound by journalistic ethics which prohibits 'gifts' from companies they write about.

After the matter was publicized on the net and widely criticized by internet surfers, a Microsoft employee sent an e-mail to some of the recipients of the laptops, asking them to return or give away the machines when they had finished evaluating Vista. However, the spokeswoman for Microsoft stated that the follow-up message had caused confusion and that the bloggers were still welcome to keep the computers they had been given.

Beat the bad guys.

2007-01-01T20:46:00.000-08:00

Beat the bad guys.
Here's the free software to help browse incognito.

Every computer on the internet communicates using a traceable address. This means that a third party with the knowwho can determine what websites you visited and who your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is. Even the content of the webpages you view or mail you read can be intercepted and seen if encryption isn't used. But there are ways to beat such snoops.

JAP Anonymizer

The JAP Anonymizer is a software that was developed as part of an ongoing research project at the University of Dresden. Instead of connecting directly to web server, users take a detour, connecting after the encryption through several intermediaries, so called mixes, which are linked in predetermined sequences know as mix cascades. Since many users use these intermediaries at the same time, the Internet connection of any one single user is hidden among the connections of all users.

Tor can help you improve your safety, anonymity and security on the Internet. It also has a platform on which new applications with built-in anonymity, safety, and privacy features can be created. It uses a very simple and ingenious method where communications are bounded around a distributed newtork of servers, called onion routers. Instead of taking a direct route from source to destination , data packets on the Tor nework take a random pathway through several servers that cover your tracks so no one can tell where the data came from. Tor was designed and developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

Fans of the web world

2007-01-01T19:55:00.001-08:00

If your idea of fans is a group of Star Wars geeks marching around with fake light sabers or football freaks crying out - and crying - in pubs, then you probably aren't very far from the truth. Once considered the cash cows of their chosen passions, fans are now getting savvier, and using their numbers to rake in the moolah through fan sites. We take a look at some of the most popular sites in the category.

Ain't It Cool News

Probably the first and the most successful site of it's kind, Ain't It Cool News is one of the most influential and widely read film fan sites in the world. Founded by Harry Knowles, a film buff, in 1996 to review and inform people about the film and television, the site soon acquired reputation for breaking news provided by anonymous insiders and Knowle's colourful reviews.

Comic Book Resources

"The comics site you have to visit," says the tagline, and anyone who has visited Comic Book Resources would find it hard to disagree with that statement. Founded in 1996 by Jonah Weiland, CBR is literally a treasure trove for fans of comics and graphic novels. It has very active message boards and like AICN, gets news and gossip through fans and industry insiders.It's most popular feature is it's extensive database, which has led many to draw a comparison between CBR and the Internet Movie Database(IMDB), the world's most extensive movie database.

Fansfc

This Essex-based site is a model of internet-style democracy. It is a soccer fanzine run for fans, by fans, with most of the content generated by users. Most of the news consists of sideline and transfer gossip, but the biggest USP of this site is that it has customised pages nad newsletters on all clubs in the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Scottish Premier League. Fansfc, however, remains a predominantly England-centric site, and falls short when it comes to European football.

Mugglenet

Harry Potter fan sites outnumber most other franchises on the Net, but the best among them is one created in 1999 by a 12-year-old, Emerson Spartz. Left with a little too much time due to home schooling, Spartz created Mugglenet.com for fun. Mugglenet's features aren't very different from the most Potter fan sites but are easier to access and offer a wider variety. They include descriptions of the first six Potter-books, rumours about the seventh book, and information on the first five movies. The site also has an e-newsletter, games and editorials.

Indianfootball

Although not in the same league as foreign sites, Indianfootball.com has managed to carve a niche for itself. Started in 1998 by Arunava Chaudhuri, a football fan looking to do something for the game in India, IFC is today the most widely visited Indian football website. With a relatively good database and extensive coverage of domestic football, it is the first major site of its kind in the country and can hopefully start a trend in India.

Fans of the web world

2007-01-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Ain't It Cool News

Comic Book Resources

Fansfc

Mugglenet

Harry Potter fan sites outnumber most other franchises on the Net, but the best among them is one created in 1999 by a 12-year-old, Emerson

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

2006-12-31T05:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2007 to all my dear readers. Enjoy the new year to the fullest and take care of yourself's. Let me know if you want to know about any specific topic regarding any thing.

What Can We Learn From 2006's Top Searches?

2006-12-31T04:27:00.000-08:00

Here I present the Top 10 Takeaways From 2006's Top 10 Search Queries. First, a quick recap of the Top 10 queries in 2006 across each of the Big 3 engines.

Yahoo

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Shakira
4. Jessica Simpson
5. Paris Hilton
6. American Idol
7. Beyonce Knowles
8. Chris Brown
9. Pamela Anderson
10. Lindsay Lohan

Msn

1. Ronaldinho
2. Shakira
3. Paris Hilton
4. Britney Spears
5. Harry Potter
6. Eminem
7. Pamela Anderson
8. Hilary Duff
9. Rebelde
10. Angelina Jolie

Google

1. Bebo
2. Myspace
3. World Cup
4. Metacafe
5. Radioblog
6. Wikipedia
7. Video
8. Rebelde
9. Mininova
10. Wiki

So what can we take away from this smorgasbord?

Naughty or nice? The Frienemy keeps us guessing. While knowing what queries increased in volume over last year is interesting, wouldn't it be nice if Google played along for once and gave us hard data by which apples-to-apples comparisons could be made? At any rate, assuming that the searches that topped Yahoo and MSN were also tops on Google (if not steady risers year over year), it's worth noting that...

Search engines are not yellow pages. Notice that the top searches (again, in terms of absolute queries) are not destination Web sites, they are people or topics. And they're not transactional, they're informational. It appears the long tail of the Web is attached to a very good-looking celebrity head. So, I think it follows that...

One of the major search engines should go on an acquisition spree of TMZ.com,, TheSmokingGun.com, DrudgeReport.com, etc. I mean, seriously, if this is all people are looking for, why not just own the gossip content and keep consumers within your domain? Oh, yeah, it's not that easy because ... 4. We need to find a way to monetize these queries. And I'm not just talking about marketers selling movies, CDs, T-shirts, etc. For many marketers, there is value in having your brand associated with these queries--just as there is value in having your product associated with a celebrity. The key to unlocking and measuring that value lies in continued research around search impressions and engagement metrics. And, traditionally, where have marketers been able to generate the deepest levels of engagement?

Video. The seventh biggest gainer on Google's list (with video site Metacafe clocking in at No. 3). And, no doubt, one of the main forms of content consumers were looking for when searching celebs and athletes. Mark my words, 2007 will be a watershed year for video search. From deeper integration of YouTube into the Google machine to continued innovation by specialty players like Blinkx, to heavy pushes from AOL and others, video search will continue to get smarter and more popular. And, while it may not happen in '07, it won't be long before we are searching video content on our TVs the same way we do on our computers. Which reminds me...

