Microsoft Criticized For Gifts to Bloggers

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.

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

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

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

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

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?

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.

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

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.