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Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:35:00 +0200 ![]() My mum loves interior design. She also loves puzzles but finds black belt Sudoku too easy. She's inheriting a laptop. What sort of programs and games can I load on this laptop for her? I just got a new laptop, so my mum will "inherit" this one while I bring my new one overseas. I would like to load it with some useful software and games she can use. She generally uses computers for the most basic tasks, though she has spent long nights playing Minesweeper. She's still getting the hang of things though, so we don't want anything complicated.She'll mainly be checking email and looking at pretty interior design websites, so I'm keeping Firefox on there. I'm also keeping AVG. Is there any spyware program that doesn't need too much tech knowledge to run? I have Spybot S&D but I'm worried that it'll be too complex for her. She LOVES puzzle games. As mentioned earlier, she has spent HOURS on past computers playing Tritryst, Minesweeper, Freecell, and Solitaire. She is now a Sudoku aficionado but is finding even "black belt" level puzzles to be too easy for her. What sort of games along the same vein (puzzle, easy to learn the basics, increasing difficulty, logical/mathematical) can I install? I'd prefer it be offline software than anything she has to go online for, but websites are good. She also has asked for something that lets her design; I already have Photoshop on this laptop so I'm keeping it for her. Is there any good software for interior designers or those that like interior design? Specs about this laptop:
Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:21:00 +0200 ![]() New York-based company has launched a new browser, which is free to download and use. The new browsers allows Web pages and search results as floating slabs that can be flipped through, organized, and navigated in 3-D. · Visually browse - open multiple web pages like a tabbed browser but never loose track of where you are because each web page is its own visual reference · Advanced pop-up handling - you select how to handle pop-up windows, turn them off and open clicked on pop-up links anywhere you want. Advanced pop-up handling is now integrated with Windows XP SP2. · Compare pages side by side - the new 4-live feature allows 4 web pages to be live side by side for monitoring multiple web sites, comparing web content or comparison shopping · Advanced search - quickly search Google, Yahoo or MSN from the address box in any browser. Auto load ever Google search hit to the right wall with one mouse click. · Speed your web browsing - select and load multiple pages while you continue to use the page you're on · Save and load multiple pages - select and save multiple web pages for your research, travel plans, shopping or auctions items - easily reload them at any time · Never get lost - an image of every page you visit is displayed and can be returned to at the click of the mouse. Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:04:00 +0200 ![]() ![]() Search eBay, Google, Yahoo!, Flickr and Images all in one 3D space. 3D Image Search 3D Tabbed Browsing Your regular browser has one window. When you create a new web page, it replaces your old web page and gives you a tab. But what if you had unlimited space? What if you now had: here, there, and the space between? SpaceTime™ is proud to introduce this "space between" as 3D Tabbed Browsing. Just enter your websites in the address line as you normally would and watch as your web pages are individually displayed in a stunning 3D space where you can view all of your web pages at the same time. Effortlessly shuffle from one page to the next in your 3D space by clicking on the icons for these web pages on your timeline. It's that easy. Minimum PC Configuration: Operating System: Windows 2000, Windows XP or Vista System Memory (RAM): 512MB Graphics Adapter: 128MB plus 3D Capable CPU: Pentium 4 2.4GHz or AMD 2400xp+ DOWNLOAD HERE Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Color: 32-Bit True Color Network Speed: 768 Kbits/sec Tue, 03 Jul 2007 18:49:00 +0200 ![]() I had an interesting experience with my brand new iPhone: it didn't work. I would have full signal from AT&T, even in my basement (which seems to be the only provider to do so) and then all of a sudden... Nothing. No service. I would not get service back until I power cycled the phone at which point I would get full service back. If I simply cycled the radio from on to off by turning the Airplane mode on then off I would get the message 'invalid SIM'. This happened to me about 5 times in 24 hours and in different locations, so it wasn't isolated. This told me I may have a bad SIM card and decided to pop in to an AT&T store to have it checked out (I don't think Apple can deal with SIM cards, but I may be mistaken, I only tried AT&T). When I got to my local AT&T store the manager was on the phone with what I can only assume is someone high up at Apple or AT&T talking about the surge of SIM card replacements they have been doing. I went to AT&T so that I could get a new SIM card and have them activate it as to avoid any registration problems in iTunes. Alas, that's about the only thing they can't do. It