Search advertising must remain relevant and non-interruptive. With the plethora of Hollywood content available on TV and in print , why are so many people turning to search engines to get their fix? Because it's easy to find what you want without being bombarded by ads. We must maintain the sanctity of search real estate, especially as we expand into other channels. And, even though consumer intolerance of irrelevant push advertising is universal...

We must understand, respect, and leverage International nuances. Bebo, Rebelde, etc. There's a lot of innovation happening outside the U.S. For marketers with global footprints, it's crucial to customize search programs to match the mindset of consumers in foreign countries. And this means more than just translating copy into different languages. It means truly immersing your brand into the local culture.

Welcome to the social. More than just a witty tagline for the Microsoft Zune, this invitation sums up the state of the Web as we head into 2007. Just about every query on Google's list relates to some sort of Web 2.0 application. With new content being published every second by anyone with Internet access, search takes on a heightened role of connecting consumers with the content they desire, as well as that which they did not know existed. And that's not search's only role...

Search can be a great PR tool. With Web entries often mentioning negative news, from drug use to divorces, 2006's most searched individuals certainly could benefit from some positive spin. How better to get your side of the story in front of inquiring minds than by intercepting them at the point-of-query, before they have a chance to find those racy photos or read that police report? After all, at the end of the day...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Even though the Internet has enabled us to easily create our own content and meet people all over the world who share our unique tastes and preferences, we're still obsessed with the same old, er, young, celebrities. Applying this adage to our world, the more things change with algorithms, distribution, quality scores, inventory, and specs, the more the basic best practices of search marketing will remain the same. So, as we look ahead to 2007, let us resolve to stay the course and continue spreading the gospel. It won't be long before all content is searchable and all advertising is query-centric. With the insight gleamed from why people are searching, not just what they're searching, we'll be properly equipped to guide the penetration and convergence of search into all forms of media.
Best wishes for the coming year. May your search for health, happiness, peace, and prosperity yield strong (and relevant!) results.

Top 5 Ways To Increase Your Google Page Rank.

2006-12-28T02:39:00.000-08:00

Page rank this word really hurts sometime but still if your website is ranked by google things fall in place quite easily for you as compared to others.After a long research on google page rank and going through a lot of articles by some professional bloggers,websites I prepared a note on google page rank and that's what i have listed out here.

Google Page rank is based on back links. Back links are Links pointing to your website from another website. The more back links you have the higher your PR will be.

1. Join forums, forums are a great way to achieve links to your website. In most forums you are allowed to have a signature and in your signature you can put a link to your website. But another important note to look on is making sure the forum is somewhat related to your website. You will still get credit if it's not, but if it's related to your website than you will be accomplishing two tasks at once.

You will be advertising for your website (bringing in targeted traffic) You will also be building your websites presence. Your websites presence is very important to your survival.

The more people see, or hear about your website the more credibility you will have and this increases your chances of having these visitors come back and possibly become leads.

2. Submit to search engine directories. Search engine directories are a good way to get a free link to your website. They also increase your chances at being listed higher on popular search engines like Google, and overture.

Most search engine directories allow you to submit to their website for free. This will allow you to increase your web presence by being listed on another search engine, and it will also be a free link.

Remember the more links you have the higher your PR will be

3. Using ezine ads (or newsletters). Creating an ezine will probably be the most beneficial step you can take to increasing your web presence. When you create an ezine you will be able to keep visitors coming back to your website for more by using signatures and giving special deals.

Ezine's will also allow you to increase your back links. By creating an ezine you can submit your information about your ezine to an ezine directory. This directory will than link to your website(thus giving you a free link).

4. Creating and publishing articles. Articles are an easy source of generating new traffic. You can include your signature in your article. This will bring in more traffic from article submission directories.

Your signature usually consists of 4 to 8 lines. Usually the first line would be the title of the website that you are trying to advertise. The last line would be the link to the website and the lines in between these would be a sales pitch to draw your viewers into your website

5. Links from related websites. Gaining links from related websites can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can attempt.

They are very easy to find, but can be somewhat difficult to obtain links from.

To find related websites, all you have to do is go to a search engine... say Google... and type in your subject. Maybe your website is based on ford mustangs.

You go to Google and type in ford mustangs, than you look around for pages that are somewhat related to your website. After you have done this (which should be very easy) you have to contact them in some way to get your link posted on their website. This can be the most difficult task because a lot of webmasters ignore e-mail's from people requesting links because they don't see the importance of it at the time. Some other reasons could be that they are rarely online, or they delete spam mail and sometimes delete their important emails in the process.

Important note: When looking for link partners don't just link with websites that have a page rank of 4 or higher. Link with anyone and everyone you get a chance to. If you link to someone that has a page rank of zero, this will not hurt your page rank. It will only increase it because you are getting a link back to your website. Google doesn't look at your back links page ranks to determine what yours is going to be. It simply looks at how many back links you have.

So if Google one day decided to link to a website that was just created and this website has a page rank of 0 and has a domain that goes something like this: mywebsite.geocities.com it's page rank wouldn't increase even though Google's page rank is 10, it's rank would still be zero because it would only have that one back link.

Tips to help you stay safe online

2006-12-28T01:52:00.000-08:00

There are now thought to be more than 200,000 malicious programs in existence - the vast majority of which are aimed at subverting Windows PCs.

These problem programs can arrive via e-mail, instant messenger, through your internet connection or even your web browser if you visit the wrong website. The threats are so numerous and appear so fast that Windows users must feel under siege.
While there is no doubt that attacks on PC users are getting more sophisticated, it is possible to avoid the vast majority of problems by taking some straight-forward steps and exercising some common sense.

If you are worried about your computer it is possible to scan it via the web to see if it is infected. Companies such as Trend Micro, Kaspersky and Microsoft all offer free scanning services.
Organisations such as the Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert) also offer advice on how to set up a safe net connection.

ANTI-VIRUS

The first piece of security software every PC user needs is some anti-virus software. It must also be regularly updated to ensure it protects you against the latest threats.
One of the ways that virus writers try to catch out anti-virus software is by pumping out enormous numbers of variations of their malicious creations. Good anti-virus programs use heuristic techniques to spot viruses that have not been formally identified but have all the characteristics

Many PCs now come with anti-virus installed and though an annual subscription can seem expensive, it might be cheap when you consider how much it could save you if it stops your bank details being stolen

As well as retail versions of anti-virus there are now some free programs that do a good job of protecting you. Avira, Avast and AVG all produce free anti-virus software

Microsoft now sells a package of security programs but, so far, they are only available to US users

FIREWALL

A firewall is also an essential piece of security software for PC users. Newer versions of Windows XP have a firewall built in and this will give you protection against nuisance attacks and many of the more serious ones
However some people feel that the Windows XP firewall is a bit limited in its features. Many anti-virus programs have a firewall bundled with them.
There are free firewalls available too from firms such as Comodo and Zone Alarm

SPYWARE

Increasingly simply browsing the web can subject you to all kinds of dangers. Specially crafted websites can initiate so-called "drive-by downloads" that exploit weaknesses in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to install programs you never asked for.
At best these will annoy you with pop-up ads, at worst they will let someone else take control of your PC. Anti-spyware software will help stop these taking hold and help you clean up your PC if you do get hit.
There are add-ons for browsers, such as McAfee's Site Advisor that warn you about potentially harmful sites. Also Google has now started warning when you are about to visit a potentially unsafe site. Search sites such as Scandoo will also flag sites loaded with malware

UPDATE

With Windows it is also important to keep your system up to date. Windows XP now regularly nags people about upgrades and Microsoft produces security patches on a monthly basis.
Microsoft recommends automatic updating so patches are downloaded and applied as soon as they become available. As the time between the announcement of a vulnerability and it being exploited is shrinking, it pays to act quickly

APPLE

Apple users who feel confident that they are invulnerable to attacks should also take steps to protect themselves.
While virus attacks are virtually unheard of, the platform can be subject to malware and adware.
The firewall on an Apple computer should be switched on and common sense regarding potential phishing attacks should be applied.

Vista security flaw blow to Microsoft

2006-12-28T01:43:00.000-08:00

MICROSOFT'S security experts had an uneasy holiday break after a security flaw was discovered in Windows Vista, the software company's new operating system.

It was the first security flaw discovered since Vista's official release four weeks ago.
The flaw is a symbolic blow to Microsoft, which has spent 5 1/2 years developing Vista.

The software, which was launched two years later than originally planned, is the biggest upgrade to the operating system since the release of Windows 95 and Microsoft focused heavily on improving security.

The company confirmed the vulnerabilities, which were first reported by independent third parties, but pointed out that no malicious programs taking advantage of the flaws had yet appeared.

The flaw allows a user with standard system privileges to gain wider access to system tools and settings without the approval of a network administrator.

This potentially disables a key security feature of Vista but attackers would first need to gain access to a computer through some other means before exploiting the vulnerability.

A vulnerability in the new web browser Internet Explorer 7 was reported at the same time. Mike Reavey, operations manager at Microsoft's Security Response Centre, acknowledged on the company's security blog that it was "closely monitoring developments" over the Christmas period. "Of course these are preliminary findings and we have activated our emergency response process involving a multitude of folks who are investigating the issue in depth to determine the full scope and potential impact to Microsoft's customers," he wrote.

He added: "I still have every confidence that Windows Vista is our most secure platform to date", and said that as always, Microsoft encouraged users to take other security measures such as firewall, security updates, anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer with Finnish security company F-Secure, said the vulnerability was significant for being Vista's first since its launch, but was unlikely to be a big concern either to Microsoft or corporate users of Vista, because attackers would need to already have access to the system to take advantage of it.

However, he said said criminal gangs would inevitably increase their efforts on attacking Vista.
"Within a year or two, there could be tens of millions of computers running Vista, so there will be more attacks."
This was reported by -The Australian News Website.

The Most Useful Sites-III

2006-12-28T00:56:00.000-08:00

Here i am back again with the next series of the most useful sites.Well i surely hope this list will help in being updated with the best websites around.

Reference

Wikipedia now dominates the reference side of the web, partly because its pages are ranked so highly in Google. It competes with the Encyclopedia Britannica, which isn't free. However, another traditional alternatives is the HighBeam Encyclopedia, which searches more than 57,000 articles from the Columbia Encyclopedia

Applications

If you have tasks shared between people at different locations, it makes sense to access password-protected sets of work. That's where these come handy:

News

The BBC marches on at the front. The New York Times site is vast (though it has shut off some of its content behind a "paywall").

The Most Useful Sites-II

2006-12-26T23:21:00.000-08:00

Here is the second series of the most useful sites-II.This series consist of the popular sites which have topped their category list by various means.

Video

The crowds are all over at YouTube, the poster child of online video. But it's not the only place to find video. And sites like brightcove and currenttv even let you start your own TV station

Blogs

The open-source and free software project Wordpress has risen to prominence, elbowing aside, many rivals with its blog creation, management and (importantly) spam-beating tools.

Virtual worlds

The key distinction from social sites like Myspace is that virtual worlds give you an avatar - your representation of yourself in the online world.

The Most Useful Sites-I

2006-12-26T05:55:00.000-08:00

It's a wired world after all!
This statement just seems to be perfectly matching the current status of the world information technology.Undoubtedly 2006 has been the year of the social network.Myspace, YouTube, Facebook have been the outstanding success stories.

I am starting a new series of the most useful sites where i will provide the list of the sites who topped their category list on the basis of popularity and the tremendous buzz they created around in the world of internet users.

Gaming

There are far too many videogame new sites on the internet today; an aggregator like Gametab will help filter through to the best

Music

Microsoft's Being able to find stuff that's similar to music you like is increasingly important, both to listeners and to record companies trying to profit from niches.These sites are a goldmine

Networking

The browser has grown up: now it's the path to meeting people of similar interests and creating your own personal space online in a shared area

Wordpress Blog Pinging - List of Ping Services For Your Wordpress Blog

2006-12-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

Pinging the blog directories is one of the most important ongoing tasks after listing your blog in the various directories. If you use Wordpress, you can add this list for automatic pinging after every post. Simply add the list in your admin under Options…Writing after scrolling to the bottom of the page.
The current default entry is http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

Tips to get your blog noticed

2006-12-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

So here are 10 important tips to get your blog noticed:

If you publish directly through wordpress then you can add this List of Ping Services for automatic pinging after every post. Simply add the list in your admin under Options…Writing after scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Submit your blog to all of the directories listed on Pingomatic which allows you to ping a few services all at once.
Submit your blog to Pingoat which allows you to ping over fifty blog ping services all at once.
Submit your blog to all of the directores listed at RSS Feeds directory
Sign up for My Yahoo & My MSN and add your blogs feed to your own "My Yahoo" & "My MSN" account. This will get your blog included in Yahoo & MSN very quickly.
Sign up for Google Pages, and add add some content (non spam) and link to your blog. This will get your blog included in Google very quickly.
Place a link to your blog in your signature, so that any posts to Forums & add your RSS feed( There are some forums which allow you to add the RSS feed of your blog which will be displayed in the Postbit Template), Outgoing Emails, etc, will promote your blog.
Submit your good articles to Ezine Articles
Locate blogs with a lot of traffic and place relevant comments in their comment box . Do not spam or place the ‘I like your site,visit mine’ type comments.
And last, post quality content as often as possible.

Top 5 Free Google Tools For Bloggers

2006-12-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

Google always provides various ways to encourage webmaster to use their services. Besides, search-oriented services, Google also has other services that will help webmasters. For example, Google Analytics helps webmasters to track websites’ traffic, Google Adsense helps webmasters to earn extra income, Google Trends helps webmasters to find a good niche…

Now, I am going to list out top 5 FREE Google tools which will help bloggers to improve their blogs. And, some of these tools also help to improve their search engine ranking too.