appears that AT&T can't even see any SIM information on iPhone user accounts whatsoever so all they can do is hand me a new card and have me install it and reactivate via iTunes. I had no choice. I got a new SIM card and decided to test and post the process here for other users that may run in to the same issue, and it appears that there are many, many users with this issue. For those who need to install a new SIM here's what you need to do: power off your iPhone by holding the power button atop the device for 5 seconds. Slide your finger over the power confirmation screen. Get a small paperclip and insert it in the small hole on the top of the iPhone. A SIM card tray will pop out. Remove the old SIM card and place your new SIM card into the tray with the metal side facing out. Insert the tray back in to the iPhone and power the device back on. The iTunes reactivation process is quite simple. When I powered on my iPhone after inserting the new SIM it locked out and asked me to re-activate the device. I plugged it in to iTunes and selected 'replace a line on my existing account'. There were a couple of areas that made it look like I was going to get double billed but I advanced anyway. When I was done I went back to the AT&T store and asked what the billing for my account would look like. All was well, no double billing, no re-activation fee, we were golden. If you get screens that make it look like you'll get double billed make sure to call AT&T to ensure that you won't, I can only say that my account wasn't. The only issue I found is that my 2-year service contract started from the moment I added the new SIM, not the original activation date. Since that was only about a 12 hour difference I didn't really care; however, if you are reading this article in our archives and have had your iPhone for a while make sure to call AT&T to see if there is a better way to activate a new SIM otherwise you'll be locked into a new 2 year contract. After reading a bit on Twitter about users having issues I think they may want to consider the idea that they too may have a bad SIM card. I don't know if Apple can help them at all, but AT&T was actually quite friendly and helpful. The total transaction time was not very long and they knew exactly how to process the order in their system. Results may vary based on location. After replacing my SIM card I have yet to have any issues. My iPhone has not lost connection and is whizzing along beautifully. Seems that AT&T may have given Apple a bad batch of SIM cards, a very large bad batch. Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:14:00 +0200 ![]() This just in: Apple has posted an iPhone accessories page with details on the Apple-branded accessories you can get for your new iPhone. The company has also posted an image of the "Works with iPhone" logo that it will use on certified third-party gadgets. The page lists devices like the iPhone Bluetooth Headset, USB power adapter, dock, dock connector to USB cable, dual dock for both the iPhone and the headset, stereo headset and more. Prices range from $9 (for the TTY Adapter) to $179 (for an AirPort Extreme Base Station). The new logo depicts a stylized iPhone icon on the left side. Apple has advice for folks who want to use their iPod accessories with the iPhone. Most iPod accessories equipped with a 30-pin connector may work with the iPhone, said Apple, but it may be necessary to switch the iPhone to "Airplane Mode," which turns off its ability to make or receive calls, to avoid audio interference. Thanks to Macworld's Peter Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:53:00 +0200 Few days back a company launched a program to reach the millions to show them how to sms faster by using the T9 on your mobile phones. So waht aer we waiting for...? LETS LEARN TO CHAT FASTER!!!
BASICS T9 Has one basic rule.. Press one key one time for each letter. You can type a message twice faster than normal multitap method. NOW HOW TO USE IT
PUNCTUATION MARKS
MODE and type the word then press the space key and switch to T9 again.
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:19:00 +0200 Despite Yahoo"S recent struggles, Semsl received another big bundle of stock otions last year that boosteed the value of his 2006 conpensation package to $71.7 m.
After exasperating investors for the most of last 18 months, Yahoo inc chairman Terry Semel finally found a way to please Wall Street by stepping aside as chief executive. It came a week after he faced off with shareholders disillusioned with the company's lack of performance as internet seach leader Google inc pulled further ahead in the lucrative online advertising market. The malaise had contributed to a nearly 30% drop in yahoo"s stock price since the end of 2005. To fill the void created by Semel"s departure Yahoo appointed company co-founder Jerry Yang as its new CEO and named Susan Decker as its President. Wall Street applauded the new pecking order. Yahoo shares gained 81% finished at $28.12 or 4.7%. Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:19:00 +0200 As important to us to be constantly adding new features and functionality for you guys, sometimes we have to retire or prune things that just didn’t work out or that we don’t have time to focus on right now.