1. Google Adsense

Nowadays, almost every blogger will use Adsense Ads to monetize his/her blog. Google Adsense is so popular that it slowly becomes the main income source for almost every blogger. Even though there are still many other income sources for bloggers, Google Adsense is still the main core income for bloggers.

Google Adsense is a kind of contextual ads which means that it will only shows ads that are related to your contents. For example, if you are writing something about laws, it will only show ads that about laws. Through this way, Adsense Ads only could attract the maximum attention from your readers.

Google Adsense is a CPC( Cost Per Click) advertising program. This means that advertisers pay publisher money based on each clicking. The cost per keyword may range from USD100 to even USD0.01 each. So, you must be smart to target the most expensive keywords for your Adsense Ads.

Link: http://www.adsense.com/

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a FREE service provided by Google to track your traffic in your blog. It has various useful features that helps to improve users experience. For example, you can know where your visitors came from, how long they stayed on your website, and their geographical position. All of these information are displayed on a clean layout:

Besides that, you can also know which keywords help to bring the most visitors to your blog by using Google Analytics. This could help you to target on the keywords that you think that you have low rankings.

Link: http://analytics.google.com/

3. Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools let you see how Google crawls and indexes your site and learn about specific problems Google is having accessing it. You can also learn which queries drive traffic to your site, and see exactly how users arrive there.

Besides, you can also tell Google about your pages: which ones are most important to you and how often they change. You can also let Google know how you would like the URLs Google index to appear. You can doing so by submitting your blog’s sitemaps to Google Webmaster Tools. Actually, this helps to improve your search engine rankings in Google.

Link: https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/

4. Google Trends

Google Trends help bloggers to choose a niche for their blog. It is a tool from Google Labs which shows the most popularly search terms from 2004 to now.
Google Trends shows you how popular a particular search term according to the search volume from various countries of the world, and in various languages.

Above is an example of Google Trends for the search term “blog”. The horizontal axis of the graph represents time (starting from some time in 2004), and the vertical is how often a term is searched relative to the total number of searches, globally.

As a blogger, you can use Google Trends to decide which keyword is best for you to target to attract more search engine traffic to your blog.

Link: http://www.google.com/trends

5. Google Alerts

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Google Alerts help you to monitor new web pages appear in the top twenty results for the search term you choose. Through this feature, you can know which competitors are competing for the same search term you target in Google Search Engine. Google Alerts will notify you with email once there is a new competitor for the search term you wish to monitor.

Link: http://www.google.com/alerts

MyOtherDrive.com Gets Upgrade For Photos

2006-12-24T01:15:00.000-08:00

Ohio firm, ByteRocket, has just released a major upgrade to its Web-based file sharing service, MyOtherDrive.com. The free 5GB hard drive with an Internet Explorer -style interface, now provides storage as well as the ability for users to share full size original photographs, music and videos, along with files and documents in PDF.

MyOtherDrive.com users may also use privacy settings, to specify who can access the files on their site. The portal allows its users to add their customized groups, or make all their content public. In addition, the 'invitation by email' feature, builds a "Friends" list out of the users’ social network. Users may also email out a hyperlink to others that lets them view pictures, even if they are not a member of MyOtherDrive.com.

The site runs as a Java applet, similar to the Microsoft Windows Explorer or ACDSee, which allows the user to create a folder "hierarchy" on one side of the screen, with a list of files on the right. Future enhancements to MyOtherDrive.com include more "social networking" features, such as blogging, photo/video tagging, and friends search.

BBC Offers Content on P2P Network, Zudeo

2006-12-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

BBC Worldwide has announced that it will offer its popular, high-resolution British comedies and dramas, on a new P2P file sharing network, Zudeo.com. The BBC content, will be available on Zudeo’s’ new platform early next year.

According to the agreement with Zudeo’s parent company, Azureus, BBC Worldwide will license international television series, such as Red Dwarf, Strange and Invasion Earth, to users of Zudeo. Other titles include International Emmy award-winning, Little Britain, Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, Coupling, Keeping Up Appearances, League of Gentlemen and Ideal, among others. Additional content partnerships will be announced in the coming weeks.

Gilles BianRosa, CEO, Azureus said, "BBC Worldwide understands our commitment to providing consumers with a rich entertainment experience and our desire to offer quality content to our diverse global audience. We are thrilled to offer programming that encompasses such a robust fan base, as well as the opportunity to expose a new generation to cult favorites from BBC Worldwide catalog via our new entertainment platform."

Zudeo, a US based, legal P2P file sharing network, enables content providers to publish, showcase, and distribute high resolution, long form content, including video and games in high definition or DVD quality over the Internet, free of charge. The portal also features search, browsing, channels and tagging, as well as easier integration with firewalls. Zudeo will also have enhanced features for P2P streaming, in the near future.

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

2006-12-22T19:55:00.000-08:00

If anything about current interaction design can be called “glamorous,” it’s creating Web applications. After all, when was the last time you heard someone rave about the interaction design of a product that wasn’t on the Web? (Okay, besides the iPod.) All the cool, innovative new projects are online.

Google Suggest and Google Maps are two examples of a new approach to web applications that is being called as Ajax. The name is shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, and it represents a fundamental shift in what’s possible on the Web.

Defining Ajax
Ajax isn’t a technology. It’s really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways. Ajax incorporates:

standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS;
dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model;
data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT;
asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest;
and JavaScript binding everything together.

Who’s Using Ajax

Google is making a huge investment in developing the Ajax approach. All of the major products Google has introduced over the last year — Orkut, Gmail, the latest beta version of Google Groups, Google Suggest, and Google Maps — are Ajax applications. (For more on the technical nuts and bolts of these Ajax implementations, check out these excellent analyses of Gmail, Google Suggest, and Google Maps.) Others are following suit: many of the features that people love in Flickr depend on Ajax, and Amazon’s A9.com search engine applies similar techniques.

The above part was some programmer style introduction to the new buzz world of Ajax.Let's see some practical applications of Ajax on the web on different websites,bloggs.And guys didn't i tell u that this new buzz is being used on blogger also.The site Blogger Templates has some good design for bloggers, but u need to wait for some more days as the site is in it's testing status.

There's one more blogger site 3spots who has provided with the good list of Ajax startuppages(or homepages).You can find the list over here.

Internet Tips: New Tools Help Take Your Blog to the Next Level

2006-12-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

If you're a new blogger, Google's free Blogger service will meet your needs. But if you're a born-to-blog pundit then, you want additional features, personalization, and control.

Blog-o-Matic

Top-flight bloggers are increasingly moving to WordPress, Automattic Productions' no-cost, open-source blogging software. Unlike the basic blogging tools found in Blogger, Microsoft's Windows Live Spaces, and Yahoo 360, WordPress offers tons of plug-ins and widgets for customizing your blog. One of my favorite WordPress features is its spam filter, which weeds out spam posted as comments. You can also make your blog private, allowing only the people you specify to read and comment on your postings.

But WordPress gives you more than a simple chronological Weblog: The program's pages feature makes it a full-blown content-management system supporting complex Web sites. For example, WordPress templates let you keep your bio, contact info, or other static content easy for your blog visitors to access.

WordPress's PHP script files require the MySQL database and PHP software running on the host server. After editing one of the scripts to include your MySQL and PHP user names and passwords, you upload the scripts to the server--and just like that, you have a blog.

If this seems like programming voodoo to you, relax. WordPress and most of its hosting partners provide point-and-click tools that have you blogging in minutes.

If you're happy using a subdomain (such as scottspanbauer.wordpress.com) rather than your own domain (www.scottspanbauer.com, for example) and don't mind an occasional text ad among your postings, you can create a free account on Automattic's WordPress.com, a blog-hosting service much like Google's BlogSpot. At the time of writing, free WordPress.com blogs were limited to 25MB of images, PDFs, and other files. The amount of text that you and your readers can post is unlimited, however. (Automattic plans to add commercial account options that increase storage.)

If you choose WordPress.com as your host, setup is a breeze. When you log in, a toolbar of configuration options appears at the top for creating posts and pages, changing themes, moderating comments, and adding links to a page's sidebar. You can receive e-mail support from WordPress's creators, too.

For collaboration, create additional author and moderator accounts and set the blog to be invisible until it's ready.

Best Firefox Extensions for Power Users

2006-12-21T03:09:00.000-08:00

Vista still requires antivirus, MS stresses

2006-12-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Windows Vista does require antivirus software after all, Windows chief Jim Allchin wrote on a company blog (windowsvistablog.com).“I want to be clear, most users will use some form of antivirus software, and that will be appropriate for their scenarios,” Allchin wrote.

The co-president of platform and services responded to media reports recently that quoted him as saying that the forthcoming operating system didn’t need any antivirus software because of it’s enhanced security. Allchin countered that the remarks were taken out of context.

“I made a comment about how attacks on the Internet are getting more and more sophisticated, and some of the security features in Windows Vista really help our customers. This somehow morphed into people thinking I said customers shouldn’t use antivirus software with Windows Vista.”

The intended point, said Allchin, was that in certain situations, Vista would provide much better security for users.The initial reports stemmed from a comment Allchin made during a conference call recently, when the company announced that Windows Vista had been released to manufacturing and would be launched on 30 January.

Allston was talking about his home computer, on which his seven-year-old son runs a Vista machine without antivirus software.“Even if there is a remote exploit on one machine, and a worm tries to jump from one machine to another, the probability of that actually succeeding is very small. My seven year-old runs Windows Vista and, honestly, he doesn’t have an antivirus system on his machine,” Allchin was quoted as saying.Allchin also said that the machine used strict parental controls that limited access. Allchin recommends that users do have antivirus software on their Vista machines, and that the example he listed was an extreme and very specific situation.

Access Your Favourite Magazines

2006-12-20T21:11:00.000-08:00

It's not just books that are available electronically- this very magazine can be bought, downloaded and read from a website called Zinio. The site sells subscriptions to a number of popular magazines, usually at a discounted price. You'll need a Zinio Reader programme ,which is available as a free download from the site. Once installed, you can flick through the pages of a magazine as you would with the printed version of the magazine, either page by page, or by jumping straight to the various sections, such as Workshops. The programme will also keep track of when the latest editions of your favourite magazines are available.

Stuffs to rock in 2007

2006-12-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Get a check for the latest games being launched in 2007.This may be a wonderfull opportunity to get a glance at these games before their arrival.

MSN to Webcast Nokia New Year's Eve Party

2006-12-20T07:48:00.000-08:00

Nokia has announced that MSN will be the exclusive online distributor of the Nokia New Year's Eve, a global music celebration which will take place in five party capitals of the world on December 31.

Exclusive performances from international artists including the Black Eyed Peas, Scissor Sisters, Nelly Furtado, John Legend, and Atomic Kitten will be streamed live and on demand at no cost to viewers here

Nokia New Year's Eve embodies our objective of connecting people to their passions. We expect this will be the biggest global New Year's Eve music celebration with more than 1.3 million expected to attend," says Jo Harlow, senior vice president, marketing for Nokia. "With MSN, we are greatly expanding the global reach of Nokia New Year's Eve. Now, music lovers around the globe can enjoy their favourite artists — live, as they countdown the final seconds of 2006, or on demand when the moment strikes them."

In addition to the live concerts on December 31, beginning today, the online webcast will offer exclusive artist content, including interviews with the Black Eyed Peas, Scissor Sisters and many other international artists to view on demand. Other Nokia New Year's Eve content, including artist lists and updates, will also be available through Windows Live Messenger beginning today. A customized Windows Live Messenger tab will be integrated into every Windows Live Messenger application in the five host cities — Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and New York — where fans will be able to connect directly to the Nokia New Year's Eve site by clicking the tab.

Nokia New Year's Eve concerts in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin and Rio de Janeiro will be Webcast live on MSN and can be viewed on http://www.nokianewyearseve.com, starting Dec. 31 evening from Hong Kong.

Facial Recognition-based Search Announced

2006-12-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

Knowing how random the results are from the current image search engines, Swedish company Polar Rose has announced the launch of a visual search engine that should hopefully make image searching a lot more accurate.

Polar Rose uses facial recognition and 3D imaging software to provide a whole new method for web-based image searches. A beta of the software will be available for public use, by February next year.

Polar Rose is also working on a plugin for the Firefox and Internet Explorer, which pops up a small symbol when the browser opens a Web page containing a photo of a face. When a user clicks on the symbol, the Polar Rose service looks for matching photos in its database. Users also can tag existing photos in the database to help train Polar Rose's matching engine.

TIME Best Invention of the Year for 2006

2006-12-20T00:22:00.000-08:00

Meet Peter. Peter is a 79-year-old English retiree. Back in WW II he served as a radar technician. He is now an international star.
One year ago, this would not have been possible, but the world has changed. In the past 12 months, thousands of ordinary people have become famous. Famous people have been embarrassed. Huge sums of money have changed hands. Lots and lots of Mentos have been dropped into Diet Coke. The rules are different now, and one website changed them: YouTube.
It's been an interesting year in technology. Nintendo invented a video game you control with a magic wand. A new kind of car traveled 3,145 miles on a single gallon of gas. A robot learned to ride a bike. Somebody came up with a nanofabric umbrella that doesn't stay wet. But only YouTube created a new way for millions of people to entertain, educate, shock, rock and grok one another on a scale we've never seen before. That's why it's Time's Invention of the Year for 2006.

Great Download Sites

2006-12-19T07:44:00.000-08:00

Great Download Sites

In my opinion the following sites are some of the best in existence for downloading software.

Top 20

http://downloads.nettop20.com/

this site tracks the best download sites, and has links to the top 20 downloads from all the best download sites..

So it is a one stop shop for the best downloads, or at least that is its mission.
another site with the same mission is, however it is not as slick looking at Top 20.

http://www.inntechserver.com/top_download_sites.htm

They both have links to what they consider the best download sites, but I have only listed what I consider the best in my list. Or if I tryed them and they showed any annoying pop ups or gross advertising, or if they are just plain confusing, with illegable multicoloured 8 point text for example (yuck!!!), I have excluded them from my list.
OK, lets see only seven sites made it to my list, but they are good.