So today we bid farewell to our good friend Feed Stats, which tried to tell you how many subscribers you had to your blog and what software they used. However it never grew out of that awkward teenager stage, and wasn’t used very frequently. The code isn’t dead, just taking a break. Perhaps someday feed stats will return, but when they do we hope to do a much better job of collecting and presenting the data. Tue, 19 Jun 2007 20:04:00 +0200 OverviewThe TopPayingKeywords database presents the keyword prices of the 30,000+ most popular keyword searches, in addition to hundreds of high-priced keywords that we have brainstormed. By identifying the highest paying keywords on the Internet, the database allows website owners to dramatically improve earnings in Google’s AdSense™ program. That is, advertisers pay only when a user clicks on their advertisement. Advertisers bid against each other to receive better placement in the results, and the bidding price for each keyword differs. For example, the keyword “weather” is only worth 5 cents or less to most advertisers, while keywords such as “mortgage” often yield $5 or more per click. Since Google splits its advertising revenue with you on a click-by-click basis, you obviously want the ads that Google delivers to include the highest paying keywords. By optimizing the text of your website to include high priced keywords, Google will deliver ads based on these higher priced keywords, thus yielding you significantly more revenue per click. Specifically, by understanding which keywords are the highest priced, you can generate more revenues by:
One key to success in the first and second bullets is finding correlations between your existing content and new, higher-priced content. For instance, a site about baby names (baby names is a $0.05 keyword) could include content about life insurance (life insurance is a $6.00 keyword). In this case, the correlation is that when parents have children, they should make sure they have the best life insurance policy.
Our database is available in Microsoft Excel format and includes more than 30,000 keywords on which advertisers currently bid. For each keyword, we include the average price of the number three paying ad on that keyword in the major pay per placement search engines (e.g., Google, Overture).
Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:47:00 +0200 There’s been much hoo-hah regarding the font rendering in Apple’s beta release of Safari for Windows. I decided to install the beta myself and see what all the fuss is about.
Here’s why I think Apple gets it right and why Microsoft could learn some lessons from them: Apple’s font renderer more accurately maintains the intended look of the font. It does this by smoothing the edges and corners of characters where appropriate which can sometimes lead to small letters looking a little blurry. Microsoft’s ClearType technology attempts to make fonts sharper and more readable by jamming characters into pixels in a miscellaneous and sometimes unpleasant fashion. I’m not a designer, but I own a few typography books and have a strong appreciation for the topic. Which side you choose in this debate is likely to be influenced by which platform you use. However, I don’t see why Microsoft needs to remove the designers ability to use a font in exactly the way it was intended, especially when you consider the availability of various fonts designed specifically for on-screen reading. OK, so to most seasoned Windows users Safari probably looks a little strange; we’ve got years of mutilated descenders to blame for that. That fact is, designers should be trusted to make smart decisions about the font they want to use and how they want to use it. Full disclosure: I am currently a Mac user but spend an unfortunate amount of time using Windows on Parallels. Anyone care to weigh-in (while I don my flame proof suit)? Is it right to morph a font into something that’s close to what it should look like for the sake of readability? Or is typography a sacred art that shouldn’t be messed with? Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:41:00 +0200 Bloggers are amazing for a number of different reasons, but one that has always stood out for me is the need for bloggers to be experts in many different fields, from writing, to design and marketing and advertising to name but a few. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for those who might not be familiar with the term, is, according to Adwordsedge, a general term used to describe specific techniques that can be used on websites in order to rank favorably with search engine. It can also apply as a term to describe people who actually do SEO for a living, as a noun as opposed to a verb.