CNET's Download.Com

http://download.com.com/

this is one of the grand daddy sites, if you do a search on SANDRA you will find that it has been downloaded from CNET alone a total of 2,713,659 times.
A basic way to use it is to monitor the specific category of interest, and click on most popular, new releases or our picks categories. Definately worth a look if you have not checked it out.

Another site worth checking out is Ziff nets essential downloads site at:

http://downloads-zdnet.com.com/

check their dazzling downloads, most popular and most talked about sections for pointers on where the latest greatest software is.

Can't Do Without It

http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/without.htm

PC World Downloads:

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/index/0,00.asp

JUMBO

http://www.jumbo.com/

TUCOWS

http://www.tucows.com/

Pass the Shareware

http://www.passtheshareware.com/

Freeware by definition freeware is just that for free forever!
check it out at:

http://freewarearena.org/PHPNuke/index.php

Compare India

2006-12-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

The TV18 and CNBC came up with something really worthy a click. Compareindia a TV18 venture is an excellent site. It can be said as an one stop stand for the Indian comsumers. It is India's shopping and price comparision site.It provides the sonsumer or the user with all powers to check wether the product being offered meets the standards set by big brands or not.You also get the expert advice on a specific brand of your choice.So don't wait and get a view of this site here.

Google phone in your pocket !

2006-12-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

After iPod phone and Zune phone, there's a new "phony" buzz around: The Observer of London has reported that Google might be working with a Taiwanese firm along with telecom services giant Orange to build a Google Mobile Phone, which could possibly have Google software running on the device. If true, this will be Google's first venture into hardware

Google works

The phone will come pre-loaded with mobile versions of Google apps like Google Earth and G-mail. It is rumoured to feature location-based searches, such as a tailored list of local cinemas, restaurants and other amenities, and maps and images from Google Earth. Google has been aggressive in developing location based services, like local search and mapping services.

Collaboration version 3.0 - The report stated that Orange honchos travelled to Google's headquarters, or 'Googleplex', for exploratory talks on this deal. The collaboration between two of the most powerful brands in technology is seen as a potential catalyst for making Internet use of mobile phones as natural as on desktop computers and laptops. For Orange, this could be a valuable asset in its triple play ambitions. The company owns broadband businesses across Europe, and has access to 3G networks, and is owned by France Telecom. It could use Google’s web expertise to take on its rivals, by offering web-mobile hybrid phones, and at the same time get a slice of mobile advertising revenues.

Freeware Genius.

2006-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for some free software, then you need to visit freewaregenius.com. This Web site has free software for everything – from 3D modelling to antiviruses – each with description and rating. As far i know among 100 people surfing the net above 90 search for something free, which can be anything from ebooks,music,movies etc. So i think this site surely reserves a click of your mouse.

Flash Stuff

2006-12-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

For all things ‘flash’, visit www.flashstuf.com. The Web site features everything from movies to games to other fun stuff. It also has a forum where members can discuss flash, work of flash artists, etc.

Stumble Video

2006-12-19T06:45:00.001-08:00

Today’s Web site provides a way to watch a stream of videos from popular video sites such as YouTube, Google Video and MySpace that are automatically matched to your personal preference. Although online video search systems have grown over the past year, finding cool videos can be quite a tedious exercise. Stumble comprehends what types of videos a user likes (or dislikes) and accordingly delivers videos matching personal preferences. The Web site requires no special software, allowing any Web user to enjoy the service.

CHOREBUSTER.NET

2006-12-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

When it comes to doing chores everyone loves passing the buck Chorebuster.net makes sure "the bucks gets passed to right person." The Web sites you list out all the chores and asks you to assign difficulty ratings to them. Once you do this, you can list out the people in your house. After which the site automatically makes a schedule and assigns tasks in a fair manner.This should make your life easy! No?

Your Online Office

2006-12-18T02:46:00.000-08:00

Internet productivity suites innovate with online sharing and storage, but don't yet challenge Microsoft for document-creation features.

A host of new free or low-cost online competitors are trying to nibble away at Microsoft's $11.8 billion Office pie by pulling together productivity suites with online document storage and innovative sharing and collaboration features. The new options can prove useful for group efforts, and the price is certainly right. But none of these packages have the feature set to truly challenge Office--for now.

Google recently launched its free Google Docs & Spreadsheets service, creating a new interface for its previously separate word processing and spreadsheet applications. ThinkFree and Zoho, in their more extensive suites, also offer PowerPoint-like presentation programs. Like Google, ThinkFree and Zoho are free for individual users and allow you to save documents in a variety of formats, including HTML. A fourth contender, gOffice, charges 99 cents per month for its limited word processing and spreadsheet programs, with a presentation app to come.

Document-creation applications have been available online for some time. But by bringing such tools together as suites and offering downloadable business packages, these companies are obviously making a distinct effort to entice users away from Microsoft's ubiquitous software.

Skype Users to Get Lie Detector Soon

2006-12-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

VoIP software firm, Skype will soon offer a lie detector, as an add- on for its users. The KishKish Lie Detector, by BATM, will analyze audio streams over a Skype call in real time and illustrate the stress levels of the other person. Moreover, the device will also be able to record calls for analysis later.

The technology is roughly the same, as in the lie detector used by forensic experts, wherein the stress levels charted out by the lie detector machine, are analyzed by the experts to determine whether the subject is lying or not.

However, BATM has not set a price, or a roll-out date for the application, yet. The company says it hopes to be able to provide Skype users with further additions in the near future.

Mazooki!.com Aims to be Asian YouTube

2006-12-17T05:33:00.000-08:00

New free video sharing site, Mazooki.com, is the first of its kind, to be tailored for Asian users, offering a user-generated online video library.

Asian Internet users may access videos posted on Mazooki! share them, and even embed them onto their own websites without a membership. The site bans any pornographic or hate-oriented videos, and offers an interactive flagging system, to have questionable content removed.

Mazooki! offers exclusive channels for Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Asians Abroad, and other users. In addition, the site has joined the Asian Fanatics forum, one of the largest Asian communities on the Web, with over 125,000 members, in a contract to provide a Mazooki! community for site users.

Burrp! Debuts for Mumbai and Bangalore

2006-12-17T05:24:00.000-08:00

Local search engine, Burrp! has announced its arrival in two city specific versions, for Mumbai and Bangalore. Burrp! will enable Internet surfers, to search for region specific content, ranging from restaurants, nightlife and local eateries. The site will soon expand to include new categories such as local events, movies, gyms and spas.

Co-founder Deap Ubhi says, "Even with the growing density of local businesses and rising purchasing power amongst consumers, there is no reliable online resource that acts as a medium to connect the two. We aim to provide people with lifestyle related information and also be the platform to voice their experience."

The portal will also send business listings information to users' mobile phones, for free, via its 'Send 2 Phone' feature. Moreover, site visitors may post their own reviews, on eateries, cafes or related service in the particular city.Kolkata and Delhi/NCR are the next two cities for which, the site is currently collecting data. Burrp! will soon be created for 11 Indian cities, within the next 6 months.

How To Start A Money-making Blog? - Beginner

2006-12-17T04:59:00.000-08:00

If you are the beginner in blogging, you do not have to worry now. There are thousands of blogging tools that can help you start blogging just by a few simple clicks. You can use Blogger, Wordpress, Blogspirit, BlogEasy and etc. And, most of these blogging services are FREE. But, if you are beginner in blogging, I do advise you to use Blogger as your blogging tool because Blogger is owned by Google. And, the welknown advertising tool which has made thousands of bloggers becoming rich - “Adsense” is provided by Google. But, what is the linking here? The answer is easy because you can easily incorporate Adsense in your blog by using Blogger. The pros and cons of free blog-hosting:

Pros:

Low Cost - Most of the blogging services provided here are FREE. This means that you don’t have to give out any cent to make a money-making blog.
Easy To Set Up - You can set up your blog easily. Besides, there are thousands of templates to help you have your own design to your blog. You can also incorporate easily some advertising tool like Adsense if you are using blogging service like Blogger. Besides, sign-up for these blogging services is relatively easy.
Indexed Quickly - You don’t have to worry how to index your blog in famous search engine because many blogging service providers help you to index your blog in search engine once you sign up for them.
Cons:

Less Configurable - You may face difficulties when you want to add in plugins like newsletter subscription, and etc. to your blog. Somemore, you may find difficult if you want to set up your own design without using the provided templates.
Non-Upgradable Friendly - If you want to upgrade your blog by using webhosting service in future, you may find difficulties because it is very hard to transfer posts and comments from free bloghosting to your own new webhosting server.
Generic Domain Name - If you are using free bloghosting services, you may find that many of your blog domain name is under restriction which can only use domian name like www.xxx.blogger.com, www.xxx.wordpress.com. These types of domain names look very unprofessional. And, these domain names may also give a bad impression to your readers.
But, if you are serious in making money by blogging, I do advise you to find a webhosting company to host your blog. And, there are also many standalone blog platform like Wordpress, Movable Type, and etc. These are the pros and cons of using standalone blog platform:

Pros:

URL - You can use your own domain name which is easy to remember and looking more professional to your readers. And, by short and simple domain name, your readers will come back to your blog easily. And, your readers can also help you to promote your blog by mouth becaus your domain name is easy to remember.
Easy Configurable - I like to use standalone blog platform because there are many programmers write specially-made plugins for blog platform like WordPress and Movable Type. Each plugin serves different purpose. And, you will find them useful.
Own Design - You can configurate your own design for your own blog. By designing your own blog, you can easily impress your readers. And, your blog will also become more personal, unique, and attractive.
Cons:

Technical Problems - You may face a lots of technical problems if you are not very good in simple scripting like HTML, PHP or some other popular scripting languages. You will find difficulties when you want to set up your own design or maybe add certain plugins to your blog.
High Cost - You won’t have free hosting here. You have to pay for your hosting and this may cost you a lot if there are more and more visitors to your website.(More visitors normally bring more revenue to you. So, you don’t have to worry here. ) Besides, you also have to pay for your own domain name.

Hosting Problems - You may find that there are many webhosting services facing downtime even though many webhosting service providers claim that they have 99% uptime. Try to do a simple calculation here. 365days X 99% = 361.35 days. This means that you will have 3.65 days when your server is down for maintence. Besides, you also have to do your own backup.( If you server are drown, all your posts and comments will be missing! T_T )

Actually, it is up to you to decide on which method you want to use to start your blogging. But, my advice here is better to start a free blogging first if you are new to the world of blogging~!

Ping Google To Get Your Blog Indexed

2006-12-17T04:57:00.000-08:00

Google announced its new service Google Pinger to help bloggers to get indexed in their Blog Search service. If you are using WordPress as your blog platform, you can add http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 to Options > Writing > Update Services. By doing so, it may slow down your blog publishing speed.

Online video sharing sites

2006-12-17T04:22:00.000-08:00

Blackberry Now Available on Hutch Network

2006-12-16T04:01:00.000-08:00

Hutch and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced the availability of BlackBerry for Hutch's mobile customers in India. Hutch's corporate customers will now be able to enjoy the BlackBerry solution that supports wireless access to email, phone, text messaging, browser, organizer and other mobile data applications.

Harit Nagpal, director marketing, Hutchison Essar said, "BlackBerry is a unique and powerful tool that provides seamless connectivity for our customers, even while they are traveling. We are delighted to be able to offer this brilliant service to our customers."

Designed for corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server integrates with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data. Hutch also brings to its corporate customers the BlackBerry Mobile Data System (MDS) that provides a complete and optimized framework for creating, deploying and managing wireless applications for BlackBerry handsets.

Norm Lo, vice president of Asia Pacific at Research In Motion said, "Hutch is a strategic partner for RIM and we're pleased to be working together to expand the reach of BlackBerry in India. Hutch's strong presence in the enterprise market will help us reach and serve more mobile professionals, allowing them to enjoy enhanced communications, collaboration and productivity."

In addition to BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Hutch also offers BlackBerry Internet Service for individuals and smaller businesses. This service allows users to access up to ten corporate and personal email accounts (including Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and most popular ISP email accounts) from a single device.

BlackBerry handsets immediately available on the Hutch network include the BlackBerry 7130g, BlackBerry 8700g, and BlackBerry 7290. Hutch will also soon launch the new BlackBerry Pearl.

Find Outdated, Insecure Apps Quickly

2006-12-16T03:54:00.000-08:00

I came a cross a free new online service from Secunia, a company that produces business security products and does a fair bit of threat research. Head to secunia.com/software_inspector with either Firefox (1.5 and up), IE (6 and up) or Opera 9 and the online tool will scan your system for common programs like browsers, e-mail apps and media players and tell you which ones are out-of-date and potentially unsafe. It will check your version of Windows, too.

It's a useful service, since many of the scanned-for apps are often targeted by online attacks, and you'll get a link to download updates for any old programs. But of course there's a gotcha, since nothing in the world of computer security is entirely smooth and easy, it seems.

It's no fault of Secunia's, but some apps, like the Macromedia Flash Player and Sun Java, leave old versions of their software around after you upgrade. And those old versions show up as unsafe in the Secunia scan. There were five or six old Java versions on my PC, for instance, that I had to manually remove using Add/Remove programs. I'm still working on clearing the old Flash bits.

The 25 Worst Web Sites

2006-12-16T03:36:00.000-08:00

From unforgettable flame-outs to some of the most popular destinations around, no one is safe from our look at the world's dumbest dot-coms and silliest sites.
People say hindsight is 20/20. When it comes to the Web, hindsight is more like X-ray vision: In retrospect, it's easy to see what was wrong with dot coms that tried to make a business out of giving stuff away for free (but making it up later in volume), or to make fun of venture capitalists who handed millions to budding Web titans who had never run a lemonade stand before, let alone an enterprise.
It's so easy, in fact, i can't help doing it myself. So as venture capitalists scramble to throw money at anything labled Ajax or Web 2.0, and Web publishing becomes so simple that anyone with a working mouse hand can put up a site, i offer my list of the 25 worst Web sites of all time.