But for this guide we’ll take a look at the search engine optimization as another tool in the ways you can promote your blog. This guide is by no means complete, or even heavy in detail, but is meant as a basic view of tactics and things that work to assure that you blog can be found, and hopefully discovered by people using search engines.Domain nameIf you’re serious about getting a good spot in the search engines, or even about blogging in general, you need your own domain name. First and foremost they are cheap, so there is little excuse for you not to own one. I can go back to 97 when I first bought a domain name, I think I paid about $120 USD for 2 years for it. Today I pay $8.95 per year, and some sites charge even lower than this. Hosting for your domain is pretty cheap as well, with plenty of quality offerings out there for under $10 USD per month, of even $100 USD per year. Some can be as low as a couple of dollars a month, the price of a cup of coffee. StructureThere are two schools of thought in regards to the structure of your domain name: practical or colorful. Practical domain names involve at least one key word that states the topic of your blog, but ideally more. For example Weblog Empire’s The Gadget Blog has the URL of http://ww.thegadgetblog.com/ Unimaginative, sure, but highly practical. Another example is PVRSpot, the Weblog Empire PVR News and views blog with the URL of http://www.pvrspot.com/. One keyword in the URL followed by another word that isn’t relevant but tries to be catchy. For colorful go straight to Gawker Media and do not pass go…domain names such as Kotaku, Gawker, Wonkette to name but a few. Personally, as you can see I generally prefer practical, because having keywords in the URL make it easier for your blog to be picked up for those keywords in Google. Colourful domain names are great, but lose on two counts for me: firstly they are harder to get search engine traffic from, and secondly they can be difficult to spell as well, which can mean lost traffic. HostingThere are lots of different thoughts on hosting when it comes to search engine optimization, and I’m not going to pretend that I know which ones are right. There is more information in my guide here for DIY Blog Hosting that may be of interest if you are looking for a host, but as a rough list there is some things I can share from experience. Firstly, there are no major problems with shared hosting. Some people will tell you that shared hosting is the root cause of all evil and it can hamper you in getting your site indexed. I’ve never experienced it over maybe half a dozen hosts in the last 3 years. Personally I have my own a unique IP address for my sites that’s exclusive to the network not each blog. This is usually a cheap add on for many hosts, so if you are concerned about shared hosting I’d recommend getting your own IP address just to be sure. Meta-tagsMake sure your blogs have appropriate information in the meta tags so the search engines now what they are looking at. Most major blogging packages will allow you to do with from within their administration areas. SEF Blog URLsMore available here on this one. LinksLinks are the No.1 most important feature of getting a decent place in the search engines, and subsequently in building your site. First and foremost though: don’t go out and do silly things like setting up link farms (sites that are there for no other reason than to provide links) or posting to FFA Links pages, because generally speaking they don’t work. There are some legitimate strategies for getting links to your blog.- Link from your own blogs if you own others is the easiet one. In may case I can usually get most search engines to visit within 24-48 hours to a new site using my own blogs alone.- Swap links with like-minded bloggers: put up a notice saying your happy to swap links, or if you see someone else with a similar notice take up the offer. Where possible keep roughly on topic where you can- Buy links: text links are the best in terms of SEO, make sure where possible its not behind code/ script and don’t pay top dollar. Even if its a week or a few weeks, you get picked up more by search engines and you’ll even get some extra traffic as well.- Comment: seek out like minded blogs and comment on them, although they may not count with sites that use link=nofollow (a tag that blocks search engine tracking if you like) it exposes you and your blog to new readers who then might visit and put links on their own blogs. Its always important to remember secondary effects as well. Weblogs Inc., has the best blogs now for commenters because they reward commenters with a table which ranks their posts and provides links to their sites. Please though, with all blogs, make sure that you are interested in the post and you’ve got something useful to say. Never, ever comment spam.- Advertising: although they are not suppose to make a difference I’ve found Google Adwords helpful in building a bit of extra traffic which has then provided links as well, secondary effect again. I hope this is useful for those perhaps new to blogging or as a refresher to others. If your more interested in SEO tactics there are any number of sites out there on the subject you can read, but my final advice is this: if you don’t feel confortable with the tactics being suggested by myself or anyone else out there on the net: don’t do them. Many tactics suggested elsewhere are morally wrong, and in many cases break the rules at the major search engines. Sure, some can deliver short term gain, but they rarely ever deliver long term gain. Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:59:00 +0200 John Chow recently posted a call to moneymaking British-Columbia bloggers for a newspaper interview in his province. (Too bad it’s not about Canadian bloggers, since I’m in Ottawa, Ontario, and I would have loved the extra publicity).
Thu, 14 Jun 2007 19:39:00 +0200 Everybody knows what one consumer-tech product is going to snag all the headlines this summer: the iPhone. I’m perfectly happy to admit that I’m looking forward to writing this review. It’s looming over my calendar like Colossus.
But otherwise, summer is a slow time in my biz. Everybody’s holding off their big announcements for September, when there’s so much new stuff, I could easily write a column a day. So for today’s column in The Times, I reviewed noise-canceling headphones. It’s not a new category, but it’s a topic I’ve wanted to cover for years, and had never had a moment. The summer lull seemed a perfect opportunity. Surely, I thought, readers would forgive this one less-than-heart-pounding column. Holy cow, was I mistaken — about the heart-pounding business, I mean. No sooner had the column appeared last night on the Web than my e-mail box began to fill up. Evidently, noise-canceling headphones are VERY exciting to a lot of people! Read more … |
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