25. Rentmychest.com.
24. IKissYou.org
23. InmatesForYou.com
22. Digital entertainment network (den.com)
21. Golden Palace Casino
20. Hotmail.com
19. WebVan
18. Beenz.com and Flooz.com (tie)
17. Boo.com
16. Microsoft Windows Update
15. Neuticles.com
14. BidForSurgery.com
13. Whitehouse.com
12. The Dancing Baby
11. Rabies for Kids
10. MyLackey.com.
9. HamsterDance.com
8. BonziBuddy
7. Pets.com
6. Pixelon.com
5. AllAdvantage
4. CD Universe
3. Cartoonnetwok.com
2. CyberRebate
1. MySpace.com

Google Launches Patent Search!

2006-12-16T02:14:00.000-08:00

Google just launched a new search engine, Google Patent Search.
With Google Patent Search, you can now search the full text of the U.S. patent corpus and find patents that interest you. You can view images of original patents online, or save and print them for offline use.
According to the About page, the patent data come from the United States Patent and Trademark Office and there are approximately 7 million patents. You can learn more about this new search engine and how to use advanced search with it on this page, also at Google Blog and Inside Book Search Blog.

Best stuff to put on your blog sidebar

2006-12-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

Jaxtr Widget Lets Social Networkers Chat On Real Live Phones

2006-12-15T02:46:00.000-08:00

A company called jaxtr, which launches in private beta today, allows users to connect their personal phone to their digital personality.
Jaxr is a widget that users can put into their social networking sites or blogs. When someone has a jaxtr widget, it means you can call them in real-time. Jaxtr members assign a specific number to their widget.
When a caller sees that widget, they can click it and jaxtr will ask them for their own phone number. The caller’s phone will ring, and when the caller picks up, jaxtr will ring the recipient who originated the widget. If the recipient was not available, jaxtr will notify them that they have a voicemail that they can access by calling into their jaxt service.

Fortunately, jaxtr never discloses the call recipient’s phone number so you can install a widget without ever exposing personal information. Users can also block callers or specify on a per-caller basis which callers can reach them live and which get routed to voice mail. The service is free but local phone rates apply.

“There is nothing less satisfying than creating a social network page or blog and not getting a response,” said Guericke. “Social networks are a catalyst for people to meet, and jaxtr ‘jacks up’ the power of networks to help users make new connections. By putting a widget on their social network page or blog, jaxtr users can hear from callers worldwide on their existing landline or mobile phone.”
I have to say, I don’t always find it unsatisfying to blog and not get a response. There are several responses to my posts that I could certainly live without

Photo Sharing Sites

2006-12-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

Print, Edit, Share Photos for free online.
Here is the list of the best photo sharing sites on the internet.I tried my best to give you the best comparisons and information related to this sites.I have ranked this sites according to the user interactivity,cost,print quality etc.

New 7 Wonders

2006-12-12T06:20:00.000-08:00

Hi guys.I think u all must have heard of the selection procedure for the new 7 wonders of the world.This time the selection for the new 7 wonders will be done on the basis of the votes each wonder gets.So guys get up and start voting for the wonder which you feel should fit in the 7 wonders list.
The New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced during the Official Declaration ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07.
What are you waiting for, click here to vote.

Get Search Query Results Via IM

2006-12-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Recently launched ChaCha (beta), has debuted as the first Internet search engine, that replies to queries via IM.

Unlike other search engines, ChaCha allows its users to address their queries to 'guides' who help them with live customized search. Users may chat with the guides about their questions, via a small instant message chat window on the site, while the guide provides the user with relevant text results in another window, simultaneously. Moreover, the site also allows users to opt for regular search on the web.

CEO Scott A. Jones said, "ChaCha is for everyone — from the novice searcher to the most experienced. Even expert searchers don't always have all the answers. For instance, say someone wanted to buy his or her teenager a new game for the holidays but didn’t know what game was hip. Well, on ChaCha, one could be connected to a real-life gamer whose expertise and knowledge are perfectly suited for that query. The guide not only helps find the perfect game, but even sends links of where to buy it."

Moreover, ChaCha promises to connect users with the guide who knows something about the search topic. This feature aims at expanding the general knowledge of the user on the subject or even turn the user on to new or different piece of information that's even more relevant.

The guides work from their homes through an application on their own computers. They are then paid according to the hours. Over 14,000 'guides' worldwide, help users find results round the clock and their results are rated by end users on speed and relevance of results. ChaCha is free to consumers and is advertisement supported.

Click here for access to ChaCha.com.

MACBOOK

2006-12-11T00:24:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone let me introduce you all to the new edition of Apple Mac. Guys I tell you the Mac Book is the best product to go for. Something which is worth your money. Starting at just $1099, MacBook delivers the power of the Intel Core 2 Duo — the latest generation of Intel processors — and a slew of innovative features, including: a built-in iSight camera for video chatting on the go; iLife ’06; Front Row; a glossy 13-inch widescreen display; even dual-display support.

The picture is of the Front Row with Apple Remote.

On the go.

MagSafe Airline Adapter- Out of power in flight? Plug your MacBook into the new MagSafe Airline Adapter and get back to work (or play).

Built-in Bluetooth- Connect wirelessly to Bluetooth-enabled peripherals or connect to the Internet via your mobile phone

AirPort Express- MacBook offers built-in wireless capability, and you can create your own wireless network with an AirPort Express.

MACBOOK AT A GLANCE

13.3-inch glossy display

1.83GHz or 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Up to 2GB memory

Up to 200GB hard drive

Apple Remote with Front Row

Built-in iSight camera

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950

Slot-loading optical drive

Built-in AirPort Extreme

FireWire 400 and two USB 2.0 ports

Gigabit Ethernet

Bluetooth 2.0+EDR

Free Blogger Templates

2006-12-09T20:40:00.000-08:00

In today's fast paced world where time means everything people prefer things to be done with ease and fast pace.The same applies for blogging, many bloggers don't get enough time to sit down and take notes on html and css so all they need is some ready made templates which would suite their needs and don't waste much of the time searching for one.So i prepared a list of some of the best sites who do this job and do it for free.

Top Web Based Instant Messengers

2006-12-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

There was a time when instant messengers were a few hundred KB per client, and there weren’t too many. Today, there are three major chat clients—MSN/Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk—and while Google Talk is small enough right now, it’s only a matter of time before it bloats into the 20mb package that the other two are almost competing to reach. If you’re done with all the stupid extras like IMvironments and Winks, and all you want to do is chat, then consider using a web-based messenger that works purely in your web browser, without needing any download or installation.
Let me introduce you all to some of the best web based instant messengers available today on the internet.